Voters Decide Values For Future

As the majority of sitting Middletown Town Councilors continue to mislead voters with baseless accusations, false achievement claims and fact omissions in the newspapers, let me continue to set the story straight:

Those councilors repeatedly assert that I voted against the firefighters’ contract. Why would they say that except to mislead the voter? They know that statement is factually untrue: an abstention is neither a vote for nor against. Abstaining was the most accurate vote after pointing out to my colleagues that the procedures followed appeared different from procedures followed for other Executive Session issues.

They again mislead the voters, by stating, “Flynn voted against our open space bond to conserve property, [and] our Veteran’s Memorial… .” The $5M bond on the ballot is mis-advertised. It is actually for “Open Space AND Recreation;” the $5M could be spent entirely on recreation. I favor open space; I am more in favor of voter transparency (view July 6, meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKPMpdJKhKU#t=2h32m15s).

When the Veterans’ War Memorial vote was taken, Middletown was in arbitration with the firefighters with unknown, potentially exorbitant costs. My husband is a veteran; I was not rejecting the building of a Memorial. I felt strongly that the fiscally responsible vote was to wait until the financial obligation became known before expending $43,000 on an item that was not time-critical to town business (View Details/Sept. 16, 2019 meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXE_U7Ya9Tg#t=1h11m44s). The councilors also declare that they built the Veterans War Memorial “at no cost to taxpayers.” Yet, the $43,000 came from a $100,000 Contingency Fund line item of the Middletown budget … which is funded by taxpayer dollars (Fact Check/https://clerkshq.com/Content/Attachments/Middletown-ri/190916_13.pdf?clientSite=Middletown-ri).

Councilor Lombardi claims his Homestead Exemption is “real tax reform.” Yet RIPEC assesses that Homestead Exemptions are NOT Sound Tax Policy. (View/June 15 meeting: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNBwfVH_QnY#t= 2h19m41s) (“Serving on Council is a Selfless Job,” Oct. 15, Newport This Week). He also states, “Everyone should exercise their right to choose the individuals who represent them.” I believe voters’ best choices are those candidates who represent their same values. Please take the time to review the links above to decide what your vote would have been on those issues given the same information, and choose candidates who would vote the way you would.

My support for every resident will continue with full transparency, consistent fiscal responsibility and fact-based voting that considers win-win alternatives and long-range consequences. Please vote like it matters, because your vote will determine which values Middletown will go forward with.

Terri Flynn
Middletown Town Council