"Elect a Town Mayor"

(July flier & Sept. postcard, PascuaForCoventry.com)  This is a terrible idea.  Presently, our Town Manager is hired based on a nationwide search of individuals who are trained and experienced in managing local government.  Our charter specifies certain criteria that must be met in order to be considered for the job.   "Town Manager shall hold a master's degree in public administration, business administration or related master's degree from an accredited college or university together with at least five years actual experience as a city, town or county government manager or assistant manager."  Town Charter Art. 5.

Imagine if this critically important job was just up for grabs by anyone in Town.  Look at this District 1 race.  I am far more qualified for the job than my opponent but I know I don't have the qualifications to be Mayor of Coventry.  Inevitably you would have drastically unqualified individuals seeking the job based on a popularity contest.   Experience matters.

There also isn't much point to this.  There is no "separation of powers" issue that needs such a drastic and dangerous change.  The most "executive" thing the Town Council does is issue and enforce licenses.  As an attorney I've had first hand experience battling a rouge Coventry councilwomen determined to destroy two local businesses.  I prevailed, and never needed to use the court system, which provides the check and balance we need against any rouge Council or Board.

Further, why does anyone think a mayor would not create even more problems.  This would become a political position with all the problems that come with the same (Political contributions, political favors, ect..)  (Buddy Cianci, Jasiel Correia).  Town Managers can be fired, removing a rouge Mayor is far more difficult.

A Mayor for Coventry is a solution in search of a problem. 

(July flier & PascuaForCoventry.com) There is no need to hire a new Town employee to accomplish this goal.  Many grants benefit from the writer having  a degree of expertise in the subject matter of the potential grant.  This is best accomplished by hiring grant writers on a freelance basis.  While the idea of seeking more grants is a good one, it should be done in a cost effective way. 

(Sept. postcard) This is a great sound bite, but shows a complete lack of understanding of our zoning ordinances.  Western Coventry is zoned "Rural Residential -- 5 Acres".  There are virtually no Commercial or Industrial uses permitted in a RR-5 zone.  Of course we want to avoid commercial and industrial development in Western Coventry.  The risk to Western Coventry is unrestrained residential development.  This could be addressed by limiting the number of building permits issued in Western and/or increasing the impact fees to reflect the harm to the rural nature of the area.

(July flier) This is political word salad.  Sounds great, means nothing.  Your fire services are not suddenly going to be free.  This is really a way of saying, "merge the fire districts into one municipal fire department."  I am strongly opposed to this in Western Coventry.  As far as I am concerned, the only appropriate comment to any discussion of the Western Coventry Fire District is, "KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF!"  As for creating a municipal fire department out of the other three districts, see my CCFD Position Letter found in the Articles page.

(PascuaForCoventry.com) Mr. Pascua has been clear that he advocates for eliminating the Western Coventry Fire Department.  He claims that he would only do so if the voters of Western Coventry were in agreement, but there is reason not to trust that statement given what is happening right now in the Central Coventry F.D..  On September 12th the CCFD held a vote for three open Board of Director seats.   After the election the department was ready to announce the "winners" but. . .

     The department had no idea how many votes were cast;

     Some ballots were not counted, but they can't tell you why;

     The department does not know how many ballots were not counted;

     There were provisional ballots cast,  but they don't know how many;

     And, they argued that none of this should be reviewed by the Superior Court.

This is all after arguing in court that the voters should not have the right to write-in the name           of a candidate of their choice, in violation of state law.

The Union, which Lieutenant Pascua is a member of, has had members at every court hearing in support of the CCFD's position.  They are actively trying to suppress an estimated 20 to 25% of the votes cast on Sept. 12th.  Is this how you want your voice heard when it comes to the future of the Western Coventry Fire Dept.?  Are you concerned about Lieutenant Pascua's conflict of interest? 

(July flier, PascuaForCoventry.com)  Already being done.  The Town Council put out a Request for Proposals (RFP) for professional fire safety consultants to submit bids to study and advise on the best path forward for the Fire Departments.  The (RFP) can be found in the Articles section.  Four companies submitted proposals and they will be discussed by the Town Council on October 11th.  (The proposals can be seen at Town Hall, they are far too lengthy to publish here.)

(Sept. postcard, PascuaForCoventry.com)  This is a great idea, it's just not something the Town Council should be spending its time on.  This is precisely what the Economic Development Committee or the Parks and Recreation Department are for.  As of September, Mr. Pascua has attended 5 of 12 scheduled E.D.C. meetings since his appointment to that committee.

(PascuaForCoventry.com)  Lovely idea. . .  5 years too late.  While the wind turbines are a loathed feature in Western (and I'm one of the few people that can see 7 of them spinning at all times from my backyard), I would not waste time or resources on an investigation that can not yield any practical result.  Let's be honest, they aren't going anywhere.

(PascuaForCoventry.com)  As Oscar Wilde said "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. . ."  Mr. Pascua's position on Johnsons Pond as laid out on his website is precisely what I have been advocating since I published my second article "The Problem and Only Solution" (available in the Articles page of this site).  The overwhelming difference is that he only now claims eminent domain is the answer after wasting more than a year working on a piece of legislation, which even if implemented, can't solve the problems those around the pond face.  

For more on this see my letter "My position on Johnsons Pond" found on the Articles page.