To the editor:

We were reading the council question of the week, and the false unsupported statements made by the candidates.

Once again we would like to clarify to the town council candidates and residents: The comment was made that we could refuse to plow school lots or cut the grass — this is totally false. In the current charter, under "Personnel Job Descriptions Chapter 29-3 Section 2," plowing is our responsibility.

If anyone had done a little fact-finding, also right there in the Collective Bargaining Union Contract of Local 14845, which is the DPW employees with the Town of Barrington Article 10, Section 5, "All existing past practices shall continue in full force and effect," which means we have been cutting the grass and plowing the school lots since the department existed. That establishes a long-standing past practice.

To divert from this or refusing to perform these duties, we would be insubordinate. That would mean no court or arbitrator would ever support this. So to say we could refuse to plow the school lots or not cut the grass is wrong.

These statements are being used to put fear in the residents to have the charter change approved. 

The other issue we have is all these statements about collaborating and efficiency inside the schools with the DPW — not one person (town manager, candidates) can give us one example of how this would work. Also, no one has an exact figure how much money a resident would save on their taxes or how this charter change makes us (DPW) more efficient?

Like we said, false statements with no facts.

Protect your municipal budget — vote no on the charter change for DPW.

Kevin Braga

East Providence

Carlos Pedroza

Wyoming, RI

Mr. Braga is union president of USW Local 14845. Mr. Pedroza is union chairperson of USW Local 14845. Both men are Barrington DPW employees.