New Council’s First Meeting a Marathon
By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA
December 19th 2024
RICHMOND – Tuesday’s Town Council meeting began with an executive session at 5 p.m. and concluded with a regular session that lasted about five hours.
The Executive Session
No votes were taken during the executive session. The items on the agenda involved legal matters: tax appeals filed by the Preserve at Boulder Hills dating from 2020, and two items relating to legal matters, one involving a lawsuit against the town and the second involving possible litigation.
Town Council President Samantha Wilcox apologized for keeping people waiting for the regular meeting to begin, but she explained that with attorneys charging hourly fees, it had been important to deal with the legal matters first.
The Regular Meeting
One resident objected to the delay and during the public forum, he expressed his annoyance at having to wait in the stuffy council chambers.
“You keeping us waiting here for over 45 minutes kind of irritated me,” he said. “You had a responsibility to start a meeting at 6 o’clock. You know I respect the hell out of all you folks, but in the future, could you please structure your executive sessions so that at 6 o’clock, you can take a recess, or something and go back and finish it later in the evening? It’s not cool in this room, and it’s kind of unpleasant.”
Town Administrator Karen Pinch requested, and received, authorization from the council to sign a memorandum of agreement for sharing repair and maintenance responsibilities for the Shannock Hill fire tower.
“We have some federal money for a new tower at that location,” she said.
Pinch said the Division of Agriculture of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management had recommended the town update the agreement.
The council approved the authorization.
Pinch provided an update on the new sign, the location of which would be in a state right of way.
“We’ve worked with DOT and it’s taken some time, but they’ve been very good to work with and they’re giving us approval.”
Council members also received an update on the remaining American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA funds, which must be awarded by the end of this month.
Pinch asked for council approval to award a bid of $501,302 for the erection of a new communications tower to Elevated Consulting. The new tower will replace the original tower, which was destroyed by fire.
Pinch explained that the town has received a grant of $165,000 from Sen. Jack Reed’s office, which will be added to $440,000 in ARPA money.
“The difference is, we’re trying to allow for overruns, and if there is some money left, we would like to do a little more site work, maybe pave that driveway in,” she said.
Council member Dan Madnick asked if the additional funds would be best spent on the site of the tower.
Councilor Jim Palmisciano said he had asked the same question.
“The stipulation for the ARPA spending is that it has to be shovel-ready projects that have a plan in place,” he said.
The council voted to approve the bid.
The council also approved a bid of $78,000 for painting the interior of the Town Hall from Plan B Construction.
“This company does have experience with painting and good references,” Pinch said.
Palmisciano pointed out that the bid was $14,000 more than the budget for the project, which was $64,000.
“My only concern was, that’s a pretty big chunk. I wonder if there’s any way to consider the first floor,” he said.
Pinch explained that the amount budgeted for the project had been based on the first round of bidding, in which the winning company was found to have issues that prompted the town to re-bid the project. She also noted that the bid had to be awarded by Dec. 31.
Pinch said the $78,000 bid had been the lowest and that the highest bid was $229,000.
The council voted to approve the bid for painting, but there is still about $6,000 remaining in the ARPA account.
The council, with Jeffrey Dinsmore dissenting, agreed to allocate the funds to software that will support the town’s new municipal court.
In his report, Police Chief Elwood Johnson requested and received council approval to hire candidate Derek Adams as probationary police officer.
Johnson also recognized Sergeant William Litterio, Officer Ryan Donohue, Officer Paul Marshall, and posthumously, Sergeant Michael Lawing for receiving Traffic Safety Hero awards from AAA.
The council approved appointments to several boards and commissions. Those included the Recreation Commission and the Land Trust. Three residents, Ryan Callahan, Andrea Baranyk and Christopher Cummiskey, were named to the Chariho Building Committee.
The council accepted the resignation of Kathryn Colasantefrom the Chariho School Committee and appointed LouiseDinsmore to replace her. Councilor Jeffrey Dinsmore, Louise Dinsmore’s spouse, was advised to recuse himself from the vote.
Thomas Marron, who was defeated in his bid for election to the Town Council, was appointed to the Economic Development Commission and the Elder Affairs Commission.
Dana Millar was selected from three applicants for a position on the Planning Board. One of the other applicants, Jordan Carlson, the owner of a BMX track who has had conflicts with Planning Board Chair, Philip Damicis, did not attend the council meeting.
The council voted 3 to 2, with Dinsmore and Palmisciano in favor and Reynolds, Madnick and Wilcox opposed, against appointing Marron to the Board of Tax Assessment Review. Councilors expressed concerns that because he hadreceived a campaign contribution from The Preserve, it might prove challenging for Marron to hear the Preserve’s many ongoing property tax appeals.
The council appointed Dana Millar to the tax assessment board.
The council also approved the renewal request of Probate Judge, the Honorable Christine Engustian.
The council listened to a lengthy presentation by Charlestown Council member Stephen Stokes, who is reviving the Washington County Regional Planning Commission. After some discussion the council agreed to appoint council Vice President Mark Reynolds as the town’s representative on the commission.
A discussion of councilors’ goals for the new term was postponed because of the late hour. Members agreed to submit three to five of their “action priorities” at the next meeting.
An agenda item submitted by Madnick asking Pinch and Town Planner Talia Jalette to provide a summary of the status and implementation town’s comprehensive plan was accompanied by a second item requesting a summary and “status of actions” of the town’s hazard mitigation plan from Pinch, Jalette, and the Emergency Management Director.
Jalette and Pinch told the council that it would take time to gather the relevant information on the comprehensive plan and the Hazard Mitigation plan would be more challenging, since the town’s EMA Director, Randy Gemme, had recently announced that he was leaving.
Reynolds made a motion, which the council approved, to table the hazard mitigation plan discussion.
The council approved a proposal by Madnick to invite State Senator Elaine Morgan and State Rep. Megan Cotter to a future council meeting.
Madnick received approval to distribute copies of the book “Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes are High” to council members.
Wilcox proposed, and the council approved, an amendment to the council’s Rules and Procedures regarding the order of items on meeting agendas. The amendment would entail adding the subject of new hires to the appointments and resignations section, so those items are addressed earlier in the meeting.
“Employees have to go to a public meeting to get hired, and I think that’s rough enough and to just have them come in and out and they can move on with their day and hopefully not get too many comp hours,” she said.
Palmisciano brought up the perennial topic of economic development and proposed the formation of a Task Force which would involve a wide range of stakeholders.
“The Task Force would establish a clear mission, target accomplishments and goals outlining the structure and approach to assess the local economy and identify potential opportunities, develop accountable strategies for economic growth and community development, ensuring that we have inclusive representation and community engagement throughout the process,” he said.
Dinsmore agreed to co-chair, with Palmisciano, the initial community outreach initiative.
After Palmisciano’s presentation, James Brear, a member of the town’s existing Economic Development Commission, said he had not been told about the proposed task force and requested a meeting with Palmisciano. The item was tabled for discussion at a future meeting.
Another proposal by Palmisciano, to dedicate an Adirondack chair to the late Ralph Woodmansee, was approved after a discussion.