RICHMOND TOWN COUNCIL MEETING FOR TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2022

By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA

RICHMOND – The five members of the Town Council managed to agree on several agenda items Tuesday, but there were disagreements on important issues that, in two cases, resulted in deferred votes.

Minutes into the three-hour meeting, outgoing Economic Development Commission Chairman William McIntosh resigned from the commission.

Invited to read his resignation letter, McIntosh blamed his departure on council Vice President Richard Nassaney, who has questioned the effectiveness of the commission.

“Vice President of the Town Council [at the time] Richard Nassaney is one of the reasons,” he said. “He has proven that he cannot play well with others on a team and consistently voted against proper growth and [while creating] a tremendous amount of drama for the town for the last four years. I was not sure if Mr. Nassaney actually is capable of acting properly, effectively or ethically as a leader, so I step down to avoid any additional dealings with him.”

As Nassaney listened without commenting, McIntosh, a developer who challenged the Planning Board’s denial of master plan approval for one of his projects, accused Nassaney of wanting to disband the commission and warned the council that unless the town encouraged a considerable expansion of commercial space, it would not have the tax base necessary to fund education and programs for residents.

Council President Mark Trimmer said he was sorry that McIntosh had not tried to work with the new council.

“From what I’ve heard, you guys are doing great work, and I’m really disappointed that you haven’t at least given us a chance, as a new council, to work with us,” he said.

Council members agreed to accept McIntosh’s resignation “with regret.”

Planning Board

The reappointment of Philip Damicis to the Planning Board, where he serves as Chair, was quickly approved, but there was opposition to the reappointment of Vice Chair Nancy Hess.

Hess, a supervisor in the Rhode Island Division of Statewide planning, brings to the board decades of experience and knowledge of state planning priorities and procedures.

Nassaney said that Damicis had told him during a previous conversation about Hess that he would resign from the Planning Board if she left.

“…if you lose Phil and Nancy, you’ve literally put this town at a standstill,” he said, addressing the three newly-elected council members. “Nothing happens without them. Zero. All projects stop.”

Asked for his opinion, Town Planner Shaun Lacey described the current Planning Board as the best he had ever worked with.

“This town has a long, documented history of making informed, good, land use policy decisions, good policy practices,” he told the council.  “You have Phil and Nancy, who are very long-standing members of our community, who’ve been on the board for 20 and 25 years. “…I think the current fabric of this Planning Board now, we have one vacancy that isn’t filled. We have six members. I would hate to lose anybody on that Planning Board, including Nancy.”

Trimmer appeared to be on the fence. He agreed that Hess had experience and institutional knowledge, but he added,

“My negative is, it doesn’t seem that she’s always working with our commercial people to develop things and move forward,” he said. “She just seems to me to be very obstructionist at times.”

Councilor Michael Colasante said he was concerned that Hess would hamper commercial growth and cited McIntosh as an example.

“Mr. McIntosh knows what the problem is,” he said. “He tried to initiate commercial growth here, because he knows we need a tax base for the homeowner and it just seems like Nancy, for the amount of years she’s been on, things have not moved fast enough. Her wealth of knowledge can also be used to stifle growth also…We need somebody that’s going to help move our town forward quickly, all right?”

Nassaney asked Colasante which business had been “stifled” by Hess.

Colasante cited “a suit with Mr. McIntosh and the state came back and they really lambasted the Planning Board for their decisions and whatnot because they were trying, again, to stifle his development.”

At this point in the discussion, Town Solicitor Karen Ellsworth interjected, pointing out that the development Colasante was referring to was residential, not commercial, and that there had been neither a lawsuit nor lambasting.

“That was not a commercial development. That was a very high- density residential development,” she said. “There was no lawsuit. There was an appeal to the State Housing Appeals Board and the State Housing Appeals Board remanded the case back to the Planning Board for additional hearings and at that point, after the additional hearings took place, the project was approved.”

Mark Reynolds, who chairs the town’s Board of Tax Assessment Review, then addressed the council.

Referring to McIntosh, Reynolds said,

“You just begged someone to stay and volunteer, and help, and now you’ve got someone with over 20 years’ experience on the Planning Board and you’re telling her, ‘we don’t want you anymore,’” he said. “It’s not appropriate to not appoint someone that you don’t agree with. Is she following the planning rules? Yes. Is she acting in accordance with the comprehensive plan? Yes. As long as she’s performing those functions in accordance with the law and the rules and regulations, she should be permitted to serve on that board. You should not deny her this appointment because you don’t agree with her.”

Planning Board member Dan Madnick said the board had denied only two applications, both of which were for solar energy installations.

“We’re there to follow the comprehensive plan and not stifle economic development,” he said. “In fact, if you look at our record, the only thing two things that we’ve given negative advisory opinions for had to do with two solar developments. Every other development application that has come in front of our board has been approved, including Mr. Colasante’s Buttonwoods property. In fact, we provided him a waiver for one of his DEM stormwater management permits, and we did that because we wanted to have small businesses benefit from the town. We didn’t have to do that, but we did that because we wanted the economic development.”

Council members agreed to defer the decision on Hess’s reappointment to the next meeting on Jan. 3. In the meantime, councilors said they would speak with Hess.

Water issues

There was a lengthy discussion regarding the allocation of town funds to the town’s water supply. There are about 300 customers on the town water line. Under an agreement with the Rhode Island Department of Health, the town is required to chlorinate the water to reduce coliform bacteria.

Town Administrator Karen Pinch has requested $300,000 of the town’s American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA funds for the chlorination project, but councilors Colasante and councilor Helen Sheehan have said they are not comfortable using ARPA money. Colasante has proposed allocating $150,000 of the town’s ARPA funds and going out to bond for the remainder.

Trimmer said it was important to invest in the water system.

 “Exeter doesn’t have a water system. Hopkinton doesn’t have a water system, but we do,” he said. “That is an economic driver. We should invest in it. We should improve it.”

Councilor Samantha Wilcox said she favored using the ARPA money for the water system but Sheehan said the cost should be borne by the residents who would use town water.

Colasante said that being on a private well, he alone had to bear the costs of repairs and maintenance.

“They can drill a well,” he said.

“They can’t drill a well,” Wilcox countered. “The reason we have a water system is it’s all contaminated.”

(The private wells are contaminated with mercury.)

The decision on funding the chlorination was deferred to the Jan. 17 meeting. Trimmer, whose home is served by the public waterline, said he was awaiting a written decision from the Rhode Island Ethics Commission confirming that he is not required to recuse himself from the discussion.

The wellness committee

The subject of the findings of the wellness committee, on the agenda at the request of Colasante, prompted another long discussion.

Wellness Committee Chairwoman Pamela Rohland provided an overview of the commission’s work and its findings, including the need for some services.

“Richmond has no public transportation at all,” she said. “So, when people who are in social isolation or who, for example, lost their license for whatever reason or who don’t drive, there’s nothing in Richmond to help them get to the resources they need.”

The commission recommended, and the former Town Council approved, the hiring of a human services director on a trial basis, who would obtain grants and coordinate services for residents who need them.

Sheehan said services were available in neighboring towns.

“Westerly and South Kingstown, they’re not far, so to say we don’t have the services, I don’t see that,” she said.

Rohland replied that traveling to other towns required a car, which many residents do not have.

Colasante said the town could not afford a full - time human services director and a new building, which would serve as a community and senior center. Several council members and residents agreed.

Trimmer, who evaluated the community center proposal when he served on the council in 2018, said his group had found that the town could not support a new building on its own.

“What we determined at that time was unless we were a partner, with, say, the YMCA or somebody else, the town could absolutely not afford a community/senior center,” he said.

Despite several more assurances to the contrary, Colasante said he remained concerned that there would be a new building and that taxpayers would be on the hook for it.

Snow plowing

Colasante asked for a clarification of who was responsible for plowing the snow at Chariho schools.

Department of Public Works Director Scott Barber explained that this year, Richmond has not been able to secure its usual number of snowplowing vendors.

“It’s gotten to the point where we don’t have the vendors that we used to have,” he told the council. “We used to have seven vendors to supplement our staff. I have one vendor. We would have at least three, maybe four CDL drivers to back us up if we have sickness, injury or whatever. We have zero.”

Barber noted that staff and vendor shortages have made it difficult to service the town.

“They [Chariho schools] should be self-sufficient, take care of what they’re responsible for, meet their own goals,” he said.

Barber noted, and Ellsworth and Town Administrator Karen Pinch confirmed, that there was nothing in the Chariho Act requiring Richmond to provide snow plowing services.

And there was one more thing Barber, who is also the Fire Chief, wanted to say.

“It’s no secret that I have an appointment with the Retirement Board Feb. 15, so we’ll see where I go from there,” he said. “I’ve been working full time for the public for 38 years and I’ve enjoyed working for the public, this town, the other town that I worked for, but I’m no longer young. I’m ready to start cutting back…It’s finally catching up with me, you know? And I don’t want to be that grumpy old person that stays too long.” 

Public forum

The council discussed, but did not decide on time limits for people wishing to speak during the public forum. They also mulled a sign-up sheet for speakers. Ellsworth suggested that rather than adopt a policy, the council could first try using a list and asking speakers to sign it.