Wayland Select Board releases WayCAM funds, orders new agreement in 90 days

WAYLAND — April 8, 2024 — Wayland Select Board releases WayCAM funds and demands a new operating agreement within 90 days. The board voted 5-0 on April 8 to authorize one quarter of Verizon cable license fees to the public-access station after Town Manager Michael McCall confirmed the underlying 2011 agreement expired in January 2023. Auditor Alina Korsak delivered an unmodified opinion on fiscal 2023 financials but flagged more than $600,000 in unreturned guaranteed deposits across four departments, a repeat finding; McCall said a recent forensic science graduate has been hired to chase the records, calling it "a research project, kind of a mystery in some respects." The town's unassigned fund balance sits at $14 million, or 15.2 percent of revenues — short of the 20 percent Moody's prefers for AAA towns. Management Analyst Jailyn Bratica and Assistant Town Manager Kelsi Power-Spirlet pitched an Instagram launch, a Constant Contact newsletter and a written social media policy; member Thomas J. Fay called the plan "a need to have."