To the editor:

Tiverton voters and taxpayers: The Town Council intends to prevent you from voting on proposals from the Charter Review Commission (CRC) you elected last July. Although 24 candidates ran, the nine you elected were the slate endorsed by the Tiverton Taxpayers Association and each pledged to protect your Financial Town Referendum (FTR) and to ensure any casino gaming revenues lowered taxes. In contrast, your current Town Council desires to severely alter, if not eliminate, these very pledges you voted for.

Consider the following:

• Immediately after the casino was approved the Town Council added "allocate the casino gaming revenue" to the Casino Subcommittee’s mission.

• On December 19, 2016 Town Councilor Denise DeMedeiros stated the need for a Charter Review Commission stemming from public hearings seeking to strip your voter and petitioner rights from the charter defined FTR process.

• From CRC member Jeff Caron’s letter last week: prevent the town attorney from supporting your elected CRC; all while now Town Council president Denise DeMedeiros says she is in "daily" contact with him over charter matters; Edwards V proposals to eliminate both the Budget Committee and your FTR; Hilton's proposals target stripping your FTR petitioner rights.

• Councilman Randy LeBeau is working with the town attorney and Lincoln RI’s Almond to put casino gaming revenue into restricted funds by ordinance so "no one can get their grubby little hands on it." Your vote to reduce taxes replaced by the big spending bureaucrat Almond spending for you.

• Although the CRC widely published the December 31 proposal submission deadline, on November 6, 2017 Councilwoman Patricia Hilton stated she was "not going to let the commission [CRC] dictate deadline for proposals." Was this an example of the now clearly obvious strategy to “slow roll” the CRC?

• Town Council proposals were finally delivered months beyond the deadline and failed to include the required “Reason for Change” and "Effect of Change". If the Town Council proposes to eliminate the Budget Committee, eliminate your FTR, and strip your voter rights, then you deserve to know their claimed “reason” for, and "effect" of, such changes.

Considering the wide margin by which your current CRC won, considering the pledges those winning candidates made to you, and throw in the fact that your past votes for various FTR elector petitions have allowed you to keep your taxes lower, the arrogance of this Town Council in its bald, and bold, attempt to suppress CRC proposals and voter choice, is astounding.

Be assured, a new Town Council will be offered to you if CRC proposals are blocked. Voters must be heard on all CRC proposals even if it takes a special election after November.

Nancy L. Driggs

Member, Tiverton Charter Review Commission