Menu Bar

Home           Calendar           Topics          Just Charlestown          About Us

Friday, June 6, 2014

Council meeting on Monday night will make sixth consecutive tax hike official

Change of venue - at the Police Station, NOT Town Hall
cat animated GIF
Get ready for Charlestown's monthly cat fight
By Will Collette

The Charlestown Council holds its regular monthly meeting Monday, June 9 at 7 PM.

This meeting will not be in the Town Council Chambers at Town Hall, but at the Charlestown Police Station. I don't know what this will do to Clerkbase accessability. Probably nothing good.

Before the open session, the Council will meet in closed-door Executive Session to discuss two items: the two-year old lawsuit by Town Council member Lisa DiBello against the Town and a host of past and present town officials, and the never-ending litigation between Charlestown and Shelter Cove LLC (a.k.a. Johnny Angels) over beach parking.

On tonight’s agenda is the formal adoption of the new Town Budget recently approved by voters on a ridiculously low voter turnout. This budget will also formalize the hike in the tax rate by a larger amount than previously advertised by this Council and a rise in the total amount of taxes the town will collect.

In this Council meeting, we will see Planning Commissar Ruth Platner repudiate her long-held reverence to putting land aside for open space because, in this instance, the buyer of the land is the state Water Resources Board (not one of Ruth’s preferred groups) and the seller of the land is someone she doesn’t like.

fight animated GIFWe’ll see a proposal to buy another chunk of strategic land, also for open space, using money the town of Charlestown no longer has, having spent it all to block the Whalerock wind turbine project.

We will see Jim Mageau step up to the microphone to attack two town citizens. We will see more futile weeping and gnashing of teeth over our differences with our Chariho partners.

As always, there is a lot more and many, many more ways for our Councilors to find new ways to entertain us with their good government skills.

Here is the agenda arranged to reflect the actual order of business. My snide and nasty comments appear as usual in the appropriate spots in sharp bold red.



1.      CALL TO ORDER, Moment of Silence, Pledge of Allegiance

2.      ROLL CALL

Motion to move items 15a, 15b, 15c, 18a, 18b, 12 and 8b to be heard next on the Agenda

15.    ORDINANCES, RESOLUTIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS

a.      Resolution of Respect in honor of Thomas C. DePatie 

b.      Resolution of Respect in honor of Carol M. Miller

c.      Resolution of Respect in honor of Janette H. Nielsen


18. FISCAL MATTERS

a. Discussion and potential action regarding the approval of the Annual Fiscal Resolutions to set the Budget and the Tax Rate

NOTE: this resolution makes the hike in the tax rate official, except it’s now even higher than it was when the budget was advertised and put up for a vote. The new rate will be $9.90, not $9.87. This adds to the CCA Party's sux-year unbroken string of tax hikes, each year since they took control of town government.

b. Discussion and potential action regarding the approval of a resolution authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds and notes of the Town of Charlestown not to exceed $2,000,000 to finance the acquisition, preservation or protection of open space or any interest therein alone or in conjunction with federal agencies, state agencies, land conservancies, land trusts or preservation organization for preservation, ground water protection or the development of public recreation facilities.

12.    CONSENT AGENDA

All items marked with “CA” are to be considered consent agenda
Motion to accept, approve and place on file the following as the consent agenda: 11a, 13a, 13b, 17a, 17b, 17c, 17d, 18c, 18d, 18e, 18f, 18g, and 18h

NOTE: “Consent agenda” items are voted on as a bloc without discussion or debate because they are supposed to be non-controversial. However, it is rare when there aren’t at least a couple of items that Councilors Lisa DiBello or Dan Slattery wanted pulled off for chewing over. Which will they be this month?

11.    LICENSES AND PERMITS

“CA” a. Discussion and potential action regarding the approval of the following events at Ninigret Park with a recommendation from the Parks and Recreation Commission, subject to review of contracts by the Town Solicitor, receipt of all applicable paperwork and insurance and that all event details are satisfactorily met by the Parks and Recreation Director:

1.   Event: Chariho High School Boys Soccer  Summer 2014 Games and Practice
Event Dates: Tuesday and Friday evenings from June 17, 2014 to August 22, 2014 from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Camping: N/A
Insurance: $1 Million General Liability
Fee: Waived

13.    MINUTES AND REPORTS

“CA” a. Town Council Minutes:

1. May 5 (Budget Public Hearing)
2. May 7
3. May 12 (Executive and Regular)


“CA” b. Reports:

death animated GIF1. Building Official May 2014 Surprisingly little construction activity in town over the past month.
2. Police May 2014
3. Public Works Director May 2014
4. Town Clerk May 2014 - Death is increasing its lead over Births - current score 18 to 13. Joy in the CCA Party clubhouse as Charlestown continues to shed population.
5. Treasurer April 2014
6. Wastewater – April, May 2014

17.    APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

“CA” a. Discussion and potential action regarding the appointment of Gordon Mahan to the Senior Citizens Commission, term to expire in January of 2015

“CA” b. Discussion and potential action regarding the acceptance of the resignation of  Cheryl Dowdell from the Friends of Ninigret Park Subcommittee with regret

“CA” c. Discussion and potential action regarding the acceptance of the resignation of Robert W. Beggs, Jr. the Economic Improvement Commission with regret

“CA” d. Discussion and potential action regarding the reappointment of Richard Phelan to the Coastal Ponds Management Commission, term to expire in March of 2017

18.    FISCAL MATTERS

“CA” c. Discussion and potential action regarding the award of the Heating Fuel and Maintenance Services bid to Ginger’s Service Station for a markup price of $.05 per gallon, with a Regular Hourly Cost of $68.00 per hour and a Night, Weekend and Holiday Cost of $85.00 per hour, as budgeted in line items 01.620.6020 and 01.620.6040, and authorization of the Town Administrator and Town Treasurer, each, to take any and all such actions, and execute and deliver such certificates, receipts or other documents as may be necessary to carry into effect the foregoing

“CA” d. Discussion and potential action regarding the award of the Roll Off Hauling bid to R.P.E. Waste Services for a two-year period in the amount of $170.00 per trip to Johnston in the first year and $175.00 per trip to Johnston in the second year, as budgeted in line items 05.000.6055 and 05.000.6060, and authorization of the Town Administrator and Town Treasurer, each, to take any and all such actions, and execute and deliver such certificates, receipts or other documents as may be necessary to carry into effect the foregoing

“CA” e. Discussion and potential action regarding the award of the Audit Services bid [SIC] to Cayer Caccia, LLP in the amount of $84,000 (FY2015 - $28,000; FY2016 - $28,000; FY2017 - $28,000), as budgeted in line item 01.940.9435, and authorization of the Town Administrator and Town Treasurer, each, to take any and all such actions, and execute and deliver such certificates, receipts or other documents as may be necessary to carry into effect the foregoing

“CA” f. Discussion and potential action regarding the approval of the Solid Waste and Recycling Services Agreement with Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation for Fiscal Years 2015-2017 and authorization for the Town Administrator and Town Solicitor to sign, funding as budgeted from CRCC line item (05.000.6055)

“CA” g. Request from the Tax Assessor for abatements in the amount of $255.75

“CA” h. Discussion and potential action regarding the award of the Senior/Community Center Cleaning bid to Mark Russo in the amount of $30/day regular rate and $45 per diem emergency rate with the possibility of 1 year extension with Council approval at $30/day, for the 2015 fiscal year, as budgeted in line item 800.6065, and authorization of the Town Administrator and Town Treasurer, each, to take any and all such actions, and execute and deliver such certificates, receipts or other documents as may be necessary to carry into effect the foregoing. 

Technically, the town is "accepting" the bid and awarding the "contract," not awarding the bid as this is written in items a, d, e, and h. Yes, this is a picky point, but the Town needs to be a more diligent about the way it deals with contracting evidenced by its questionable contracting decision at last month's meeting.

8.      NEW BUSINESS

b.      Discussion and potential action regarding plans to secure a new public water supply at Cross Mills, with Ken Burke, General Manager of the RI Water Resources Board

NOTE: this item could be interesting as it was already attacked by the Planning Commission. The state Water Resources Board is interested in buying some land owned by Frank Glista and holding it as open space to preserve the clean water resource.

Going against everything she’s ever said in the past, Planning Commissar Ruth Platner OPPOSES this open space acquisition by the state on the grounds that any such water resource might under some unknown conditions turn into a public water supply and, according to Commissar Platner, and public water supply automatically means high-density development. At least that’s what she said at the last planning commission meeting.

For evidence as to how a public water supply automatically creates high-density development, well, gee, let’s all look to see if that’s what happened over the decades since Shady Harbor and Quonochontaug Central set up public water supplies.

By the way, the state would do secure this open space/water resource WITHOUT town money.

3.      PUBLIC COMMENT for items not on the Agenda


4.      COUNCIL COMMENTS


5.      PERSONS WISHING TO BE HEARD

a.      James M. Mageau - 2014 Spring/Summer Parks and Recreation Programs

NOTE: Jim is mad about Parks & Recreation, the fees it charges and seems to want to pick a fight with Cheryl Dowdell and Julia Beasley, as he raised “possible conflicts of interest” they might have committed. Under the Council rules, there generally is no interaction between the “Person Wishing to Be Heard” and anyone else, but I wouldn’t count on that in this instance.

6.      ADMINISTRATOR, SOLICITOR, COMMISSION REPORTS

a.      Town Administrator

b.      Commission Reports

7.      UNFINISHED BUSINESS

a.      Discussion and potential action regarding the reconsideration of the proposed joint meeting of the Chariho Town councils and the Chariho School committee to hear testimony from the elected representatives on the School Committee, per the request of Committee Member Ron Areglado

NOTE: Charlestown’s guru for morality and ethics, the Honorable Ron Areglado, thinks that even though it would be a total waste of time, that the Town Councils of the three Chariho Towns and the Chariho School Committee should still get together to discuss their grievances. Let’s all sing….”Getting to know you, getting to know all about you….” 



b.      Discussion and potential action regarding the submission of two agenda items for discussion at the Joint Meeting of the Chariho Governing Bodies, with specific reference to section and language from the Act

c.      Discussion and potential action regarding Senate Bill 3039 An Act Relating to the Chariho Regional School District (Matriculation)

d.      Discussion and potential action regarding the request from the Ad Hoc Chariho Withdrawal Committee to allow the Town Administrator's Office to distribute the Special Edition of the Pipeline to all Charlestown residents, and to post the Pipeline and all Background Information used by the Ad Hoc Committee on the Town's website

NOTE: Items b., c. and d. are all the proof you need that Item a. is stupid. The one saving grace in all of this is that the General Assembly isn’t going to touch this silliness with a ten-foot barge pole. 

Chariho was a marriage of convenience – a ménage a trois – for three towns that couldn’t handle the costs of a modern school system on their own. They hacked out a rough consensus in the form of the Chariho Act. 

Ever since, the towns have taken turns each year complaining that the other two towns are picking on them and ripping them off.

Then, it blows over because, as enrollment numbers change, some other town takes up the drumbeat that it is being exploited. None of this is going to change no matter how much incense Swami Areglado burns or how much Councilor Dan Slattery huffs and blusters – the only real interest I have in this is whether Slattery’s tomato head will actually explode.

e.      Discussion and potential action regarding the acceptance of the Community Garden at Ninigret Park lease termination from the Southern Rhode Island Volunteers and approval of an administrative change of the Garden at Ninigret Park from the Town of Charlestown to the Jonnycake Center of Westerly and authorization of the Town Administrator and Town Treasurer, each, to take any and all such actions, and execute and deliver such certificates, receipts or other documents as may be necessary to carry into effect the foregoing

NOTE: Looks like yet another marriage that didn’t work out and an alternative arrangement is in the offing. I hope this will all work out to the best advantage of all these very important community programs.

8.      NEW BUSINESS

a.      Discussion and potential action regarding interest in the purchase of AP 13, Lot 5

NOTE: Our temporary Town Planner Jane Weidman thinks it would be a good idea for the town to buy an open lot near the General Stanton Inn as open space for somewhere less than $250,000. While it’s a nice piece of property, strategically located, Charlestown has already blown through all of its open space/recreation money to buy the proposed site of the Whalerock wind farm.

Given our sixth consecutive tax increase, where does Jane think this $250,000 is going to come from? Is there some conscience-stricken “anonymous abutter” willing to kick in the money?

c.      Discussion and potential action regarding Senate Bill 2034 and House Bill 7593 (Ethics Commission)

d.      Discussion and potential action regarding a letter of support for Wood River Health Center encouraging the legislative delegation to continue to support health center funding in the federal budget

NOTE: Wood River is in some serious financial trouble due to cutbacks in federal and state funding. Between sequestration and radical House Republicans obduracies, funding for community health centers is drying up. Low income families in our area NEED this service. 

However, I doubt that our Congressional delegation needs much prodding on this issue since they are all very much on top of it. They’re not the problem – it’s the Tea Party.

9.      PUBLIC HEARINGS

The public hearing regarding the 2014 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Activity Ranking has been rescheduled to June 23, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. at the Charlestown Police Station.

10.    COUNCIL SITTING AS BEVERAGE LICENSING BOARD

a. Public Hearing and potential action regarding the following application for beverage license - Old Mill Diner LLC d/b/a “Old Mill Diner” to apply to premises located at 4349 South County Trail – Class BV Limited. Designated premises: restaurant and deck/patio only; daily from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm This is the license request from what used to be the Gentleman Farmer.

b.      Motion to order advertised for public hearing on July 14, 2014 at 7:00 p.m., the following applications for beverage license:

VSA Arts Rhode Island for a Class F Liquor License, fee to be waived for the Rhythm and Roots event to be held at Ninigret Park on August 29 – alcohol served 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., August 30 – alcohol served 11:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m., August 31 – alcohol served 11:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m.

14.    ANNOUNCEMENTS

a.      Board and Commission vacancies

15.    ORDINANCES, RESOLUTIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS

d.      Discussion and potential extension of the Temporary Moratorium on the Permitting and Licensing of Excavation, Quarrying, Mining and Material Processing Facilities for an additional three months

NOTE: Extending the moratorium seems to be the only thing Charlestown is willing (or finds itself able) to do to curb problems connected with quarries. However, it can’t keep doing this forever.

16.    COMMUNICATIONS AND PETITIONS – None


17.    APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

e.      Discussion and potential action regarding the appointment of Dawne Burns to the Board of Canvassers, term to expire in March of 2018

f.       Discussion and potential action regarding the resignation of Susan A. Carpenter from the Board of Canvassers with regret

19.    LEGAL MATTERS – None



20.    ADJOURNMENT