The purpose of this review is to try to understand the Town’s position. We have been trying to get the Town involved with the village project since January 2022 and we will continue to do so. We are not trying to build a case here but we hope providing a separate opinion, it may allow for discussion.

 

Below are sections (3 & 3a) of the Selectboard’s letter. The Town’s statements are in italic and underlined. Bulleted points are our responses to their statement. If you have not seen the full opinion letter from the Town, contact Gayle Pezzo for a copy.

 

Town’s Position:

1. The Town of Colchester is not interested in providing services under contract to a village at Westbury or any other village in the Town of Colchester. While Westbury is a special place, there are many associations and special neighborhoods in the Town of Colchester.  Under the approach proposed by WHOA, any of these associations could become municipal villages and then ask to contract with the Town and for municipal privileges, such as wholesale water rates from the regional water entity.

 

Our Position:

• We accept that Colchester is not interested in providing services under contract and we agree there are many special places in Colchester.

• The statement made in the third sentence does not logically follow from the first two sentences.

• Regarding water rates, there are both physical and legal reasons why we believe your statement is factually inaccurate. Please provide an example of how our approach could be applied by an association in Colchester.

 

Town’s Position:

 

3a. Just as it was with private roads, it would be unfair to provide municipal services to a Westbury village but not villages created by the many other homeowners associations. It is on fairness and public good for the residents of Colchester. Given that municipal service delivery often costs more for the above-mentioned reasons, we are not seeking to expand our portfolio of responsibilities under contract. Beyond the issue of efficiency, by taking on contract work, the Town would be taking on liability for its operations, both physical and paperwork operations. It is not in the best interest of the Town to take on liability for a village that would be spread to the taxpayers across the Town in terms of a claim exceeding our coverage or through increased premiums should an incident occur.

 

Our Position:

• Municipalities often partner with each other.

• Colchester and Milton partnered for a number of years on dispatch services. That did not mean that Colchester was required to accept requests from other municipalities wanting dispatch services.

• Recently, Colchester asked Essex to pay for services performed by Colchester’s tech rescue team. How is providing technical rescue services to another municipality for a fee, support the position above?

 

 

From the Town’s statement not wishing to provide services under contract to a village within Colchester, we are removing the question: “Under what conditions would the Town partner with Westbury” from our list below. That is not to say we no longer believe there is public good for all Colchester residents in a partnership with the Town. Rather, it is to accept that as we discuss the pros and cons of a village, it must make sense without Town’s involvement.

 

Reviewing the information above we should ask our four questions:

 

• Why would the village project be good for Westbury?

• Does the project hurt our neighbors outside of Westbury?

• Under what conditions would the Town partner with Westbury?

• Why wouldn’t the Town want to help its residents?

 

The final Chapter post will be on 3b.

 

Feel free to weigh in with comments or questions.

Hope all is well,

-Gayle P. & Ralph P.

The Village Project Team