Christopher M. Logan is the newest member of the Town Council.
On a night when Paul M. Rodrigues was elevated to council President and Thomas P. Welch III as Vice President, Logan was named to fill the vacancy created by the departure last month of former council President Robert J. Sylvia.
Logan finished in ninth place in the council race last November, but was picked to serve when the eighth-place finisher Kathleen Ventura announced recently she was moving out of town and couldn’t take the seat.
Applauded loudly by his new colleagues during a meeting tonight from Town Hall, Logan was brief when asked about his thoughts about coming in to fill the seventh seat on the council.
“I do want to say something – Let’s get to work,” the 43-year-old Logan said, drawing more applause from his fellow council members.
The council presidency is nothing new for Rodrigues. Serving on the council for a total of close to 15 years, most of that time was spent in a leadership position. Of that time, Rodrigues was president between 2004-2008 and vice president from 2016 to today.
“It is an honor and a privilege to serve you and all the residents as your Town Council President,” Rodrigues said. “I am grateful for your support and confidence in me to lead and guide our great Town of Middletown for current and future success.”
While he appreciated the support, Rodrigues said without everyone on the council working together, it would be tough to accomplish anything.
“This position is not a solo position,” Rodrigues said. “This is a team position. The letter ‘I’ needs to be secondary to the word ‘We’ in all our actions. The letter ‘I’ is a singular pronoun used by a speaker in referring to herself or himself. We will accomplish nothing in that context.”
He went onto say that input from the town’s administration, staff and residents was critical moving forward.
“A great group of Town Councilors combined with the great town administration and staff with the valuable input from our residents is conducive to making Middletown better today, tomorrow and for the foreseeable future,” Rodrigues said. “It takes a solid team of forward thinkers and unity built on collaboration with respect for one another at all times, regardless of agreement or disagreement on any issue. A lot of times we have the same vision, but have different avenues on how to get there.”
Rodrigues also said disagreements aside and work with each other on the small issues as well as the larger items such as affordability, taxes, educational improvements, water quality and developing new revenue streams.
“We must all be pulling the rope from the same end and not against each other,” Rodrigues said. “We are here to serve the people of Middletown to the best of our abilities as we transact the town’s business and discuss the town’s issues, we must keep in mind service will always be our top priority.”
It is the first time Welch has held a leadership position with the council. Elected to the council in 2020, Welch has talked about team building and moving the town forward together.
“I too am humbled just (with) the fact that I am here in the first place, but to get support of councilors to be vice president says a lot and I take that very seriously…” Welch said. “We’re a team here and that together we will do fine. There’s more than one way up the mountain.”
Like Newport Buzz? We depend on the generosity of readers like you who support us, to help with our mission to keep you informed and entertained with local, independent news and content. We truly appreciate your trust and support!
