Council meeting, Chariho budget hearing expose ongoing divisions

By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA

RICHMOND – Tuesday evening was a busy one for members of the Town Council, who first attended an early council meeting and then headed over to the Chariho Middle School for the public hearing on the schools budget.

Town Council

At the council meeting, there was a change in the councilors’ seating arrangement, after one council member stated privately that they were uncomfortable sitting near council member Michael Colasante.

Council Vice President Richard Nassaney now sits in the center, between council President Mark Trimmer and Colasante, councilor Samantha Wilcox has moved to the far end of the table and councilor Helen Sheehan is at the opposite end.

Council members briefly debated the recommendation of Town Planner Shaun Lacey to hire Michael Rosso as the town’s part time electrical inspector, but in the end, they decided to reject it.

Lacey’s March 7 memorandum to the council and Town Administrator Karen Pinch stated that after conducting interviews with several candidates, the Building, Planning and Zoning Department recommended Rosso, who has been doing electrical inspections for the town since the previous inspector, Al Vennari, retired.

Lacey said that Rosso, who has 40 years of inspection experience, had performed well while he was acting inspector and proposed that he be hired.

However, Colasante, backed by Trimmer and Sheehan, proposed that the town hire Jeff Vaillancourt instead and added that the council, not town administrators, should have authority over hiring and firing.

(Vaillancourt, the current Vice Chair of the Zoning Board of Review, is a Republican who ran unsuccessfully for the Town Council in the last election.)

“In the town charter, the Town Council is the body that hires and fires, and up to this point, when I get just the recommendation, without having the person’s, the whole set of applications and resumes,” Colasante said. “It kind of puts me at a disadvantage to really picking the most qualified person in my view. I asked Ms Pinch [Town Administrator Karen Pinch] if she would please in the future submit to the council all the resumes and all the applications, so that way, we can see who applied. “

Nassaney disagreed, arguing that prospective hires should be vetted by the administrators with whom they will be working.

Colasante, Sheehan and Trimmer voted against a motion to hire Rosso and immediately after that vote, Colasante moved to hire Vaillancourt.

Since the Vaillancourt appointment was not on the agenda, Town Solicitor Karen Ellsworth suggested the council consider the proposal at the next meeting. The resumes of all the candidates will be attached to the agenda.

Council members also discussed Colasante’s “Tri Town Coalition” which has met twice, once at the Dragon Palace restaurant in Richmond and the second time at Colasante’s residence. The purpose of the coalition, as Colasante has often stated, is for the towns to band together to require that state mandates be funded by the state.

The coalition was first proposed at the annual Chariho Omnibus meeting in January.

“I floated the idea that basically, proposing legislation requiring all future mandates be accompanied by state funding,” Colasante said.

Colasante also stated, incorrectly, that recent revaluations would result in significant property tax increases. The mil rate, which is still to be determined, will be adjusted to mitigate the impact on property tax bills.

”It’s only a short span of time before they’re going to see big increases, - all right? -  to their taxes again because of …the high reval,” he said.

Trimmer said he was uncomfortable with the coalition meetings taking place out of public view and without the agendas posted.

“The whole idea of getting together with a few people and discussing things is one thing, but all of a sudden, it morphed, without any discussion in the council at all, it morphed to ‘Richmond has joined this tri-town coalition,’” he said.

Colasante replied that the Hopkinton Town Council had voted in favor of joining the coalition at its most recent meeting, and the matter was on the agenda for Charlestown’s March 13th  Town Council meeting.

Councilor Samantha Wilcox, said she wanted to know more about the coalition and what it stands for before deciding whether to support it.

Colasante responded by introducing Hopkinton Town Council member Sharon Davis, who had brought with her some written material about the coalition. Davis also told the council that she had contacted the Rhode Island Attorney General’s office and had been told that as long as only two members from each public body attended, there would not be a quorum (which is three members) and therefore, no Open Meetings Act violation.

Davis read a statement that included Charlestown, which has not joined the group.

“Several Town Council and School Committee representatives from the three towns, Charlestown, Hopkinton and Richmond, would like to meet and form an informal tri-town collaboration group to lobby for or against potential state legislative issues,” she said. “We would also encourage our state legislative representatives to create the legislation that we support.”

Trimmer said he supported the goal of working together to effect change, but he wasn’t comfortable with the process.

“The process needs to be laid out,” he said.

Wilcox said she supported the idea of reaching out to state representatives.

Colasante said that the coalition had already had an impact on the state legislature.

“In just the short time that we spoke, and, you know, some of us have gone to the State House for these hearings and listened to Speaker Shekarchi - all right? - on his proposals and whatnot, what has happened when they heard of our getting together and discussing these things as a collaborative, all three towns in sync with one another, it’s really, I mean, about that legislation, all right? Where they’ve kind of watered it down a little bit because of our concerns. …It’s going to help us out in the long run and I met some very wonderful people from Charlestown  and Hopkinton and if these issues didn’t come up, I don’t think I would have met Councilor Davis, and she’s a wonderful person, Steven Stokes, from Charlestown, and that’s what I mean about bringing the humanization to politics.”

Long time Richmond resident Iva Lipton said,

“I think it’s a good idea too, but you don’t represent the town without telling the town, and I think that, Mike, you overstep in so many ways,” she said.

Former council President Nell Carpenter said she supported Colasante’s initiative.

“The start of something always begins somewhere, and this is the start, so I actually commend councilman Colasante for initiating this,” she said.

Trimmer asked councilors whether they would be interested in serving on the coalition.

Wilcox said she needed to know more about it before making a decision. Sheehan told her that the information had been provided that evening.

Wilcox replied,

“So, let’s take our time and see a nice mission statement and what the group’s going to be and formalize the group,” she said.

Colasante said he would provide more information on the coalition at the next council meeting.

“More issues will come up over time, and the town councils will decide what’s in the best interest of all three towns, because it’s the only way we’re going to do things as long all three towns – it benefits all three,” he said.

Trimmer said he wanted a consensus of council members and assurance that “the tri-town coalition doesn’t become a shadow council, or secondary legislative body.”

Trimmer also resisted urging from Davis that the council vote to approve the coalition and said he wanted to put the item on the agenda of the next council meeting.

Wilcox, the only Democrat on the council, said both parties should be represented on the coalition.

“There should be a couple of different party members from each town to make sure that it’s completely balanced,” she said.

“That was always my idea from the get-go,” Colasante replied. “That why we approached councilor Davis and Ms. [Deborah] Carney from Charlestown, who is also a Democrat”

Carney said Wednesday that she was incensed that her town had been mentioned as being part of the coalition, when she had not yet submitted the item as part of the council agenda.

Carney sent a written statement to the BRVCA which reads:

“I was not present at any of those so-called tri-town collaboration meetings. I have not met with Mike Geary, Sharon Davis, Michael Colasante, Helen Sheehan Kathryn Colasante or Clay Johnson. [Johnson is reported to have been present at the most recent meeting at Colasante’s home.]

I do not know what was discussed or decided at these meetings, as I was not present.”

Chariho Public Budget Hearing

The public hearing, required as part of the Chariho budget preparation process, took place in the auditorium of the Chariho Middle School. Despite a strong showing by both supporters and opponents of the 2023 budget, the room was only about half full.

Before the meeting began, budget opponents were offered orange T-shirts that read: “Another Forgotten Taxpayer.”

The discourse was polite, considering the deep divisions in the community that touch many aspects of life in the three towns, particularly the public school system.

Town Moderator Mark Reynolds allowed three minutes for each comment, although several residents spoke for much longer.

Several people said the rejection of the budget last year, which resulted in level funding for the current year, was already hurting the district’s eight schools and urged the approval of the new spending plan, which, at just over $57 million, is a 1.45% increase.

Some, like Hopkinton council member Sharon Davis and Hopkinton resident and former councilor Barbara Capalbo, said they supported the budget but suggested that the school district further reduce the fund balance.

Davis asked the School Committee to consider reducing the fund balance to 2% which would save the district $148,000. The current fund balance is 2.25%.

Capalbo agreed on a 2% fund balance.

“I think that’s a reasonable request from Sharon Davis and from some of you,” she said.

Several Chariho teachers and support staff said they were already having difficulty maintaining the same level of performance with a level funded budget and worried what would happen if there were more cuts.

One Charlestown resident who has two children at Chariho schools has also worked as a substitute teacher.

“I had absolutely no idea how incredibly difficult it was to work in schools until I went inside,” she said. “I’ve seen, just over the past four years, our staff being constantly asked to do more with less, and they do it. They do it every day, for these kids.”

Other residents said it was important to support public education, but others, including Sen. Elaine Morgan, (R-Dist. 34) said the increase, even at 1.45%, was more than the taxpayers in the three towns could bear.  

“We have the best school system in the state, but enough is enough,” she said. “We cannot pay any more.”

But Richmond resident Jeff Noble said any further erosion of the public school system would hurt the community.

“We’re falling behind,” he said. “Everyone else in the world is investing in their schools. Those nations wanting to complete with us are not sitting around whimpering about investing in the future for our kids or their kids. They’re going to be competitive, we’re going to end up not being competitive, and then what’s going to happen?”

One Chariho parent warned that if the schools declined, parents would send their children to out of the district schools, or move out altogether, which would in turn hurt home values.

Carney told the committee that she supported the proposed budget, as did Richmond councilor Samantha Wilcox.

Colasante repeated several statements, including another description of a “tri-town coalition” that does not include Charlestown.

“We have a tri-town collaboration that Richmond, Hopkinton and Charlestown are discussing right now, to support our state legislators,” he said.

One teacher said that instead of blaming the school district, the towns should be bringing in businesses to alleviate the burden on taxpayers.

Colasante noted that one of his challenges was fighting for businesses.

“What the heck have Hopkinton and Richmond been doing in promoting economic growth in the last one to two decades?” he said. “I agree with them 100%. I am fighting - all right? -  the conservation elite in Richmond. They don’t want any development.”

Voters will have the final say on the budget at an all-day referendum on April 4.