Julie Carroccia: Appreciation To Charlestown’s Voters
The following comments were made by Town Councilor Julie Carroccia at the November 9, 2020 Town Council meeting. Julie Carroccia did not seek reelection in 2020. Julie was elected in November, 2016 and served four years on the Town Council.
Good Evening!
I wanted to take a few minutes to express my appreciation to Charlestown’s voters for electing me to serve for the two terms I offered the town.
Charlestown is a special place and I have had the good fortune to live in several of them over my lifetime. When I retired, it was important to me to “give back” to the community as I had not had the time to do so during a busy banking career that spanned over 30 years. I always trusted the elected officials to do their best to represent the community and I was never disappointed in the outcome.
For my family, the most wonderful aspects of Charlestown are its dark skies, open space, rural charm and beautiful beaches. It was shocking when the first issue after the 2016 election involved the Federal Railroad Administration plan to put the railroad through 19 conservation properties, the Narragansett’s sacred burial grounds and the Frances Carter Preserve. Our community came together to fight this proposal which would have had a very detrimental impact on the town. In conjunction with the community, Virginia Lee and I met with state and federal officials to reverse the plan and were successful. Over the next year, Ruth Platner and I ran the Solarize Charlestown program which was considered a shining success by the state. Many of our residents participated in the program which substantially benefited our environment. I also enjoyed working with the Budget Commission to keep taxes low while providing excellent services through Mark Stankiewicz and Town Administration.
Over the past two terms, I have had the good fortune to work with the other Council members who were willing to give their time to the town. I am sure that all of them had a vision for the town which they believed to be in the best interests of both our full time and part year residents. I challenge each newly elected Town Council member to think about what is best for the town overall and to value the attributes that make Charlestown special. If we don’t, there are many communities that offer a wonderful quality of life that would be happy to attract our residents. We must maintain Charlestown’s uniqueness.
In summary, I wish our newly elected Council the best of luck as they strive to maintain a high quality of life for our residents overall. Personally, I am looking forward to continuing to give back in different ways such as volunteering at my church’s food pantry and serving on the Board of Directors for a nursing home and assisted living facility.
It has been my pleasure to work for our community.
November 12, 2020 @ 12:14 pm
First..Id like to thank the 3 retiring members of the Charlestown Town Council who so tirelessly worked to preserve the character of our town. It is evident that they were committed to a unified effort to preserve the rural nature…prevent “big box” stores from occupying our historic town center, and most importantly to preserve our clean drinking water. In addition, I so appreciate the inclusive attitude on display when members worked with the State officials against the railroad issue, the Narragansetts on the water issue, and urging townspeople to consider solar panels. I only wish that I had attended the Nov 9th Town Coucil meeting to thank each one in person
November 12, 2020 @ 11:14 am
Thank you Julie for your service to the Town Your thoughtful and analytical approach to problem solving has been noticed and appreciated. All the best to you and Tom in your future activities.
November 11, 2020 @ 3:23 am
Thank you, Julie. You stood your ground on so many occasions and have spoken out against threats to our town. Your financial expertise became an effective force especially when bad fiscal advice was bantered about in local social media. Your support for residential solar energy has resulted in considerable savings to the residents participating in the program. The only promise you made to the community was to work toward everyone’s benefit and to act as a good neighbor should. You kept that promise.