Richmond Town Council Meeting Update for February 21, 2023

By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA
February 22nd 2023

RICHMOND – Town Council member Helen Sheehan lost her bid at Tuesday’s meeting to eliminate the newly-created position of Wellness Director and allocate the American Rescue Plan Act funds to another initiative. 

The council also made two appointments – one to the Planning Board and the second to the Economic Development Commission, and granted an entertainment license to the organizer of food truck events.

The appointments

Daniel Ashworth, a Pawtucket police sergeant and neighbor of councilor Michael Colasante, was not appointed at the Feb. 9 meeting because he was not present, but his appointment was approved on Tuesday, with councilor Samantha Wilcox casting the only dissenting vote. (Council Vice President Richard Nassaney was absent.)

One concern regarding Ashworth’s appointment has been his connection to the largest developer in town, The Preserve, where he is a firearms instructor. Ashworth did not disclose his position at The Preserve on his application, nor did he reveal that connection until Wilcox asked him specifically about it.

“When I Googled your name, you came up as a trainer at The Preserve,” she said. “That’s not a position you’re paid for? You’re not an employee there?”

“No, I’m also there as well. I’m sorry,” Ashworth replied. “So, I am a firearms instructor there. I also do some transportation services, things like that, for The Preserve - it’s four hours a week, maybe hours a month. It’s very limited. It’s firearms training.”

Wilcox said she was concerned about an employee of The Preserve being so closely involved with the Planning Board. (It should be noted that three individuals connected to The Preserve made campaign contributions to Council President Mark Trimmer and Colasante. See the Jan. 3 story on the BRVCA website.)

Trimmer said he did not believe that Ashworth’s position at The Preserve was a problem.

“Honestly, if it were someone who worked in the planning office, management, marketing, etcetera, etcetera, I would probably shy away from it, but it’s such a minimal impact…I’m sure he would recuse himself from issues as such, and I think it would be a really good idea,” he said.

After the vote, Town Solicitor Karen Ellsworth urged Ashworth to contact the Rhode Island Ethics Commission for advice on recusals.

“The first thing that Mr. Ashworth should do is contact the Ethics Commission and get an advisory opinion so that they can explain to him exactly what it is he needs to recuse himself from,” she said.

Louise Dinsmore, a frequent commentator at council and Chariho School Committee meetings, was appointed to the Economic Development Commission.

Reading from a prepared statement, Dinsmore said the commission needed a written directive from the council, prioritizing the rehabilitation of the largely vacant Chariho Plaza property on Route 138.

“I would strongly recommend that at your next council meeting, your council be specific in your words and go an important step further and put some teeth behind this priority,” she said. “At your next meeting, I really feel that the town council should adopt the specific priority of the development of the Chariho Plaza and direct the Town Manager [Administrator] and the Town Planner to be co-point persons in driving this priority forward. I would go a step further in suggesting that part of the performance evaluations of the Town Manager [Administrator] and the Town Planner include tangible steps that lead to conversations among the Chariho Plaza stakeholders, various town boards and commissions, to ensure the thoughtful development of the Chariho Plaza. Someone has to be held accountable to get this done.”

Dinsmore’s appointment to the commission was unanimously approved, however, her remarks about administrators being held accountable raised some eyebrows.

Town Administrator Karen Pinch pointed out, later in the meeting, that accountability for the success or failure of Chariho Plaza development initiatives was not included in either her or Town Planner Shaun Lacey’s job descriptions.

“It was something that was said earlier that I can’t let go,” Pinch said. “…  It’s a private entity. They will do what they want to do with their own property. Whether they develop that or not to the liking of the public has nothing to do with our performance. In fact, there is nothing in the Town Administrator job description that says anything about economic development.”

Lacey added,

“Not myself, not you as a council, not Louise, not anyone in this audience, nor in this room, can force a private property owner to build.”

The Wellness Director

After describing the services provided by agencies and organizations to Richmond residents, Sheehan repeated a proposal she made at the beginning of her tenure: abolish the newly-created position of Wellness Director and use the federal grant money elsewhere.

The position, which pays $75,000 per year and can be renewed or terminated after three years, was approved by the previous Town Council on the recommendation of the town’s Wellness Committee. Interviews are set to begin soon.

The Wellness Director would serve as a resource for residents needing social or medical services, but Sheehan said the position was unnecessary.

“The population of Richmond, as of July 1, 2022, was 8,165 people,” she said. “Of those, 1.9% or 122 people, lived in poverty. I think they’d be better served by connecting with agencies that have the ability to give them heat vouchers, pay their rent, give them food, get them into an education program if they’re appropriate for one. Why would we start over with someone when they’re already existing people who already have the training there? ... I feel as if any time you start a new bureaucracy, it never goes away, so I think we should not fund the Wellness Director, because there are so many agencies that can do the job so well.”

Wilcox reminded the council that representatives from several community agencies, including Wood River Health and Police Chief Elwood Johnson, had served on the Wellness Committee and had determined that there was a need for a Wellness Director.

“Two of the people that you mentioned, both the Executive Director of Wood River Health and the police, by way of Chief Johnson, were both on the Wellness Committee and still found that this is a need that the community has to support the town and support the staff,” she said.

Colasante weighed in with his argument, which, like Sheehan, he has made since before taking office; that the position will end up being permanent, adding to the tax burden.

“My question to everybody is, when does it stop? Because it’s a perpetuating problem that just keeps going. Like Ronald Reagan said, ‘government is not the solution. Government is the problem,’” he said.

“On that, I have an answer for you,” Wilcox countered. “It stops after three years. … And I don’t agree that it’s a duplication of services and we can go back and forth on that all day, because there’s a need that Chief Johnson and the Director of Wood River Health found. They’re in the business, they know what they’re doing, and it’s not duplication.”

Several members of the public, some of whom had served on the Wellness Committee, said they supported the director position, and Trimmer agreed. So did Chief Johnson, who said it was difficult to navigate the many agencies who themselves had frequent staff turnover.

“Familiarity. Networking. Professional relationships you develop are how you get things done,” he said. “If you hire a competent person that knows what they’re doing, they’ve been vetted by the people that you put in charge of doing that, I think you’ll have success in at least facilitating somebody with a resource that they need.”

After hearing the opposition to her proposal, Sheehan declined to make a motion to eliminate the position, so Colasante moved to eliminate it and the motion failed. 

A tri-town collaboration?

Colasante announced that he had been to a meeting last week with representatives from Hopkinton and Charlestown to discuss state education and other mandates and how to keep control with the towns.

“These other towns, like us, are in the same predicament, and it’s good to work with these towns without the bureaucratic red tape because again, keeping it local, local town councils working together, is stronger than any state organization that is given to us to try and coordinate us,” he said. “The other towns know of this and they were very excited to hear that we were getting this started.”

Trimmer said he hoped the coalition was not a political strategy.

Colasante replied that it was not.

“At that first meeting, we had Democrats, Independents and Republicans at the meeting and everybody was in sync with one another and nobody really cared what the heck the letter was at the end of their name,” he said.

Contacted Wednesday, Charlestown Town Council President Deborah Carney said she had not attended the meeting, and had no knowledge of the tri town coalition, nor had a senior Hopkinton administrator, also contacted on Wednesday.

Food Trucks to return

The council approved an outdoor entertainment license for P&EE Consulting Inc., which operates “PVD Food Truck Events.”

This year, the events will take place in the parking lot of Pasquale Farms at 421 Kingstown Road, the site of the former John and Cindy’s Harvest Acres Farm.

Council members agreed that unlike the former site, near the Town Hall, there would be more parking and fewer traffic safety concerns at Pasquale Farms.