“That really stemmed from my frustration with the town charter. You're supposed to back off and not vote [when a conflict of interest arises] but that didn't happen. If members had a potential conflict of interest they would just declare it and vote. That wasn't proper.”
“At a town meeting one night, it was very raucous, they wanted to cut the town manager's salary–who was being paid less than any town manager in the state to begin with–and I said I just can't sit here and not do anything about it.”
“We are a watershed town. Most people here don't like to admit it but we are. The Farm River runs right through town. We need to protect that resource. You can't have oil leaking into the ground. We certainly had help in forming that, but I am very proud of that.”
“It was a fight, I can tell you that. No one wanted it. It was bi-partisan–neither side wanted it. There was a lot of resistance but we just couldn't do the old form anymore.”
“What I found with the old system was the lack of continuity. It was constantly changing. Now that we have a town manager, it operates smoothly–there's no fluctuation on mill rates. I tell people it's like having a CEO.”
“The first people who will get hit with this are the seniors. I have talked with several senior residents and they tell me that these increases may force them out of living here. We are going to try very hard but the burden can't be put on the taxpayers anymore. I don't know how or where at this point but we have to look at everything.”
