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Politics & Government

Westport Ready to Join COG

Westport First Selectman Gordon Joseloff has been pushing for the town to join the new eight-member regional planning group, which will be comprised of chief elected officials from the municipalities currently represented in SWRPA.

The Representative Town Meeting on Wednesday reportedly approved an ordinance that paves the way for the town to join a newly formed regional planning body called the Council of Governments (COG), which is a consolidation of two existing regional planning boards the town already belongs to: the South Western Regional Planning Agency and the South Western Region Metropolitan Planning Organization, which together oversee regional transportation projects.

Westport First Selectman Gordon Joseloff the new eight-member regional planning group, which will be comprised of chief elected officials from the municipalities currently represented in SWRPA, for months, saying a single regional council will better serve member towns and operate more efficiently.

Initially some of the other elected officials in SWRPA were skeptical of the plan, which requires approval from the legislative bodies in five of the eight municipalities in order for the new COG to be formed. This past fall Greenwich First Selectman Peter Tesei said he because he feared it would lead to a resurrection of Connecticut's former county government, which was abolished in 1960.

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Joseloff assured the RTM that the COG would not represent a return to county government nor would it have tax-levying powers or interfere with municipal policymaking, a report in the Westport News states.

For additional coverage of Wednesday's RTM meeting by Westport Patch, .

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