Wednesday, May 15, 2013
A possible police detail to help mitigate safety concerns failed in a tie vote of the Selectmen, although changes may come later in the summer if needed.
The Farmers Market will be returning for its seventh year on June 18, but it’s not clear whether there will be changes to it over the summer following the Board of Selectmen’s meeting on Tuesday. Debate arose among the board and members of the audience, primarily on issues hovering around whether the Market has outgrown the Town Common such as a police detail to mitigate safety concerns, and traffic along Boston Road. The most ardent opposition came from Selectman Valerie Wormell, who noted it would be against the state constitution for the town to pay for a non-profit group’s police detail, as well as safety concerns south of 495. “With the Minot’s Corner construction this summer, we cannot predict how bad it will be, but it will increase…
Friday, April 26, 2013
This week, Patch talked with the two incumbents in the race for the Board of Selectmen. Here some of the highlights.
Election Day is next Tuesday here in Westford, and here are some recaps of our live chats here in Patch this week with incumbent Selectmen Andrea Peraner-Sweet and Bob Jefferies. You can check out the full transcript of what Peraner-Sweet said here and what Jefferies said here. Also, don't forget to submit your letter to the editor! There's no deadline on Westford Patch. Well, maybe Wednesday...... Gun Control Peraner-Sweet noted a recent discussion on 60 Minutes where parents from Newton, CT asked if everyone was being done to keep their community safe, and that was the discussion she saw in the Article 30 debate, although she believes the delivery of the message went wrong. She also noted that the Second Amendment is not an unfettered …
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Board of Selectmen candidate Jim Jarvie suspended most of his campaign related activities shortly after the Boston Marathon tragedy, but will return to the campaign trail on Monday.
Jim Jarvie was in the hospital battling an eye infection during the tragedy in Boston earlier this week, but once healed, he decided that there were some things more important than campaigning for Westford's Board of Selectmen. "When those events began to unfold, they were horrific. From my perspective, there has to be a sensitivity to that," he said. "It's more important for folks to spend time when their family, it was sensational, it was almost out of a movie. I think we just needed to hit the pause button." Jarvie has told Patch that between his decision to suspend his campaign and now, his campaign has not made any phone calls to voters asking for support, coordinated sign holding visibilities, knocking on doors, or Facebook updates…
Monday, April 15, 2013
Board of Selectmen challenger Jim Jarvie believes he can bring fresh perspectives to a board he sees as going in the wrong direction.
This spring, Westford has found itself in the first contested Board of Selectmen’s election since 2008, and one of the challengers for the two open seats on the board hopes to define his campaign in one word: Change. Although Jim Jarvie has experience on the town’s Energy Committee, he sees himself as a newcomer compared to incumbents Andrea Peraner-Sweet and Bob Jefferies, something he believes that the board needs. “I think folks have just had it with the direction and the vision from my opponents, and right now they’re looking for change,” says Jarvie. “I’ve told folks repeatedly, when you go into the polls, ask yourself if Westford is in a better place than it was three years ago, and if you can say no, it’s time to vote for change.” …
Friday, April 12, 2013
While the four candidates for the two Board of Selectmen seats shared many views in common, they also sought to clarify their specific ideas in other areas for still undecided voters.
Those still undecided in Westford's rapidly approaching town election got a little help on Thursday night. All four candidates for the Board of Selectmen's two seats gathered at the J.V. Fletcher Library to face the voters in a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters and broadcast live on Westford Community Access Television. As expected, there were marked differences when it came to two of the most talked about issues during the lead up to Town Meeting: Fiscal Year '15 and the Article 30 debate. On the latter issue, all four candidates agreed that Article 30 turned out to be a mistake, with incumbents Bob Jefferies and Andrea Peraner-Sweet saying that the article ultimately got away from its original intent, while challengers Scott …
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Employees representing Westford's schools, police, fire department and other departments were on hand at Tuesday's Board of Selectmen meeting to speak out against proposed cuts to their insurance coverage.
Town Hall was at capacity for the second time this year as town employees and other residents packed the halls and meeting room to voice their concerns regarding a proposal asking 67 percent of the town's employees covered by municipal health plans to contribute another $1.3 million. Board of Selectmen chairman Kelly Ross told the assembled crowd that the Board had voted to take any proposed changes off the table in executive session, continuing that the issue would go back to the Insurance Advisory Committee, which met on Monday. “I know this is personal, but I ask you all to hang in there,” he said, adding that the board hopes to work with town employees to get through what is expected to be a difficult fiscal year. During the public …
Friday, April 5, 2013
Join us at 12:00 p.m. for a chat with Westford selectman candidate Scott Hazelton.
Municipal election season is here, Westford! Join us today for a chat with candidate Scott Hazelton. You can ask him your questions above!
Friday, March 15, 2013
The Board of Selectmen voted to reconsider their recommendation vote following changes to wording that voters will now see.
The wheels of government are constantly in motion, and now Town Meeting voters heading to the Abbot School on March 23 will have one more change after Tuesday's Board of Selectmen meeting. Article 11, which will set the town's operating budget for Fiscal '14, will now have no option to possibly consider a Prop 2 1/2 overide vote following news from School Superintendent Bill Olsen that could potentially impact next fiscal year's school budget. That budget had been recommended by the Selectmen with a split 3-2 vote before the news from Olsen that Westford's schools would be getting $88,000 in the first installment of a $4.1 million settlement from the Merrimack Special Education Collaborative, a settlement shared by all towns within the …
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
The Selectmen want to wait until Fall Town Meeting to seek more information from the Permanent Town Building Committee.
Westford's Board of Selectmen will unanimously recommended to Town Meeting voters the dismissal of Article 27 on Tuesday night after coming to a consensus that more resarch is needed on the proposed Parker Village Fire Sub-Station, or if a fire station in Parker Village is even needed at all. The Article, which asked voters to approve a swap of land in the Jack Walsh field parcel, now under the supervision of the Recreation Commission, for parcels of land near the Stony Brook School once being considered as a possible Town Hall annex location. Town Permanent Building Committee chairman Tom Mahanna told the board that the Jack Walsh location, which would be funded by Cornerstone Square developer Robert Walker as a condition of a permit …
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
The issue may arise again at some point in the future, but not before Spring Town Meeting on March 23 as a packed Stony Brook Auditorium left seeing the Selectmen sign the Town Meeting warrant without the controversial "gun ban" warrant article.
The voters of Westford now have the articles they will act upon at the Abbot School on March 23, and none of them will involve guns. In what was a very brief continuation of last week's meeting, the board voted unanimously to withdraw the controversial Article 30 that would prohibit certain types of firearms in front of an overflowing auditorium and a secondary room (pictured) at the Stony Brook School on Wednesday night. The board also declined to reopen the warrant for several other articles, including new citizen's petitions related to Article 30, signing the warrant and ending debate on what will be presented to voters at Town Meeting. Selectman Bob Jefferies, the principal proponent of the measure, did not see the article's …
jmcgruff
8:54 pm on Saturday, May 25, 2013
Kaio do you live in Westford? Thousands of cars travel Depot St daily, its laughable to consider THAT no visibilty...but i almost forgot the FM is about building community thru eating a PuPu platter from Karma on the common. Virtually no traffic means a massive event took place for almost a week straight at the Abbott AND supplied plenty of parking that was accessible and in excess thus not … more ›