To the editor,

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to respond. There are several groups looking to cast a bad light on this department to further their campaign. This is expected and we will not feed into it. We are interested in transparency. First, I would like to apologize for not being at the last Finance Committee meeting. I was sick and not able to attend.

Matt and I were under the assumption that it would be a straight forward meeting to explain a couple of areas of the budget that we felt would not make it to the end of the fiscal year under the present spending conditions. Matt felt comfortable going alone and I had complete faith in his ability to express the wishes of the Board of Health (BOH).

The first issue is with the personnel and payroll. We let the town administrator know at the beginning of the fiscal year that there was a mistake on our budget that needed to be corrected with regards to the 2 percent increase which was never added on to our budget. The other is an issue which was created by the union negotiations with the town which allowed union employees who were working 35 hours per week to 40 hours per week. There have been adjustments made and this is not an issue.

The other issue is expenses in the BOH. This is an office which is in transition and has been for the past three years, with the replacement of the town nurse and the major acquisition of a director of health. Our expenditure for advertising, training, seminars, postage, travel, and supplies for agents, director, and nurse has risen significantly. This is where the main concern comes in trying to get through the remainder of the year. We have no control over complaints and all of the necessary activity which comes with them, nor the expense associated with it, but the work has to be done.

I can’t stress enough the importance of the work that this office does and the increase in activity from the time the director came on board. We are in transition and will be for the foreseeable future. With the Animal Control Department coming on board if Town Meeting allows, this will add another level to the demands placed on the BOH and its budgets. Will there be more issues in the future? I believe it is fair to say there will be, and I also think it is fair to say that we will figure them out and find a way to keep moving forward.

Bill Harkins

Chairman, Westport Board of Health