To the editor:

The Tiverton Town Council has been seated for just shy of four months of their two-year appointments and the outlook for the town in the coming 20 months does not look favorable. In this short time, the town council has voted on several controversial topics and has been accused of alienating town residents to move forward with their agenda. The next two years could prove to be damaging.

Any resident who has not been living under a rock is likely well aware that a group that claims to be “a voice for the whole community,” successfully took the majority of seats in the town council and budget committee, while seemingly placing or aspiring to place allies within several other boards and groups.

Future challenges for the town include the city landfill closing in Nov 2020 with no plan to address the situation, equipment concerns for life saving police and fire department vehicles, waterfront infrastructure in need of repair, road repair, lower tax dreams, and many others on the horizon.

It seems fair to mention that the town council has likely set records for most formal complaints against their actions in this short timeframe, including phone calls to the State Ethics Commission and Attorney Generals office.

If local news stories and letters to the editors from recent past are an indicator of how well that “voice” for the whole community is representing their mission, it would not be shocking to find that the majority of residents are not feeling that their voice is being heard.

In response to an agenda item at the recent town council meeting, 26 letters from citizens were sent to the town council with 100 percent support for two of the three citizens to be appointed to the Library Board of Trustees. In a statement by one council member, it was suggested that the letters were constructed by a small group with a special interest. That begs the question, where were the letters supporting the one resident that was not favored by the town?

One can hope that the residents are paying attention to recent events in the local town government and how these events will affect their family and friends. Hopefully, despite the seemingly one sided, agenda driven and at times questionable politics demonstrated, residents will continue to find ways to be informed and get involved to help Tiverton succeed.

Every resident in Tiverton should feel entitled to fair representation at all levels of government. The best way to make informed voting choices is to get involved and know the facts surrounding the towns issues.

Thomas R. Buchanan

Tiverton