Editor’s note: This commentary is largely written in response to an article from the Dec. 21 Bristol Phoenix, “This is the best job in the world,” which was based on a lengthy interview with Bristol Town Administrator Steven Contente).

A good organization has a good foundation. That being said, our town administrator recapping his first year of governing our Town of Bristol, failed to recognize and acknowledge as to why his first year may have been what he considers a year of accomplishments.

1.The repairs to the Prudence Island Ferry dock – the discussions and meetings with Portsmouth had been ongoing prior to the elections. Portsmouth requested that further discussions be held until after the elections. Bristol Town Council Chairman Nathan Calouro, Kevin McBride, Diane Williamson and Julie Goucher and I had been engaged to procure funding and to scale the project.

2.The Azevedo property – even though the current town administrator was critical throughout the campaign of me purchasing Azevedo property without a plan, he failed to acknowledge that negotiations were underway during my administration. He now claims to have developed a plan – not so fast! The agreement should have been settled before the election, but it was met with resistance from the town council. Diane Williamson worked on relentlessly in the negotiations.

3.As for proactive tree care and planting additional trees – anyone who will do some research will find out that this was ongoing. Thank you, Ed Tanner and the Conservation Commission and Cheryl Iiams, for keeping extensive records of tree work in town.

4.Sidewalks on state roads as well as the apron in front of the Defiance Station – those were to have been covered by state funds, a project that was to be completed by the State of R.I. by the summer of 2017; cement sidewalks, granite curbing and landscaping going from Agave to Alfred’s in Warren. Unfortunately, the funding was pulled by the federal government from the state, and the project did not come to fruition.

5.Municipal building repairs – In my first year as administrator, I requested that Director James Galuska and building inspector Richard Pimenta do an assessment of all municipal buildings in order to implement a plan for repairs. They compiled a binder with the list of buildings and the areas of concern to be repaired.
As the saying goes, “Rome was not built in one day,” however, we came up with a plan to begin repairs; Burnside – roof, second-floor windows and interior plastering and painting. Byfield School (thanks to Julie Goucher for procuring the funding) – roof, gutters, third-floor windows and inside painting. Department of Public Works – re-shingled the roof, outside painting, new garage door, a partial fence and gate area replacement and drainage to avoid flooding in the area. Dreadnaught Hook, Ladder & Hose Company – the cupola had rotted out at the base causing roof leaks. It was repaired and reinstalled to maintain the originality of the building. Defiance Fire Station – replaced the two roofs, inside painting and roof drainage. Also the pumper was restored to be in full use as the need may arise. The Rogers Free Library – the gutters were replaced and some roof work done. Although some additional work needed to be done to detect some roof leaks. Acquisition of two large generators through grants (thanks to Diane Williamson); one for the recreation center and the other for the police station as redundancy source of power.

6.Tanyard Brook culvert phase 2 – A project that much work had been done by Kevin Aguiar (BETA Engineering) and me. We spent countless hours meeting with the adjacent residents to inform them and negotiate appropriate arrangements to reconstruct the culvert. The component left was to finalize the construction easements with residents, come up with a cost and advertise for contractor bids.

7.Ferry Road sewer main – Chairman Calouro, Diane Williamson, Kevin McBride, myself and BETA Engineering had engaged RWU in a few discussions as to the town’s concerns, how to rectify the problem and financial assistance.

8.Our current town administrator’s Oct. 6, 2016, political statement is very interesting regarding the $17 million to address the needs of our town. He was very critical even though the town council, department heads and I were very supportive and so were the voters. What does he think of the bond now that he’s in office?

9.Bristol Maritime Center – we have a wonderful building that will meet the needs for the expansion of the marina to be constructed in front of the Robin Rug/Magic Carpet – thank you to the efforts of Diane Williamson for writing the grants and working in conjunction with Julie Goucher and Gregg Marsili.

10.Road Improvement/paving projects – BETA Engineering, under the direction of Administrator Diane Mederos, did a study of all the town roads and they rated and ranked the condition of the roads. That study is the driving force for the annual plan to continuously do road improvements started under my administration with the assistance of Kevin McBride and Councilman Edward Stewart.

11.Leverage funding – We acquired over $3 million from grants; Guiteras area drainage - $275,000 (Tanner), Maritime Center - $915,403 (Williamson), backflow prevention to assist residents - $88,000 (Williamson), CDBG grants to assist businesses and organizations - $745,805 (Williamson/Pflaumer), Wayfinding signage for new street signs $80,000 (Tanner), Cyber Security Fire/Police - $88,000 (DeMello), Health Equity Zone - $366,000 (Williamson), plus the boardwalk (Williamson/Burke) grant and the Loafers Corner (Tanner/Burke) and also the park at the intersection of Wood/Hope Streets (Burke).

12.Generating savings/revenue – The purchase of the street lights from National Grid and the conversion to LED – thank you to the town council for their support and the negotiating team – Julie Goucher, Diane Williamson, Kevin McBride, Walter Burke and I, we were able to generate a savings of over $200,000 annually for our Town of Bristol. Revenue – in addition to the current tenants at Reynolds School, RWU leased the basement for a ceramic studio for $28,000 annually.

I could go on with a few more accomplishments; however, I think I have reinforced my opening statement. I suggest that our Town Administrator Steven Contente re-read his political statements from the 2016 campaign. Half-truths and misinformation does not do justice.

Antonio (Tony) A. Teixeira
21 Cottage St.
Mr. Teixeira is the former Bristol town administrator, who lost to Mr. Contente in the 2016 election.