Town Employees Pack Selectmen's Meeting

Town Hall was at capacity for the second time this year as town employees and other residents packed the halls and meeting room to voice their concerns regarding a proposal asking 67 percent of the town's employees covered by municipal health plans to contribute another $1.3 million.

Board of Selectmen chairman Kelly Ross told the assembled crowd that the Board had voted to take any proposed changes off the table in executive session, continuing that the issue would go back to the Insurance Advisory Committee, which met on Monday.

“I know this is personal, but I ask you all to hang in there,” he said, adding that the board hopes to work with town employees to get through what is expected to be a difficult fiscal year.

During the public comment period, the crowd allowed Westford Education Association president and Westford Academy teacher Jason Humphrey to speak on their behalf.

In a written statement, Humphries told the board that if the town's employees are truly among the best in the state as town officials frequently claim, that they deserve appropriate compensation.

"Right now, we are proud of what we do for this town, but we do not feel like the best employees in the state. We feel as if we are below average in your eyes, for our paychecks reveal this," he said to the board. "I have heard members of your board say that it will be difficult for residents of Westford to listen to an argument about how much we have sacrificed for Westford. And while the task will be difficult, show us that you feel we are worth fighting for, worth the time and political risk to say that we have sacrificed enough, that it would be inappriate to take more from the people who dedicate their lives to this town."

The Selectmen went into a second executive session after the rest of their agenda to revisit the issue.