To the editor:

I read carefully what town officials say what they plan to do if elected. As a former Republican and now Independent, I’m less concerned with party affiliation and more impressed with a candidate’s plan to be transparent, honest and visionary in their views. I also look for concrete ideas that have a chance of moving the town forward.

My understanding of Mr. Carroll’s vision for the future of the town derives from his own words in a recent “B.Times” interview. His opening statement reads, “The order of priorities is rising property taxes, one, athletic fields, two, and affordable housing, three…..” At the end of his statement he says he wants to be ready for the next “big storm” and has asked the Town Manager to seek a grant to pay for a Chief Resiliency Officer (CRO). Isn’t this what First Responders, the Town Manager, the DPW and R.I. National Guard already do?

If you check out the Barrington Town Charter, an Emergency Management Agency has been in existence since 2004 and is under aegis of the Town Manager. And we need more of this?

I contend that Mr. Carroll’s leadership on the TC for the past four years has been somewhere between lackluster and non-existent. A good man with no plan. He appears to agree with the lazy sentiment that more government provides a better solution. Perhaps Mr. Carroll can take a page out of Sheldon “Columbo” Whitehouse’s playbook and do a deep dive into past BHS yearbooks and find a “climate-change cleanup” expert in town who will donate her/his time to the effort.

A couple of questions for Mr. Carroll are in order. If as stated, your number one concern is “rising property taxes”, and you supported the 8.2 percent devastating tax increase two years ago, and made NO mention of what your plans are to contain or reduce property taxes in your statement, how can I take your words as transparent, honest and serious? And how can you support a grant for a CRO when there is already an immediate need for a reduction in field use fees? How about a grant for this?

If Mr. Carroll is serious about his number one concern, the “rising property tax issue”, then I suggest he reveal his plan prior to the election.

As of now, I’m uncertain if Mr. Carroll is underwater or just in over his head. 

Scott Fuller

Barrington