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11-04-2025 3:02pm
Westwood Select Board Will Disband FS1 Working Group and Create New Advisory Committee
Darlene Cancell
Editor
Westwood Select Board is disbanding its Fire Station 1 (FS1) Working Group and instead will form a seven-member advisory committee made up entirely of Westwood residents, with nominations to be reviewed at the board's next meeting on November 17th.
It was at Select Board's remotely held meeting of November 3rd that Select Board Chair Robert Gotti introduced the idea of the resident advisory committee, which he said would support greater transparency and help achieve a broader representation of resident perspectives. He stated his hopes that in doing so, the group will be able to present a new plan to build a fire station that will receive greater community support and consensus, which will be necessary if voters are to approve funding and construction of the new fire station.
The Westwood Select Board formed the FS1 Working Group in 2024. Its members included Select Board member Joe Previtera, two residents who concurrently served on town boards or committees, town staff, Westwood Fire Department personnel, and the town's hired consultants. The FS1 Working Group assessed, promoted, and guided plans for a new fire station accompanied by a price tag of $38.1 million. Westwood voters ultimately rejected the plan not once, but twice at the polls.
Some residents had criticized the previous process that led up to the two votes as lacking transparency, excluding stakeholder perspectives, and overly relying on paid consultants rather than resident input.
As explained by Mr. Gotti, the new resident advisory committee to Select Board would be a public body charged with narrowing options of location and design for a new fire station to the two most viable ones. The FS1 Working Group would no longer meet and will be disbanded. However, the resident advisory committee could still call on town staff and consultants who served on the previous working group for advice and expertise on technical matters, procedures, regulatory issues, and fiduciary considerations. The resident advisory committee would have a presence at the final Finance and Warrant Commission meeting, prior to preparation of related warrant articles for voter consideration.
Both Select Board Clerk Joe Previtera and member Marianne LeBlanc Cummings voiced support of Mr. Gotti's proposal to disband the FS1 Working Group and replace it with the resident advisory committee. Each of the three Select Board members agreed to put forth four candidates to be considered for the seven-member body. Select Board will discuss nominations at its November 17th meeting.
In addition, Mr. Previtera urged the board to first decide on temporary quarters for fire department personnel, calling the issue a priority, and underscoring the need to move plans along quickly.
Mr. Gotti responded that prioritizing the issue of temporary quarters over the work of the resident advisory committee would be "putting the cart before the horse." As an example, if the desirable location for a new fire station is different from the location of the existing FS1, there is no need to demolish the current FS1, and no need for temporary quarters, he said. Mr Gotti stated that Westwood's "exposure" is not unlike many municipalities in Massachusetts. The town's engineer has not deemed the existing FS1 to be unsafe; however, if things were to change, Select Board would quickly react, he said.
