I would like to express how frustrated I am at the current state of affairs of WestfordCAT and enlist your assistance in immediately supporting a remediation and solution to retain funding.
Within a five week period of time, the CAT Board suddenly cancelled their Holiday Open House three days before the event, cancelled the News Service, and lost two critical leadership staff members. Allegedly, there are also rumors of legal ramifications to the rash decisions made not.  These last steps were all done suddenly, without any communication or input from  members and supporters in the community. Residents rely on WestfordCAT for their news, government streaming services, as well as community programming, and organizations have joined as WestfordCAT partners.  At this point in time, the operational plan to be able to support those MOU (memorandum of understanding) services has not been communicated, and residents want to know how those services can continue to be executed with the same professionalism and quality that we have received.
The lack of transparency and town oversight has been extremely disappointing and these steps have needlessly blindsided CAT’s members and the whole community who have depended on and valued these services, including the CAT News, for years. We no longer have a dedicated newspaper and as such, this is one more blow to communication, education, and knowledge.
I understand that this topic is on the Jan. 28th Select Board agenda, and look forward to your support and hearing answers to some of the more detailed questions and proposed solutions that will come up that night. — Diane Wood, Westford
