BY ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

POTSDAM — Renee Azzopardi, running for Potsdam town council on the Republican and Conservative tickets, says one of her strengths that she would bring to the table is that she is not political.

“I believe that the strength that i will bring to the board is that I am not a politician and I am a concerned citizen worried about the wasteful spending that keeps driving our taxes way too high. I believe the people of Potsdam deserve to be better informed of issues being voted on,” she said.

Azzopardi will be running for one of two seats on the council. Also running is Republican and Conservative John Meyers and Allyssa Theobald Hardiman and Lynn Hall, both of whom are running on the Sensible Peoples Party line.

Azzopardi and her husband and children moved to the town in 2013 from California. She has been a business owner for 47 years, running a hairdressing business since 1977, first in the Sunshine State and then here in New York.

She also runs an AirBnB and is an artisan jeweler. All of her businesses put her in contact with local people where she hears about their concerns.

“And you hear a lot o the disgruntledness, especially in the last two years,” she said, with leading concerns lately being taxes, the various property sales to the hospital and the college, and what people feel are an erosion of their basic rights.

“I may not know all the answers but I do know that our rights are being taken away.”

“I decided to run for office to try to make a difference in my community,” she said.

“I want to to find a way to empower the public.”

“Some of the things I plan to work on is working on lowering taxes and incentivizing small business plans,” Azzopardi said.

Azzopardi questioned the town’s recent formation of the Route 56 water and sewer districts, and what the cost will be for those residents living in the districts. “I just don’t think this is something (the town) should go forward with,” she said.

She also said that the public needs more information about upcoming meetings, with agendas available further in advance of the board convening so residents can get informed on the issues the concern them before they are voted on.

“I am not a, ‘go with the flow’ kind of woman, and I believe we as a country need to return to the things that made this country the greatest nation in the world,” she said. “This starts on the local level and this is my goal.

“ I know one of the challenges I will face are those not wanting to try something new.”

Azzopardi said that if she would be elected she plans to donate her wage to the Wounded Warrior project in honor of a family member, a decorated veteran who died earlier this year.

“I want to get people ignited again. You can’t sit at home and be an ostrich and stick your head in the ground,” she said.