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12/26/2017 11:00 PMJanuary
• The Board of Selectmen agreed with Building Official David Maiden’s recommendation to spend $28,268 for a new, online town permit record entry and tracking system.
• Susie Bishop retired this month after 27 years managing Westbrook Visiting Nurses office; John Ferrara retired as executive director of Literacy Volunteers Valley Shore.
• The Board of Selectmen authorized Finance Director Donna Castracane to enter into energy purchase agreements with suppliers.
• On Jan. 24, the Board of Selectmen ratified a four-year labor agreement with the town constables that includes a shift to a high deductible health plan and annual wage increases between 2.25 and 2.75 percent.
• Town Assessor Pam Fogarty certified the Oct. 1, 2016 Grand List on Jan. 31; reflecting a town-wide property revaluation, the Grand List values dropped 2.7 percent compared to the 2015 Grand List.
February
• On Feb. 16, the Board of Selectmen voted to replace the crumbling asphalt tennis courts on Fiske Lane with grass. At a cost of $56,750, a new fire sprinkler system was installed in the basement boiler area of the John P. Riggio Building; other features like a new fire alarm system for $25,510, panic bars on the exterior doors for $3,768 and new emergency lighting for $10,800 were also installed.
• Snow and cold weather stalled construction of the new Town Center public parking area on Route One at Knothe Road.
• The Gowrie Group delivered a check from its annual Gowrie Group Challenge for $172,919 to the Shoreline Soup Kitchens & Pantries.
• The Board of Selectmen adopted a proposed 2017-’18 budget that, if moved on by the Board of Finance, would increase spending by 2.4 percent.
• Settlers Landing’s 24 new residents, all VISTA members, moved in to 1961 Boston Post Road.
• The selectmen appointed an ad hoc committee to study concept of a demolition delay ordinance for historic structures.
March
• The State Department of Transportation halted a town construction contract to replace Lynn Road bridge due to historic considerations.
• The Westbrook Train Station was dedicated to the late state senator Eileen Daily in a March 3 ceremony.
• The Board of Selectmen voted to install the new playscape at the existing Firehouse playground.
• The Board of Selectmen choose Stewart Signs to supply a new LED electronic sign board for installation in place of the current sign in front of the Mulvey Center.
• A March 27 Town Meeting reaffirmed town participation in the state’s circuit-breaker program and adopted a new building fee schedule.
• The Planning Commission conducted an online survey to gauge residents’ sidewalk priorities.
• The Board of Education budget proposed increasing spending by $162,404 or less than one percent.
• On March 21, the BOS voted to hold the annual budget vote at a May Town Meeting instead of at referendum.
• Westbrook Youth & Family Services’ new Clinical Director Sara Zaientz, LCSW, started this month.
April
• Matthew Scotella’s Bottle it Up fundraiser collected bottles and cans to benefit Yale’s Smilow Cancer Center Closer-to-Free Fund
.
• An April 8 Spin-a-Thon at Valley Shore Y supported Middlesex Hospital’s Cancer and Parkinson’s programs.
• State funding cuts force the 9-Town Transit agency to cut three of its daily Shoreline Shuttle bus runs.
• Middlesex Habitat for Humanity hosted its first fundraiser on the shoreline on April 28 at the Westbrook Elks Lodge.
• The town signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge that secures a $127,000 federal grant to rebuild the Kirkland Boat Landing on Route 145; work will be done in 2019.
• The Board of Finance voted to send a $29.7 million 2017-’18 budget with a 1.3 percent increase on to town electors for a vote; capital fund allocations were put on hold until the state budget is adopted.
• The new playscape funded by a $43,636 Westbrook Foundation grant was installed in the updated firehouse playground.
• The Westbrook Elks Club held its annual Easter Egg hunt on April 15 for club members and town residents.
May
• Tuxedo Junction: The Sounds of Swing
marked its 1,001 nights playing at Bill’s Seafood.
• The Town Meeting of May 16 approved the proposed $29.7 million 2017-’18 budget; the plan increases spending by one percent. The Board of Finance set the new mil rate at 19.66 mils, a 0.40 mil rise.
• The Zoning Commission approved a town application to build a training and storage facility at the north end fire station at 725 West Pond Meadow Road; in June 2016, the Town Meeting approved $143,000 for the project.
• The Memorial Day Parade was on May 29.
June
• The Westbrook Garden Club held its annual May Garden Market on the Town Green on May 13.
• Town electors voted not to sell some town-owned marshland to the Stewart B. McKinney Wildlife Refuge.
• Westbrook High School held its Senior/Junior Prom on June 3 at Water’s Edge; the Westbrook High School Class of 2017 graduated on June 19.
• Kathy Connolly of Speaking of Landscapes installed planned landscaping at the new 27-space public parking lot at Knothe Road and Route One; the town’s construction contractor for the project was Xenelis Construction for a bid of $360,000.
• On May 25, the Board of Selectmen formed an Ad Hoc Technology Committee to address staff concerns about the town’s website and to re-examine the town’s approach to information technology services.
• The Board of Fire Commissioners discovered a resignation letter dated June 16 sent from Donn Dobson, the town’s deputy fire marshal.
July
• The town’s electors decisively rejected the proposed blight control ordinance at referendum.
• The Westbrook Fire Department held its 46th annual Carnival from July 12 to 15.
• The Federal Railroad Administration announced its final plan for improving the Northeast Rail Corridor would not include construction of a new high-speed rail bypass line.
• The town released the streetlight conversion project to bid.
• The political party caucuses picked slates for fall elections.
August
• Area youth participated in the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge Hunger Games on Aug. 5.
• The Board of Selectmen discussed the optimum mix between resident troopers and constables in a meeting on the town’s policing model.
• Kate Gilstad-Hayden was chosen by the Board of Finance to fill the slot open due to a resignation.
• Westbrook Drum Corps hosted its 58th annual Muster on Aug. 25 and 26.
• Westbrook students returned to school on Aug. 30; summer capital projects included installing air conditioning in the middle school’s upper level classrooms and new window walls installed at the Daisy Ingraham Elementary School.
• The new online permitting system Municity went live for contractors and town land use staff this month.
September
• Anselmo Delia won more votes than Kevin Hecht in a Republican primary for Saybrook Probate Court judge.
• A Town Meeting approved new drone rules to prohibit their flight over town open space.
• The Westbrook Garden Club held its annual Fall Mum Market on Sept. 9.
• The Board of Fire Commissioners voted on Sept. 6 to appoint John Planas as the new town fire marshal.
• Town Center mainstay Nautical Needles
closes its Westbrook doors to relocate to Deep River.
• The deteriorating Fiske Lane tennis courts were dismantled and grass planted to cover the town-owned site.
October
• The Valley Shore YMCA held its Senior Resources Healthy Living Expo on Oct. 5.
• A ceremony was held this month to announce the official naming of the Route One bridge over the Patchogue River as the Singing Bridge and the Route One bridge over the Menunketesuck River as the John Wilson bridge.
• The fundraising Vista Tour de Shore
ended in a celebration at the Westbrook Elks Lodge.
• A benefit for Casa Boricua/Hurricane Relief Fund at the town’s Mulvey Municipal Center was held on Oct. 21.
• The new Preserve open space parking lot on the east side of Route 153 in Westbrook opened this month.
• Taylor Wrye named as Westbrook Middle School’s new principal.
• The State Legislature adopted a new biennial budget that keeps intact town and school aid, but slashes programs that benefit low-income seniors including the Renter’s Rebate, Circuit-Breaker, and Medicare Savings Program.
November
• The Westbrook High School mounted the musical Legally Blonde
.
• Town voters return incumbents Republican First Selectman Noel Bishop, Republican Selectman John Hall III and Democrat Mary Labbadia to the Board of Selectmen.
• The boards of Selectmen and Finance vote to add $369,000 to the Lynn Road bridge replacement project.
• A special legislative session returns the Renter’s Rebate program to state control, but does not reverse cuts made to the Circuit Breaker or Medicare Savings Programs.
• A new cancer center opens at Middlesex Hospital’s Emergency Medical Center on Flat Rock Place.
December
• Consistent with a September vote of the Board of Selectmen, tenant Stein Surveyors moved out of the John P. Riggio building so that the town can reclaim the space for town functions.
• On Dec. 11, a Town Meeting approved $180,398 to buy the town’s streetlights and $206,620 to pay Siemens to convert them to LEDs.
• The annual Holiday Parade and Tree Lighting ceremony on the Town Green opened the holiday season.