Ensuring Local Control

So what does maintaining local control of the process of the combination of services and/or regionalization actually mean specifically to Middletown, Newport, and Portsmouth?

Well, it means that our communities should act in an official capacity that says we are willing to explore what the combination of services and/or regionalization would mean to us.

We can’t afford to just sit back and hope that the idea will pass us by as it has several times before. This time is different because of the devastating economy and the impact it is having and will continue to have on our municipal and school budgets. No more "This too shall pass."

Our councils need to be proactive by officially appointing subcommittees that can work with the municipal Administrators to gather pertinent information and make recommendations for the individual municipal governments.

Maybe some proposed combinations are not necessary because an individual community is already providing cost effective services, or maybe some combination of services would be more efficient for all. But we won’t find that out by burying our heads in the sand.

Maybe the regionalization of schools makes sense and can provide some direct benefit for each of us, or maybe it doesn’t. We need to look at the issues. I, myself, would not support anything but equalized governance.

An issue like this is an important topic for each municipality to explore, through a group that could define exactly what would be acceptable in combination or under regionalization and exactly what would not and then make recommendations to the councils. Only after official discussions in the individual councils took place would there be any point to further talk with the other councils about the possibilities for combining services or regionalizing.

What point is there in continuing to ignore the inevitable? What good is there in waiting until the inevitable is forced upon us by those upstate who continue to try to solve their problems on our backs? It’s time for our 3 communities to ensure that the decisions made on Aquidneck Island are made by those who live here.