New Citizens’ Group Aims to Restore “Civility” to Richmond

By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA
November 18th 2023

RICHMOND –Town Council meetings have been lacking in civility in recent months, exposing deep divisions and animosity between the five council members and residents.

Concerned with the direction in which the town is heading, the founders of the new Richmond Community Alliance, or RCA, have pledged to restore decorum and respect to council meetings.

The non - partisan political action committee has a steering committee of six, which includes three unsuccessful Town Council candidates:

Attorney Mark Reynolds, who chairs the town’s Tax Assessment Board of Review, is the group’s President. Planning Board Vice Chair Dan Madnick and former council Vice President Jim Palmisciano also serve on the committee.

The three remaining committee members are Joyce Flanagan, the group’s Treasurer, and members Jaime Marland and Jeff Noble.

Reynolds said RCA’s founders wanted the name of their group to reflect its objectives.

“We wanted something inclusive and community oriented,” he said. “Also recognizing the different viewpoints. We’re non-partisan, so we have Democrats, we have Republicans, we have Independents. The ‘Alliance’ part, it’s everybody working for the common good.”

After losing his bid for a council seat in 2022, Reynolds, an attorney, said he wanted to remain involved in town politics.

“I knew after the election that I wanted to stay involved and monitor and keep an eye on things and be a counterpoint and push back on things that I didn’t think were being done appropriately, and I think Jim Palmisciano and I both kind of talked about that right after the election,” he said.

The group formed during a time when council meetings were becoming increasingly contentious.

“There was a bit of an uproar and people started kind of meeting in their own little separate factions, I guess, and a group of us started talking and ultimately became this Richmond Community Alliance,” Reynolds said.

The “non-partisan” description of the RCA is more of a reflection of the diverse political affiliations of its members and does not prevent them from weighing in on town discussions.

“We’re not going to take a position on something simply because of the party of the person who’s acting,” Reynolds said. “So, we’re going to call out Democrats, we’re going to call out Republicans, we’re going to call out Independents. Basically, we’re going to call out behavior, so, in that regard we’re non-partisan, but we will be partisan with our opinions – sure.”

The RCA published its first newsletter in September and already has more than 125 subscribers.

Dan Madnick said he hoped the RCA would help restore unity in the town.

“How do we get a sense of community back in our town, where we can actually act like neighbors and help each other out and be able to have open dialogue and share our thoughts in a meeting where you won’t get ridiculed and you’ll actually help the town move forward,” he said.

Madnick, a supervising engineer at Electric Boat, and Planning Board member since 2019, believes that everyone has something to contribute and that disagreements are necessary to the process of moving forward.

“We need to have differing opinions, but it has to be done respectfully and we just haven’t had that for a long time,” he said. “I think, putting all those things together, it helps form the basis of the values of the RCA and what we’re trying to accomplish in the town.”

Madnick said residents appeared to be responding positively to the RCA.

“We’ve got some really good feedback,” he said. “People are really pleased to have people who are actually providing factual information in a positive light and also pointing out things where there may be mistakes happening, or something that we think is wrong.”

RCA Treasurer Joyce Flanagan said she had heard positive reactions from residents to the new group.

“From them, I hear very positive things,” she said. “They feel it’s been a good source of fact clarification and it’s been a good source in terms of being another strong voice in the community.”

Flanagan said she hoped the divisions in the town would begin to heal.

“I think it’s just so important that everyone listen to each other, learn from each other, plan for each other and take care of each other,” she said.

Jeff Noble, a commercial airline pilot, moved to Richmond with his family eight years ago, but only recently became engaged in town politics. Noble travels too much to serve on a town board or the Chariho School Committee, but he believes the RCA can be a positive influence in the town.

A strong supporter of the public school system, Noble said he realized the value of good public schools when he attended the Air Force Academy and saw the differences between students who had attended well-funded schools and those who had gone to struggling public schools. (All three Noble children attend Chariho schools.)

“You could see where people had great public school support, versus not so much,” he said. “Now, fast forward to after COVID, because things were moving along fairly well for Richmond. I didn’t have any problem with taxes or school or whatever. Along came a movement that says the spending on the schools is ridiculous, using national headlines to say that things in our public schools are going badly. And quite honestly, it’s just not true. … I thought the unreasonableness of the approach that everything is out of control is wrong, and the only way I could do that was to become more politically active.”

The RCA, Noble said, will back candidates who will be positive influences in the town.

“I think, for the group, a slate of reasonable candidates, candidates that are willing to follow the rules and not break norms and I believe that our candidates would be fiscally responsive, follow the comprehensive plan,” he said.

Town Council President Mark Trimmer said he welcomed the RCA.

“It would be great to have a group that cared about the town instead of politics and went about things in a tactful, diplomatic and neighborly way,” he said. “I appreciate thoughtful commentary over personal insults at any time.”

The only Democrat on the Town Council, Samantha Wilcox, said,

“I think it’s good that somebody is holding councilors accountable, and they’ve been very receptive to feedback that I’ve sent about their newsletter,” she said. “I thought it was really cool that they were kind about that feedback.”

The Richmond Community Alliance website, and its newsletters, are on the RCA website: https://richmondcommunityalliance.com/