Bonnita B. Van Slyke – Town Council

Bonnie’s family has long loved Charlestown and been active in the community. Her father, George Bliven, was instrumental in defeating the nuclear power plant that the electric company planned to build on the former Navy base and then led the long effort to create Ninigret Park.

When Bonnie moved back to Charlestown to live full time in 2006, she dove right into community involvement. She served as an officer and a member of the Board of Directors of the Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center from 2007 to 2014 and on the Town Council from 2014 through 2022.

At Frosty Drew, a nonprofit education institution supported entirely by donations and grants, she worked to raise funds for and operate the science center and observatory. In 2012, when the then-Town Council proposed stadium lighting for a wide area next to the observatory and too near the National Wildlife Refuge, she worked to stop the plan and preserve the amazing dark skies above Ninigret Park.

In her eight years on the Town Council, Bonnie worked with her fellow councilors, members of the planning commission, staff, residents, and others to move critical issues forward—from reducing the tax rate to one of the lowest in Rhode Island and adopting a policy to reserve sufficient savings to protect taxpayers in the event of emergencies; to updating and adopting our long-range Comprehensive Plan to guide growth and preservation; to conducting a scientific survey of all members of the community to discover their opinions and desires; to listening to scientific experts and enacting ordinances to protect our groundwater; to guiding our town through the Covid-19 pandemic, keeping town offices open and providing services to our citizens; to rallying our community, nonprofit organizations, and legislators to defeat the Federal Railroad Administration’s 2016 plan to bisect Charlestown with high-speed rail. 

When she was re-elected to the Town Council in December 2025, Bonnie hit the ground running to stand up for the best interests of our town, and brought a much-needed balance to the Town Council where everyone had been part of the same political group. Bonnie is committed to accountable and ethical leadership, sound fiscal management, local control over land use, wise stewardship of our natural resources, and positive educational leadership.