Beauregard: Transparency is not just a catch phrase to me

0
525

NORTH SMITHFIELD – Town Council candidate John Beauregard said this week that while some candidates use the concept of transparency as a catch-phrase, for him it is more than an abstract idea.

“The word transparency has been used over and over by so many candidates it seems to have lost its meaning,” Beauregard said. “They call for government to be more transparent but do they give examples of how they will make that happen and how it is not happening now?”

“It’s a great word, who wouldn’t want a more transparent government?” Beauregard asked.

“It’s like saying we need lower taxes. Who doesn’t want lower taxes? But what’s your plan to make that happen?”

Beauregard said that during his previous time on the Town Council, he actually made town government more transparent.

“It was not just some abstract idea to me,” he said.

Beauregard noted that he changed the rules of the council to allow open forum at every meeting.

“Prior to that residents would only have an opportunity to go before the council once a month,” he said. “Technically a resident could wait up to five weeks if they had an issue they wanted to bring to the attention of the council. I thought that was too long and changed the long-standing rule.”

The former council president noted that he also dispensed with the rule that open forum could only last fifteen minutes.

“If the fifteen minutes are up and you did not have a chance to speak, then you had to wait until next time,” Beauregard said. “I know many residents that this has happened to. I made sure everyone that wanted to speak had their chance to be heard even if it went beyond the fifteen minutes.”

Beauregard said that depending on the amount of people, he had to place a time limit on how long someone could speak, but he made sure that everyone got their chance.

“During some highly attended public hearings, I allowed everyone to be heard even when I knew their position was counter to my own,” he said. “And I never stopped someone mid sentence just because their time was up.”

Beauregard noted that by comparison, one council president used an egg timer and when the bell rang, the time was out.

“I believe that only disenfranchises the resident and makes them distrust their local government,” he said. “What we are calling transparency is really common courtesy, we need to live by the golden rule. I will make sure the voices of all residents are heard regardless of their position and regardless if I agree with them or not.”

NRI NOW is offering all candidates for local office in North Smithfield and Burrillville the opportunity to submit releases expressing their platforms and opinions. Releases should be 500 words or less and submitted to sandy@nrinow.news

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Oh hi there 👋
It’s nice to meet you.

Sign up to receive awesome content in your inbox, every week.

We don’t spam!

Leave a Reply