To the editor:

Can the incumbent Tiverton Town Council be trusted to make the proper decisions based upon the facts and based upon what is right, legal, moral, safe, and best for all of the citizens of Tiverton?  Can they be trusted to avoid making self-centered decisions based upon ulterior motives and interests? 

Based upon the actions of the Town Council over the last two years, the voters in Tiverton have many actions upon which to base their decision, and to answer — the incumbent Tiverton Town Council cannot be trusted to make the proper decisions.  A few examples are presented below. 

At the Tiverton Town Council Meeting of 2/27/17, the Town Council refused to take action to correct pedestrian safety problems caused by vehicles and boats parking on the Main Road sidewalk between Central Avenue and Nanaquaket Road, and refused to take any action to stop property owners and snow plow drivers from plowing snow from driveways and parking lots, and dumping snow on the sidewalk, forcing pedestrians into the middle of Main Road in order to get around vehicles and piles of snow on the sidewalk. 

I presented clear documented evidence of problems that were forcing pedestrians into the middle of Main Road, endangering their lives.  The Town Council, without questions and without discussion, refused to take any action to correct the safety problems.  That lack of action clearly proved to me, and hopefully proved to many others, that the incumbent Town Council can not be trusted to make proper decisions. 

The Town Council also rejected (without questions and without discussion) all recommendations of the duly elected Tiverton Charter Committee, after the year of TCC (Tiverton Charter Committee) work collecting, discussing, and summarizing the Charter recommendations of the Tiverton citizens.  Then the Town Council, with little or no public discussion, presented its own recommended Charter changes as a replacement for the Tiverton Charter Committee changes in the November 6 election.  That improper and untrustworthy decision should be familiar to all Tiverton residents and voters,  a true indication of what the Town Council thinks of the rights of Tiverton voters. 

A view of the goals of the Town Council incumbents can be seen by a careful review of the Town Council-recommended ballot questions for the November election (particularly questions 6, 10, and 11).  The deceptively worded ballot questions (along with the actual changes to the Tiverton Town Charter) can be fount at http://www.tiverton.ri.gov/. 

The Town Council has, on many occasions, made decisions that I would characterize as "contrary to the public interests" of the majority of Tiverton citizens.  The incumbent Town Council has proved to be undeserving of the public trust, and undeserving of reelection. 

Roger A. Bennis 

Tiverton