On Monday, I was honored to be elected president of the Westbrook City Council. As I told my fellow councilors that night, I will never be able to fill Jim Violette’s big shoes, but I will do my best. I also touched on Jim Violette’s last remarks regarding respect.
Smart, hard-working people often disagree. During the next two years, councilors, the mayor and, most likely, many of you will disagree as to what is best for Westbrook. But when we disagree, we do so respectfully. At the end of the day, we come together. What unites us, making Westbrook an even better place to raise our children, work, and live our lives, is much, much greater than what divides us.
When he came to Maine in 1960 to campaign for president, John
Kennedy spoke of the call to public service. He said we need people “who look to the future, who are ready to break into that future, who are ready to lead.” Westbrook is fortunate to have those people. I look forward to serving with them.
Here are some things that will be coming up soon. Economic development remains an extremely important issue. I have heard from many people that we need to be aggressive on economic development. I agree. Growing our businesses and attracting new ones is the best way to take the pressure off all of our tax bills.
To build on the momentum from this fall’s economic summit, the City Council will have a workshop on economic development this month, tentatively scheduled for January 30. We are inviting the Mayor, the administration including Economic and Community Development Director Erik Carson, the Planning Board, and the Mayor’s downtown development committee.
This will be an opportunity for all of us to discuss what type of economic development we would like to see in Westbrook. It will be open to the public and televised. I invite all of you to participate.
We will also be having a workshop with the school board in early February to discuss ways that the city and the school departments can continue to work together to be more efficient and cost-effective. We will also hear a preliminary report on the school’s budget. While the city council will not begin its budget deliberations for several months, the school board will soon begin its deliberations. I invite all of you to participate in that process.
Finally, one of the duties of council president is to set up the council committees. I have reorganized them somewhat to respond to the pressing issues of the day. Business development is an important issue, so I have focused our Economic Development Committee specifically on commercial economic development. Suzanne Joyce will chair that committee.
Residential housing development and traffic also create many issues, as we all know. I have formed a Growth and Traffic Committee that will handle residential growth and traffic concerns. Dorothy Aube will chair that committee.
Drew Gattine will chair the Committee of the Whole (which handles all zoning issues and whatever issues don’t fit into the other committees) along with the Legislative Committee. Ed Symbol will chair the Budget and Finance and the Account and Claims Committees. John O’Hara will chair the Facilities and Streets Committee. Mike Foley will chair the Public Safety Committee.
I carried forward all the pending referrals from the previous council. Councilor Gattine’s suggestion that all committee chairs meet in the next few months to dispose of referrals that are no longer viable, to prioritize the remaining ones, and to develop a timetable for addressing them is an excellent one. I will be asking each committee chair to do that.
We have a busy and exciting year ahead of us. As always, don’t hesitate to call or email or stop any of us in the store with your questions or concerns. Take care. We’ll be in touch.
Brendan Rielly
Westbrook City Council president
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