Middletown Council Members Take Full Credit, Hijack Town Charter

A majority of Middletown councilors promote themselves as a TEAM, capitalizing the word, and then state, “Our TEAM’s accomplishments include: …,” arrogantly giving full credit of the listed Town Council’s accomplishments to just four Councilors: “Rodrigues, Santos, VonVillas and Sylvia.” (“Majority of Council is Working To Make Middletown Better” Sep. 12, Newport Daily News/https://www.newportri.com/opinion/20200911/opinionletters-majority-of-council-is-working-to-make-middletown-better, repeated in “Seasoned Middletown Councilors Have Delivered” Sep 17, Newport This Week/https://www.newportthisweek.com/articles/seasoned-middletown-councilors-have-delivered/).

When you look carefully at the achievement list provided, half is due to skilled Town Hall Staff and others were voter-approved by ballot! These four councilors even take full credit for “increase[ing] firefighter personnel by 26%,” when it was actually the efforts of the Middletown Citizenry driving that decision after tumultuous public discord between Councilor Sylvia and the Fire Fighters Union. The four councilors also falsely take full credit for “Increased senior citizens deductions…” which is a direct result of the Tax Exploratory Subcommittee (which none of the 4 Councilors served on) and persistent follow-through efforts by its Chairperson, Councilor Turano.

The Middletown Town Charter describes a Town Council of seven and any achievements are achievements of all, not just four. However, four of seven is all that is needed for Town Council to approve or oppose motions. This enables the TEAM to vote together as a block, hijacking the checks and balances intended by the Charter’s provision for seven councilors.

This TEAM states there have been, “two years of minimal action by the Town Council.” They also state that they are a majority working together. Thus, they must be responsible for the minimal council action of these last two years.

PLEASE honor the Middletown Town Charter and vote for seven candidates who will work to excel in their Council responsibilities. Vote for seven who will take action and not just the title or the credit for Town Council achievements. Please vote for Fair and New Leadership. Do not be fooled by the TEAM’s false achievement claims that are motivated by arrogance.

Terri Flynn

Middletown Town Council