By all accounts, Ron Ricci has been a hands-on selectman, spending countless hours at Town Hall working on issues and projects that interested him. But he has also been the kind of selectman who pays close attention to the everyday irritants of his constituents.
When idling trains were driving people crazy over on Old Mill Road, Ricci reportedly showed up late one night at a house there to hear for himself how bad it was. Then he set to work to find a solution.
Last winter, he took a bad fall on some ice and was hospitalized with a serious head injury. But soon after he was out of the hospital, he showed up at Hildreth House to help work on a volunteer window replacement project. The project was his idea and he wouldn’t have missed it for the world. It had all the elements Ricci loves most: a challenging task (42 windows!), dedicated volunteers, and an opportunity to save the town thousands of dollars in installation costs.
He has a well-deserved reputation as a staunch fiscal conservative, but he was willing to spend money on public safety. He has been a strong advocate for the Department of Public Works, the Police Department, and the Fire Department.
Depending on your point of view, he can be seen as a stubborn obstructionist or a last-ditch bulwark against fiscal irresponsibility. But his work ethic and dedication to the town are not up for debate. We wish him well as he retires after nine years as a selectman, but we expect his years of public service are far from finished.
