Finance Committee reviews $250,000 roadway increase and two-firefighter Fire Department request

WESTON — February 6, 2020 — Weston Finance Committee reviews DPW road plan and Fire Department's two-firefighter request. DPW Director Tom Cullen presented a $250,000 increase to the roadway program, bringing local appropriation to $2 million for fiscal 2021 — part of a Select Board directive to lift every road to Pavement Condition Index 70 within 10 years at roughly $2.5 million per year combined with Chapter 90 funds. Fire Chief Jack McLaughlin requested two additional firefighters at $149,437 in salaries plus $30,000 in operating expenses, a $179,461 increase, citing that 78 percent of shifts currently run short-staffed and that the department logged 2,524 incidents in 2019 against 272 in 1962. "We're just asking to get to a level that they said we should be at in 1962," McLaughlin said. Member Steve Wagner pushed back on the 1962 baseline and asked for updated peer-community staffing comparisons. Town Manager Leon Gaumond Jr. said both firefighter positions are in his recommended budget.