Election 2020 Information

Voting Day

Early/emergency voting is available at Tiverton Town Hall October 14, 2020, through November 2, 2020, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Where to Vote on November

Questions, problems, observations? Email or call Justin: (401) 835-7156.

Information

Sample Ballot

Tiverton on Track interview with Joseph Sousa

Tiverton on Track interview with Raymond Fougere and Donna Cook

Tiverton on Track interview with Sheri Aakre and Joel Bishop

Tiverton on Track interview with Nancy Driggs and Robert Coulter

Endorsement Mailer

Platform: Our Vision

We, the TTA, envision a government that puts People first, using transparency, accountability, and competent management in a long-term view of:

Avoiding hostile politics! Ensure respectful dialogue to build community that treats everyone equally.
Keeping Tiverton affordable! Improve our tax rate similar to our neighboring communities.
Planning intelligently! Properly maintain roads, town buildings, public spaces, and town services.
Returning casino revenue control to town budget! Let casino money go where taxpayers want it, with a delay to count it only after collected.

TTA PAC Letter to the Editor, 10/14/20

Crazy Times Call for Back-to-Basics, Cooperative Candidates

For parents who are finding it a challenge to keep up with changing instructions, for senior citizens who are unable to go about their normal lives or enjoy their families, for workers whose job prospects and careers have been disrupted or destroyed, and for children and young adults who are being denied milestones they’ve looked forward to and worked hard toward… for everybody, these are crazy times.

But crazy times can make some things clearer. Most of all, they can be a reminder to get back to basics. That’s true for our health, and it’s true for local government.

Times like these are why the Tiverton Taxpayers Association (TTA) has always put such an emphasis on good-government, long-term planning, and reasonable taxes. That approach is the only way government can make good decisions during difficult times while not trampling on our rights.

For this election, our updated platform is actually a vision statement: We, the TTA, envision a government that puts People first, using transparency, accountability, and competent management in a long-term view of:

Avoiding hostile politics! Ensure respectful dialogue to build community that treats everyone equally.
Keeping Tiverton affordable! Improve our tax rate similar to our neighboring communities.
Planning intelligently! Properly maintain roads, town buildings, public spaces, and town services.
Returning casino revenue control to your budget vote! Let casino money go where taxpayers want it, with a delay to use it in the budget only after collected.

These seven candidates for Tiverton Town Council, the TTA Slate, have promised to make decisions in keeping with this vision:

All seven bring unique talents and experience to the table and represent different perspectives, from young parents to retirees. As a team, their expertise ranges from farming to management to law to business to construction to health care to computer programming, and more. Their promise is to apply those skills and a spirit of cooperation to the challenges our town and our families are facing.

Visit TTA2020.com for more information and updates.

Justin Katz

TTA PAC-Endorsed Candidates

Town Council

In the order they appear on the ballot.

Joel A. Bishop

Bio

I am running for Tiverton town council for several reasons. First, I am raising my children here in town and I want their hometown to be successful. This means making decisions that help our town and approaching problems with solutions that solve the problem completely and efficiently. My computer career has taught me the importance of efficiency, identifying unintended consequences and elegant solutions.

Additionally, I am running for town council because I am a business owner in town. Tiverton is a small, quaint town, but we must have business as well. Tiverton must become more friendly to businesses that are in line with our town plan.

This is a non-partisan position, but I am a registered as an independent; firmly in the middle. Fiscally conservative and socially liberal.

Letter to the Editor, 10/14/20

My wife and I moved to Tiverton 5 years ago, to start a farm. After seeing this beautiful town and meeting some locals, we decided this was a great place to start a farm and a family. What we didn’t realize was how the people governing feel about outsiders and businesses. Their solution to every problem is to raise property taxes.

I met a lot of people here and got involved in local politics. I realized the people in power are interested in helping other insiders, their social cliques and special interests. The TTA is fighting to lower taxes and good government for everyone, so I joined them. Since working with them, I have been the victim of hatred by the other side. Our goal is sensible solutions to help this town grow, according to the town plan.

First thing I did was get on the zoning board. If you want to see how neighbors are treated by government, zoning is the place. Over the past year, I’ve seen people insulted by the president and talked down to by several of the zoning board veterans. Don’t even try to show up without a lawyer! They believe they run this town.

I’m running for town council because I’m tired of people being bullied by town government. As elected officials, our job is to make this town better, not to bully and lord over people. Governing takes working together, despite political differences, to create intelligent solutions that work for everyone.

Our biggest problem today is capping the landfill. The only solution the town council can devise is raising taxes and trucking our trash to the other side of RI. As a farmer and a conservationist, I demand a better solution. I want to incentivize people to recycle and compost, cutting down on the amount of trash we produce. Unlike the authoritarians on both sides of the aisle, this should be completely voluntary. My plan doesn’t force anyone to participate, people can just pay to have their trash removed. Instead of raising everyone’s taxes to pay for those generating more trash, we should incentivize people to participate to save money. It’s better for the earth and it’s better for the people.

These are the kinds of solutions I will implement on the town council. Let’s not be afraid to do the right thing because it’s hard. I became a farmer because it was the right thing to do for my family, not because it was easy. I’m not volunteering for town council because it’s going to be easy. I’m running because we need sensible people who will put in the time and work together to help our community and make us stronger together.

Joel Bishop

Robert D. Coulter

Bio

Education: BS (Ocean Engineering), U.S. Naval Academy; M.B.A. (Finance & Economics), University of Chicago; M.P.P., University of Chicago; J.D. Roger Williams University

Occupation: Attorney

Years in Tiverton: 16

Reason for living in Tiverton: Good location in region, locally beautiful and diverse, down-to-earth feel

Relevant experience: U.S. Navy; Tiverton Budget Committee; Tiverton Town Council; involvement in various local community organizations; practicing attorney with deep experience in government matters and legal documents/issues in general. Served on the Tiverton Charter Review Commission (CRC) during 2017 and 2018.

Sheri M. Aakre

Bio

Education: Motorola Solutions Systems Programming and Engineering School Certified IT and Communications Instructor

Occupation: Retired. I worked in the IT Industry for the past 20 years as a Senior Project Manager for Motorola, A Certified Instructor in Washington D.C., Government Contract Project Manager for Emergency and Evacuation Systems at U.S Embassies around the world for the U.S .Department of State.

Years in Tiverton: 11 years

Reason for living in Tiverton: My Husband and I moved to Rhode Island in 2007. We love boating and decided to find a town on the water, small, rural, and picturesque. We found our wonderful home in Tiverton, just off of the water, close to our boat, and near the town center. Tiverton is conveniently located to access the entertainment available near Newport, to access the many things offered in “the city,” and to provide easy reach to shopping and entertainment in southern Massachusetts. As a bonus, I have come to enjoy taking photographs of all of the many animals that venture through our yard daily. We love our home and learning the rich history of our tiny town.

Relevant Experience: Tiverton Budget Committee, 2018 - 2020

In my 20 years of project management, I worked on many projects that required on time, under budget completion of highly technical equipment with complex specification. I have had to work for and with a diverse group of individuals, male and female, civilian and military, while overcoming additional challenges like language barriers and physical exhaustion.

My patience has been tested through work, but being a mother of three boys and grandmother of seven has provided additional practice in dealing with adversity and some of the problems which other generations face.

Being a lifelong military spouse has also provided me with lessons in hardship, as well as blessed me with many volunteer opportunities within the communities I have lived.

Letter to the Editor, 10/28/20

Tiverton Could Use Some Light at the End of 2020

The people of Tiverton graciously gave me an opportunity and voted for me in 2018 to represent them on their Budget Committee. With the various difficulties encountered over the last two years, I have learned so much more about the town and its operation than I expected.

It takes many people, working together and in the same direction, for things to run smoothly.

Tiverton is a beautiful town, in a beautiful location, with great character. Most residents understand that and wish to maintain those elements; but that takes foresight, financial stability and planning, limited spending, and reasonable growth. We currently lack the discussions to create the blueprints that achieves those goals.

We don’t need committee and board members who cannot work towards common goals, or who resort to personal attacks on those who have different views, or who work toward agendas which are not favorable to Tiverton as a whole. Tiverton has many residents with energy and ideas to offer - some already tirelessly volunteer. Those people need to be utilized – and their ideas, when offered in support of established goals, not stifled.

We are all ready for some light at the end of what has been 2020. I am hoping to be part of that light. I think it is time to bring new perspective and ideas to help Tiverton succeed, and I am ready to offer those ideas in discussion with others who want to listen, share their views, and support keeping Tiverton great for everyone.

I hope to continue serving Tiverton by being elected as a Town Council Member and am grateful to the town for giving me this opportunity.

Nancy L. Driggs

Bio

Education: B.A.: University of Pennsylvania. J.D.: UCLA School of Law. Member of CA, MA, and RI Bars (currently inactive member)

Occupation: Retired Attorney, both corporate law and child custody litigation. Member of the Island Photography Group

Years in Tiverton: 21 years

Reason for living in Tiverton: Moved from Bristol in 1999 as my husband and I like the rural feel of the town

Relevant experience: Co-Chair of the Financial Town Meeting Changes Advisory Committee (FTMCAC), 2010-2011. Elected Member of the Tiverton Budget Committee, 2014; served on the Tiverton Charter Review Commission, 2017 - 2018; served on the Town Council, 2018 - 2020. Founding member and President of the Tiverton Taxpayers Association. Served on the Tiverton Charter Review Commission (CRC) during 2017 and 2018.

Letter to the Editor, 10/14/20

TTA Candidates for Town Council Pledge to put People, not Government, First

As the November 3 election day nears, it is comforting and exciting to see the familiar red, white and blue Tiverton Taxpayer Association (“TTA”) endorsed town council candidate signs throughout the town. You, the voters, if you vote for the entire TTA endorsed slate of seven candidates, can ensure a seven-member town council that will put your interests first.

TTA endorsed these seven candidates (in the order they appear on the ballot: Joel Bishop, Robert Coulter, Sheri Aakre, Nancy Driggs, Joseph Sousa, Raymond Fougere, and Donna Cook) because all believe in the TTA vision of a government that puts People first, using transparency, accountability, and competent management in a long-term view of keeping Tiverton affordable, planning intelligently, returning casino revenue control to the town budget, and avoiding hostile politics.

With the meetings of the town council moved to the Zoom format due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the public has been removed from a front row seat of the town council business. Councilor Donna Cook and I have had to step up to the plate when we felt this town council was forgetting and not protecting the rights and interests of the citizens. Two examples are pertinent. The citizens had a right to have their town council challenge the state’s decision to withhold the $3 million promised casino revenue due to the casino not being open 24 hours, especially given it was the state that forced the closure. A challenge was then made to the state which would not have happened had I not raised the issue. And, the citizens had a right to see if there could be an extension of the costly landfill closure date due to this loss of casino revenue, and this request and inquiry would not have happened if Councilor Cook had not raised the issue.

This current town council majority, which includes Perry and deMedeiros, believes in government (not people) first. The TTA believes in putting your interests first, and protecting your interests and your right to be heard, through transparency and accountability.

For more information about the TTA slate go to TTA2020.com.

Thank you.

Nancy L. Driggs
Member, Tiverton Town Council

Joseph R. Sousa

Bio

Letter to the Editor, 10/21/20

TTA Candidates Will Better Serve Tiverton

Our town's residents are a diverse group from all walks of life. We have different views and ideas on how things should be done and run.

Tiverton's politics can get nasty at times and arguments erupt. I remember reading some of Demosthenes writings, which I think shows things have not changed much over the centuries.

The TTA. is a group of residents who have worked to end the large tax increases the town was imposing on us. Mismanagement, and giveaway contracts that gave us huge tax increases of hundreds of dollars annually, all while letting our infrastructure fall apart. These residents, many living on fixed incomes, feel the pinch as do young families with a mortgage.

The TTA has seven Town Council candidates from different parts of town. While we don't agree on everything, the goals the TTA has published on its web page are shared by all of us. TTA2020.com. As a team we will work together for the best interest of all the people in town, not the special interest that seems to stick it to us.

I ask for your vote, please support the team that will work for you.

Raymond D. Fougere

Bio

Education: BS Aerospace Engineering, Indiana Institute of Technology

Occupation: Inventor and president, SkiMetrix, Ltd., Tiverton, holding several patents and manufacturing products covered by the patents.

Years in Tiverton: Business 20, residence 11

Reason for living in Tiverton: It’s a very nice place on the water.

Relevant experience: President student chapter American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Started several businesses, therefore I am familiar with challenges of managing cash flow, management, employees, etc. Served on the Tiverton Charter Review Commission (CRC) during 2017 and 2018.

Donna J. Cook

Bio