Long-time incumbent Donna Travis is being challenged by Thomas Trudell for the Ward 6 Warwick City Council seat.

Travis, a Democrat, was elected to City Council in 1992 and served until she lost reelection in 2000. She regained her seat in 2002 and has sat there since. Outside of the City Council, Travis worked at the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal for 20 years, and works part-time at Don Rodrigues Karate Academy, which is owned by her brother.

Trudell, the Republican candidate and an employee at General Dynamics in Quonset, is running for elected office for the first time. He is a lifetime Warwick resident.

“I’ve just started getting involved going to City Council meetings, and it seems the one-party city council is not helping the city,” Trudell said. “As a registered Republican, I can help make a difference. A two party council is much healthier for taxpayers and checks and balances.”

If reelected, Travis said one of her main priorities would be making the city more friendly to businesses, especially small ones. The pandemic has hurt the local economy, according to Travis, but she said that even before that the city has had too much red tape in place for businesses to establish themselves.

“Our building department has to be more business friendly and people friendly,” Travis said. “For years they’ve made it very hard for businesses to want to come in. I’ve talked to people who left, are established and are interested in starting businesses here, and they all say they make it so hard for businesses to come in. Instead of telling them what they need to do, they let them come in and then immediately give a list of demands. By the time they are done with that, they’re hanging here for only four, five months.”

Trudell explained that tourism has been important to the ward’s economy, especially with its parks, restaurants and beaches. He also said that the airport could give the city more money.

As Ward 6 includes Oakland Beach, beach fees have been an issue debated in the ward for years. Trudell opposes implementation of beach fees because he said that the city's parks and recreation department already has enough funding to maintain beaches. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t believe that there’s ways the beach could make revenue. Parking and beach fees

“I’m not sure the count of cars, but if they don’t live in the community, they don’t respect the community, parking fees at least I would be for,” Trudell said. “And the boat ramp, not to bring a charge to that, but I’d like to see that area brought up a little bit better, have someone monitor that.”

Travis, however, has long been a supporter of implementing beach fees.

“As far as I’m concerned, those beach fees are the only ways we can maintain and protect our investments we have in our area,” Travis said.  “I have a lot of investments down here, and I want to keep it nice, and the only way to do that is beach fees. And it would help us with the crowding, littering and other issues.”

The Oakland Beach area received grants from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant Program earlier this year to build a new boardwalk, playground improvements and accessibility improvements.  Trudell said that he supported Travis for doing this, and said if elected, he would look to accomplish more of these sort of projects.

Travis also cited her vote in favor of a $10 million road-paving project and $3 million in street lighting improvements as major successes for her ward. She said that these projects are especially beneficial for Ward 6 because according to her, many elderly people live in the ward. 

For the future, Travis hopes to implement more projects to benefit the ward.

“My biggest issue is Brushneck Cove, I believe we should have some maintenance done in that particular area because the city used to pour sand on Buttonwoods Beach,” Travis said. “The sand poured in and filled the channel. Now with low tide it’s really hard to get in there.”

Travis voted in favor of a $7 million sewer revenue bond from the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank in July that would fund repairs to sewer infrastructure. This bill came after a collapsed sewer pipe created a sinkhole on Sandy Lane, which is in Ward 6.

Trudell said that he supports the initiative, but wishes that the City Council took initiative earlier to prevent the sinkhole in the first place.

“I wish inspections were done earlier than now because it’s almost like a hurry up get the bonding now when something happened. I wish bonding for inspections was done earlier than this,” Trudell said. “I approve the bond of course, it’s gonna cost taxpayers money but sewage and water is very very important.”

Views on schools

Education was an important issue for both candidates. Travis argued that the current school department is administrator heavy, and that the schools are overdue for infrastructure improvements.  

Trudell agreed that the schools needed work, but other parts of the city should be addressed too.

“The city only has so much money to spend,” Trudell said. “What I would like to see when I’m elected is a committee of all departments that share funding. Let’s work as a community, let’s build a community where all can, split education, infrastructure, contracts. When a big contract like the fire department gets passed, there’s less money for somebody else. The pie should be cut in equal sections for everybody.”

Travis explained that she would like to give more to the school department, but the city relies on the state for more education funding in order to prevent tax increases.

“I think we are working better with the school committee better than the past school committees,” Travis said. “But regardless of how often we fight, we need more money from the state. And we need to have the money go where it’s needed. The school committee has the last say. We can’t tell them where to put the money. We can give them more money, less money, level fund them, but they decide where the money goes. That’s aggravating because I’ve been screaming about the condition of the schools for years.”

Regarding reopening schools during the pandemic, she said that she was not too happy that the schools are beginning to reopen, arguing that the air ventilation issues should have been addressed first, and worried that an outbreak will occur. 

Trudell said that students should go to in-person school as soon as it is safe to do so.

”I believe now that the internet is active it’s more kids in front of the screen which I don’t like, I’d like to see full in-person if possible,” Trudell said. “But the schools have to meet CDC guidelines. My daughter’s doing ok online, but it’s taken down the socialization of being with other kids. I’d like to see them easily bring it through grades if possible.”

Ultimately, Trudell concluded that the City Council needs a change of pace, and he supports term limits.

“She’s been in there for 20 years,” Trudell said. “I think the city needs change and a two party system.”

Travis responds that it often takes a long time to accomplish major city projects.

“You always come in thinking you’re going to get a lot of things done, but you have to have people support you, and things don’t get done just because the administration, or lack of support or just don’t have time,” Travis said. “I’m not a quitter so I just keep trying until I get something done.”