After considering whether or not he’d dip his toe into politics this year, Bill Paola decided to run for the Ward 2 seat on the City Council as a Republican after a conversation with incumbent Councilman Jeremy Rix.

An issue close to Paola's heart is making sure that his road, Fairfax Drive, is marked as not having thru trucking, and he believes that Rix has not gotten enough done on the matter in his time on the council.

“He said, ‘Well, I’ve done a lot.’ He’s got six years of emails,” Paola said, referring to the truck signs. “I said ‘Well, that’s good. Thanks for reminding us what you’ve done, but I’ll take care of it from here.’”

Paola, 69, grew up in Warwick, and after some time serving in the military in Germany, he moved back to the city.

He said that while he had nothing personally against Rix, his biggest issue is that Rix acted too slowly on issues.

“He’s been there eight freaking years, and it’s always this mantra from politicians, that if you elect me, you won’t feel the pain,” Paola said. “Well, we’ve been feeling the pain for eight years.”

A top priority for Paola is sunsetting Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) for former city employees. He would have benefits end in seven years, as he said that the City Council has allocated money for benefits through then, and it would give advance notice to those who receive them.  

Doing that, he said, would help the city financially, and he argued that if the benefits were slowly phased out, it would not have a heavy impact on those receiving the benefits.

“They’re not really losing anything- you retire at 40, 45, 50, like most others, and I know a lot of folks who work for the state or for the city get a second career,” Paola said. “You’re not losing your pension, you know? It’s just not asking the taxpayers to pay for something they will never see themselves…. It was good back in the early days, but today, in 21^st century reality, it doesn’t really hold the same.”

Financially, Paola also said that he would look at the city budget and find places to cut between five and 10% of the budget in each city department.

Another important priority for Paola is one close to his heart- making sure Fairfax Drive is properly marked as having no thru trucking. A resident of the road, Paola said that as things currently stand, it is unsafe for residents to walk through their neighborhood due to both those trucks and speeding issues.

“It’s a narrow two-lane road, residential, and kids and families are walking on it with no sidewalks and nowhere to walk,” Paola said.

With construction looming for the new Pilgrim High School over the next few years, Paola said that he has been in contact with Dimeo and LeftField Project Management, imploring them not to go through Fairfax Drive when the school is constructed.

“Since then, I’ve got the state doing signs on Post Road for no thru trucking,” Paola said.

Additionally, he said he would like sidewalks installed on the road, though he sees that as a lower priority at the moment than cracking down on speeding and on preventing thru trucking.

With one month left in his campaign, Paola said that he’s been beginning to knock on doors throughout the ward. Street signs for his campaign, he said, just came in, and he is putting them in as he campaigns.

Paola believes that Warwick needs to elect more Republicans and independents for the city to prosper, mentioning fellow Republicans Richard Cascella and Beth Lane Italiane and independent Joanne Miller as candidates that he would vote for if he lived in their wards.

While he conceded that he would have a lot to learn should he be elected, Paola aims to spark change in Warwick.

“We have an opportunity to really balance the City Council,” Paola said. “There’s some good common sense guys in there, but we’ve got four openings… I hope folks look at it as a chance to get some new eyes, some new ideas, and some strong-willed folks on the City Council, because the way we’re going right now, we’re all looking pretty much at a disaster financially.”

Editor's note: Some changes have been made to the beginning of the story for clarity.