To the editor:

Tiverton Town Councilors Robert Coulter and Justin Katz are the subject of the upcoming recall vote in town, scheduled for October 10.  Until now, I have mostly stayed on the sidelines watching each side make their case for or against recall, mainly because of my own responsibilities as a member of the School Committee.  However, it is that very sense of responsibility to our schools and the students of Tiverton that I can no longer remain silent.

During the 2019 budget season, Council VP Justin Katz met privately with our superintendent of schools in an attempt to broker a budget agreement.  By doing so, Mr. Katz was circumventing the authority of the School Committee, whose role by charter it is to propose the annual budget to the Budget Committee. 

As a taxpayer, Mr. Katz can and most certainly has, on several occasions, exercised his right to submit a petitioner’s budget.  But as a newly elected town councilor, and because he now had insider access, he chose instead to try to push his school budget number forward without following the petitioner process.

Indeed, insider access has now turned Mr. Katz, an admitted proponent of small government, school vouchers for private education and dismantling of unions, into quite the big government practitioner.  My fear is that letting him continue as a town councilor will lead to continued meddling in our school system in particular, eventually causing irreparable harm.

Council President Coulter, while not as hands on as Mr. Katz, as evidenced by his admission that he only looks at his town email monthly, is also worthy of this recall effort.  Under his leadership, there has been nothing of substance accomplished, and indeed he has contributed to division and citizen anger by pushing through appointments he knew were not in the best interest of the town.  He happily allowed Mr. Katz to introduce and push for meaningless things like the sanctuary city proclamation.  He has exposed the town to potential litigation resulting from this bungled handling of the Carpionato Group’s most recent attempt to put a shopping center on Souza Road.

Enough is enough.  I will be voting on October 10 to recall both, with the hope that we can have a functioning government once again.

Diane Farnworth

Vice chairwoman, Tiverton School Committee