Council candidates talk goals, qualifications
WOONSOCKET — The Woonsocket Call asked the candidates for City Council to share with voters some of their qualifications for office, as well as their goals if elected.
Jon D. Brien
A former state lawmaker, Jon D. Brien is seeking his second term on the City Council and currently serves as vice president of the panel.
Brien, 47, of 200 Woodland Road, is a self-employed lawyer.
His firm is the Brien Law Group Inc., located in Woonsocket. He specializes in civil law and criminal defense, as well as zoning and government regulations. He is also a former prosecutor for the Woonsocket and Central Falls police departments.
Brien graduated from Woonsocket High School in 1988 and New York Law School in 1997. He earned an MBA at Suffolk University in 2001.
He is married to Nicole Brien. They have four children, Kristen, 29; Chad, 20; Juliana, 15; and Gabriella, 13.
Before he was elected to the City Council, Brien served as state lawmaker, serving the city’s District 50 in the House of Representatives from 2006-2012.
He is a member of the Rotary Club of Woonsocket; the Knights of Columbus Council No. 113; Cercle Laurier; American Legion Post No. 85; and Club Lafayette.
Brien says he is running to bring accountability and collaboration to a “broken local government.”
“I am running for re-election because I want to continue to serve the community that I call home,” said Brien. “I am humbled and honored that the people of our city have shown the faith in me to help lead lead Woonsocket into a more positive place for all. As a councilman, I have ensured that there is accountability and transparency for the other elected officials of the city. I want to continue to use my education and experience to truly bring collaboration and cooperation among the branches of city government. Only then can we really move forward together, rather than working apart. I believe that I have the skills and leadership experience to help mend a seemingly broken local government.
Julia A. Brown
Julia A. Brown is running for elective office for the first time, aiming for a seat on the City Council.
Brown, 23, of 32 Larch St., is a city native and lifelong city resident.
A 2013 graduate of St. Andrews School in Barrington, she attended Woonsocket High School for a time before transferring to St. Andrews. She is also a 2016 graduate of Providence College, where she double-majored in psychology and philosophy.
She is currently employed as a substitute teacher in the Woonsocket Education Department – her second year working with elementary schoolchildren. She has worked at Harris Elementary School and Bernon Heights Elementary School. Previously, she was employed as a student mentor in Providence College’s Martin Luther King scholarship program.
Brown has volunteered for a number of charitable groups and nonprofits, including English in Action, a Providence-based ESL program for which she served as an instructor. She was also a volunteer for Mobile Loaves and Fishes, an organization
that dispenses, food, toiletries and other basics to the homeless population in various parts of the state.
As a member of the City Council, Brown says she would work to promote a healthier business climate and focus in particular on nurturing the arts and entertainment sector. Youth is an asset she’ll bring to the job, she says.
“I really feel that the city needs a fresh, new perspective and some new ideas and I really want to work super-hard to make sure that the city thrives,” she says. “My willingness to work collaboratively with others and my focus on the food, art and entertainment industry, my focus on wanting to bring in new business, how we can support new business and keep the existing ones thriving, are among my main goals. I really want to get the youth involved as well. A lot of people my age aren’t really concerned with their local government, they didn’t pay much attention to it. So I want to work hard to get people involved in their community when it comes to giving back and volunteering.”
James Cournoyer
A sitting member of the City Council, James C. Cournoyer is employed as the assistant treasurer of Textron, Inc.
A graduate of North
Smithfield High School, Cournoyer, of 183 Glen Road, earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Rhode Island in accounting.
He has served on the City Council since 2016 and is currently seeking his second term.
Cournoyer says he is running to ensure that city government remains accountable to the citizens and lives within its financial means.
“I am running to ensure that we have open, honest and transparent government, where decisions are made in an informed, fact-based manner, as well as to ensure that we maintain solid fiscal discipline with budgets that our taxpayers can afford,” he said.
Richard J. Fagnant
City Councilman Richard J. Fagnant is the owner of Key Decorated Apparel, a silk-screening business in operation for 24 years.
A lifelong city resident, Fagnant, 67, of 88 Coe St., is a 1970 graduate of Woonsocket High School. He also took courses in sales, management and marketing from Johnson & Wales University.
Fagnant has been married to the former Patricia A. Salvas for 42 years. They have two adult daughters and two granddaughters.
Prior to serving on the council, Fagnant had been a member of the Zoning Board of Review from 2011-2016.
He is running for his second-term on the council, after his election in 2016.
Fagnant says he is running to be the “voice of the voiceless” citizens of of the city.
“If you were never invited to the popular girl of boys’ table, then vote for me, Richard Fagnant, and we the average citizen will have a seat at that table and finally have a voice in your government,” said Fagnant. “I became the official voice of the voiceless and all citizens of this great city called Woonsocket. I’m just a tool of the people and that I accept with honor. I’m running for re-election to continue to be the voice of the citizens and the voiceless that I gladly serve.”
Daniel M. Gendron
Daniel M. Gendron is seeking re-election to the City Council. Gendron, 54, of 87 Arland Court, is the longtime director of building services at The Friendly
Home on Rhodes
Avenue.
A graduate of Woonsocket
High School, Gendron holds an associate’s degree in business management from Community College of Rhode Island and a bachelor’s in business administration from Johnson & Wales University.
He has served four terms on the council since 2009 and is currently its president.
In addition, Gendron is the vice president of the Museum of Work and Culture Foundation; a member of the Main Street Holiday Stroll Committee and an active parishioner of St. Joseph’s Church. Before his election to the City Council, Gendron served on the Zoning Board of Review.
He and his wife, Ann Marie (Jacquart) Gendron, have a daughter, Victoria Ann Gendron.
Gendron says he is running for another term to continue providing “good, honest stewardship and oversight” of city affairs.
“More specifically, I am running to continue to provide strong fiscal discipline as reflected by the budgets I have supported over my previous terms wherein I always prioritize taxpayers’ ability to pay, insisting on having the government we can afford and no more,” Gendron said. “Moreover I believe my candidacy provides the people with an individual who will always work hard and ask the difficult questions that need to be asked.”
Roger G. Jalette Sr.
Roger G. Jalette Sr., 75, a retired florist and former member of the City Council, is seeking to return to the board after a hiatus of two years.
Jalette, of 282 Third Ave., ran Roger’s Flowers for 32 years in Woonsocket, most recently from a location on Greene Street.
A lifelong city resident, Jalette attended public schools in the city.
He is a former member of several civic groups, including the Cercle Laurier and the Woonscoket Elks Club. He is the founding president of LAPOW – the Landlord and Property Owners of Woonsocket; the founder of the Autumnfest Co-Ed Softball Tournament, and founder of the Stadium Theatre/Milk Fund Rubber Ducky Race. He is a past member of the Woonsocket Independent Softball League and founder of the Wo onsocket Senior Citizens Ten-Ten Club.
Jalette served on the City Council from 1995-2001, the last two years as council president. After a break from elective office, he was re-elected to the council in 2007 and served until 2016, at which time he challenged incumbent Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt.
He says he wants to return to the council to lend support to the majority, especially in regards to its judicious approach to spending taxpayer dollars.
“Inconsistencies have developed in the relations between the present council and the mayor. Hopefully I’ll be able to restore some stability to the situation,” said Jalette. “In the last budget, for example, the council attempted to override the mayor on the city budget, but fell short by one vote. In my opinion that will cost the taxpayers of the city of Woonsocket, both in the short and longer term.”
Thomas Keith
Thomas Keith, 39, of 292 Berthenshaw Road, is a candidate for the City Council in his second bid for a seat on the panel.
Keith is a real estate agent for the Keller Williams agency, a position he has held for more than a decade.
He is licensed in Rhode
Island,
Massachusetts and Connecticut.
A lifelong city resident, he graduated from Woonsocket High School and later attended the Community College of Rhode Island and the University of Rhode Island.
He is married to Kristi (Autote) Keith.
Keith is a member of the Wellesley Merchants Association and the Downtown Woonsocket Collaborative. He also serves on the Levitt AMP Board, a panel that supervised a series of 10 grant-funded concerts at River Island Art Park this summer.
As a councilman, Keith says he would strive to improve the city’s business climate, support schools and modernize infrastructure.
“Woonsocket used to be the hub of northern RI, but we’ve lost our way,” said Keith. “Woonsocket has so much to offer, and we need to be better at promoting it so we can attract new business, more industry and young families. We also have to get our schools back on the right track.
“As a realtor, I know good families look for great schools when choosing a place to live,” Keith said. “Supporting our schools needs to be a priority. Lastly, we need to design our city to be more efficient and cost-effective. Woonsocket has aging infrastructure and old technology that is costing us too much wasted money.”
David M. Soucy
In his first bid for elective office, David M. Soucy is running for a seat on the City Council.
Soucy, 57, of 356 Woodland Road, is the president of Soucy Insurance Agency, a family-owned and operated business for many years.
A graduate of Woonsocket High School’s class of 1979, Soucy has a bachelor of science in management from Rhode Island College.
Though he has never held elective office previously, he has served as an appointive member of the
Planning
Board and the Woonsocket Harris Public Library Board of Trustees.
He is the grandson and nephew of two former mayors, including Mayor Adelard Soucy, who served in the early 1900s, and Mayor Jean Paul Soucy – Adelard’s son – who served in the late 1950s.
He and his wife Charlene (Noel) Soucy have two children, Spencer Soucy and Peter Soucy.
Soucy says he is running for a seat on the council because “I love Woonsocket.”
“It’s where I was born and raised, and where I’ve run the Soucy Insurance Agency for the the past 35 years. I feel my business experience along with my community involvement have prepared me for a seat on the council.”
Soucy says he hopes to be “a calming presence” who tries to “bring all the parties together, including the administration, in hopes of making the important work of improving Woonsocket a priority.”
“We have a long, rich history that we can and should use in our efforts, and we need to take full advantage of our proximity to the historic Blackstone River and National Park it is an important part of,” he said. “We need to continue to find opportunities and move to act on them to our advantage.”
John F. Ward
A former member of the City Council and School Committee, John F. Ward is seeking to return to the council after a hiatus of several years.
A 1972 graduate of Mount St. Charles Academy, Ward, 63, is currently employed as the finance director for the town of Lincoln. He also worked previously as the business manager for the Johnston School Department, chief finance officer for the Metropolitan Boston Housing
Partnership and director of administration and finance for the
Wo o n - socket Housing Authority.
Ward, of 166 Getchell Ave., was an accounting major at Bryant University, graduating in 1981.
Ward served on the School Committee from 1995-2005 ( about seven of those years as its chairman) and on the council from 2005-2013 (about four years as president). He is also a former member of the Woonsocket Board of Canvassers and belongs to a number of professional organizations and civic groups, including the Woonsocket Lions and the New England States Government Finance Officers Association.
He and his wife, Catherine (Nalewski) Ward, have two children, Patrick Ward of Ashburn, Va.; and Christopher Ward, of Virgina Beach, Va.
Ward says that after some time way from public service, he looks forward to once again using his experience in municipal finance to assist fellow councilors manage approaching challenges.
“Recent contract settlements with city unions increase the cost of government,” he said. “The council must use its authority to scrutinize the annual budget proposal, discuss departmental plans with the administration and proposed amendments that can best serve the taxpayers.
He continued: “The state education funding formula is now fully implemented so the growth of state education will be less. A new teacher contract, the strain of charter tuition costs and the ever present need for capital improvements will put a strain on our future budgets. Capital spending programs must be monitored and planned collaboratively between the city council and the administration.”
Ward said he would also “strive to promote better communications, less hostility and a fully transparent” government that works in the public interest.
Lynn M. Palin
Lynn M. Palin is making her first bid for elective office as a candidate for the City Council.
A Woonsocket native, Palin, 34, of 110 Mill St., is the founding owner of the startup business Face La Vie, 719 Front St., an upscale spa specializing in massages, facials, brows and lashes. She previouly worked as a restaurant and hotel consultant for LDV Hospitality in New York for about eight years.
Born in Woonsocket, Palin is a 2002 graduate of Woonsocket High School.
She is a single parent who returned to the city from New
York to care for her nephew, Noah, three years old, whom she legally adopted in 2017 as her son during National Adoption Day ceremonies in Providence. She was one of 23 families who took part in a group adoption led by Chief Family Court Judge Michael Forte.
Palin was a foster parent before adopting her son.
Palin says she wants to serve on the City Council to gain a more hands-on role in improving the business climate and the quality of life for residents.
“After coming back from New York, I decided to create a life here,” said Palin. “I have a son here, a business here, and I want to see this community flourish. The only way to do this and make things work is not to complain about them, but to do something about them. I care about the community and that’s what you need to be a community leader.”
Denise D. Sierra
Denise D. Sierra is running for her second term on the City Council.
Sierra, 49, of 292 Gaskill St., is a lifelong city resident and member of the business community.
Currently employed as a paralegal with a personal injury law firm, Sierra is the former owner and operator of the Burrito Company, a popular East
Wo o n - socket restaurant for many years. She is also a former manager of several area banquet halls, including the former Kings Inn of Lincoln and the Bocce Club of Woonsocket.
She is a graduate of Woonsocket High School and studied at the University of Rhode Island.
She and her husband, Anthony Sierra, have an adult daughter, Brooke Sierra.
Prior to her election to the City Council in 2016, Sierra had served on a volunteer subcommittee that reviewed the Zoning Ordinance. She has also been active in organizing charitable fundraisers for a variety of causes, including the Woonsocket Police Department’s COPSWalk, Cancer Action Network and Hearts with Hope.
Sierra says she is running for her second term for the same reason she ran for elective office the first time: to make it easier for local businesses to get started and thrive.
“I could not, and still can’t, accept the way businesses are treated in this city,” said Sierra. “I was happy being a businesswoman in Woonsocket until I had to start dealing with some of the red tape. This is why Diamond Hill Road has struggled. This is why Main Street is empty. I decided I wasn’t going to sit back any more and try to fix it. My work is definitely not finished. I actually feel like I’m just getting started.”