NEON selects board officers as it seeks to right its ship

Attorney William Westcott agreed to be the chairman of the new board of directors at Norwalk Economic Opportunity Now Wednesday evening. “Is there a job description?” he joked.

NORWALK, Conn. – Attorney William Westcott stepped up Wednesday night, agreeing to be the new chairman of the board of directors for Norwalk Economic Opportunity Now.

Other officers elected by the newly reformed board are Susan Weinberger as vice chairman, Dale Ferguson as secretary and Christopher Ruzzi as treasurer.

There are 19 members of the new board, Pheanious said. As it stands now, the by-laws allow for a maximum of 21 members. Pheanious commented that Councilman Michael Geake (U-District B) is expected to join the board.

The board members are:

• TaShun Bowden-Lewis

• Vanessa Parker

• Alan J. Rossi

• Christopher Ruzzi

• Susan Weinberger, Ed.D

• William Westcott

• Dale Ferguson

• Rosemarie Michel

• Robin Peterson

• Katherine R. Williams

• Mike M. Meyer

• John J. O’Dea

• Terry Adams

• Cynthia Bowser

• Elizabeth Dukes

• Angela Edwards

• Elda Mas

• Marisol Rodriguez

• Jonathan Steinberg

In other news, the board voted to limit public speaking to three minutes and that will be at the beginning of the meeting. Interim CEO/President Pat Pheanious commented that if there is only one person who wants to speak, the opportunity would therefore end three minutes after the meeting began. Latecomers would be out of luck.

Pheanious also gave the board an update on its reapplication for federal Head Start funding.

“We have not received word from the feds what the date for that resubmission is, but we have already begun to work on it,” Pheanious said. “We are in the process of contracting with a consultant who is very experienced with Head Start applications.”