By John Schwing

WESTPORT — The Representative Town Meeting, in a celebratory mood after marking its 75th anniversary Tuesday, quickly re-elected its top two officers, but then things got rough.

“Rough” as in how best to maintain the terrain of the town’s Longshore Golf Course, which  evolved into a lengthy, often repetitive, debate over an $863,000 proposed appropriation to lease 12 new pieces of maintenance equipment.

But first came the easy part.

Jeff Wieser and Lauren Karpf, the legislative body’s moderator and deputy moderator, respectively, were both nominated without opposition and overwhelmingly elected to serve a fourth year in their posts.

Wieser was lauded as someone who has “a special blend of talent and dedication” that enables him to handle what is “not an easy job,” leading by consensus and “mutual respect and fairness,” Michael Perry, District 2, said in his nomination speech. Seconding Wieser’s nomination, Claudia Shaum, District 5, said she has “never met a fairer person than Jeff.”

Karpf was described as “driven by decency, her intelligence and a lot of common sense” in nominating remarks by Don O’Day, District 3, who added, “No one in this town is a stronger advocate for our kids and their education.”

The votes were 30-0 with two abstentions for Wieser, and 31-0 with one abstention for Karpf.

Debate: Is gas-powered equipment subpar? 

Up next was the proposal to spend $862,670 on a four-year, lease-to-own deal for 12 gas-powered machines to maintain Longshore Golf Course, sought by the Parks and Recreation Department to replace aging equipment.

The allocation, approved Nov. 6 by the Board of Finance, was also backed by majorities of the RTM’s Finance and Parks and Recreation committees at a joint meeting last week.

In the meantime, however, questions by several RTM members and the public arose over whether officials had given adequate consideration to purchasing battery-powered equipment instead.

That set the stage for debate that lasted nearly two hours.

MIchael West, the parks superintendent, detailed reasons for the funding request, saying the average age of Longshore’s golf maintenance gear is about 13 years old and that some of the grounds equipment had traveled the equivalent of 240,000 miles.

Replacing the aging equipment — which he called the “meat and potatoes” of the golf course’s maintenance — would help the grounds crew carry out their jobs more efficiently and without delays caused by repairing older gear, West said. 

That is important, he added, since there have been about 38,400 rounds of golf played this year at Longshore, which several speakers noted is the Parks and Recreation Department’s largest revenue source.

In response to committee questions about electric alternatives to gas-powered machinery, West said the staff learned that only four of the 12 pieces have battery-powered versions. If ordered, he said, delivery of the electric equipment might take as long as two years and would be more expensive than conventional machines.

Cost of the new gas-fueled equipment would be covered by golf user fees, he said, as well as proceeds from the machines’ re-sale at the end of the four-year lease-to-own contract.

He said that autonomous, battery-powered mowers, such as those used at the Patterson Club in Fairfield, are used only to control the course’s rough and “supplement” standard gas-powered mowers.

His explanation, however, did not satisfy several RTM members and members of the public.

Toni Simonetti said it’s time for town officials to change their “mindset” and begin prioritizing more sustainable alternatives.

Pippa Bell Ader, a leader of Sustainable Westport — which filed a letter with the RTM saying the equipment “will have deleterious effects on both human health and the environment” — suggested the parks and recreation staff give at least a few pieces of battery-powered equipment a trial. That, she said, could be one of the “small steps” needed to help the town achieve its Net Zero by 2050 commitment.

Valerie Seiling Jacobs was skeptical the entire $862,670 expense would be covered by user fees, and faulted what she called the lack of a thorough investigation into electric alternatives to gas-fueled machines, echoing arguments she made in an opinion essay published earlier by the Westport Journal.

Melissa Levy, District 2, said while she supports quality maintenance for the golf course, she also believes “in moving our sustainability efforts forward.” By not prioritizing alternatives to gas-powered equipment, as was done when the RTM adopted an ordinance to regulate gas-powered leaf blowers, the town is sending “mixed messages” about achieving its stated sustainability goals, she said.

Jennifer Johnson, District 9, proposed an amendment to the funding motion, calling for the RTM’s vote to be postponed until February to allow more time to research alternatives to the gas-powered fleet.

The idea won support from fellow members Wendy Batteau, Dick Lowenstein, Clarence Hayes, Ellen Lautenberg, Karen Kramer and Peter Gold, who argued that extra time would allow for more in-depth research into environmental and financial aspects of alternatives to the requested equipment.

That, in return, prompted pushback from members Louis Mall, Chris Tait, Jack Klinge, Andrew Colabella and Kristin Purcell, who the proposal had been adequately vetted by parks and rec staff as necessary to do their jobs, and that delays could hobble the upgraded maintenance regimen that restored the Longshore Golf Course reputation in recent years.

In the end, Johnson’s proposed amendment to postpone a Tuesday vote failed by an 18-13 tally.

Johnson, before a final vote, said while other issues in the debate were “quantifiable, what is unquantifiable is the slow and constant degradation of our environment by gas-powered equipment and a refusal to begin to aggressively change.”

The RTM then proceeded to vote on the $862,670 funding request, giving final approval for the appropriation by a 23-8 margin.

John Schwing, interim editor of the Westport Journal, has held senior editorial and writing posts at southwestern Connecticut media outlets for four decades. Learn more about us here.