Proposed Ordinance Amendments Dominate Council Agenda

By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA

September 4th 2025

RICHMOND – At Tuesday’s meeting, Town Council members discussed several proposed ordinance amendments but postponed voting on most of them.

The council did approve requests to join the Ocean State Community Chamber of Commerce and to solicit residents’ photos for the town’s website, which is currently being updated.

Zoning Amendments Postponed

The council was to consider proposed amendments to 14 chapters of a zoning ordinance, but Town Planner Talia Jalette, who was presenting the amendments, pointed out that the number of the ordinance in question, 18.16, had been incorrectly written on the council agenda as 18.06. The council then voted to continue the item to the Sept. 16 meeting, where the ordinance and the amendments will be considered under the correct number and a public hearing will be scheduled.

The council also voted to continue its consideration of amendments of the town’s ordinances pertaining to the possible reorganization of the Recreation Committee and the Senior Activities Committee.

After a lengthy discussion, councilors agreed to ask Interim Town Administrator Erin Liese and Town Solicitor Christopher Zangari to further investigate the procedure that would have to be followed in order to comply with the legal requirements of the town charter. The council is expected to schedule a public hearing on the amendments at the Sept. 16 meeting.

The consideration of changes to ordinances pertaining to entertainment and special event licenses were also continued to the next meeting.

The Wellness Committee

Wellness Committee Chair Pamela Rohland presented an update on the activities and goals of the committee, which was created four years ago with five members and has grown to nine members.

Rohland also provided an update on the Village Common program, which provides volunteer services that make it possible for older residents and people with disabilities to remain in their homes. There are already several “villages” throughout Rhode Island. The members who receive the services pay what they feel they can afford.

“A village is a group of volunteers and group of members who are there to help each other,” she said. “It’s like people helping people. Volunteers could be of any age, really, and the members are paying members. Volunteers are screened  and trained to provide services and help to older adults.”

Richmond will partner with two other towns, Hopkinton and Exeter, to form a tri-town village.

Rohland invited Richmond residents to volunteer by going on the Village Common website.

DEM Recreation Grant

Liese briefed the council on the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management’s 2026 Recreation Development and Acquisition Grant Program.

“Unfortunately, we did not receive the second round which is for Phase 2 funding from the Congressional appropriations,” she said.

Phase 2 would have funded $650,000 in site work and the construction of facilities such as pickle ball courts and perimeter fencing, at 4 Richmond Townhouse Road. Liese recommended that the town apply for the DEM grant to fund those projects.

“It is my recommendation that we apply for something towards 4 Richmond [Townhouse Road] to continue building out that project, however, if  the council  wishes, I’d like to receive feedback on any other initiatives for staff direction to research  and/or if you want me to have it referred to the Recreation Commission,” she said.

The state grant requires a match from the town, which can be in-kind.

The council asked Liese and staff to prepare an application for a DEM grant to fund the Richmond Townhouse Road work and also determine whether replacing the equipment at the Beaver River playground might also qualify for a state grant.

The application for the DEM grant is due by Nov. 18.

The Chamber of Commerce

Economic Development Commission Chair Gary Parker received approval from the council to join the Ocean State Community Chamber of Commerce.

Council President Samantha Wilcox said the town had been a member of the Ocean State Community Chamber of Commerce, but the membership had lapsed.

“Nobody said they were using it, so I said, ‘Let’s get rid of it and see if anybody misses it,’ so I’m excited to see that it’s coming back,” she said. “… There’s also another chamber of commerce that overlaps with Richmond, the Southern  Rhode Island [Chamber of Commerce], so I wanted the EDC to decide which one they wanted to join.”

“We visited the Southern Rhode Island Chamber as well,” Parker said. “Great people over there, just not quite the same benefits center, easily accessible.”

The benefits of membership, Parker said, include classes, and assistance with grant writing as well as events planning.

Police Work

Police Chief Elwood Johnson recounted two recent cases involving missing persons.

“Missing persons very rarely happen in our town,” he said. “…We did have two, back-to-back, which is very rare.”

The first case, on Aug. 28, involved a 16-year-old. The dispatcher received a call at 4:30 a.m. from the teen’s mother.

“Her 16-year-old daughter had left her house at about midnight with a person known to the daughter, but not to Mom,” Johnson said.

The police had a general description of the car the daughter was believed to be riding in.

Working with the young woman’s mother, her friends, and other police departments, Richmond police searched and followed leads, a tiring and frustrating process, Johnson said.

“You can absolutely exhaust yourself doing a hundred things that never actually pan out in locating a person, but they have to be done,” he said. “The legwork has to be done. You don’t know the outcome.”

The teen was finally located in Plymouth Mass., at 10:30 a.m.

The very next day, at around 9 p.m., a call came in from a man worried that his girlfriend intended to harm herself after she had left the house and not shown up at work the next day.

“When people are despondent and have self-harm ideation, they don’t disclose what’s next,” Johnson said. “She left her cell phone – that’s a disadvantage for us – at the house, with her credit cards, her I.D., basically anything that would normally be with a person, she left at home which is also a sign of her having some unhealthy contemplations.”

Johnson said the effort to locate the woman involved many police officers and continued for several hours.

“Somebody lost in the woods, they’re trying to help you find them,” he said. “In this instance, you’re trying to find a person that doesn’t want to be found.”

The woman was finally found unharmed, sitting cross-legged in the middle of Kingstown Road.

“The stress you incur as an investigator trying to locate a person, not knowing what the outcome’s going to be, it wears on you,” Johnson said. “I just cannot say enough about how thorough, how timely, how exhaustive their work was. Just tremendous police work.”

Photos Wanted for Town Website

The council also learned about the current effort to update and streamline the town’s website.

“A part of that is that we have the opportunity to update some photos,” Liese said.

Liese added that the town would solicit photos and drone footage from residents to use on the new website.

“We don’t have a drone to utilize in the town, in our resources, but many residents do and so I think it would be beautiful to capture some overheads of our hiking trails, our land trust properties, the farms, … just to show the character of the town on our website.”

The council approved an initiative to invite residents to submit photos to the website. The photos can be emailed to: townadministrator@richmondri.gov and the deadline for submissions is Nov. 15.