As your Town Councilor, I will continue my advocacy for better government services and more responsive representation. My priorities will include:

​

• Working with the Town Administration on a stronger Road Repair plan

  • We should create a transparent, long-term roadmap for paving and building maintenance.​

• Strengthen local conservation easements to protect forests and wetlands, and implement stronger requirements for new commercial developments to protect our local aquifers and ensure the long-term health of our water supply.

  • North Smithfield is built on its rural character, and I will fight to protect that.​

• Address the crisis of affordability head-on, to keep North Smithfield livable for all generations.

  • Move away from spending money on endless studies and focus groups and actually make decisions about how to spend the Town's time and resources to improve our services and structures.​

  • Aggressively pursue state and federal grants to offset local taxpayer burdens.

  • Review the tax assessment process to ensure fairness across the board.

  • Support Aging In Place initiatives to provide assistance to long-term senior residents.

• Prioritizing transparency and civility in Town government

  • Create a 'Digital Town Hall' by building a user-friendly dashboard on the Town website to track active projects - and update residents on progress in plain English. ​

  • Implementing a Conflict of Interest disclosure and Code of Conduct agreement for all board applicants.

  • Eliminating the "us versus them" rhetoric which frequently derails progress. People are sick of the fighting. It's time to get some real work done. 

​

Answering Questions from Town:

People across town have presenting challenging and important questions for me to consider during the campaign. Some of these questions were part of a proposed candidate forum which unfortunately never materialized; however, I wanted to still give answers to what people are asking their next Town Council to consider:

​

Flock Cameras and Municipal Surveillance Technology
North Smithfield’s use of automated license-plate readers such as Flock cameras has raised questions about public safety, privacy, data access, and government oversight. Do you support the town funding and using this technology? If so, what limits, retention rules, reporting requirements, access restrictions, and Council oversight should be required? If not, why should the town discontinue it?

---

I do not support the use of Flock cameras or other automated license plate readers by or in North Smithfield. For the sake of brevity, I will copy here a Facebook post I made on the subject back on July 30, 2026:

​

“I had intended to come to the Town Council meeting on Monday but that won’t be possible now, so I figured it would be best to just be clear about my thoughts on the Flock Cameras question:

​

Keep them out of North Smithfield.

​

Although I hear the proponents and acknowledge that they have some fair points, ultimately I cannot support a program which has a documented history of misuse and mistakes and no meaningful regulation around its usage. 

​

North Smithfield does not currently have a contract with Flock. If I am on the Town Council, I will not vote to approve a contract with Flock. 

​

One major argument from proponents is that Flock cameras help solve crime. There may be some merit to that; however, my instinct is to not rely on video surveillance to solve crime, but instead double down on support for our local police departments and help rebuild Community Relations programs which make it crystal clear that our cops are the good guys and we can go to them when we need help or we see something wrong. I trust us more than I trust AI-driven camera technology.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to reach out with any questions by phone or email. - Paul”

​

Since that post, I feel as though my initial instincts have been vindicated. Multiple communities have decided to pause or outright cancel their contracts with Flock, including South Kingstown; Narragansett; Glocester; North Kingstown; Cumberland; Jamestown; Lincoln, and Foster. 

 

Data Centers
Data-center development can generate tax revenue but may also create concerns involving land use, noise, energy demand, water use, infrastructure, environmental effects, and nearby neighborhoods. Should North Smithfield permit data centers? If so, where should they be allowed and what zoning, operational, infrastructure, and financial conditions should the town require before approving them?

---

I am firmly against bringing data centers into North Smithfield. I recognize they can bring in tax revenue, but I have to ask at what cost. 

​

North Smithfield is built on and proud of its rural character. We are an emerald oasis unlike so many other rural communities, in that we have access to nearby suburbs and cities via 146 and other nearby by-ways, but here at home we have our hard-earned serenity. Some North Smithfielders are able to walk out their front door and see neighbors; others see nothing but nature for miles around. 

​

It’s not all perfect: we have had well publicised concerns about the expansion of certain industries in our town which have not always respected our boundaries. Many of us have sincere concerns about air, noise, and water pollution in our wells and our wetlands and even our schools. I believe those are all valid concerns for us to have, and so bringing in something which is adding to those concerns is not what I see as in the best interest of the town, no matter how much tax revenue it may or may not raise. 
 

Economic Development and the Commercial Tax Base
Expanding the commercial tax base can reduce reliance on residential property taxes, but not every type of development is appropriate everywhere. What types of businesses or commercial development should North Smithfield actively pursue, where should that development occur, and how would you balance economic growth against impacts on neighborhoods, infrastructure, and the town’s rural character?
—

As the Chair of the Economic Development Commission, I’ve wrestled with this question a lot. Ultimately, I believe that small, locally-owned businesses are the lifeblood of every community, and we should concentrate our energy on promoting those in town. As a rural community, we also have an opportunity to embrace and empower business which leans agricultural, from our neighbors who own chickens and want to sell their eggs at a roadside stand to the landmark Wright’s Dairy Farm. 

The technology of today also gives people the opportunity to launch and operate a business from their home. That’s what I did … I started my business with a laptop, $20, and an idea. Now we’ve grown to cover three states and are about to open a location in Florida. I didn’t do it alone: I was lucky to learn from trailblazers in organizations like the Chamber of Commerce and the SBA. That’s why I want to partner with the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce to launch a Business Excellence Program in North Smithfield, which will provide training and guidance for other entrepreneurs who want to build their own business. I’ve made a previous post outlining the BEP, and I encourage you to take a look. 

Here’s the point: we have open storefronts in North Smithfield which we can welcome new businesses into. Do we have areas in town we can develop or re-develop to welcome business? Sure. Is that our only option? No. Nor do we have to settle for every development being a gas station or storage unit. I think the key is in giving the smart and talented people we have living in town the tools they need to build something different, and encouraging them to succeed as they get off the ground. Working with organizations like the Chamber and our own Economic Development Commission on ribbon cuttings and promoting new businesses is essential to giving entrepreneurs what they need to driving smart growth in North Smithfield. 

 

Town Administrator, Town Manager, and Council Authority
North Smithfield currently operates under a Town Administrator form of government. Do you believe the current structure provides the right balance of professional management, Town Council authority, and accountability? Would you support changing the charter or moving toward a Town Manager model? If so, what authority should that position have, and what authority should remain with the elected Town Council?

---

For most of my time as a resident of North Smithfield, I believed that utilizing an elected Town Administrator was the way to go. In my view, giving residents the ability to have final say over their town’s chief executive was a net positive, so previously I supported keeping that an elected position.

However, over time I’ve become convinced that keeping the Town Administrator an elected position is not in the best interest of the town. We will never be able to shield the Administrator role from political influences and pressures, but by removing the ‘elected’ requirement from the equation and focusing instead on recruiting a well qualified, carefully vetted, thoroughly trained professional we are more likely to have consistent quality in this important role. 

Let me be clear: I support our current Administrator, and think he is doing great work. I haven’t shifted my view on the Administrator role because of one person past or present. It’s been a growing shift, and one I think will benefit us all long-term. 

In my view, this Administrator (or Town Manager) would be appointed by the Town Council and be answerable to the Council, akin to the relationship between the School Committee and the Superintendent. This Town Manager could have powers similar to other Town Managers in Rhode Island: managing Town staff, executing policies, and overseeing operations. That in mind, much would stay the same at the Administrator level, but instead of having to start thinking about campaigning for re-election, the Administrator could focus exclusively on their role regardless of what is happening in November. 

 

Resident Concerns, Transparency, and Accountability
Residents sometimes raise concerns before the Town Council without knowing what action, if any, follows afterward. What should the Council do to ensure resident concerns receive meaningful follow-up, particularly when the Council decides not to take the action being requested? Would you support any changes to how issues, referrals, responses, or follow-up actions are publicly tracked?

---

In this era of instant information sharing, it is glaring how inefficient communication from our government tends to be. It should be easier than it is for people to know what their elected officials are doing, especially in the context of big policy changes and constituent follow-ups.

​

Compounding the issue, in North Smithfield we are very light on ‘official’ channels, so it is hard for residents to figure out what information they see (especially on social media) is legitimate. 

​

The first thing I’d like to do is restructure the website to include a ‘Digital Town Hall’, which collects recent videos of meetings along with summaries of the videos for residents who have trouble hearing the audio. The DTH could also feature tracking of issues brought up by residents during meetings, what the resolution was, or the status of the issue if it’s a longer-term project. This Digital Town Hall (working title, by the way … I’m open to suggestions here) could have a real emphasis on not just listing the current projects and questions facing our town, but outline the history and future of these different items. For inspiration, I looked at the municipal website of Fort Wayne, Indiana, which has an ‘Engage’ section which lays out different local projects and how residents can engage with their elected officials about these projects: https://engage.cityoffortwayne.org/

​

I also hope that the Town Council meeting structure is changed in the new term. In my opinion, meaningful questions and concerns which are brought up by residents should be addressed at the next meeting in either Old or New Business, so that residents are in the know about how the town is running and what is on the horizon. Even if the update is, “we’re working on it and here’s how”, that’s a good start. We shouldn’t have anything to fear of transparency, and anyway I strongly believe it’s better to be truthful about what we’re doing rather than let half-truths and speculation control the narrative.