On Thursday evening, Sept. 24, six candidates vying for five seats on the Town Council followed by four candidates seeking one of two available school committee seats met in a candidate forum at the Bristol State House sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the East Bay Media Group.

Candidates for council weighed in on a range of issues from Flock cameras to flooding, affordability and pedestrian safety, while School Committee candidates shared their opinion on a committee’s role in curriculum, budgeting priorities, and the importance of civic education.

Here’s a small sample of what each candidate had to say about a particular issue; to watch a complete replay of either forum, visit the League of Women Voters website at LWVRI.org.

Council focuses on affordability, Flock controversy
The candidates for Town Council include incumbents Mary Parella (R), Aaron Ley (D), Tim Sweeney (D), Nathan Calouro (I), and Tony Teixeira (I), as well as challenger Joseph Aguiar (R).

Aguiar, who has made his objection to Flock cameras a central focus of his campaign, addressed the issue in his opening statement:

“What my grandfather taught me growing up was that he came from a country that had mass surveillance…if they felt you had too much they would come and take it. They used to hide food in the rafters. I’m seeing what’s going on with the Flock cameras being put into databases. It’s more technology than what was there when my grandfather was in Portugal, but it’s not too far off. I want my son to have a better life.”
-Joseph Aguiar

Indeed, the question that took up the largest share of the forum (and caused candidates to burn through a lot of their 30-second “wild cards”) was about the Flock issue. Noting that the council approved it despite vocal community opposition, the question asked what principles guide decision-making when residents’ input conflicts with council actions. The Council voted 4-1, with Ley casting the only nay, in favor of the bridge camera. In his answer to this question, Calouro articulated the majority opinion:

“I have a tremendous amount of trust in our police department and our police chief. The recommendation from them is not the only reason why we say yes or no, but it’s a big part of it. The department has proven themselves again and again to give us good advice and handle themselves with the highest professionalism. They are accredited, and that means that someone else is also looking to make sure they’re doing the right thing. I believe that Flock cameras are a hot issue…but if my family was abducted, and this allowed the police department to find them and bring them back, then it makes sense.”
-Nathan Calouro

Asked what is the most important issue facing Bristol today, Parella spoke to affordability, an issue that all candidates agreed was of utmost importance, with many of the incumbents highlighting actions taken to move the needle in the right direction.

“The biggest issue that we’ve been facing for a while is how do we maintain our community in terms of affordable housing? We all know there are so many people who have grown up here but have not been able to stay. That’s not unique to Bristol, but we need to find some more creative ways to look at some of these problems.”
-Mary Parella

Sweeney offered a comprehensive response to a question about empty storefronts:

“I think we need to restart the economic development commission. We need to…work with the landlords that have open retail space that for whatever reason they are not allowing new businesses in. If you look at Unity Park, that was dilapidated — it’s been turned into a bustling business and now they’re growing and they’re bringing in more companies so it’s going to bring more businesses in. We need to make sure that we are making it easy for businesses to open easily and quickly, but again, those buildings that are keeping these empty storefronts open and they’re not somehow encouraging small businesses to move in, we need to explore that. I don’t think that’s overreaching government. I think that’s us saying that we’re open for business. We want to employ people here and we want to grow.”
-Tim Sweeney

Ley had this to say about the actions he and his fellow councilors took to obtain the Mt. Hope Bridge inspection report:

“This council acted when it was time to act. When we needed transparency this council acted to ensure we went to a federal judge to get a routine inspection report that we should have gotten without having to go to court. We had to move mountains to get the transparency that our residents needed to feel safe.”
-Aaron Ley

Of his hopes for the upcoming term of office, Teixeira concluded the council portion of the evening:

“I respectfully ask for your vote to continue to serve the town of Bristol, this beautiful patriotic town of Bristol, and I would like to continue for the next two years to support our town businesses and our schools, support our seniors, fund the town’s infrastructure projects, especially roads and sidewalks, and work with my colleagues on the council for to continue to serve all Bristol residents.”
-Tony Teixeira

School Committee talks curriculum, priorities
School committee candidates, who are non-partisan, include newcomer Joy Titcomb, longtime former member Bill O’Dell, and current members Adam McGovern and Jessica Almeida. All four candidates answered a total of eight questions.

Asked about the most pressing issue facing Bristol Warren schools today, O’Dell weighed in:

“I think the most important thing is maintaining the quality of instruction in the classroom. That’s where the rubber meets the road and there are so many issues that you have to address in order to maintain that…morale and motivation. The most important thing that we can provide for our students is the teacher in front of the classroom. If the teacher fails the students fail.”
-Bill O’Dell

Jessica Almeida also cited quality of instruction, which has been a priority for her since she joined the committee four years ago.

“I believe (instruction) should not be web-based, specifically for K through six, and there’s a lot of statistics on that…I also think it’s tied to proficiency scores. I do believe you can’t tell everything by a score but you do need some sort of metric to guide where things have to go. I think the proficiency scores are in the bucket right now and I think that’s tied to lack of resources and support directly to the students.”
-Jessica Almeida

Asked if members of the school committee should shape curriculum in any way, Titcomb brought an educator’s perspective to the table.

“I do have a bit of unique position on this because I do have a background in education; I am well-versed at evaluating curriculum. Partnering with our teachers and our staff and making sure that they have the resources that they need will best serve our students. We need a measure to know if…our students are benefiting from this and I think partnering with our teachers, our staff and our administration is the best way to address curriculum concerns.”
-Joy Titcomb

One of the final questions asked candidates to say which line items they would view as untouchable in the event a tight budget necessitated cuts. McGovern said he was thankful that Bristol Warren is not in that position.

“I can count 14 different school districts in our state that have had some level of significant financial challenge over the last four years or so, so we’ve been very fortunate. I think our superintendent is very astute with the budget; I think we’re very responsible. If I had to pick a top three, it would be extracurricular athletics, performing and visual arts, and school security.”
-Adam McGovern

Security was a priority echoed by all the candidates.