LETTER: TOWN COUNCILOR BRETT PELLETIER

This Saturday, May 16th marks a new FTR arrangement in the town of Tiverton. We’re ALL voting at the High School. It’s just one way the Town has found to save taxpayers money. The past 2 years have been particularly difficult to budget: massive snow storms, increasing electricity and healthcare costs, and a $600,000 budget deficit. But we made it work. We will always make it work. That is our job. It’s not a victory when we prevent bad things from happening; it’s what we have sworn to do on your behalf. It might not seem like it from national headlines, but public service is a humble endeavor. I take my responsibility to be a good steward very seriously. The only way cooperative governance works is if we trust one another.

I try not to ask much from the voters of Tiverton. Today, I simply ask for your trust. Many of you trusted me enough to elect me three times to the Town Council. I now ask that you trust that I’m working for your own best interests and the best interests of your children, grandchildren, neighbors, and even those yet to come. Our new Town Administrator has a passion for public service, and coupled with our revised budget and capital planning, we are starting to find more than one year’s solutions to multi-year problems. This planning will address what we can do today to make the next 10 years progressive, not regressive. That work is reflected in our Budget #1. Some would have you believe that we’re all stupid, fatuous, and irresponsible. I can tell you there is nothing further from the truth and I would suggest that those willing to stand up and work for you and take such name-calling and hostility do so out of a willingness to help their fellow citizens.

I’m prone to quoting Churchill so here goes... “Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried… No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried.…” I know it’s not perfect, but it’s the system we’ve all agreed on; don’t take the legs out halfway through. I ask that you all vote for Budget #1 on Saturday. I spent a lot of time and energy, along with a lot of other public servants, in thinking about it, analyzing it, and presenting it. It works, it’s responsible, and it serves the best interests of the residents of the town of Tiverton and it lets your public servants do just that…serve the public.

Thank you.
Brett N. Pelletier