I was appalled and thoroughly disgusted listening to the council meeting of Aug. 15, that is, what I could hear of it.

If I were able to attend the meeting, I would have liked to asked the following questions:

1. What are you thinking ? How is it possible that you feel you can justify losing the potential of securing a large tax base operation, a large employee, and one noted for community activism and sponsorship?

2. Is there going to be a continuance of Special Interest Groups forming to run the Council? What happened to the taxpayers interests you pledged to support? Do you intend to let the administration do all the hard work and then ignore their findings and advice?

3. When is the spending going to stop? You just blew $150,000. The note to amend the capital improvement loan was obscene. Support for charitable work should be sought from solicitous clubs and other non-profit groups within the city, not $50,000 of much needed city funds. That game of one-upmanship perpetuated by a member of the Council for $100,000 to be used for recreation purposes was a cheap shot at the expense of Westbrook taxpayers. If we couldn’t afford it in the past, we certainly cannot afford it now.

4. When do you plan to reduce Westbrook tax rate from $23 to a more competitive range of $18 – as the surrounding communities, as quoted in a recent article of a local newspaper?

5. Lastly, to the Westbrook taxpayer. I think the time has come for us to wake up and see the light because it is obvious the Councilmen and women have not, or maybe, you enjoy having the largest tax rate in the area.

Bette Chaplin

Westbrook