My name is Michael Buddemeyer and I live at 73 Potomac Road Portsmouth, RI 0287, which has been the Buddemeyer family home since 1966. I have attended Portsmouth schools and was a graduate of Portsmouth High School in 1984. I am also a graduate of the University of Rhode Island, class of 1988 with BA. I am married to Amy Buddemeyer and we have two children, Shane, 22; Megan, 17, both of whom have attend Portsmouth schools with Shane graduating in 2016 and Megan set to graduate in 2021. I have served the Town of Portsmouth in two capacities in the past:

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• Portsmouth School Committee 2006-2010

• Chair of the Facilities Committee 2006-2010

• Chair of Finance Committee 2008-2010

• Portsmouth Town Council 2010-2016

• Member of the Town Administrator Search Committee

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I am running for office again for a very basic reason. My devotion and care for the Town of Portsmouth. I have no personal agenda nor a need to drive and agenda other than making sure that we, the Town Council are good, honest stewards of this town and its citizens.

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I did not seek reelection back in 2016 because my work schedule was hindering my ability to attend meetings. That is no longer the situation and I can devote the needed time to the town and its citizens. I ran for and won 3 terms on the council, in large part, by voting my conscience and always putting the town and our citizens first, regardless of the issue, the town always came first.

 

If elected, my main priorities will be

• Our education system, children, schools and teachers

• Our town infrastructure and its services (Police, Fire, DPW)

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I always have and will continue to work hard to keep the focus of what we do as a council to the job at hand. Securing the proper funding for our services to maintain our quality of life as well as looking after our children and our schools, making sure the town is secure and our citizens are proud of Portsmouth. This is done with proper funding of our services and holding those services accountable for the town’s performance.

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Challenges I see in these efforts are reduction of state funding to the town, those who oppose proper school and service funding. These each will create obstacles to being successful in these efforts to better our town and the quality of life we can deliver.

 

Only way to work around those obstacles is through thoughtful planning and the ability to deliver the message to those who would oppose nor agree. This is one of the main functions of a council member, convincing those who disagree with you, that we/you/us are on the correct path to town improvement. That is always the goal.

 

The personal qualities that make me a good elected official are:

• Experience, having 10 years of public service to the town affords me a level of knowledge that is useful in moving the betterment of the town forward.

• I am truly a no-nonsense individual, I am not running for office to rattle sabers, nor push through any sort of personal agenda or view. I truly serve at the pleasure of the town and I will and have always made that a priority. 

• Compassion, I have said this each time I have run for office, I care for my town, that I was born in, raised in, went to school in and I take a great deal of pride in how our town is to live in and that has always been my guiding force.

• Clear and concise business approach to managing financial expenditures and budgets. The knowledge and skill afforded me by my job have given me the expertise to help develop and manage a multi-faceted budget.

• These financial skills will be useful with the impact of COVID19 as we will need to get back to some semblance of normal. We will need to make it work for the majority of our citizens and that should be the goal of the Town Council, one that I will work towards when in office. You must understand and appreciate each person’s viewpoint and work towards making that “their normal”. It’s not the same for everyone.