John McCarthy is a 1982 Staples High School graduate, who moved back to Westport 30 years ago. He served 3 terms on the Representative Town Meeting (RTM), and coached Little League softball and baseball, and recreation basketball for many seasons. He is a former board member of Staples Tuition Grants and treasurer of Homes With Hope (in its Interfaith Housing days).
John writes:
Back in 2023, Dan Woog posted some basic ideas I had written on transparency and openness in town government.
I’m not an expert. These were just based on my observations and experiences.
That led to some great conversations with people all over town, who said I had written exactly what they were thinking.
I wish I could say there was a rush by our elected and appointed leaders to embrace the concepts and ideas I presented. But there wasn’t.
It did result in several coffees with officials who wanted to make sure I wasn’t too dangerous. Aside from that: crickets from the elected crowd.
Town Hall: Westport’s seat of government.
Now, with election season here, and every candidate promising transparency and openness, seems like a great time to bring these ideas back to the table.
Two weeks ago I sent each of the 1st selectman candidates a series of 7 concepts of “openness and transparency” in town government, and 7 ideas of how we could make those concepts a reality in Westport.
Some of these are very general concepts. Others are somewhat inside baseball, with specific legal meanings.
The candidates’ unedited responses can be found here in a Google sheet.
I also asked them to answer 2 questions. Their unedited responses are below.
Don O’Day, Kevin Christie and David Rosenwaks: Thank you for taking the time during a busy campaign season to answer these questions. I look forward to seeing how one of you follows up once you are elected.
From left: Kevin Christie and Amy Wistreich; David Rosenwaks; Andrea Moore and Don O’Day.
Questions:
- What will you do in your first month in office to get these ideas and concepts built into the town government’s operating system?
- How would you use the power and influence of the 1st selectman’s position to get these ideas implemented?
Don O’Day:
What I will do in the first month: I plan to identify the current FOIA protocol and see where, if possible, efficiency can be built in the process. I plan to ask for a cost estimate of historical FOIA requests, and identify those areas driving the majority of those requests.
My influence on the operating system is that the system reports to me. I won’t need to do more than simply be an effective leader.
Kevin Christie:
In the first month, I would begin by meeting with department heads, board chairs, and staff to establish clear expectations around openness and communication.
We’ll start by assessing where information is currently siloed or hard to access, and then set short-term steps for improvement, such as ensuring all meeting materials are published online (e.g., Board of Selectmen meeting packets are not typically posted at all, and they should be).
I’ll also continue our open coffee and conversation events we’ve held throughout the campaign, to keep residents directly engaged in how we’re shaping priorities and decisions and to hear the community’s feedback.
The 1st selectman sets the tone and culture for Town Hall and the community, and I start with the belief that government exists to support the people. I would use that position to make openness, engagement and responsiveness part of how Westport operates every day, from how we communicate to how we collaborate.
That includes ensuring cross-board coordination, encouraging department heads to post information proactively, and making sure residents can understand not just what decisions are made, but why. Leadership starts with modeling transparency, and creating an environment where information and participation are valued by everyone in town government.
David Rosenwaks:
As 1st selectman, during the first month on the job, I will sit down with the head of the IT department, other department heads, and elected officials, and tell them that these concepts and ideas will be the framework for how we are going to approach transparency going forward under my administration.
I am also open to setting up an Openness and Transparency Commission/ Committee that will help us implement this approach and help hold us accountable. Achieving greater transparency can ideally save the town time and funds when deliberating on any project.
There are other things that we can be doing as well. For example, every elected and appointed official should be assigned a government email address (not always the case now), and those emails should be listed on the town website. Residents shouldn’t have to struggle to find these email addresses.
Click here to read each candidate’s extended responses to John McCarthy’s 7 concepts, and 7 ideas.