Freitas named veterans’ officer

The board voted unanimously to appoint former US Marine Carol Freitas to the post of veterans’ service officer for Westport.

Justin Latini, commander of Vietnam Veterans Chapter 207, introduced Ms. Freitas to selectmen and said she had been the first choice of the search committee — he added that there were a number of good applicants.

Ms. Freitas said she served in the Marine Corps from 1986 to 1992 and then in the Marine Corps Reserves until 1997. She also holds leadership roles in veterans groups in New Bedford and Rhode Island.

She replaces Veterans’ Services Agent Brad Fish who resigned earlier this year and has since taken a similar position on Fairhaven.

No mention of salary was made but veterans recently said they feared that Mr. Fish left because Westport pays less for the position than is paid in other towns.

Westport paid Mr. Fish just over $41,000 a year, Mr. Nutini said recently, far less than the $54,000 average paid by the similar sized towns of Fairhaven, Somerset and Swansea.

“We are seeking (a salary of) $51,123 before we hire our next veterans services officer, Mr. Latini said last month.

Route 88 rebuild

The town administrator notified selectmen that the state intends to resume its work on Route 88, this time from Drift Road south to Horseneck Beach. The project will run through the summer and last about 14 months.

Work will be more extensive in this area than the paving and drainage work done on northern sections.

The road will be widened to make way for a new sidewalk and bicycle lane. At the Fontaine Bridge, the roadway will be reduced to one lane in each direction to make room for a bike lane.

Improvements will also be made to the turn-around near the top of the boat ramp heading up to Route 88.

Animal inspectors

Selectmen voted unanimously to recommend reappointment of animal inspectors Donna Lambert, Caitlyn Riley and Rebecca Souza.

The board’s role is to recommend the appointments, a recommendation that then needs to be accepted by the state.

The board also agreed, at the request of Ms. Lambert, to seek applicants for two assistant animal control officers. Ms. Lambert said there were four at one point last year, but two left (no notice given), and the other two are college students with limited availability.

A concern was that Town Meeting voters might, in May, agree to a proposed transition of inspections to Board of Health control from the Board of Selectmen. Members agreed that there is a need now, regardless of any possible changes to come.

Charter — Everybody’s happy

A report from cable company Charter Communications raised a few eyebrows.

In a letter, the company said it had received a total of four complaints from Westport customers over the past year, “which I thought was kind of low,” said Jim Hartnett who was filling in for the town administrator.

“I myself have received more than four complaints,” board Chairwoman Shana Shufelt said. “I just find it absolutely incredible that they’ve only had four complaints. … How do they count complaints?”

“They don’t even know where Westport is,” added board member Steven Ouellette. “They think it is Westport, Missouri, or Westport, Connecticut.”

Charter’s letter concluded, “All four (complaints) were resolved to the satisfaction of both parties.”

Problematic pole

After about 15 minutes of discussion, the board voted to continue what had seemed to be a routine request by Verizon and NStar.

A Verizon spokesman said they want to put up a new pole on the south side of Old County Road, across from the new grade 5-12 school, to handle the school’s electric and communications needs. It would be 40 feet from an existing pole — electric and communications cable would be directed to the new pole from the existing pole, then down the new pole to underground cable that would run beneath Old County Road to the school.

A neighbor, however, said the pole, directly in front of their house, would prevent them from ever putting in the driveway they would someday like to install.

Selectmen were sympathetic, asking a Verizon representative whether it would be possible to put the new pole someplace else or whether Verizon could make do with just the existing pole.

They’ll take the matter up again at their first April meeting.