Town Councilor Sean Todd talks with residents after the council’s vote to return Corrigan as town manager Monday, 11/20/17.
The Town Council meeting last night was filled with opposition. Most attending seemed less disturbed by the revelations underpinning the Town’s runaway spending than by the unseemly disruption to the Town’s facade of comity. Case in point: Councilman Schwager took umbrage at Council President Cienki’s prerogative to post very specific financial facts on the Town’s website, suggesting these findings were the Councilwoman’s opinion. Dr. Schwager did not, however, offer any facts to refute Mrs. Cienki, but instead he opined on the need step back and take time to smooth things over.
- As reasonable as this sounds, the instinct to make everyone feel warm and fuzzy seems like part of the problem. “You can’t please all of the people all of the time,” and “the time to strike is when the iron is hot.” Old bromides, for sure, but lose the initiative, and these problems – building up over time – are as likely as not to slip back into obscurity, and it won’t be until more people start moving out of town than into town that these facts hit home again. By then it could be too late. Many people who have lived here for decades can no longer afford the rapidly escalating tax levy. For them, living in East Greenwich is not just about property values; these people have deep roots, and to be forced out by taxes, cutting those ties, is a very unhappy thing.
- EG is top heavy. The nature of top-heavy vessels is they tend to flip suddenly. What the Town Council is doing is one of the bravest things tackled by local politicians in many years. They have reasserted a bold but necessary agenda. It behooves dissenters to wear the Town Council’s shoes and pursue realistic and timely compromise. In my prayers this Thanksgiving will be the entreaty, “Lord, help East Greenwich act wisely.”
- – Dean Fachon
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Above: Town Solicitor Peter Skwirz (at the podium) questions EGPD's Lt. John Allen (foreground)...
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Thank you Dean – we are quite literally taxing families out of this community.
I wouldn’t write off the importance of comity because it goes hand in hand with trust. The means (horrible) by which the council has pursued its goals (laudable) have undercut the trust in the council of a good chunk of the citizenry. Trust is essential because the facts are complex and few people have the time or inclination to research them themselves and come to their own conclusions. The few people who have done that and published findings that to some degree contradict assertions by Cienki et al have not been answered in a way that would restore trust (I don’t believe they’ve been answered at all). It took a judge to answer other criticisms. I refuse to accept that the only way to fix our problems is by gunslingers in a hurry.
The Town Council’s decisions are based on lies and deceit, all carefully orchestrated by Flanders and friends. Too bad intelligent people can’t see through the chicanery of this coup. Arm yourselves with the facts before you support this bunch.
I would wholeheartedly agree with you if these people were actually attempting to save taxpayers money. However, that is not their agenda. If it were than why is Corrigan making substantially more than the former toun manager? Why are all of her appointees making more than their predecessors? Why did the town hire back a persom who sued them when the union agreed to do away with the position to save money?
This is a money grab plain and simple. These people will cost the taxpayers several times more than they will save due to leagal fees. Leagal fees paid to who… their buddies.
The town solicitor admitted that the firefighters union approached the town on at least one occasion in effort to discuss finances. Their request went unanswered.
The council is deceiving the taxpayers using lies and half-truths to disguise their true agenda.