Just as I expected, at their most recent meeting our town council in a rushed and poorly thought out vote, eliminated longevity payments and buyout bonuses for the town clerk and town administrator, and while at first blush this may give the impression that our current town council members are fiscally prudent and good stewards of the town's money, it could not be further from the truth.

The only thing that was accomplished by the ratification of this new policy was a collective slap in the face to two of Bristol's most valuable, knowledgeable, and dedicated town employees, Steve Contente and Melissa Cordeiro. 

The rationale of the council was that they wanted to avoid in the future what they considered overly generous severance packages to departing town employees, such as what was paid out in the past to previous non-unionized employees, such as the town clerk, town administrator, police chief, and fire chief, among others.

And while councilors attempted to portray themselves as knights in shining armor watching out for the taxpayers, the only thing they accomplished with this new policy was showing how jealous, mean spirited, and vindictive they can be.

Bristol's town administrator and town clerk earn embarrassingly low salaries that are not at all commensurate with their experience, workload and responsibility, and in taking away the small perks that were part of their total compensation packages, the council sent a loud and clear message that hard work, dedication and years of loyal service to the town mean nothing.

And while Steve and Melissa have little recourse due to the fact they are not unionized employees and are totally at the mercy of the town council, they have the ultimate recourse, and that’s the ballot box.

Back years ago, when I was a municipal employee in a different Rhode Island community, every once in a while a city council candidate or incumbent councilor would decide they were going to be a hero and go after the pay and benefits of municipal employees, but fortunately, the voters of the city where I was employed were very supportive of their municipal employees, and the candidates and incumbents who chose to attack and disrespect municipal employees found their political careers to be very short and extremely unpleasant.

In Bristol, I don't think the current town council members realize how popular Steve and Melissa are with the voters, and hopefully next year the two of them can organize and endorse a slate of town council candidates who value and respect town employees, and who will rescind these unfair policies when they take office following the elections of November 2022.

Mike Proto
Bristol