RICHMOND TOWN COUNCIL MEETING UPDATE FOR JUNE 6, 2023

By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA
June 7th 2023

RICHMOND – At the end of a six-hour meeting, members of the Town Council agreed on amendments that will make it possible for the town to operate on the current budget in the coming year. The proposed 2023-24 budget was defeated in a referendum on Monday.

The council also approved a request by The Preserve Sporting Club and Residences for enabling legislation that will make it possible for the developer to ask the General Assembly to consider requests for tax stabilization and partial exemptions on the property.

During the executive session that followed the regular meeting, councilors considered the possible dismissal of electrical inspector Jeffrey Vaillancourt, but voted instead to extend his probationary period and give him a second chance.

The Budget

After voters rejected the proposed budget at Monday’s referendum by a margin of 371 to 290, the council was left to decide whether to hold a second referendum on an amended budget or continue to operate under the current budget.

A proposal by councilors Michael Colasante and Helen Sheehan to hold a workshop with Finance Director Laura Kenyon and members of the Finance Board was rejected by the other members.

Council President Mark Trimmer said he did not feel that another budget workshop would be useful.

“The last workshop did not bear fruit,” he said. “We did not have any actionable specifics suggested at the other workshops to cut the budget, to make changes to the budget. There was nothing offered up, absolutely nothing, other than cutting the fund balance, which is just a really, really bad idea.”

The town has fixed expenses that must be paid, the most significant of which are payments to the Chariho Regional School District, contractual obligations to unionized employees and debt repayment.

After council members debated which expenses might be reduced, with Colasante suggesting that department heads be asked to cut their budgets by 5%, Town Solicitor Karen Ellsworth informed them that a solution might already have been found.

“I had a discussion earlier today with the Town Administrator and the Finance Director,” she said. “They have been discussing a lot of options for managing a level-funded budget that none of you have discussed, and none of you have asked them. The charter [Home Rule Charter] says the Town Administrator prepares the revised budget. My suggestion is that you ask the Town Administrator and the Finance Director to get together and propose something to you.”

Finance Director Laura Kenyon told the council that with increases in fixed expenses, there would be a deficit of $42,765 in a level-funded budget. Kenyon then presented the cuts that would be needed.

“My suggestion is to cut one capital project, $20,000 for the Wyoming design study,” she said.

The Wyoming design study, requested by Town Planner Shaun Lacey, would have produced design alternatives for the problematic Wyoming district.

Kenyon also proposed cutting $22,500 that had been allocated to new water billing software.

That left a deficit of $275, which Kenyon said she would cover with funds from her own department.

The council approved the cuts, which will make it possible for the town to operate with the current budget.

Tax Stabilization for The Preserve

The council approved, with councilor Samantha Wilcox opposed, a resolution that will clear the way for The Preserve to ask the General Assembly to consider tax stabilization or partial tax exemptions on structures on the property.

Owner and developer Paul Mihailides asked the council to consider the contributions (which he listed) that The Preserve has made and will continue to make to the local economy.

But, he said, his project has faced challenges, including taxes.

“What we’re going ask for is just permission, to get your permission from the legislature so we can have a discussion about it,” he said. “We’re not asking for anything in specifics. I just would like to say, we’re just faced with some challenges at The Preserve and some of those challenges are just based on the way our taxes are currently being viewed.”

Mihailides noted that the taxes on the luxury vacation homes on his property were too high for many buyers.

“It’s just too much for a third or fourth vacation home, somebody that’s here a few times a year, that is here because The Preserve offers so many intangible items,” he said.

Trimmer, Wilcox and a resident all raised the issue of the recent rejection of the town budget and the tax burden that many Richmond homeowners have said is too much for them to bear,

however, four of the five council members voted in favor of the resolution with Wilcox opposed.

Jeffrey Vaillancourt

During the executive session, councilors discussed the town’s electrical inspector, Jeffrey Vaillancourt, who was hired two months ago.

While details of the session were not disclosed, it appears that there has been at least one complaint against Vaillancourt for his comportment with a business-owner.

When the council returned to open session, Vaillancourt apologized for his behavior.

“Everybody has their bad days,” he said. “That was one of mine.”

The Vaillancourt incident brought to mind the decision not to renew the appointment of Vice Chair Nancy Hess to the Planning Board because at least one council member believed that she had been less than cordial with an applicant. In this case, unlike Hess, Vaillancourt was forgiven.

Addressing Vaillancourt, Wilcox said,

“I fully agree with second chances. We all make mistakes, but after 35 years on the job, you should know that’s not how we treat people.”

With Wilcox voting to approve a motion to fire Vaillancourt, the remaining council members voted not to dismiss him. They did, however, extend his probation for six months, beginning on June 6. 

In other business, Trimmer, Nassaney and Wilcox voted against a resolution made by Helen Sheehan and supported by Colasante, to support House Bill H6324, “An Act Relating to Criminal Offenses-Obscene and Objectionable Publications and Shows.”

Co-sponsored by Rep. Sam Azzinaro (D-Westerly) the proposed legislation would hold all libraries liable for “explicit” materials, including cartoons and comics.

One resident warned the council that the bill would expand censorship.

“It seems that this language is expanding the censorship in libraries, is that right?” she said. ”It’s not just  things that are for sale, it’s bringing our public libraries into this issue.”

“Children under the age of 18 should not be exposed to pornography,” Sheehan replied.

“My thought is,” the same resident continued, “libraries are public places, so people don’t have to see this, they don’t have to be exposed to it.”

Mark Reynolds, an attorney who also serves as Town Moderator, said the proposed legislation would impose criminal penalties on librarians.

“If all this was about was adding comic books to the criminal statute on pornography, that wouldn’t be so bad,” he said. “But what this statute does is potentially impose criminal penalties against librarians by adding this language that it applies to libraries. …It’s one thing to regulate pornography in a commercial setting and impose people who are selling this material to criminal penalties, it’s another thing to subject librarians in school or public libraries to criminal penalties, and that’s one thing this bill does.”

The resolution failed, with Colasante and Sheehan supporting it and Trimmer, Wilcox and Nassaney opposed.

Stop signs and speeding

Trimmer said he believed a third stop sign was needed at the intersection of Hog House Hill and Gardiner Road. Ellsworth said she would draft an ordinance amendment for the additional stop sign.

Trimmer also proposed asking the Rhode Island Department of Transportation to improve safety on Route 138. He was informed by Police Chief Elwood Johnson that the state Traffic Commission had undertaken a study of that section of road and he would contact the commission to see whether the study had been completed.