Toni Simonetti has lived in Westport for nearly 24 years. She is a retired corporate communications executive and former journalist. She has become “passionately interested in good municipal governance, as the town works through a number of high-stakes projects.”
In advance of a series of meetings by the Representative Town Meeting’s Finance and Education Committees, the full RTM and the Board of Finance on the Long Lots Elementary School project, she sent this email to members of those bodies, and the Planning & Zoning Commission.
There is an irresponsible rush to approve the Long Lots appropriation request after a very long period in which the RTM would not entertain a discussion of any magnitude.
“Let the process work,” was the response we got from many an RTM member to the many requests for a hearing on the pending matter.
This is a highly complex project, with a price tag that will increase property taxes by nearly 4%. This is high stakes for every town citizen, and every one of your constituents. Make sure you represent them ALL.
Yet now, the Board of Finance will vote on an initial appropriation on February 7, and the RTM the very next day will hold committee meetings followed by a full RTM special meeting next week for final approval.
You are inviting litigation for malfeasance by those who have been or will be damaged by a rushed decision. As the chair of the BOF stated rather definitively: “Once we approve this [funding request], the train has left the station.”
The Board of Education spent years on this topic. The Long Lots School Building Committee was formed amid some initial hesitation on the makeup of the committee at the RTM last year; it was the last time the RTM had anything close to the Long Lots matter before it.
The LLSBC had 20+ meetings on the project since its inception. None of the meetings were recorded, and written minutes provide no details on the public discussions, which became robust once it became clear the open space on Terrace 1 would be decimated and abutting neighbors potentially damaged. It has been a deeply flawed process.
The Planning & Zoning Commission had 2 meetings on the topic, at which many concerns were expressed by commissioners and the public.
Hundreds of public comments were received, and a record number of electors attended the 2 meetings.
Public interest is high in the Long Lots Elementary School project.
Many of the P&Z concerns are detailed in the resolution included with their positive 8-24 report (click here to see). It calls for transparency, more communication and collaboration, and a lot more scrutiny over the remaining phases of the project.
Your rushed meeting schedules do not honor this commitment to good governance.
Now is the time for the RTM to review the process, the dissension surrounding this project and its process to date, and fix it. Now is the time to revisit the makeup of Long Lots School Building Committee and add collaborative members and experts; to involve the town’s Public Site and Building Commission, and to get neighbors and other stakeholders to the table.
You cannot do that in one meeting. The RTM committees cannot do that in one night. The RTM process is just beginning.
By the way, the RTM committees need to be livestreamed and recorded with good quality audio, and held in a meeting room large enough to accommodate interested citizens.
I implore the RTM to do what is right. This is the biggest capital project in the town’s history. You need to get this right.
Based on our conversations with various members of town boards, we feel that this newly designed proposal takes into account their feedback and makes the appropriate adjustments to the prior submitted 8-24. Furthermore, it satisfies all requests from affected parties, while also taking into account the topographical limitations of 13 Hyde Lane.
