Retired Council on Aging director Beverly Bisch was legendary for her ability to sniff out and secure grants, and one of the last she secured will pay off in smooth reliable rides for the town’s seniors.

The COA just took possession of a 12-passenger Ford F450 van paid for in large part by a federal Community Transit Program grant. It’s not yet registered but will soon be and is parked behind the senior center on Reed Road.

The van cost $122,000, but a grant secured by Bisch will pay for all but about 15 percent of that. The town’s obligation is $20,805.70 and with $20,000 in the department’s capital improvements fund “we have to come up with $805.70,” Bisch said. “But I think we’re good with that.

Under the terms of the grant the van is a lease and will technically be owned by the federal government for five years and 100,000 miles, and then ownership reverts to the town. Though towns that don’t use vans that much could have to return them, Bisch said that won’t be the case in Westport because “we’re going to use ours.”

It will replace either a 2014 van with 120,000-odd miles that Bisch said “is kind of on its last leg,” or a 2018 van.

Apart from those, the COA also has an eight-passenger Ford Econoline, a 2014 Honda minivan that “nobody will let me get rid of ... because everyone loves it. It’s only got 64,000 miles on it and will last forever.”

Finally, the COA owns a Dodge Caravan that is handicapped accessible meaning it can be driven by people who use wheelchairs.

“We’ve got quite a good fleet,” she said.