In October, the Republican Town Committee organized a series of gatherings, three get-togethers for conversation and cocktails with some of the party’s elected officials.

Selectman Kerem Dinlenc was the featured speaker at the first session, which was also attended by Westport First Selectwoman Jen Tooker. Mr. Dinlenc said much of the discussion was a general overview of Town government and how its various boards, commissions and committees operate, including rules about partisan representation.

Weston’s Town Charter restricts membership in an official body to a bare majority from any one party. State law places similar limits, although the statute is slightly more permissive for larger boards. With a Democratic majority on the three-member Board of Selectmen, Mr. Dinlenc said he was asked what it is like being “the third wheel.”

“It can be frustrating,” said Mr. Dinlenc. Being a caucus of only one, he cannot discuss public business with his colleagues out of public view. (Executive sessions for subjects such as litigation, personnel, or the purchase and sale of town property are another matter.)

“It has nothing to do with being a Republican,” he said. “It’s about being the only Republican. But the issues tend not to be partisan anyway.”

Much of the discussion in that first session, said Mr. Dinlenc, was about engagement. Party leaders, including RTC chair Lauren Gojkovich, are buoyed by their success organizing participation in this year’s Annual Town Budget Meeting, producing an unusual quorum where several budget cuts were voted.

The October series, said Ms. Gojkovich, was “all about getting out into the community and sharing the RTC’s mission.” Ms. Gojkovich is a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission, and participated in the opening session.

The second session featured two Republican members of the Board of Education, David Felton and Michael Guido. Mr. Dinlenc said much of the conversation centered around educational outcomes, where some expressed a view that student performance is declining and rankings are down. He said many seemed to “generally feel the schools aren’t being aggressive enough on excellence,” and wondered why the Board of Education does not have a committee specifically focused on security.

Mr. Dinlenc said a major topic had to do with the dormant (for now) proposal to build a new middle school in view of declining enrollment and the significant cost of such a project.

Up front, left to right: Mike McCarthy, Theresa Brasco, Jeff Farr, Rone Baldwin

That topic occupied much of the third cocktails-and-conversations session, where Republican Board of Finance members Rone Baldwin, Theresa Brasco, and Jeff Farr discussed with the group taxes, spending, bonding, the mill rate, and the town’s lack of commercial properties.

Mr. Baldwin spoke of work underway at Town Hall to identify facility improvement needs, similar work being done on School Road, and how the Board of Finance has a project underway with three subcommittees to analyze the potential fiscal impact of various capital improvement options.

Mr. Baldwin said the finance board’s effort should not be described as determining what the town “can afford” in debt service, because there is no easy metric, and the question inevitably must be answered by voters.