Richmond Town Council Meeting for October 3, 2023

By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA
October 4th 2023

RICHMOND – Tuesday’s Town Council meeting was shorter than most, but as is the norm for this council, divisions and skirmishes persisted.

Town Administer Karen Pinch reported on several matters that would normally be addressed quickly, beginning with a request for council approval to sign a lease agreement for a copy machine for the police department.

Pinch explained that the town had solicited “mini bids” from companies that are part of the state’s Master Price Agreement and two companies had submitted bids. The lowest was from CORE Business Technologies, at $192.30 per month for 60 months.

Council Helen Sheehan asked,

“Will you own the copier at the end of the lease period?”

“We will not,” Pinch replied. “And I’ve spoken to Chief Johnson about that in past years and especially, his feeling is, the copier is of no use to us…The technology changes so much, it’s basically a computer now.”

Sheehan said that when she had owned her business, which she sold in 2020, she had purchased a copier and hired a service technician, which had saved “a lot of money.”

Councilor Michael Colasante, who appeared to not have read Pinch’s Sept. 27 memo on the lease, asked whether the town had previously done business with CORE. In that memo, Pinch states that the town has used CORE in the past.

The council voted to approve the lease.

Pinch also asked the council to approve additional American Rescue Plan Act or ARPA funds for an emergency generator for the Town Hall, to replace a generator which has been described in the town’s Hazard Mitigation Plan as inadequate.

Public Works Director Scott Barber determined the specs for a new generator.

The original amount requested from ARPA funds was $30,000, but Electrical Inspector Jeffrey Vaillancourt determined that a larger generator would be necessary, bringing the total price to $99,234. 

Pinch asked the council to approve two motions: one to increase the allocation from ARPA funds and the second to award the bid to Calson Corporation, the lowest of four bidders.

Colasante then made an unexpected announcement that he had discussed the bid with unnamed individuals not connected with the town.

“I talked with a few people about this and we are dealing with a supply chain problem,” he said. “I didn’t have the specs in front of me when I talked with a few people, but they thought that was kind of high, so I was wondering if we could just hold off on this, because it’s not an emergency kind of deal, and if you can give me the specs I can give it to the couple of people that I talked to,” he said.

Pinch replied that the town had already gone out to bid.

“It was a public bid,” she said. “It was offered to everyone who wanted to bid on it. It wasn’t limited to certain people.”

Colasante proposed that the town go out to bid again.

“All right, well, can we… go out to bid again?” he said. “There are a few people that I have notified about this and they would be willing to bid and their price would be lower than what we got.”

Council member Samantha Wilcox said going out to bid again might violate a town ordinance.

“I believe there’s really specific guidelines as to how we put out to bid and what we’re supposed do over a certain dollar amount,” she said. “I am concerned that something like that would violate that ordinance, and we really shouldn’t be sending out information.”

Council President Mark Trimmer said that without the specs, it would not be possible to say that the town would be saving money.

Wilcox responded that the specs had been posted online as part of the call for bids.

Trimmer also noted that the town had followed the advice of the electrical inspector.

“I think we’re all set,” he said. “I don’t see a need to go at this further.”

Colasante replied,

“Well, Mr. President, again, we can save some money with this. Again, it’s not an emergency and I think we can save a substantial amount of money. We can put some of that ARPA money to something else, because, you know, a lot of the smaller companies are not aware of the bidding process where they can plug in or get a notification…”

At this point, the online transmission of the council meeting unexpectedly stopped. The meeting was paused while the connection was restored, but not before attorney Mark Reynolds, who chairs the town’s Tax Assessment Board of review, described Colasante’s effort to re-open the bids as unethical, and possibly illegal.

Reached Wednesday morning, Reynolds said,

“Councilor Colasante’s suggestion that the bids that had been submitted through an open and fair process should be rejected so he can talk to somebody he knows about a lower price would be clearly unethical and most likely, illegal, and potentially subject the town to a lawsuit,” he said.

Council Vice President Richard Nassaney said Wednesday that he had found Colasante’s proposal disturbing.

“The only thing that came to mind was ‘I know a guy,’” he said.

Speaking of the open bidding process, Nassaney added,

“This is how people who are legitimate get work. They go through the process.”

Colasante asked whether the winning bidder, Calson, had an electrical license.

“They have an electrical license, or are they just a builder who’ll sub it out?” he asked.

“I will confirm that,” Pinch said.

Colasante then made a motion.

“If they don’t have an electrical license, they don’t get it,” he said.

Nassaney responded

“Why would they be bidding on installing a generator if they don’t have an electrical license?”

Colasante said,

“Well, there are contractors that will sub it out to the appropriate contractor, and I just want to make sure that’s not happening, because then there’s always a layer of more money being paid, all right? for that to happen.”

Wilcox said she had logged onto the Rhode Island Division of Professional Regulation and had easily located Calson’s electrician’s license.

“I think this is just another example of how we should trust our experts,” Trimmer said.

The council voted four to one to approve awarding the bid to Calson, with Colasante opposed and Sheehan, (who had voted earlier against allocating the additional funds) in favor.

Road Work

Finance Director Laura Kenyon, Scott Barber and Karen Pinch briefed the council on upcoming road work, which will be partially funded by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation.

“DOT has money for a municipal road and bridge grant program,” Kenyon said. “We’re authorized for up to $410,799 in funding if we agree to spend $847, 047 in road projects.”

Colasante moved and the council approved, the signing of the funding agreement with DOT.

The roads that will be improved as part of the state program are Punch Bowl Trail, New London Turnpike, the Pinehurst neighborhood, and Wendy Lane.

Kenyon explained that two additional road projects, North Road and Tug Hollow, will receive funding from another source.

“We have about $1 million that was put out with Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank for North Road and Tug Hollow,” she told the council. “That is why it’s on the spreadsheet here, and Tug Hollow, we just put out the bid. We don’t have the exact amount. I have the estimate. And that would be the first $1 million. The other, basically, $1.5 million, an estimate of the $2.5 [bond] authorization would be associated with the state grant roads.

Hopkinton Partnership Approved 

The council approved a five-year agreement with Hopkinton to use that town’s planned community center.

Richmond has been allocated $569,284 in federal ARPA money for a community center and Hopkinton was allocated $627,315. If Richmond declines its share of the funds, that money would be distributed to other cities and towns, or, the town can choose to give its share to Hopkinton, which the council voted to do.

Hiring/Firing Ordinance Amendments

After a lengthy discussion, the council ended an effort to give itself greater hiring and firing authority.

Ordinance amendments, drafted by Town Solicitor Karen Ellsworth at the council’s request, were filed, (no action taken) but not before several people, including Charter Review Commission member Joe Arsenault, Scott Barber, and a resident weighed in with their opposition to the initiative.

During his time at the podium, Barber also took the opportunity to announce his upcoming retirement.

“I’m officially letting you know now that February 1 will be it,” he said. “That’s not a rumor. That’s official.”

As the discussion of council authority dragged on, Nassaney appeared to be close to losing patience.

“You’re literally teetering on breaking the law for no reason. None,” he said. “Why open up that Pandora’s box when right now, you have a hiring process which has worked for this town for how many decades?  How many? A lot.”

Nassaney said Wednesday that he was relieved that the discussion was over.

“Last night was the finale of this 10-month long hiring and firing body, and I finally put it to bed,” he said.

Wilcox apologized for having initiated the discussion several months ago, noting that she had been attempting to end an ongoing debate about whether council members should be more involved in personnel matters.

“I thought that possibly we could find something that would help the town, as a whole, move forward together,” she said. “Clearly, I was wrong and that’s not possible.”