After nine years on the board, Selectman Brian Valcourt will not seek re-election in the April 2023 election. He will remain on the board until the election.
With news of his departure, there are two Select Board seats, two School Committee seats, one Personnel Board opening, and the Town Clerk position available in this coming April election, along with many other boards, committees, and commissions that have vacancies as well. Interested persons are asked to complete nomination paperwork or an application that can be found in the clerk’s office.
– ADA Transition Plan Committee – two vacancies
– Agricultural/Open Space Preservation Trust Fund Council – one vacancy
– Agricultural Commission Alternate Member – two vacancies
– Bike & Walking Path Committee – one vacancies
– Climate Resiliency Sub-Committee Members
– Council On Aging – one vacancy
– Energy Committee – four vacancies
– Fence Viewers – one vacancy
– Recreation Commission – four vacancies
– Safety Recreation Commission – one vacancy
– Tax Incentive Program Committee – one vacancy, the Westport Economic Development Task Force Rep
– Westport Citizens Betterment Committee – one vacancy

Marine services fees on the rise
For four years, marine services fees have stayed the same. But with inflation hitting every other aspect of the economy, the marine services department requested, and was approved for, a slight fee increase:
n Waterway User Fee (any boat in Westport waterways for more than two weeks):
Increase from $4.50 a foot to $5 a foot
• Private Mooring Fee (anyone in the town who has a private mooring pays a yearly fee):
Increase from $15 per year to $25 per year
• Town Mooring Seasonal Rental Fee:
Increase fee from $400 per year to $500 per year
With the increases, Westport will generate an approximate additional $17,500 over the course of the season, harbormaster Chris Leonard predicted. After marine services looked into other similar towns’ fees for similar services, such as Dartmouth and Marion, the new fees are within their same ballpark and Westport remains well below their private mooring, he said.
In other news
• Deborah Ciolfi was appointed to the Historical Commission as an alternate member through a unanimous vote. Additionally, the Board approved the appointment of Raquel Rodrigues as a full time EMD Dispatcher for the town.
• The board unanimously voted to sponsor an article on the Annual Town Meeting Warrant for a town-wide salary study for various departments.

The Board moved to put the Diman Regional High School Debt Exclusion question on the April 11, 2023 ballot, after it failed in November. The question — should Westport use excluded debt to fund its financial obligation to the project — will remain the same, but members said they didn’t disseminate enough information about it last time and hope to do a better job educating the public on the need for the question's passage.
The Diman Regional High School project is a $293 million project, and Westport’s share of that, approved by voters at Town Meeting last year, is 5 percent of unreimbursed costs. Board members said the question of how to fund it was not clearly understood at the last ballot, but the town's financial obligation remains, and if debt exclusion funding is not approved by voters in April, the funds will have to be found within the operating budget. The only other option, town administrator James Hartnett said last month, would be to walk away from the project.
Chairwoman Shana Shufelt said funding the town's obligation from the operating budget, and not using excluded debt, would cut deeply into town services and salaries, and would be “devastating."