By Ken Valenti

WESTPORT–The fine for parking illegally in “permit parking only” spaces at Westport’s train stations will double to $50 next week, after the Board of Selectmen approved the increase this morning.

At the meeting in Town Hall, the Board also voted to buy a new ladder firetruck for $2.3 million and to accept two donated ambulances for emergency medical services.

The Board also approved the hiring of the Connecticut Material Testing Laboratory to serve as an inspector for the Long Lots Elementary School construction.

Train parking

Illegal parking has risen at the Saugatuck and Greens Farms train stations, where commuters appear to treat the $25 fine as an acceptable daily parking fee, said Deputy Police Chief Ryan Paulsson, who also serves as the department’s railroad operations director.

“We’ve seen over the last four months an increase in violations, and in some cases over 50 violations a day,” he said. Police find that the daily lots, with a $6.38-per-day fee, have plenty of empty spaces, suggesting that some commuters don’t mind paying the higher cost for the convenience of a closer spot.

The $50 fine is scheduled to begin Tuesday, Jan. 20, said Lieutenant Anthony Prezioso, the department spokesman. He plans to send out an announcement within a day or so.

Selectman Don O’Day asked if escalating fees could be considered, hitting repeat offenders with successively higher fines. Paulsson said the department is looking into obtaining equipment that would be capable of tracking those fines. Prezioso said the department would explore the feasibility of the idea.

Ambulances

The two 2025 Freightliner custom ambulances, worth almost $500,000 each, had been donated to the Westport Volunteer Emergency Medical Service (WVEMS). One was a gift of the Westport Woman’s Club and an anonymous donor who is a club member; the other was from the Walter and Marilyn Joy Samuels Charitable Trust and its trustees Bob and Francine Richter, said Deputy Police Chief David Wolf, and Fergal Moore, treasurer of the Westport Volunteer Emergency Medical Service (WVEMS).

Patrick Riddle, deputy director of the town EMS, added after the meeting that the Richters had also donated funds for four cardiac monitors.

Each of the Board members expressed appreciation to the ambulance donors.

“I think what this shows is the type of town we really have,” Oday said.

The vehicles have been in use since earlier this month.

The Board also agreed to give the WVEMS two older ambulances and a 2018 Ford Explorer fly car, to sell.

Firetruck

The new firetruck, a Ladder Tower 93’ Mid Mount Platform fire truck, purchased from the New England Fire Equipment and Apparatus Corporation, will replace the department’s only ladder truck, which was originally purchased in 1993, said Deputy Fire Commissioner Matt Cohen. He said the existing truck was refurbished in 2010 with an upgrade that was intended to give it another 10 years of life.

The $2,258,621 cost of the new one will come from the capital fund. Cohen said the town is saving 6%, or $146,491, by buying the truck through the Sourcewell purchasing cooperative. 

The new vehicle will feature a 93-foot ladder, intended for rescues not only from higher floors of buildings, but in other situations where an extended reach is needed, such as over water, Cohen said. 

The construction and delivery of the custom truck is expected to take 850 days – more than two years. O’Day asked if the company could speed up the delivery for an additional charge, if the department found itself in dire need. Cohen said Westport and other area departments have loaned each other trucks in the past when needed.

“There are other alternatives, but that is something that we can certainly look into,” Cohen told O’Day.