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10/16/2023 12:49 PMWESTBROOK
At a town meeting on Oct. 10, Westbrook residents voted to disband the Police Advisory Board/Traffic Authority (PA/TA) after the board itself earlier voted to recommend the move.
Last month, the Board of Selectman (BOS) unanimously voted to delete the ordinance establishing the PA/TA. However, the deletion of an ordinance must be approved by residents at a town meeting. At the town meeting, residents unanimously voted to delete the ordinance. The vote was done by a voice vote, so an exact total was not established, but roughly 15 people were present at the meeting, and none voted against the motion.
Deleting the ordinance was something the PA/TA itself endorsed due to a variety of issues. At a Sept. 11 PA/TA meeting, the members unanimously voted to recommend to the BOS that the board be disbanded. At the Sept. 12 BOS meeting, PA/TA member Kimberly Bratz explained that the board acted more as a liaison rather than a board with enforcement powers.
With the PA/TA disbanded, the duties of the board could be absorbed by the first selectman, or a liaison could be used instead of a full board. The exact mechanism will be ironed out at a future meeting.
According to the town website, “The Police Advisory Board/ Traffic Authority was created to discuss street issues, speeding and passing zone issues, as well as upcoming construction and other traffic violations.”
“We were basically the liaison between the police and public works department for requests for things like signs on roads, crosswalks, or people speeding, or if someone has a request that needs to go to the state, we make sure it goes where it needs to go,” Bratz said last month.
Additionally, Bratz pointed out that the PA/TA does not currently have enough members for a quorum and, therefore, cannot currently meet.
Not everyone is in favor of disbanding authority, though. First Selectman John Hall said at the September BOS meeting that he had received one letter from a member of the PA/TA who thought the board should not be disbanded and should continue to operate.
The BOS members themselves did not feel strongly one way or the other about keeping the PA/TA and said they would let the voters decide.