By a 2-0 vote last night, selectmen appointed a town employee and naval veteran as veterans agent "for the foreseeable future."
Chris McKeown, already the town's project manager for Westwood Station and the liaison for the Economic Development Advisory Board, is now taking on a third role as veterans' representative.
James Sullivan retired as veterans agent last spring "after many years of service," said selectmen Chairman Patrick Ahearn.
State law requires the town to have a full-time veterans agent, but Sullivan worked part-time, having been grandfathered into the position.
Ahearn said one option the town considered was teaming up with nearby towns to "regionalize" its veterans services. But only Needham and Medfield expressed interest, and then only for whenever their own grandfathered part-time agents decided to retire.
While the state Department of Veterans Services continues to insist the town hire a full-time veterans' agent who can be assigned other duties, Ahearn said that for now Westwood's best option was to assign the position's duties and responsibility "to a veteran already in the full-time employment of the town."
McKeown, 48, served nearly 10 years in the Navy, until 1988. Ahearn and Selectman Nancy Hyde voted to appoint him. (Selectman Philip Shapiro was absent at that point of the meeting.)
"I'm honored to have been asked, and I look forward to helping the veterans in the Westwood community in any way I can," McKeown said.
Later in the meeting he switched hats, stepping into his Westwood Station role.
Developer Cabot, Cabot & Forbes confirmed last week that it has stopped on-site work for the winter as it continues to search for a construction loan for its planned 4.5-million-square-foot project. Last night Hyde noted there has been much news coverage on the status of Westwood Station. Responding to some residents' wishes for an update from the town on the project, she suggested assembling an update that could be posted on Westwood's Web site and mailed.
McKeown said an update has already been drafted, and that once the selectmen review it, it could be sent out very quickly. The last Westwood Station mailing cost $1,500, he said.
Selectmen also took care of some Town Meeting housekeeping last night. They removed three articles from the warrant, including one that would have amended the Mixed Use Overlay District zoning bylaw that was used for Westwood Station. A second article to appropriate money to the capital improvement stabilization fund was also removed, as selectmen said they would not be able to put money into the fund this year.
Finally, selectmen took off the warrant a measure that would have authorized them to buy open space parcels - specifically land Norfolk County is interested in selling that has frontage in Walpole and backland in Westwood, across from Bubbling Brook.
"It's great land, but given the economic times, I think we have to take a pass at this particular point in time," Ahearn said.
Daily News staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.
