Ward named to city board of canvassers

WOONSOCKET – After a bit of additional discussion between members of the City Council and City Solicitor John DiSimone, the council voted 6 to 1 on Monday to name former City Council President John F. Ward, a longtime local Republican, as the newest member of the city’s Board of Canvassers and voter registration.

Ward, finance director for the Town of Lincoln, has served on both the Woonsocket City Council and School Committee while heading both panels as council president and school committee chairman during his past local public service.

Ward was recommended for the canvassers by City Council President Daniel Gendron to fill a seat formerly held by Pauline Payeur, a retired city clerk.

Payeur gave up the post last year while serving in another part-time capacity for the city but action to name her replacement had stalled apparently while a Republican member was sought to balance out the two Democrats, former City Councilman James Allam and former City Councilwoman Suzanne Vadenais, as required by state statute.

The question before the Council on Monday concerned who actually should make a nomination to the panel under the terms of state law guiding Canvassers appointments.

Gendron explained that he had submitted Ward’s name for the Canvassers after seeing no action had been taken regarding a list of potential Republican members prepared for consideration last year.

In the absence of action to appoint a member by the eligible party or the mayor, the state statutes indicate the President of a “town council” may submit an eligible candidate for appointment by the council.

The council questioned DiSimone on the reference to the “town council” making the appointment and after some discussion between DiSimone, Gendron and Councilman Jon Brien, a consensus was reached that the city council could in fact make the appoint- ment.

City Councilman Richard Fagnant said he had done his own research on the topic and found that other candidates had been proposed for the position some time ago but an appointment was never acted on. “I feel we should have had this in place months ago,” Fagnant said.

Cournoyer noted that position has been unfilled for close to a year and suggested it was time for the council to correct that situation by filling it.

DiSimone told the panel he had no objection to the council acting on the position given the information that had been presented and the panel followed with the vote appointing Ward. Councilman Christopher Beauchamp cast the sole dissenting vote.

After the decision, Ward said he had offered to serve after learning that the Canvassers still had a vacancy.

“It is a necessary job and it has become evident that it is harder to get people to serve on these boards, Ward said. “Seeing that it wasn’t happening, I was happy to offer my services,” he said.