The deteriorating culture of discourse in Westport has taken its toll. This morning, Brian Stern resigned from the Board of Finance.
He is a year away from completing his 4th term. He served as chair from 2014 to 2022.
Stern moved to Westport in 1977. He spent 40 years with Xerox. Since 2008, he has been an entrepreneur.
His letter to Town Clerk Jeffrey Dunkerton said:
After considerable thought, I’m writing to tender my resignation from the Westport Board of Finance, effective immediately.
As you know, I’ve been active in Westport town affairs for more than 15 years. I hope to have had a positive impact on our community. With my fellow board members, many important projects have been completed, processes for moving forward have been developed, significant problems have been solved, reasonable budgets approved and, in the process many good friendships have been made.
Brian Stern
I’ve made this painful decision in advance of the completion of my elected term. In the past, my work on the Board has been made easy by colleagues. They have been cooperative and constructive.
Information and analysis flowed freely without bias and free from pre-determined conclusions. Decisions were made with open access to the all the facts and with folks genuinely listening to each other.
Yes, we made some errors, hopefully small, but I believe the record shows a sustained period of wise fiscal governance. As a result, I think Westport taxpayers have been well served.
But the environment of openness in the town that allowed for that constructive work has changed. The collegial management and governance culture has evolved for the worse. Finger pointing, personal animosities, habitual complaining, data replaced by anecdote and decisions by crowd noise have become the norm.
Working in this environment has made my individual effort far more difficult and professionally frustrating. I prefer to refrain from giving specific examples.
This document is not the place for that and would likely make matters even worse. However, in the interest of righting the ship, I’d be delighted to constructively discuss these issues in private.
On a personal note, my sincere thanks to all the staff and colleagues (particularly Lee Caney), who have worked with me over many years to serve our wonderful town.