Tiverton
My Patch column, this week, discusses the latest acronym with which active citizens must acquaint themselves: … OPEB stands for “other post-employment benefits” and, in Tiverton for example, includes health, dental and life insurance covering employees and their families after their retirement. According to a press release announcing the issuance of the final report from…
You may recall the legal battle between Tiverton Citizens for Change (TCC) President and current Town Council Member David Nelson and form Town Council Members Louise Durfee and Joanne Arruda. The latest development is thut Superior Court Judge Melanie Thunberg has denied Nelson’s request for a summary judgment. According to a Sakonnet Times article, not…
Tonight’s Tiverton Town Council agenda includes a public hearing on a proposed tax cap process for the town. The Town Hall is about 20% over capacity (meaning 120 people with a capacity of 100). The fire chief notified the council that, if some people don’t clear out, he’ll have to call the meeting off. Only…
Some elected officials, in Tiverton, are encouraging their fellows to ignore the past while constructing the next budget. My Tiverton-Little Compton.Patch column, this week, I suggest that such an approach is, well, improper: It certainly shouldn’t be a foregone conclusion that a tax base that grew by 2% over a period of 28% inflation can…
Gary Trott tries to apply too much common sense to public-sector budgeting: What should a Rhode Island city or town do if it suddenly finds itself with a surplus of unspent funds amounting to nearly $6 million? You’d think that it would do the responsible thing and not spend those funds in order to ease…
Although writing from Michigan, Kyle Olson has it right when it comes to his perspective on education happenings in Central Falls: Central Falls students deserve a high-quality education. But instead, families are told to be patient as administrators and the teachers union hold meetings and create 45-page reform plans. And now the federal government gives…
The idea of a tiered diploma system is causing much teeth-gnashing in Tiverton and elsewhere. My Patch column, this week, explains the effect of the proposal and points out that a related topic really ought to be the controversy to which every School Committee meeting is dedicated: In light of that change, a cynic (or,…
The Tiverton Town Council meeting has already been running very long, and there’s still a full agenda page of meaty topics. On the floor, right now, is a discussion of what the Town Council can do to make the town more “business friendly.” I touched on this topic not long ago. The first to speak,…
My Tiverton Patch column this week explains why I’m suing the Town of Tiverton: The entire episode was further evidence that government in Tiverton, as in the rest of Rhode Island, has long been characterized by an insulated cooperation. Officials and bureaucrats willingly making things happen for each other, connecting the letters of the law…
Among the first items under discussion at the Tiverton School Committee meeting is whether the School Committee should subpoena Town Treasurer Phil DiMattia to appear before it, since he has opted not to attend their meeting at their request. Committee Member Carol Herrmann noted that it might be worth waiting to see whether the fact…