Did You Know?

Did you know the Best Westbrook Task Force is modeled after the Better Denver Bond Program?

Spearheaded by Westbrook City Council President Brendan Rielly (D-Ward 1), the Best Westbrook Task Force will be an independent commission made up of Westbrook residents (twenty had signed up by late January) who will be looking to make City government more proactive when it comes to Westbrook's infrastructure. In other words, Council President Rielly advocated for the creation of the task force as a way for the City to analyze Westbrook's public buildings, development strategies, roads, and other parts of infrastructure to identify possible troubles areas before they become, well, trouble.

According to Rielly, the Best Westbrook Task Force will be valuable for a couple reasons. First, it will give the City of Westbrook a great opportunity to appraise best practices when it comes to road development, infrastructure improvements, and neighborhood protection in a strategic way, instead of during budget season, which is often the case. And second, Rielly hopes the task force will identify trouble spots before they become an issue so that the City can resolve possible controversies before they occur. According to Rielly, governments generally are reactive, so they might eventually "fix the problem for the next guy, but not be able to help the first guy in line."

The task force, according to Rielly, will begin meeting after the City hires a finance chief, which is expected to happen to happen sometime this month, according to published reports. If you are interested in serving on the Best Westbrook Task Force, contact Councilor Rielly.

- John C.L. Morgan