Fox endorses colleagues, cites unfinished work seeking reelection in letter to voters

Hello All,

I am running for re-election to what will be my final term on the Burrillville Town Council, hopefully and with your support. As I have done public service on the Town Council for the past eight years, many of you already know me and where I stand on a range of issues. For those of you who do not, or who have questions on where I stand on issues, my cell is (401) 265-9674. Please feel free to give me a call or shoot me a text. I am happy to go over any topic of interest to you.  

I am running for this final term for two key reasons, on top of my usual concern for the wellbeing of our residents. First, I want to complete an important project involving the hopeful transformation of the field and athletic complex at the Burrillville High School. The goal is to replace the current football field with a multipurpose artificial turf field, which will allow more than a handful of football games to be played per year. It will allow our high school football, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls lacrosse and field hockey teams to all play on a world class field, with lights and concessions. We are looking to replace and relocate the tennis courts and provide additional parking. This project will also see a transformation of the field behind the Burrillville Middle School and will have a ripple affect on other fields throughout our community. A new field at BHS will also allow access to a wonderful facility for the important Burrillville Patriot Football and Cheer Program and the Burrillville Youth Lacrosse program. Surplus, unused time will be available for rent to help with the continual upkeep that such a facility needs. The next Town Council will hopefully be sharply focused as the current Town Council in looking for alternate funding sources to pay for this project, including the use of substantial amounts of money coming down from the federal and state governments at this time. I am committed to using as much of those funds to pay for this project as possible.  

The second critical issue will be the eventual retirement of our town manager, Mike Wood. Mike’s tenure here has been marked with outstanding and continual efforts to keep Burrillville’s financial house well in order. He has worked tirelessly over almost three decades with many different town councils, always finding a way to protect the best interests of the Burrillville taxpayers and residents. His replacement and that hiring process will be important to our town for many years to come. I want to be a part of the process so that I can leave public service eventually, knowing that the town will be well cared for into the future.

I am proud of what the Town Council has accomplished in the past eight years. I have been fortunate to serve with dedicated council members, from both sides of the political aisle. In the past eight years, I have endorsed Democrats as strongly as I have endorsed Republican candidates for Town Council seats. It has never mattered to me which party the candidates are from as I look at what they have done and what they are prepared to work toward.

This year I am endorsing two incumbent council members, Vice President Steve Rawson, and Member Dennis Anderson. Steve’s dedication to public service in our town is measured in decades. He has not only served on the Town Council, but on numerous boards and commissions going back to the 1980’s.  He has volunteered countless hours to our community over four decades. He is a wealth of knowledge and history about our town. When we need to recall how or why things were done in town many years ago, Steve often has the answers. Like me, Steve is a common sense fiscal conservative, knowing that the town must spend money each year, and always joining with me to make sure we spend it wisely.  

My second endorsement goes to Dennis Anderson. He is the smartest person on the Town Council and one of the sharpest guys that I know. His engineering background and affinity for budget issues is already legendary on the council. When I have a question or want to beat a financial issue about, Dennis is the first person that I call. He spent four years on the Budget Board and his ability and willingness to take deep dives into the budget each year demonstrate all that he learned on that important board. I feel fortunate that he is running again and only wish that he agreed to run for Town Council earlier. I pushed Dennis for years before he finally ran, and I am glad that he did, and I am thrilled that he is running again.

The third candidate that I am endorsing is David Houle. I have known David for years now and have watched him serve on various boards and commissions during that time. We share so many of the same views on running businesses, serving the community, protecting Burrillville’s rural nature while promoting balanced growth, and importantly on keeping strict control of our town’s budget. Protecting taxpayer money in the years to come will be critical, and David will hopefully be a part of that protection. David owned a business in town for years and we share common thoughts on the type of businesses that we should be working to bring to town and those that we do not need in our remaining commercial/industrial space.

I hope you will lend me, Steve Rawson, Dennis Anderson and David Houle your support on November 8.  We will work hard to protect your interests, listen to your concerns, and be honest about what we can do or not do as a Town Council. We will remain committed to protecting the rural nature of Burrillville, promoting balanced and well-planned growth, revitalizing our former mill village centers, and making sure that tax dollars are well spent for the betterment of our town.

Sincerely,

Don Fox