Joe Sousa

Joe Sousa

I think we should all participate in the budget process as it is, not break up into individual little groups … That’s the way it’s been done for years. It works fine, there is no need to change.” This is work “we have to do as a team.”

David Perry

TIVERTON — The Tiverton Budget Committee, with seven new members out of 11, chose Joseph Sousa, a long-time committee member, to serve as chairman at what was, at times, a divided and somewhat confused reorganizational meeting on Thursday, Jan. 14. The session preceded a joint meeting with the Town Council and School Committee — see related story on the school budget.

Mr. Sousa was chosen over the other nominee, former Town Town Council member John Edwards, by a margin of 6-4 in each of two votes — one on Mr. Edwards, the other on Mr. Sousa.

The vote for vice-chairman followed the same 6-4 margin — this time with Joseph Szrom defeating Mr. Edwards. Supporting Mr. Edwards both times were Budget Committee veteran David Perry, Michael Janick and Daniel Deren (as well as Mr. Edwards).

Supporting Mr. Sousa and Mr. Szrom were Sheri Aakre, Thor Aakre, Cynthia Isherwood and Judy Jones.

Ms. Aakre was the unanimous choice for committee secretary.

Mr. Sousa then took over but was plagued several times by computer and communication issues during the remote meeting — he said he could not see most of the fellow participants and his computer feed froze several times while he was talking. Roll call votes had to be conducted by another member.

He has served on a number of Tiverton budget committees and watched many more meetings, Mr. Sousa said. “Sometimes they were efficient and sometimes … time was wasted, I believe,” Mr. Sousa said.

To improve on that and to save time, he suggested dealing with fixed cost budget items first to get them out of the way. He then proposed that the committee break up into smaller groups, each dealing with different departments. Those smaller groups could then report back to the full committee which would make the decisions.

Mr. Edwards at one point urged that the committee not stray from its agenda.

“You can’t vote on anything that’s not on the agenda,” Mr. Sousa countered. “So let’s not get so strict that you can’t have a discussion … on other areas” that are not on the agenda.

“So is there a consensus to break the budget up into groups?” he asked.

Several members objected to the proposal.

“It’s incumbent on all of us to understand the entirety of the budget before we make our recommendation,” Mr. Edwards said. “I personally feel uncomfortable” handing responsibility for department budgets off to “a couple of members … Splitting into small groups to go on field trips to the various departments” does not feel like the best use of our time.

Town Administrator Chris Cotta asked whether those “subcommittees” would vote on the recommendations they would bring back to the full committee. “It matters because it’s an open meetings issue.” Meetings off-site by subcommittees need to be scheduled, made available for video participation …

This is not all about breaking into subcommittees, Mr. Sousa said. It’s about members with expertise and interest in certain areas focusing on those areas to help bring efficiency.

“I think we should all participate in the budget process as it is, not break up into individual little groups,” Mr. Perry said. The departments can come to the full committee to make their presentations. “That’s the way it’s been done for years. It works fine, there is no need to change.” This is work “we have to do as a team.”

Mr. Deren said he has “seen Town Council meetings in the past few years that have sort of devolved into free-for-alls.” He said he would like to see the Budget Committee “keep things as structured, organized and accountable as possible” rather than have individuals off freelancing.

There was no more discussion of the matter and the meeting was promptly adjourned.