By Thane Grauel

WESTPORT — Representative Town Meeting members were glad Tuesday evening to tackle their agenda in person for the first time in over two years.

Members chatted in the aisles, then spread out in the first five or more rows of seating in the Town Hall auditorium.

They passed a new police union contract and several Department of Public Works equipment requests unanimously in about an hour, then the kumbaya moment was over and a debate over a $251,000 appropriation to repair the columns and other architectural elements of the historic Town Hall portico ensued. 

The bases of the columns have been rotting, and other woodwork needs repair and protection against the elements.

The discussion included logistical questions for Public Works Director Peter Ratkiewich, but seemed more about the various branches of town government, what role they play and how planning gets done. 

Seth Braunstein, District 6, gave a joint report from the Public Works and Finance committees.

“There was a very clear conclusion, that the work needed to be done,” he said. “These items have been on the capital forecast for five years, so while not urgent in terms of current structural integrity, the longer the maintenance and upkeep is delayed, the greater the ultimate expense.”

“It’s not necessarily one or the other,” Braunstein said. “This is a project that has been in need for quite some time, has been in the forecast and has been extensively delayed.”

He said the Finance Committee voted unanimously to recommend the full RTM pass the appropriation, but the Public Works Committee had two no votes, Dick Lowenstein of District 5 and Lori Church of District 9.

Lowenstein, who had emailed members an aerial shot of Town Hall with its entrances marked, questioned why the public could no longer enter the building from the rear, where the vast majority of parking spaces are located.

“If we decide to do these columns, we are in a situation where the main entrance of Town Hall for visitors, those of us who don’t have a badge around our neck or on our waist, will have to go into the front of the building,” he said. 

“This is really an opportunity more than anything else,” Lowenstein said. “I moved here in 1983, and from 1983 until 2020, I always came in the building from the rear. That is the principal entrance to this building. There are only five parking spaces in the front of the building, and 115 in the back. Most visitors come to the back.”

After the meeting, he mentioned public access to the Westport Library, which has numerous entryways open to the public.

A discussion followed about American Rescue Plan Act funding for the town — $1 million has been earmarked for Americans with Disabilities Act upgrades to Town Hall by First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker — and whether a range of upgrades to the building should be considered overall.

Jimmy Izzo, District 3, came to the podium and said the RTM should stick to the agenda.

“It’s about the columns,” he said. “I’m all for ADA access and we can have a separate meeting on that.”

“I don’t think we should take the RTM meeting and make it ‘Let’s Make a Deal,’ and change things around. The committees have worked hard on this …”

Rachel Cohn, District 8, said what’s lacking is “a lack of a holistic picture.”

Harris Falk, District 2, called the façade work “fashion before function.”

Church noted there was no real structural threat to Town Hall from the aging wood.

Braunstein asked Tooker to explain the town’s prioritization process.

“When we talk about capital expenditures, our strategy document is our five-year capital forecast,” she said. “That is the town’s strategy document on where we think we need to spend money, from a capital standpoint, going forward.”

“It’s a living document, it changes constantly, for all sorts of reasons,” Tooker said.

“How our appropriation process works, by charter, is that each appropriation comes before the Board of Finance, and the RTM, yourselves, on a per-appropriation basis … you guys have the opportunity to say yes or no to every single appropriation put in front of you.”

“It’s an incredibly important piece of process that you guys get to actually take a look at each, every single individual capital expenditure.”

In the end, 24 members of the legislative body voted in favor of the appropriation, and Lowenstein and Church voted against. Cohn and Falk abstained. 

Money for DPW equipment approved

In addition to a new, four-year police contract, the RTM unanimously approved:

• A $160,000 appropriation for a new John Deere backhoe and loader.
• A $270,000 appropriation for a new truck lift for the Public Works garage.
• A $285,000 appropriation for a new weight scale for the transfer station.

Thane Grauel, the Westport Journal executive editor, grew up in Westport and has been a journalist in Fairfield County and beyond more than three decades. Learn more about us here.