I am a voter in Middletown and I believe the people should be heard and be able to vote for their president/mayor..Top vote getter should take the position or there should be a separate area to vote for the position either way I believe the top vote getter would prevail..

In order for the candidate with the most votes to claim the top position, there would have to be a change in the charter. We are voting at a local level and it should be obvious who the people trust to hold this office. The choice should be taken out of the hands of the 7 council members to reduce the petty squabbling.

Yes, the petty squabbling needs to stop! The voters made their choice and the top vote getter should be the President. This current council had their opportunity to take control and they didn't they sat back and allowed management to run the town and that is why their is waste and wrongdoing. The voters saw this and they decided on Paul and since he received the most votes, he should be President

I'm sure Rodrigues will get it, but we've "been there, done that" and it wasn't too good the 1st time around.

and with this last council we have seen the waste and failure to take control. Why do we want a current council member as President when he doesn't speak up and challenge the corruption that is taking place now? He is just one of the "good ole boys" and it's time for a President to put the brakes on the Town Administrator's games

Given the question is, "Who Should Serve as the Next Council President?", I want to vote None of the Above. That said, I would assume it will be Mr. Rodrigues as Pres. and either Mr. Semonelli as VP. Given the Dem. "caucus" ahead of time, it's almost certain, although the Middletown Dems. seem to have developed 2 opposing factions which are jockeying for control in town.

I have to agree with the MAJORITY that the top vote getter should be President. It's the decision of the people of Middletown! There shouldn't be personal agendas and cut throat tactics because we done have time for that. There are important matters that need to be taken care of.

Linda It would appear that their is some controversarywith the present people left on the council, that was there before the election. I do believe that the people of Middletown has spoken. What more do we have to do in order for things to become correct again. Don't forget 2 years goes by quickly and they will be out of the picture . The town needs some help. I just see all of these new cars and high salarys going on and I really think they need to hault a lot of this. The administrator needs to be just that and not have all of the control that he has. We are in hard times and we need to tighten our belts. Put the right person as President and this will get done.

I would assume that each town already has a policy in place regarding who becomes the President of the sitting Council. If the voters placed more votes for one particular person, then it seems to me that the majority have spoken. I did not vote for the person with the most votes but that's life. I will abide by the majority rules. The council always seems to be pitting one against the other for either personal reasons or party reasons. Let's just get the job done for the town that we live in. We are entrusting them with that power - don't prove us wrong. Get rid of all the power playing.

Please not Chris or Bruce....they are not leaders, they do not build coalitions, they are single minded, they lack an understanding of what the educational needs are of our children as well as what is good for the Town. Take the top vote getter. He is fair!

People have short memories. The returning council members were aboard for the Jerry Kempen mess. They were also there when we lost our transfer station because they got "pushy" with the Navy about where it was going. And ,for what it's worth, Bruce served as a Republican in the House in this one-party state and steered through it all pretty well.

@ Hopeless - you are so right!!!! Are children and their education are so important and Mr. Rodrigues would be the best person to lead this committee!!!!

Obviously Bill you don't know much about school committees and how they work hand in hand with the town council. AND the taxes, at least in my neck of the woods didn't increase by much at all when Mr. Rodrigues was in office before. The ONLY increases have been over the past four years. We know there will be increases in taxes over the years, that is inevitable, but the group that were in office certainly didnt always have the taxpayers best interest in mind! So we will agree to disagree.

The town administrator runs the show and fools everyone! He is a control freak!

He will lead Chris S around like a puppy dog once again

He does that job too....finance director is useless

And BTW....charter changes to merge departments were done for more Brown control