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12/04/2023 11:05 AMAt a meeting on Oct. 26, the Board of Selectmen (BOS) appointed William Cummings as the Police Advisory Board/Traffic Authority (PA/TA) liaison for a one-year term after the authority was dissolved earlier this year.
At a town meeting on Oct. 10, Westbrook residents voted to disband PA/TA after the board itself earlier voted to recommend the move. With the PA/TA disbanded, the duties of the board needed to be absorbed by someone. At the BOS meeting on Oct. 26, First Selectman John Hall announced that Cummings had volunteered for the position. The BOS unanimously approved the move.
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.” Cummings will mainly be responsible for handling things like requests for signs on roads, crosswalks, or if there’s a request that needs to be forwarded on to the state.
In September, the BOS unanimously voted to delete the ordinance establishing the PA/TA after members of that board voted to disband. 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. Bratz also pointed out that the PA/TA did not currently have enough members for a quorum and, therefore, could not officially meet.
However, the deletion of an ordinance must be approved by residents at a town meeting. 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.
At the town meeting in October, 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.