Richmond Town Council Meeting Update for February 9th 2023

By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA
February 10, 2023

RICHMOND – While they are still divided on some issues, the five members of the Town Council were able to get through their agenda at Thursday’s meeting. The meeting was re-scheduled from Tuesday, when an overflow crowd in the council chambers forced the postponement.

The meeting began with an announcement from council President Mark Trimmer that the public forum would be moved to the end of the meeting.

“The last time, we had it, it took up most of the meeting and we had to shut down,” he said. “It stopped us from doing the business. We had people to hire, we had bills to pay.”

Councilor Samantha Wilcox said she opposed moving the forum.

“It was one of the first things we did as a group, moving it to the front, because everyone felt that public input was really important and valued.”

The motion to move the forum to the end passed, with Wilcox and council Vice President Richard Nassaney opposed.

Municipal budget

Finance Director Laura Kenyon proposed, and the council approved, several dates for municipal budget workshops.

The April 4 council meeting, which would have been on the same day as the all-day Chariho schools budget referendum,  was re-scheduled to April 5.

Budget workshops were scheduled for April 5 and April 10, and there will be two public budget hearings, on April 18 and May 2. The all-day budget referendum will take place on June 5.

Information on the dates and times of budget workshops and hearings is available on the town website.

Appointments

The council considered applications for appointments to several boards and commissions, including the Economic Development Commission and the Planning Board.

There are two vacancies on the Planning Board. Four residents submitted applications: Josh Comerford, Raymond Pouliot, Kevin Stacey and Daniel Ashforth.

Comerford, who has served on several board and commissions, withdrew his application. Pouliot, a retired post master who applied to several boards, was appointed to the Economic Development Commission. Stacey, who works in the communications department at the University of Rhode Island, was appointed to the Planning Board.  

Ashforth was not present at the meeting, but despite his absence, Colasante, who in the past has insisted on meeting candidates in person before voting on their appointments, said he supported Ashforth’s appointment and would be willing to postpone the vote until he could be present.

Nassaney disagreed.

“Any other time, when someone’s not here at the meetings…and the people who do show up are here, it’s disrespectful to any of the people that are here that showed up to be appointed to that position – any position, so you have two people that are here: Mr. Pouliot and Mr. Stacey,” he said. “Both of them could fill any one of those positions. You just heard Mr. Stacey speak very eloquently. Mr. Pouliot spoke eloquently. He’d be willing to be on any of these boards. Why would you hold up? If Mr. Ashworth wants to be the second position, fine, but why would you hold up tonight’s vote?”

Colasante said he had known Ashworth for several years and wanted to hold open one of the Planning Board positions for him. In the meantime, he made a motion, which was defeated in a four-to-one vote, to nominate Pouliot to the Planning Board.

Nassaney made a motion to nominate Stacey to the Planning Board, which passed with only Colasante opposed.

A single open Planning Board seat remains to be filled, but  there are questions regarding Ashworth’s suitability for the position.

A member of the Pawtucket Police Force, Ashworth also works as a firearms instructor at the Preserve. That association would require Ashworth to recuse himself from matters relating to The Preserve, which appears often before the Planning Board.

Council goals

Helen Sheehan presented a list of goals that she would work to achieve as a council member.

“What I wanted was for each of us to talk about what we wanted to achieve in the next two years,” she said.

Sheehan’s overall goal is economic development, which would include the repurposing of the derelict Chariho Plaza and creating more affordable housing.

“I would like for us to get credit for affordable housing that we already have in the town so that we wouldn’t have so far to go to get to the 10% [the affordable housing goal set by the state],” she said. “In conjunction this goal, we can get together as a group and think about doing something with Chariho Plaza. We could put in a 62+ housing facility that could take care of some of affordable housing numbers and not increase the number of children in the schools.”

Colasante said he would present his goals at the next meeting.

Wilcox agreed with the need to create more affordable housing, and rehabilitating the Wyoming corridor. Her additional goals are transparency in town government, increasing housing for seniors and broadening access to health care.

Nassaney said his goal was to have council members work together for residents.

“If the five of us can work together to actually get work done without small time bickering, we can actually get something done,” he said.

Trimmer’s goals also include affordable housing and economic development, and reducing the property tax burden.

“I really, really want to stop bickering, and what I’d love is for five people to find some common ground, work together and get it done,” he said.

Trimmer also introduced a proposal for an “enterprise zone,” which would offer incentives to upgrade neglected commercial properties, and a second initiative, which would create an “urban blight” zone.

“We have blight right here in town,” he said. “It reminds me of West Warwick and the Arctic section of West Warwick in the ‘70s, where we have a rundown, unoccupied shopping center. We really need to do something with it. It makes our town look hideous. It stops other people from locating here and developing here. It’s just, kind of, almost an embarrassment. I’d like to find some way to incentivize the landlords and owners of that property to upgrade it in such a way that it makes our town proud.”

Public Forum

The crowd that had packed the council chambers forcing the adjournment of Tuesday’s meeting did not materialize at the rescheduled meeting on Thursday. However, despite the talk of overcoming ideological differences and working together, hackles were quickly raised once more during the public forum.

Laurie Barrett, a spokeswoman for the group, Parents United RI, who does not reside in Richmond and was participating remotely, said her group supported the council’s hiring of attorney Joseph Larisa, and then listed several issues that her group has “under investigation.”

“The legal fees and apparently unconfirmed representation of the Chariho Regional School Committee by Jon Anderson, who, by the way is more expensive than Joe Larisa,” she said.

Barrett warned the council that her group would be submitting public records requests relating to Town Moderator Mark Reynolds.

(The complete story of the hiring of Larisa can be found in the Jan. 24 story on BRVCA.org.)

Reynolds had strong objections to the council’s paying Clay Johnson’s legal fees and engaged in a verbal skirmish with Colasante, in which he pointed out that Colasante had not revealed his council goals.

“It was very disappointing that councilor Colasante did not contribute to the discussion that Ms. Sheehan brought to the table,” he said. “All of the members of the council were discussing their goals. He couldn’t be bothered to do his homework, basically.”

Resident Cynthia Reiser said she would not accept the council’s appointment of Clay Johnson to the Chariho School Committee after Jessica Purcell, who is challenging the appointment in court, had come less than 30 votes from winning the seat.

“We voted, and three of you, in your ultimate wisdom, said ‘you’re wrong – you did say it through your actions – you’re wrong. You voted for the wrong person. We don’t want that person. We found a way we can have a loophole, and we’re going to vote and we hope it goes our way but meantime, we’re using taxpayers’ money to defend the town. I was disenfranchised. Over 1,400 people were disenfranchised in your actions.

“Id like you to answer why you think you know betterthan we do.

Trimmer responded,

“It’s up to the courts to decide.”

Reiser replied,

“Well, it is,” and it’ll be very interesting and if it doesn’t go the way I hope it does, I certainly hope there’s a recall, that there’s a way to say ‘some people elected you. Great. But we elected Purcell and you didn’t care.”