New CCA temper tantrum

Failed March 13 attempt to “flood the zone” sparks slander from CCA leadership

By Will Collette

The Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) was soundly rejected by voters in the 2022 election. But, not surprisingly, they still have some tricks up their sleeves to take back power.

One such attempt was made – and failed – at the March 13 Town Council meeting where the CCA attempted to “flood the zone” with a large number of their stalwarts trying to get onto key town commissions and committees.

Such long-time CCA hardcore players as Bonnita Van Slyke, Mikey Chambers, Ron Areglado, Pete Mahoney and Dick Sartor made bids for seats on the Charter Revision Committee, Ordinance Revision Ad Hoc Committee, Town Administrator Search Ad Hoc Committee and Parks & Recreation Commission.

None were approved although several applicants with CCA ties, such as veterinarian Dr. Lew Johnson did win appointment.

Fortunately, there was a large field of experienced and thoughtful non-CCA candidates to fill the ranks of these important town bodies. You can see the full list of people who applied, who was chosen and who was not by CLICKING HERE.

I also encourage you to read their applications and career highlights by CLICKING HERE.

You really should take a close look because the CCA has decided to use their failed blitz as “evidence” that the “Town Council Puts Developers In Charge,” according to the headline in their blog.

Only one appointee, Tim Stasiunas, is an active developer. Evelyn Smith, who was appointed to the Charter Revision Committee, was a developer decades ago. However, Evelyn has put in more than 20 years on the town’s Affordable Housing Commission. Evelyn does own an inactive sand pit.

According to the CCA, any person who owns a business is suspect, as are all attorneys (except the CCA’s last remaining Council member Susan Cooper of course). By the way, contrary to CCA's claim, Cooper voted to approve Evelyn Smith's appointment.

For some inscrutable reason, about half of the CCA’s screed rehashes their own tragic handling of the COPAR Quarry crisis, re-writing history by casting themselves as the heroes rather than chumps. 

Mar. 13rd Charlestown Town Council Meeting Report

Lots of cheers and jeers on commission and committee appointments, plus cleaning up the financial management mess

Left to right: Susan Cooper, Rippy Serra Deb Carney, Grace Klinger and Stephen Stokes

Content from Charlestown Residents United

Main topics:

• ·       Committee and Commission appointments.
• ·       Food trucks in Ninigret Park.
• ·       No action on controversial proposed Chariho Schools tri-town subcommittee
• ·       Unexplained bill from our auditing firm.

Our preview of this meeting was published here.

The agenda packet for this meeting is here. The video for the meeting can be viewed here.

Of the 10 applicants for the Charter Revision Committee, the following 7 were appointed: Catherine E. Graziano, Margaret L. Hogan, Anne K. Mulhall, Lorna M. Persson, Laura A. Rom, Evelyn J. Smith, and Stephen C. Stolle. The Council appointed Catherine Graziano as the Chair. These 3 were not appointed: Walter B. (Peter) Mahony III, Craig T. Marr, and Bonnita B. Van Slyke.

Of the 5 applicants for the Ordinance Revision Ad Hoc Committee, the following 2 were appointed: William A. Coulter and Lewis E. Johnson. These 3 were not appointed: Michael J. Chambers, Brett C. Lill, and Bonnita B. Van Slyke.

Of the 5 applicants for the Parks and Recreation Commission, the following 2 were appointed: Frank D. Glista and Timothy E. Quillen. These 3 were not appointed: Melanie H. Champion, Sarah Ray Fletcher, and Walter B. (Peter) Mahony III.

Note that the Council has requested an updated Ninigret Park Master Plan, an important document for the Town's future, from the Parks and Recreation Commission.

Of the 16 applicants (Donna Green added after the agenda packet was compiled) for the Town Administrator Search Ad Hoc Committee, the following 9 were appointed: Paula A. Andersen, Thomas A. Cahir, Lisa A. DiBello, Colleen M. Dickson, Elizabeth A. Ennis, Louan B. Lyons, John F. Pacheco III, Ronald H. Russo, and Timothy A. Stasiunas. These 6 were not appointed: Ronald Areglado, Glenn A. Babcock, William A. Coulter, Donna Green, Michael Recht, Richard J. Sartor, and Stephen C. Stolle.

The new Town financial auditor, Marcum LLP, presented the audit for the year ending June 30, 2022. There was considerable discussion about the report, most notably developing actions to mitigate issues. The auditing firm also noted several areas of material weaknesses. 

There were also a significant number of restatements, changes made during the audit, in this year's audit. The complete audit report is available starting here. The Material Weaknesses section starts here. The statements are listed here.

The spring 2023 roadside litter pickup day was scheduled for April 22 from 8 am until 4 pm.

The Westerly Sun recently reported (here) on a "tri-town subcommittee" to discuss "unfunded mandates and other areas of mutual interest" regarding the Chariho School District. Council President Carney described to the Council, her opinions on this "subcommittee" - that if it is formed it be handled like other public meetings and that it cannot dictate things to the legally separate Chariho School District. Councilor Cooper gave her opinion that this is "not a good use of Town Council time." 

School Committee members Andrew McQuaid and Donna Chambers spoke to express concern about the motivations of some of the people organizing this subcommittee and urged our Town Council to be cautious in our participation. Our Town Council decided to take no action at this time, pending better definition of the group and the support of the Chariho School Committee. No vote was taken.

The Council approved two Ninigret Park Food Truck Nights for May 4 and June 29, 2023 from 5 pm until sunset. They will include live music and beer and wine. The location will be near the playground and gazebo near Little Nini Pond. They hope to have 10 to 18 food trucks on site for each event.

There was considerable discussion about the fee to be paid. The organizer stated that the trucks would be in one stated area of the park but he expected people to wander among other areas; so he listed four areas of the park. 

But according to Councilor Stokes, if the application claimed more than 500 people, one interpretation of the fee calculation would have it dropping from $800 to $350 for the larger event.

There were numerous other questions from those in attendance, that we don't normally see asked before the Town Council about other proposed events, such as insurance coverage, compliance with alcohol serving rules, whether an alcohol corral is needed, whether there will be proper handicapped parking, whether U.S. Fish and Wildlife have agreed to it, exactly where the live entertainment will be placed, ...

After this discussion, the Council approved the events unanimously.

The Council discussed a bill for an additional $30,410 from our financial auditors, Marcum LLP, at the February 13 Council meeting. That has now increased to a total of $55,992.07 in addition to the $69,500 originally quoted as the "all-inclusive maximum price" in the bid documentation. 

The Town has asked, several times, for information to substantiate the additional fees that are noted on the bill as "out of scope" and the Town has requested documentation for the authorization of those additional charges, as required in the contract, with little response. (The representative from Marcum LLP left the meeting before this agenda item.) 

A point was raised and discussed - that the contract, signed by the former Town Administrator, states that any litigation related to the contract will take place in New York.

The Council voted unanimously to direct the Town solicitor to attempt to receive more information and negotiate reduced fees for the outstanding bill with Marcum LLP. The Council also voted to continue this agenda item to the March 27, 2023 Town Council meeting.

The Council unanimously voted to continue not having agenda-setting meetings, judging the current procedure as working well. The Town Council 2023 meeting calendar was modified accordingly.

The second Town Council meeting in March will be on March 27 at 7 pm.

The Chariho School District Financial Referendum will be held on Tuesday, April 4, from 8 am until 8 pm. All voting will be in the Town Hall Council Chambers.

UPDATED: Follow the money, Charlestown campaign 2022

As usual, the CCA counts on money from out of state as well as its old supporters

By Will Collette

UPDATE: I added an excerpt of the financial disclosure for Trumplican candidate Westin Place who is running for state Senate District 38. He admits he is in debt to the IRS for unpaid federal taxes. See below. - W. Collette

In case you were wondering where Uncle Fluffy Tom Gentz ended up, the Charlestown Citizens Alliance campaign finance reports tell us. Our former Town Council Boss sent the CCA $500 from his retirement home in Sunset City, Arizona. 

Another CCA regular, Peter Hernstein is now in Fountain Hills, AZ and he sent in his check for $100. Former CCA leader and co-founder Kate Waterman sent in her $500 from Connecticut. Nothing from Deputy Dan Slattery wherever he may be (maybe he’s on undercover assignment for the CIA).

As I read through the CCA’s report for the quarter going from July 1 to October, aside from the out-of-state money, I was amazed at how much the CCA took in from its candidates, past and present, various ward-heelers as well as prominent players in many of the CCA’s controversial land deals. Very little money came from newcomers.

People who stood to gain from the aborted Y-Gate Scandal are still giving, including Joanne D’Alcomo of Boston ($300) and Russ Ricci ($250). 

So are Sachem Passage Association folks who benefited from the town’s $2.1 million bailout of their botched resistance to the Whalerock wind turbine project (we bought the land where the turbines were to be built). 

Later on, the SPA tried it again, attempting to get Charlestown to take a bug-infested parcel off their hands for many times its assessed value – we dubbed that one “SPA-Gate.”   

In addition to Peter Hernstein, listed above, the CCA received $100 donations from SPA members Donna Chambers (seeking another term on the Chariho School Committee), Town Councilor Susan Cooper (SPA Trustee for the duration of Spa-Gate), and first-time donor John Kaptinski (SPA founding father), presumably holding out hope that Attorney Cooper can somehow engineer one last CCA bailout for the SPA should she be re-elected.         

Conspicuously absent is SPA El Presidente Ron Areglado, who “managed” the campaign against Whalerock and the bait-and-switch SPA-Gate scam, although his moneyman in both scams, Joseph Quadrato, coughed up $150 to reserve a slot in future CCA cash & carry do-overs.

Arnolda is well represented with donors but oddly, Councilor Bonnita Van Slyke donated nothing. She is not running for re-election, as she is trying to sell her Arnolda estate on the pond for $2.4 million to someone who will develop the land into “your own palatial coastal retreat.” 

Not only did Van Slyke stiff the CCA party, but she actually took $535.72 reimbursement for mailing expenses rather than make it an in-kind donation. 

In past years, the CCA attempted to hide the high level of out-of-state donations by reporting their absentee donors not at their actual addresses, but at their Charlestown vacation homes. 

They only did that once in this election cycle (so far), listing $1000 donor Robert Thavenius at 10 Dudley Lane when his mailing address is listed on the Charlestown Tax Assessor database as Avon, Connecticut. His family owns two properties in Charlestown assessed at $5,071,700.

In sum, the CCA began the campaign season with $7,911.24 and raised another $8,750 for a total campaign war chest of $16,701. Of that, they have spent $9,790 so far, most of it to produce and mail those laughable 6-page, trifold, fine-print graphic novels they’ve mailed to everyone – twice.

Though the CCA seems to be incapable of competently managing Charlestown’s money, they seem to have a good handle on their own cash. 

You can look up campaign finance reports for any candidate on the Board of Elections website HERE. If you enter “Charlestown,” you can see the files for anyone who has run for office from Charlestown going back to when the BOE set up the database. You can also enter a person’s name. 

I think campaign finance reports tell you more about a candidate than any other piece of information. For example, Trumplican Westin Place of Westerly is running for Senate 38 against Charlestown’s Victoria Gu (D) and former Republican Caswell Cooke of Westerly. 

Westin Place started out as a joke candidate, but his prospects came alive when the state GOP did some fund-raisers for him. In last quarter’s financial report, Place says he took in $2,100 from people he can’t identify. He also took major donations from big GOP donors statewide. In his last filing before the election, the only named donor is Gunowners PAC who gave him $200. 

One reason I didn't take Place seriously is that he was late in filing his organization report with the BOE and thus missed the cut-off to file a quarterly report. However, he did file his ethics disclosure statement with the Ethics Commission where he made this disclosure:

It's not a very good look for a candidate for state Senate to start campaigning while showing unpaid federal taxes.

A remarkable amount of money gets spent on political campaigns. It’s only loosely regulated and only occasionally do offenses get caught, like Charlestown’s Sen. Elaine Morgan who ripped off her campaign account to pay for personal expenses. Though she admitted the offenses, she threw her recently deceased husband under the bus by blaming him for her misdeeds. 

She got off with a fine, but I hope the voters will take this into account when they decide whether to re-elect her or replace her with her fine challenger, Charlestown’s Jennifer Douglas (D).

The Curious Case of Councilor Cooper

Caught in Sachem Passage!

By Robert Yarnall                       

Councilor Cooper’s thumbnail portraits above
were added as a visual aid for our readers. The original
image sans thumbnails, from the CCA Elections page,
are presumably attributed to Cliff Vanover.

Over the next fortnight plus, Charlestown voters need to be very curious about the candidacy of incumbent CCA Councilor Susan Cooper. 

Susan was the Town Council Liaison to the Budget Commission, chaired by former Town Administrator Dick Sartor, when $3 million flew the coop. CCA Mother Hen Ruth Platner tried to bail out the Budget Commission, comparing the situation to a car parked in a garage. (So, the money was locked safely away in the trunk then? Ooops…)

Councilor/Attorney Cooper must have gagged as she heard Ruth go all-in Freudian: a perfect 4K High-Def image of the proverbial Bonnie & Clyde Getaway Car, hubby Cliff Vanover behind the wheel, sidekick wifey Ruth packing heat, careening through the woods to the secret CCA clubhouse with yet another trunkful of taxpayer cash to subsidize the CCA Spot Zoning Master Plan, deftly cloaked in faux environmentalism.

It certainly wasn’t the first time Susan Cooper Esq. had a front row seat during a clownish soliloquy. Exhibit A would be my email to her at the top of this story. At the Sachem Passage Association’s 2021 Annual Meeting, Joseph “Fredo” Quadrato let everyone know the extent of the CCA’s corruptive influence on the lives of town employees.

Attorney Susan Cooper is the only CCA Town Council member running for re-election. If she gets the most votes, she will be the next president of the Charlestown Town Council. Ruth Platner’s thoughts and prayers will have been answered. 

At this point in the political campaign cycle, voters have been inundated with multiple mailings of the CCA’s oversized, high-gloss trifold campaign brochures, paid for largely by a trifecta of wealthy people: retired baby boomers who have relocated here; out-of-state property owners who maintain vacation homes in Charlestown; the uberwealthy who maintain multiple homes in other states, likely even in other countries.    

For the past decade, CCA candidates have lip-synched the same Platnoidian-mode three verse chorus: low taxes, rural environment, groundwater protection (as if the rest of don’t care about those things) which illustrates the simplistic soul of their collective personas. 

CCA Councilor/Attorney Susan Cooper, however, has proven herself a much more sophisticated candidate since she became active in the CCA’s proxy neighborhood, Sachem Passage, in 2018.  It’s no coincidence a lot started happening in the Sachem Passage Association that year. 

In mid-October, 2021, while researching the Progressive Charlestown miniseries  Muddy Genesis detailing the Sachem Passage Association’s aborted attempt to abscond with over $400,000 in taxpayers’ money to bail itself out of financial turmoil, I downloaded Charlestown Town Councilor Susan Cooper’s Rhode Island Ethics Commission Financial Disclosure Report for years 2019 and 2020, respectively. 

Councilor Cooper self-identified as a Trustee of the Sachem Passage Association. A digital image of the pertinent pages of Susan Cooper’s RIEC Financial Disclosure Reports appears at the top of this story.  

I have been a member of the Sachem Passage Association since its incorporation as a non-profit business entity, June 15, 2000, and never knew my homeowners’ association had a trustee. I spoke to a handful of long-time neighbors, none of whom recalled the SPA ever having a trustee. 

During the SPA Annual Meeting on June 9, 2022, I told SPA President Ronald J. Areglado that I had come across paperwork which indicated the SPA had a trustee.  I further stated that neither I, nor anyone else I asked, had ever heard anything about a SPA Trustee.   

Mr. Areglado replied that the SPA does not have, nor ever had, a trustee. He asked SPA Treasurer Thomas Gilligan, SPA Director Joseph Quadrato, and SPA Archivist John Kaptinski the same question. None of them indicated the SPA has, or ever had, a trustee. 

Councilor Cooper, a member of the Charlestown Citizens Alliance, did not list herself as a SPA Trustee on her 2021 RIEC Financial Disclosure Report. It was filed on April 28, 2022, less than twelve weeks after the final installment of Muddy Genesis, which chronicled the decade-long symbiotic relationship between the Sachem Passage Association and the Charlestown Citizens Alliance, circa 2012-2022.  

Councilor Cooper’s resume’, posted on the CCA website, includes a BA (Psychology) from Johns Hopkins University (Maryland) and a JD (Doctor of Law) from Washington University (Missouri), both top tier institutions.  Her legal experience is comprehensive, ranging from State Public Defender (Missouri) to Law Clerk/Staff Attorney, United States District Court, Eastern District of Missouri. 

Councilor Cooper was also an Attorney and Director for BJC HealthCare, a fifteen-member health care collaborative employing 32,597 people in adult and pediatric academic medical centers in eastern Missouri. 

The gist of my “nod and a wink” acknowledgement of Susan Cooper’s laudable educational background and professional experience is to establish beyond any doubt that she knows exactly what a trustee does and exactly why she listed herself as the SPA Trustee. 

I was unable to ask Ms. Cooper about her SPA Trustee status at the June 9, 2022, SPA Annual Meeting because she was predictably in absentia, having been given a “heads up” by a sympathetic neighborly CCA devotee.  

Councilor Susan Cooper signed her 2019 and 2020 RIEC Financial Disclosure Reports filings under penalty of perjury. Those filings are definitive: she was the SPA’s Trustee during those years. 

During 2019 and 2020, SPA property owner Susan Cooper was also a member of the Charlestown Zoning Board of Review. She was appointed by the CCA-majority Town Council and joined SPA/CCA colleague Joseph Quadrato, CCA Treasurer Clifford Vanover, and SPA/CCA “professional author” (website propogandist) Michael James Chambers 

Besides being ZBR BFF’s, Quadrato and Vanover are also members of the CCA Steering Committee. Quadrato enjoys top billing on the CCA website, an acknowledgement of his fundraising prowess, a natural extension of his professional sales career selling office supply products from his home-based “Mom & Pop” business, Quad Products.

From 2012 through 2020, CCA Treasurer Cliff the Cash Guy Vanover “steered” six checks totaling $4,515.32 to Quad Products under the label “Campaign Expenditure.”

Quadrato resigned from the Zoning Board in May 2021 in conjunction with his appointment as SPA Finance and Real Estate Resource Person. “Fredo” holds no financial services certifications, no real estate credentials, no real estate licenses. 

Nonetheless, Quadrato was tapped by the SPA Board of Directors to craft a property sales proposal to be presented by SPA President Ronald Areglado to the Town Council. 

On November 8, 2021, the Charlestown Town Council deferred action on the  Sachem Passage Association 2021 Bait-and-Switch Property Sale Proposal.  

Although Cooper had recused herself from the SPA property proposal discussions, Ruth Platner would have certainly asked something like, “Susan, WTF was that all about?!” 

It would be disingenuous to suggest Susan was a party to Quadrato’s Bait & Switch scheme at any stage of the game. It’s not surprising Councilor Cooper opted out of her previously designated SPA Trustee position on her 2021 RIEC Financial Disclosure filing, was a no-show at the 20121 SPA Annual Meeting, and ignored my email request for clarification of her 2019/2020 RIEC filings. 

I want to believe Susan Cooper defaulted to her instincts as an experienced public defender, by simply not responding to my email regarding her “client,” Joseph Quadrato, the SPA’s thoroughly non-credentialed real estate expert and CCA’s lead fundraiser/ Steering Committee member. 

Nonetheless, Attorney Cooper has pitched her tent definitively in the shadow of the Platner Pyramid (low taxes, rural environment, groundwater) which, to rival the longevity of the Great Pyramid of Giza, requires the unfettered acquisition of open space to eliminate affordable housing opportunities for families with children, the singular, primordial threat to undermining the CCA’s symbolic essence. 

As Town Council President, and with a CCA majority town council, Attorney Susan Cooper is more than capable of setting agendas, steering discussions, and deflecting distractions like the $3 million “oopsie” to make Ruth Platner’s dream come true. Only Charlestown voters stand in the way. 

The Muddy Genesis of the CCSPAA

Charlestown Citizens/Sachem Passage Alliance Association Emerges From The Mud Hole

By Robert Yarnall

In small towns, it is easy for small decisions and big mistakes, local squabbles and petty rivalries to become the business of everyone. This is the story of how one neighborhood’s disputes can have a major effect on everyone, residents and town employees alike.       

Part 5 Cash Flow Low? Try Quid Pro Quo!

The picture above was taken at the Sachem Passage Association kayak access located on its Oyster Drive property. The fake money was digitally added to contrast with the real money our association has been figuratively tossing into that mudhole for the past 22 years. 

The images below, from left to right, are Belgian block pavers fronting the kayak access; a pull-back view from the small parking area looking toward the kayak access; the kayak rack adjacent to the kayak access; the lone picnic table adjacent to the small parking area.   

These idyllic amenities are the prime features of the Oyster Drive property that interested the Charlestown Town Council and Planning Commission Chair Ruth Platner. The lot itself has been deemed unbuildable by the Town of Charlestown. Why? Wetlands. 

When it became apparent that the coveted recreational features were no longer included in the deal during the SPA’s November 8, 2021, Town Council presentation, Council President Deb Carney and her fellow councilors were less than pleased. 

SPA President Ronald Areglado claimed that the inconsistencies were attributable to his leave of absence from the SPA Board of Directors while he campaigned as the CCA-endorsed candidate for Charlestown Town Moderator. He suggested circumstances would have been more favorable had he been in the loop. 

The Town Council collectively shrugged off Areglado’s disclaimer. Beginning with Council President Carney, each councilor probed different aspects of the proposal. Even with assistance from SPA Attorney Nick Gorham, Mr. Areglado was unable to clear things up. He knew he was in trouble, and it showed. He jokingly offered to give the property away. It wasn’t a good look. 

Planning Commissioner Ruth Platner, de facto leader of the CCA, found herself in an uncomfortable position. Ms. Platner had followed the Oyster Drive property sale for over two years. It was exactly the type of open space acquisition she worshipped, undeveloped land with built-in passive recreational features. 

Ruth Platner was somewhat puzzled by the SPA’s withdrawal of the boat/kayak launch: 

“The boat launch was definitely part of the grant,” Ms. Platner commented, referring to the document package of the formal proposal that was the foundation of the SPA’s sale pitch. 

For those of us watching video of the Nov 8^th Town Council Meeting, it seemed Ruth Platner was genuinely taken aback by the SPA’s transparent bait & switch maneuver. 

Referencing Areglado’s earlier assertion that his leave of absence from the SPA Board of Directors was the source of the confusion, Platner offered to make sense of SPA’s double messaging… “…there have been different association heads, I think, so that’s probably why there’s a difference in what they are talking about, compared to what the other people are talking about.” 

Planning Commissioner Platner was necessarily nibbling at the corners, not quite sure what was going on with the Oyster Drive deal. If she knew that CCA Steering Committee member Joe Quadrato had been working on the proposal for nearly two years, including the past nine months in his capacity as SPA Real Estate and Finance designee, she wasn’t about to mention it, certainly not in a public forum. 

Ms. Platner knew that Joseph Quadrato had been a vital cog in the CCA’s political machine for nearly a decade. Quadrato’s natural fundraising prowess, a convenient extension of his professional sales career, earned him a 2014 appointment to the Zoning Board of Review. His sustained performance over the next two election cycles led to a coveted seat on the CCA Steering Committee alongside Zoning Board colleague Cliff Vanover, Platner’s spouse. 

CCA Treasurer Vanover soon learned that Quadrato’s services came with a price tag, in addition to the pair of political plum appointments. Starting with the 2012 election cycle and continuing through the 2020 campaign, Vanover wrote six checks totaling $4,515.32 to Quad Products, Mr. Quadrato’s home-based small business. For the CCA, it must have been worth every penny, even if it came with a whiff of quid pro quo…

It’s likely that neither Mr. Vanover nor Ms. Platner knew that Mr. Quadrato may have had more in mind than a measly handful of Quad Product orders tossed his way in recognition of his contributions to the CCA political fiefdom.

In July of 2020, property owners of Sachem Passage received a newsletter from then-SPA President Paul Raiche. A thirteen-member sub-committee had developed three options in a quest to get rid of an asset that had turned into a liability. 

The group settled on exploring option #2, donating the land to a non-profit conservation group, and kicked its recommendation upstairs to the Board of Directors. 

The SPA Board of Directors consists of SPA officers and SPA directors. In 2020, the SPA officers were also its directors. This meant that President Paul Raiche, VP Joe Quadrato, Secretary Ron Areglado and Treasurer Tom Gilligan were also the Board of Directors. 

Aside from Mr. Raiche, the fate of the Oyster Drive property was now in the hands of Messrs. Areglado, Quadrato and Gilligan, the same SPA power trio that led the SPA proxy, Illwind, the group that dovetailed with the CCA during the entirety of the Whalerock Wind Turbine saga, 2010-2013. 

It was during Whalerock that CCA stalwarts Tom Gentz and Dan Slattery recognized Joe Quadrato’s formidable fundraising skills. Quad Products began showing up in the CCA’s Expenditure Reports. Joe Quadrato meant business. The CCA bought in. 

As Whalerock was playing itself out, Illwind was able to offload its litigation-based financial worries onto the backs of Charlestown’s taxpayers. The CCA-controlled town council spent $50,000 to hire Special Council John Mancini to represent a group of “anonymous abutters.” 

When the town plunked down $2.14 million to buy the 78-acre idyllic not-to-be-Whalerock open space, now the Moraine Preserve, the voluminous pretext associated with Illwind faded from the public discourse. Illwind, the SPA clone, had been bailed out at taxpayer expense, while Charlestown’s CCA-dominated Town Council looked the other way. 

The “anonymous abutters” turned out to every remaining Illwind litigant who had persevered through the 2010-2013 courtroom marathon. There were twenty-nine individuals representing sixteen households. All but two households were SPA members. Every SPA officer and director from 2010-2020 was on the list. 

The Town’s role in Illwind’s bailout cemented a mutualistic relationship between the CCA and the SPA that has lasted for a decade, due primarily to the fundraising skills of Joseph Quadrato. 

Over the next three election cycles, Quadrato maintained his CCA workload while also accepting an appointment to the Zoning Board of Review. By 2019, however, the floundering SPA required his attention as well. He knew what had to be done. He rounded up his Illwind posse and got to it.    

January 2020: SPA Treasurer Tom Gilligan contacts Andolfo Appraisal Associates to commission an appraisal report to establish the fair market value of Lot 95-5, Oyster Drive. The report includes photographs of the property’s waterfront, woodlands, parking area, boat launch, kayak rack, and picnic area. The fair market value is determined to be $426,000, if and only if the wetlands lot is buildable. Unfortunately, it is not. 

April 2020: SPA Secretary Ron Areglado files an Open Space Inquiry with the Town Clerk, leading to interactions with Megan DiPrete, Chief of Planning for RI DEM, Town Manager Mark Stankiewicz, and Town Planner Jane Wideman. Weidman files a $213,000 grant application based on the SPA’s conditional appraisal of $426,000, ignoring Tax Assessor Ken Swain’s definitive, standards-based rationale of the town’s $61,900 fair market value assessment.     

February 2021: The Charlestown Town Council decides that all negotiations pertinent to Oyster Drive Lot 95-5 property will be based on a third-party appraisal by Newport Appraisal Group, listing a fair market value assessment of $75,000. The SPA Board of Directors does not reference the $75,000 third-party appraisal in its February mailing, nor in any other subsequent interactions, with its members. Joseph Quadrato is appointed as Resource for Finance and Real Estate, a position created specifically for him. 

September 2021: CCA Steering Committee member Joseph Quadrato delivers an update on the property sale to thirty-one SPA members attending the September 16^th Annual Meeting, among them Charlestown Town Councilor Susan Cooper. Quadrato states bluntly, “… I have two contacts at Town Hall. They have told me that one individual, who I will not name, is not cooperating with us.”

President Ronald Areglado refuses to allow Quadrato’s statement into the official minutes, aware of its political implications. 

November 2021: Newly elected SPA President Ron Areglado hand-delivers the SPA’s Oyster Drive Prospectus in a 90-minute, live-streamed opus during the November 8^th Town Council Meeting, and promptly drops the ball. The Town Council lambastes his performance, noting that although the SPA’s asking price remains at $426,000, this newest SPA offering no longer includes the kayak/canoe access, the watercraft rack, or the picnic area. The Councilors’ comments indicate they recognize the bait-and-switch tactic for what it is. SPA Real Estate guru Joseph Quadrato, architect of the proposal, is nowhere to be seen. 

December 2021: President Ronald McDonald Areglado sends a snail mail update referencing the November 8^th Town Council Meeting by providing an unlinked ninety-three-character URL address - it must be entered from a keyboard - to access the video of the meeting. “Good luck with that…,” he muses.

Also included in the holiday greeting is a terse mea culpa that the association has neither the expertise nor the money to address the issues raised by the Town Council, ergo “…we voted unanimously to retain the property at this time. We will bring this recommendation to the members at our next Annual Meeting in May 2022.” There is no mention of Resource Person for Real Estate and Finance Joe Quadrato. 

If there was ever a chance that the CCA would again bail out the SPA á la Whalerock, Joe Quadrato killed it by way of his awkward braggadocio referencing his “two contacts at Town Hall,” arguably Town Manager Mark Stankewicz and Town Planner Jane Weidman. 

Implicit in Quadrato’s admission is the discomforting notion that both Stankewicz and Weidman “were cooperating with us,” and that only he, Joe Quadrato, wielded enough influence around town hall, by virtue of his Zoning Board familiarity and CCA Steering Committee status, to extract their “cooperation” for the financial well-being of the SPA. 

During routine business, in his capacity as a Zoning Board Official through June 2021, Quadrato would presumably interact with town officials, especially in Planning (Jane Weidman) and Administration (Mark Stankewicz). What he had to say, and how he said it, is anybody’s – and everybody’s – guess. Especially Ruth Platner. 

Although Charlestown’s rank-and-file employees have workplace protections afforded them by virtue of union representation, administrators and department heads are not part of the bargaining unit.

They are represented by their own “association,” essentially serving at the whim of the decade-long CCA-dominated Town Council. 

Those “whims” are explicitly defined for them by the policy-making priorities of the CCA Steering Committee, which gives Joseph Quadrato top dog billing as its top producing cash cow. 

Apparently, those “whims” don’t include a CCA Courtesy Bailout for the SPA this time around, a mere decade after the Whalerock alliance, Joe Quadrato’s fundraising skills notwithstanding. 

It remains to be seen how Mr. Quadrato will react to the CCA’s thumbs-down. If he was counting on the standard 6% real estate commission, a $426,000 sale would have netted him 25,560 clams. He may just decide to pick up his marbles - what’s left of them - and go home. 

Joseph Quadrato will never admit to the impetuous speech he gave that autumn evening at St. Andrew Lutheran Church. Indeed, his confidante, Ronald Areglado, refused to allow the verbatim text into the official minutes. And John Kaptinski, SPA Archivist, will swear that “If it isn’t in the minutes, it didn’t happen.” 

But for most folks, especially Councilor Susan Cooper, it happened loud and clear. 

The mouse that roared turned out to be the elephant in the room. 

To read the earlier episodes in this series:

For Part 1, click here

For Part 2, click here

For Part 3, click here

For Part 4, click here  

The Muddy Genesis of the CCSPAA

Decade-Old Charlestown Citizens/Sachem Passage Alliance Association Emerges From The Mud Hole

By Robert Yarnall  

In small towns, it is easy for small decisions and big mistakes, local squabbles and petty rivalries to become everybody’s business. This is the story of how one neighborhood’s disputes can have a major effect on everyone, residents and town employees alike. 

 Part 4 Weaselocity :  Back To The Future

The Scene:

November 8, 2021, 8:30 PM

Charlestown Council Chambers

Sachem Passage Association President Ronald J. “Ronco” Areglado strained to do his duty as he dangled a classic bait & switch deal hand-crafted by SPA’s newly appointed Resource for Finance and Real Estate, Joseph Quadrato. 

The SPA desperately wanted to offload its money pit albatross, a chunk of highly suspect Foster Cove real estate, onto the backs of Charlestown taxpayers. The Town Council was not taking the bait. Nary a nibble. It did not go well. 

Finally, on December 6, nearly a month after Mr. Areglado’s Opus, the maestro himself keyboarded a snail-mail newsletter to the SPA general membership. It included this scantily clad reference to the evening’s performance art. Here is a scan of Item #2 from the mailing:

 For those readers who have not had the experience of two decades worth of Areglado-speak, I respectfully offer the following real-world translation. Let’s pick it up after the intro “In summary...” 

“...they asked us to respond to seven questions. At our Board Meeting on November 16^th, we realized we had dug ourselves a hole so deep, there was no way out. So we’ll just leave things the way they are. We can talk about it next spring.” 

As 2021 comes to a close, the Sachem Passage Association remains bogged down in a quagmire of its own making. Twenty-one years ago, a handful of neighbors ignored the advice of another who knew better. 

That handful, however, did manage to construct a virtual petri dish, fed with equal parts ignorance and misinformation, setting the stage for the genesis of a new breed of political animal. The time was ripe for a different kind of worm hatch. The Charlestown Citizens/Sachem Passage Alliance Association – CCSPAA for acronym junkies - was emerging from the mud.   

The CCSAPP, an inbred species of pay-to-play cash cow, began its incomplete metamorphosis one brisk autumn afternoon, over a decade ago. The precipitating event that day took the shape of a diminutive humanoid riding a retro bicycle down East Quail Run in a robust crosswind wind, earnestly stuffing mailboxes with yellow leaflets (right). Deputy Dan Slattery was on a mission to save the town.

The leaflet campaign turned out to be a CCA-sponsored citizen-call-to-arms. It alerted everyone to an October 14^th, 2010 Town Council Meeting, pointing to a scheduled vote to approve a public-private partnership with Whalerock LLC to install a pair of 410’ tall Vesta wind turbines on what is now the Charlestown Moraine Preserve. But In 2010, the parcel was owned by Whalerock LLC under the direction of local developer Lawrence LeBlanc. 

The Charlestown Moraine Preserve, Assessor’s Map Lot 17-186 depicted below, had previously been considered for a power line transmission corridor, a multi-unit condominium development, or, most recently, a wind turbine project known as Whalerock.

Sachem Passage I, being the highest density neighborhood abutting the proposed Whalerock project, became the epicenter of citizen resistance. 

Not everyone realized it at the time, but a core group of Sachem Passage residents, relative newcomers circa 2000, had been networking behind the scenes to form an activist, litigation-based organization to thwart Whalerock. The organization came to be known as Illwind. 

Illwind was essentially a subsidiary of the Sachem Passage Association. Its leader was Ronald Areglado. Its fundraiser was Joseph Quadrato. Its co-treasurers were Thomas Gilligan and Maureen Areglado. 

The final piece of Illwind’s organizational hierarchy was the most critical, an attorney to handle the litigation. Oddly enough, SPA’s retained attorney, Nicholas Gorham, just happened to be the attorney for Whalerock LLC, Illwind’s litigation target. He was, as they say, unavailable. 

Mr. Areglado delegated a lawyer search to Kristan O’Connor, his Partridge Run neighbor. Ms. O’Connor was a banking and financial services professional attached to a Boston firm. She was arguably the most qualified member of the Illwind inner circle to evaluate and choose a local attorney skilled in the legal issues facing Illwind. 

Based on Ms. O’Connor’s search, Attorney James Donnelly was selected to represent Illwind in matters pertaining to the Whalerock Wind Turbine Project. He was introduced to the general membership of Illwind on the evening of October 17, 2010, at an informational meeting held at the Areglado home.  

With all pieces in place, Illwind was ready to roll. Within a surprisingly short period of time, over $40,000 was raised, virtually all of it due to the sales skills of Joe Quadrato.  

Mr. Quadrato had developed formidable sales acumen as a survival skill, starting up a home-based office supply business in the hyper-competitive Greater Hartford area. Cold-calling and building a reliable client base was his forte´. It didn’t go unnoticed. Word got “around town” that Illwind had some clout. 

Deputy Dan Slattery (left) is the little man on the bike. The mail carrier
really resembles Tom Gentz (brother by a different mother?)

At Illwind’s organizational meeting, during the meet & greet preliminaries, Mr. Areglado yielded the floor to several people from “around town” who wanted to address the group. Thomas Gentz, Dan Slattery (left) and Cliff Vanover identified themselves as Town Council candidates sponsored by the Charlestown Citizens Alliance, the CCA. 

The CCA slate told us they were there to support our efforts. They asked for our consideration at the voting booth for the upcoming November elections. They thanked us for our time, found some empty seats off to the side of the main room, and watched the proceedings unfold. 

Illwind’s co-treasurers were tasked with managing the monies raised by Mr. Quadrato to pay for litigation costs. Donors were asked to make out personal checks not to Illwind, but to “Maureen Areglado and Thomas Gilligan.” 

The wise folks in the room (there weren’t many) wanted no part of that type of financial arrangement. They demanded that their names be removed from any pending litigation. 

One neighbor said that by writing a check payable to two private individuals rather than a business entity, you gave away your right to see how the money was spent,  and the account’s owner(s) had no legal obligation to produce said statements. 

A trusting neighbor reminded everyone that having co-treasurers provided assurance that financial matters would be legitimate, above board. After all, two signatures would be required for all transactions; there was “built-in transparency.” 

People anted up. The money rolled in, and not only from Sachem Passage. The $40,000 figure clearly indicated that whatever cold-call telephone script Joe Quadrato had put together, it was working. 

If Mr. Quadrato had been an institutional fundraiser for Ivy League schools instead of an office supply salesman, he wouldn’t have been cold-calling wealthy waterfront homeowners for donations at the age of 60. He would have been buying them out by the time he was 50. Maybe sooner. 

Apparently, the CCA realized the same thing. Joe Quadrato’s eventual ascendancy to the CCA Steering Committee was a foregone conclusion. The CCA and the SPA were joined at the hip, the part of the body right next to the wallet. 

For nearly two and a half years, From October 2010 through April 2013, Whalerock was the Hydra of the RI Superior Court system. You can find Progressive Charlestown’s analysis of the four-ring circus, along with links to decisions rendered by Superior Court Justices Judith Savage and Kristin Rodgers here.

The most pressing concern for those of us with homes on East Quail Run and the eastern-most end of Woodcock Trail was is that Whalerock LLC, the rightful owners of Lot 17-186, would proactively clear-cut the lot of all trees and vegetation, just to spite the neighbors in the event the wind turbine project was rejected. 

As the litigation crawled from one hearing to another and time went on, it was obvious that lawyers on both sides were racking up billable hours. Several of us asked for updates on Illwind’s money situation, specifically statements detailing income and expenses. We were told the legal fees were indeed mounting, that we were “doing ok” for the time being. But no actual documentation was provided. Never saw a monthly statement, not once. The wise guys were right, as usual. 

It took until 2013 for the Whalerock saga to play itself out, when the town bought Lot 17-186 for $2.14 million, thereby creating the 78-acre densely forested refuge known as the Charlestown Moraine Preserve. 

I can pick up a trail in the Moraine Preserve about 600 feet from my mailbox, the place where the little man-with the helmet-on the bicycle, Deputy Dan Slattery, was stuffing those yellow leaflets over eleven years ago. 

The Moraine Preserve features densely packed hardwood and softwood trees, vernal pools with amphibians, flower power-level mountain laurel,  daylight walking trails, nocturnal hoot owls, and a rare glimpse of a solitary critter commonly known as a fisher cat (left), a member of the weasel family. 

The scientific name of the Fisher Cat is Pekania pennanti. They are primarily omnivores and are notoriously elusive. 

In stark contrast, humanoid weasels eat anything they can grab for free and swarm like locusts when they smell other people’s money.   

Thanks for reading. Enjoy the holidays. We’ll ferret out the money trail next time.