Thank You from Laurie Bent
This is a letter from Laurie Bent in thanks to the many people who contributed to the success of the water tank project.
Alan Day
March 16, 2025
THANK YOU
My gratitude for the Special Town Meeting last week is deep and wide.
Thanks To: Alan Day. You led a group effort to ask the Town to hold a special Town Meeting devoted to water tanks. You put together a petition and organized a team of people who spent frigid winter weekends outside at gathering spots all over Weston—at the Transfer Station, in front of Heirloom--collecting signatures. I think you wound up with 400 signatures for the petition. Thank you to all of the signature collectors and petition signers. It was a huge group effort, and your persistence paid off: you achieved the Special Town Meeting. I don’t know if this has ever been done before in Weston. It was hard to do, and you did it.
Alan Day, Alice Benson, Nancy Piedra, Tom Timko, Jeffrey Barz-Snell, John Hennessey, and Nancy Vescuso. You started up a newsletter, “engageWeston,” from scratch. You created a mailing list. You wrote articles summarizing meetings, you asked me and other people knowledgeable about the water tank process to write memos to explain aspects of water tanks that you wanted to understand better. You republished information from the Town website that may have been hard for casual observers to find. The engageWeston newsletter has earned credibility, in the short time of its existence, for its honest, fact-driven approach to local issues. It was hard to do, and you did it.
Water Tanks Working Group I. Leon Gaumond (Town Manager), Tom Cullen (former DPW Director) Rob Williamson (of Wright-Pierce), and Amy Coppers (of Wright-Pierce). You attended dozens and dozens of meetings, forums, site walks, and Select Board meetings, Planning Board meetings, and Conservation Commission meetings. Rob and Amy, you explained the basics of hydraulic systems and water tank design over and over, to consecutive waves of questioners, volunteers and interested citizens, without ever growing visibly impatient. Leon, you were fully engaged in this effort since it commenced in 2021. Over four years, you never stopped thinking and strategizing to find the road to success. Tom Cullen, you were forthright and passionate and always brought us back to the basics regarding the primary importance of providing clean water to the Town. Despite the discouragement of coming short of votes at several Town Meetings, this group never lost its forward momentum. The stakes were too high, and everyone understood that.
Water Tanks Working Group II. Tom Palmer, Lise Revers, and Rich Sullivan (Acting DPW Director) joined the working group and came up to speed. Tom, with the assistance of Finance Director Susan Kelly, you dug into the finances of the water tank project and explained the fiscal impact on the Water Enterprise Fund and the Town as a whole. You also managed lengthy, disputatious weekly meetings with grace, fortitude, and good will. You encouraged participation by the public and let everyone have their say, while still moving the process forward. The meetings were transparent and public, and everyone who wanted to learn more about water tanks had their opportunity to ask questions; those who wanted alternative proposals to be considered had their opportunity to offer suggestions.
Conservation Commission. Conservation Commissioners Rees Tulloss and Alison Barlowe, and Conservation Administrator Jordan McCarron. You worked diligently to identify municipal land parcels that would be good candidates for the land swap. The entire Commission met to discuss the land swap and work through complex logistics. Rees, you made a compelling and eloquent presentation on the land swap on Town Meeting floor.
Planning Board. Leslie Glynn, Chair, Shawn Lanier, Planning Board member, and Imai Aiu, Town Planner. You partnered with me to find a good solution to the height vs. elevation dilemma for a water tank bylaw. We worked together to find common ground on the role that Planning Board should take in ameliorating the impact of the water tanks on abutters and conservation land by agreeing to a Letter of Intent. I enjoyed working with you, and was grateful for the support and collaborative spirit you brought to the process of finding good compromises.
Finance Committee. Bharath Venkataraman, Chair, and Lisa Reitano, Former Chair. You took an active role in pushing the project forward. You both spoke up effectively at several Town Meetings. Lisa wrote a piece for engageWeston that clearly explained the financial implications of delaying the water tank project. Members of the entire Finance Committee were stalwart supporters of the project since early 2023, when they encouraged Water Tank Working Group I to go for all three tanks as a package.
Judy Nitsch, resident, engineer, and engaged citizen. Judy, from the first site walks, you offered to help abutters understand the process and the engineering of water tanks. Since then, you have generously shared your expertise whenever asked. You explained complex financing and engineering issues to lay people. You spoke as an authoritative but neutral voice at Town Meetings, and have been generous with your time.
Town Manager’s Office, Schools, and Town Staff. Leon Gaumond, Lisa Yanakakis, and Steve Addonizio. You, in concert with Rip Hastings, Town Moderator, and Janet Murphy, Town Clerk, worked to put together a flawless Town Meeting on very short notice. High School Principal Bairstow, and the High School facilities staff, including Dr. Neil Trahan, in charge of Technology and Operations, and IT Director Tracy Sullivan and the Weston IT staff. You prepared the HS auditorium and made a last-minute, unexpected Special Town Meeting possible. You, and the many workers behind the scenes, made the complex process of setting up and running a Town Meeting look easy.
Weston Owl and Kristin Barbieri. You were always willing to publicize events, provide analysis, and publish editorials in support of water tanks. You have become a Weston institution that will be dearly missed when you hang up your cleats.
Friends, Neighbors, and fellow Westonians. You came together on Wednesday, March 12, 2025 and made all the difference in the world to me, approving the water tank project articles by an overwhelming 90%. I will be forever grateful for the support and goodwill I experienced that night. It is like nothing I have ever felt before, and I will never forget it.
Thank you all, from my heart.
Laurie Bent
Member, Select Board