Community Corner

Time to Decide on a Town Council

Candidates have gotten a lot of positive feedback on the campaign trail.

It’s here. Election day.

In what has shaped up to be one of the more interesting town council elections in several years is upon us and on Wednesday night, a new council will be administered the oath of office.

What we know already is that the council will have a much different look. Four council members are not seeking re-election: Chairwoman Melissa Engel, vice chairman John Tuttle, Thom Cordeiro and Chris Goff.

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What we don’t know is if the changes will end there. Democrat Barbara Moore and Sue Weintraub of the Chatham Party are seeking re-election. Democrat Chatham Carillo, appointed to the council in December to replace William Devine, also is running.

In all, there are 15 candidates for seven seats. The candidates have been busy knocking on doors, mailing information, waiving at cars, even automated calls were made. All to get their message, or that of the party, out.

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For the most part, residents have been very receptive to hearing what the candidates have had to say. There are, however, a couple of issues out there that could influence voters. The question is, how much will they influence, or should they influence, the outcome.

One issue is the on-going controversy surrounding Police Chief Matt Reimondo. It began with the attempted removal of Reimondo and the position of police chief altogether in June 2010 by then-Town Manager Jeffrey O'Keefe. The Chief was reinstated overwhelmingly by referendum last November but the controversy didn’t stop there. Police-related issues have been a consistent source of discussion at town council meetings and fodder for the media.

“The last two years were certainly not the two years I had hoped they would be,” Moore said. “I had hoped we would have achieved more. I feel like we’ve been hampered by everything that’s happened with the Chief and other things. I would hope that the next two years would be different than that, that we would get that straightened out first, and that the people would start believing in the council. We’re only there to do what’s right for the town.”

Are residents frustrated?

“I’m sure they are frustrated that it is a lingering issue because we [the council] are, too,” Moore said.

Said Chatham Party candidate for town council Kyle Dostaler: “I think people are just sick and tired of hearing this news in the papers. People are tired of hearing the same news and hearing the same arguments from the same people. We haven’t been part of that purposely because we think the police department needs to get on with its policing.”

Patience Anderson, a Republican running for town council, has gotten a similar feeling talking to residents.

“Quite a few people are upset at the current state of affairs,” she said. “The feeling I’m getting is that last year’s overturning of the ordinance was more about the manner in which it was done.”

Whether this will be a consideration for voters remains to be seen. With four council members not seeking re-election thus assuring a significant turnover, it might well not be. However, residents, it seems, have established an early expectation for the next council: Resolve the remaining police issues and move on.

Another issue is one the parties have tried to address, which is the infighting or perception - or reality - that the parties can't get along. The parties seem to realize this and there has been a lot of campaign talk of fresh faces and/or working together leading up to Election Day.

Anderson, who was elected to the board of finance in 2009, has found from talking to people that they are tired of the infighting and tired of the parties going after each other.

“That didn’t surprise me, but it’s really hurt [residents] at a time where the economy is putting such a strain on them. It’s like one more block in the tower that’s going to fall.” she said “They’ve just had enough. There are so many things in their lives that are so much more important, such as making ends meet."

There has been good news though on the campaign trail. The three parties have spent the last several weeks, if not longer, trying to get their message out and they all say they have gotten a lot of positive feedback.

For the Democrats, Moore said hiring a new town manager is a priority.

“We do need full-time permanent direction,” she said. “We would want to work with the board of education on the high school science wing, doing that renovation. If elected, we would like to begin a series of open forums we would do through the community in different neighborhoods. We would like to reach out more into the community. … Not everyone feels comfortable coming to a [town] meeting. I’m sure they do have ideas and they have things they are not happy about. I think that’s a good way to find that out.”

Among the key issues for the Chatham Party, Dostaler said, are: Wasting money, inadequate planning for town manager and the state the police department is in because the town council was making it its business when it should be the town manager’s.

“The past several weeks we’ve been quite busy going door-to-door,” said Dostaler, who previously served on the town council in 2005-07. “There’s been a lot of good feedback going door-to-door. We’ve found that as time was passing, our conversations with folks were getting longer and longer, which was great. They were actually discussing issues they’re concerned with.”

Anderson too has spent a lot of time knocking on doors, much of the time with Ted Hintz Jr., who also is running for town council.

“I’ve always felt the door knocking was the real meat of a campaign,” she said. “If you’re seeking to be a public servant, you need to talk to the people you want to serve, and it’s a two-way communication, which is unlike writing a letter, or doing an ad or sending out a postcard. That’s all one-way communication. You get feedback immediately when you’re at someone’s doorstep and you talk to them. I learned a lot, I learned an awful lot, about what is on their minds.

"We tried to convey that our message was that we want to lower taxes for people. That we understand the struggle that there is and there are things we could do as a council to deliver services better, to maybe relieve some of that burden from them.”

The Democrats knocked on their share of doors as well. Moore, who has served two years on the council and before that, 10 years on the board of finance, including as chairwoman, has met a lot of people around town and through her catering business, Chatham Caterers. She says the feedback has been “very good, very positive.”

“I’m very pleased with the campaign,” she said. “I think we’ve done all we can do to get our ideas out to the people and to hope that they’ll vote for us."

Anderson also said residents have been very welcoming. Now, it’s up to the voters to decide.

“I think I pulled out all the stops and did everything I could do and feel good about the effort I made,” she said.

 

Town Council Candidates

Republicans

James Vick, John Moore, George Pfaffenbach, Chatham Carillo and Barbara Moore

Republicans

Patience Anderson, Kimberly Fontaine, Josh Piteo, Salvatore Nucifora and Ted Hintz Jr.

Chatham Party

Sue Weintraub, Kyle Dostaler, Glenn Suprono, Angela Sarahina and Derek Johnson


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