Council Candidate Kathryn Dumais, former School Committee Vice Chair and a Woonsocket resident for 69 years, thinks the Council and the City administration ought to cooperate more.
Dumais feels the Council ought to be more cooperative with its own membership, as well. "I've been to some of the meetings where certain parts of the council aren't dealing with the other portion..." Dumais said during a Candidates Night at Chan's Sept. 24. She also expressed an interest in getting a more respectful discourse set up between the Council and the Budget Commission.
Dumais spent four years on the School Committee in the 1980s, two of them as the Vice Chairman of the board. She's also a current member of the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Dumais, a graduate of Johnson and Wales University, worked for 32 years in the office of local doctor Alexander Phillips on Cumberland Hill Road. She's since retired.
Dumais doesn't have a campaign running online in earnest at the moment, but voters can find some photos and a little more information about her at her Facebook page.
Woonsocket Patch asked several questions of each City Council candidate. Here are Dumais' answers:
1) Assuming the Budget Commission is around for the duration, how would you work with the panel? I do not like it and would love to get rid of it but, we have to live with.it. The first thing I want to do is make the Commission respect the Mayor and the council. I would suggest that the Council meet the first Monday of the month as usual and the next meeting would be a combined meeting of both. This would be recorded and on TV for all to see. No more meetings at their choice of day and time. This is my main concern for Woonsocket. Once we return Woonsocket to the people we can then address the City's economy by working together with the same agenda and not seven different ones.
2) The Budget Commission is governed by state law. How can you as a City Councilor affect or change that law?
3) The Budget Commission still needs to raise $1 million for its 5-year plan, and that's proposed to come from trash fees. Do you support this, or, if not, do you have an alternative?
4) Please list a reason you didn't mention at Candidates Night for voters to choose you over the other candidates.
5) What can Councilors do to improve the City's economy?
6) What would your alternative to the Budget Commission have been?
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