UPDATED: Sunshine Week and Charlestown’s dark skies

In Charlestown, “openness and transparency” is just CCA Party rhetoric

By Will Collette

UPDATE: Charlestown is shopping for a new system to carry video coverage of town meetings. Details below. 

Every year, news reporters and editors “celebrate” Sunshine Week to draw public attention to the long-running and on-going struggle over the public’s right to know.

During much of this past year, the public learned that the government seems pretty determined to know everything about you but is less enthusiastic about your right to know what’s happening within the government.

We have our own version of that debate happening right here in Charlestown when it comes to how Charlestown government works. 

With each passing year, the Charlestown Citizens Alliance and its elected officials who control all of the levers of power in Charlestown work at making it harder and harder to know what they are doing on your behalf and with your money.

Let’s look at some examples from the past year:

More Charlestown Tapas

Ten bite-sized nuggets of news for Progressive Charlestown readers

By Will Collette

Congratulations to state Representative Donna Walsh for making GoLocalProv’s “Who’s Hot” list. This weekly list is one of GoLocal’s popular political features and notes who made a difference (“Who’s Hot”) and who screwed up (“Who’s Not”) that week. She not only made the list, but was their lead.

Donna was featured for her new legislation that would mandate collection of food scraps from commercial establishments so it can be diverted for composting and recycling, rather than take up space at Rhode Island’s Central Landfill which is rapidly filling up.

Found in space

Congratulations also to Scott MacNeil and the Frosty Drew Observatory for a terrific photo that was featured on Space.com, one of the leading on-line astronomy journals. It’s a great shot; click here to see it.

Money Makes the World Go Around

Glitches in Charlestown’s video system for town meetings

ClerkBase problems again hamper people's right to know
IN THIS ARTICLE: a backdoor, temporary fix

By Will Collette

Charlestown, like an increasing number of municipalities, puts many of its important town government meetings on-line through a popular system called ClerkBase. Even though it isn't cheap, it makes it possible for citizens to watch live proceedings and, later, to see these proceedings again and again in a video archive.

ClerkBase charges $8,475 a year to broadcast Town Council meetings and another $5,270 a year to carry Planning Commission meetings. Zoning Board of Review meetings are also broadcast on ClerkBase, probably at close to the same cost as the Planning Commission coverage. If my estimate is right on the Zoning Board, that’s about $20,000 a year and worth it, if the system works the way it’s supposed to.

ClerkBase is a wonderful tool when it works, but it can be very frustrating, too. When it first was installed under former and much missed Town Clerk Jodi LaCroix, there were few glitches and you could count on being able to see the meeting live while it was happening and then an indexed video of the meeting the following morning.

However, these days, you’re lucky if you can even get access. For many of you who use Internet Explorer or Google Chrome, when you try to view ClerkBase video these days, you’ll probably get this error message:

Internet Explorer, Google Chrome - an "Unknown browser type???"

  

Town loses another open government case

Attorney General rules Charlestown cannot “shield” records from disclosure by hiding them with the Town Solicitor

By Will Collette

A little of Charlestown's Information Stone Wall comes down

On September 5, the RI Attorney General’s office issued decision #PR 13-20 ruling that the Town of Charlestown violated the state open records law (Access to Public Records Act or APRA). 

The decision was based on a complaint I filed on July 21 after the Town refused to release public court records from the Whalerock wind turbine case to me.

The Town claimed it did not possess or maintain those records, even though the Town had provided me with dozens of similar court records over the past two years. 

When I appealed the initial refusal to Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz, he simply denied the Town had the records, even though the records were in the possession of Town Solicitor Peter Ruggiero.

After I filed my initial complaint, I received another, far more expansive denial of court records from Town Clerk Amy Rose Weinreich, also on the claim that the Town did not possess them. I amended my complaint to include those denials as well.

In my complaint to the Attorney General, I stated that the records existed and that Town was obligated to disclose these records even if they are not held in Town Hall because the Town Solicitor cannot be used as a gimmick for the Town to evade disclosure.

Charlestown’s new stonewall

Blight on the landscape

By Will Collette

There’s a large ugly stone wall going up around Town Hall. 

It’s thick and it’s getting taller every day. 

There was never any notice of it on any Town Council agenda. 

It never went to a public hearing in front of the Planning Commission. 

The cost of it does not appear in the town budget. It never went before the voters for approval.

But there it is.

Planning Commission pulls the plug on Clerkbase

Too much “open and transparent government” apparently

Collage by Lin Collette. More more, click here.

By Will Collette

Since the Planning Commission began its new term after the November 6 elections, its meetings have been blacked out on Clerkbase[1]. It wasn't supposed to be that way – the town has a policy of posting an audio-video recording of all Planning, Zoning and Town Council meetings. The meetings for the Council and Zoning are still recorded and posted.

But Planning is not being recorded on Clerkbase. Not since October. Even worse, when I checked Clerkbase on New Year's Day while finalizing this article, I found the Clerkbase video links for all Planning Commission meetings going back for months are now either absent or don't work. Maybe Charlestown didn't pay the bill.

Now, I get it. It’s one thing for the CCA leadership who control Planning and the Town Council to talk about how much they treasure openness and transparency. It’s another thing altogether to have their actual deeds put up on the internet for anyone to see. Besides, it's easier for the "Voice of the CCA" Mike Chambers to revise history when his CCA buddies destroy the historical record and you can't look back to see and hear the actual discussion..

I guess they got sick of the articles in Progressive Charlestown where we report on some of the crazier things they do – and then provide a link to the recording with the suggestion to readers that they should look and listen for themselves to see whether we’re making stuff up. Click here for an example. Or click here for another favorite. These examples show why Planning probably doesn't want to encourage recording of their meetings.

Town Council serves up garbage soup on April 23

CCA’s War on Ninigret Park tops the bill for second “Regular” Council meeting for April

By Will Collette

Charlestown’s Town Council majority hasn’t quite finished its April apocalypse – they will meet once more to see if they can do more damage to the town before wrapping up the month of April.

This will be their second “regular” meeting. They held a “special Executive Meeting” on Thursday where they pushed Town Administrator Bill DiLibero to resign. One new item on their Monday agenda that is not a carryover from the April 9 meeting is discussion about who the Town Council majority (Boss Gentz, Deputy Dan Slattery and Lisa DiBello) will pick as an “acting” Town Administrator. Anyone want to make any guesses?

Exclusive: Read the Lisa DiBello v. Charlestown lawsuit

What Council member's lawsuit against the town actually says

By Will Collette

Council member Lisa DiBello, as previously reported, filed a civil lawsuit against the Town of Charlestown and nine present and former town officials on January 23. As of today, DiBello has still not served the complaint on the Town or the persons named in the suit.

But nonetheless, the Westerly Sun ran a front page story about her lawsuit last Thursday.

I went to the RI Superior Court in Wakefield to get a copy of DiBello's filing. You can read the complaint in its entirety by clicking here.

The general outline of DiBello's case against the Town she supposedly serves as a member of the Town Council will look familiar to regular Progressive Charlestown readers. There's a reason for that.

Musings on "Jodi LaCroix tells all"

Part of what makes living here so special.

I was not yet a reader of Progressive Charlestown when the "tell-all" interview with Jodi LaCroix was published, but coming across it has given me a fascinating new perspective on life here in town and some recurring themes that have come up here on the blog.

Rhode Island among the least friendly states for voting

And the new Voter ID law just passed by the General Assembly isn't going to help our ranking....

It's Official! Amy Weinreich Sworn In

On a much more pleasant note, the Town Council officially appointed Amy Rose Weinreich to be our new Town Clerk. The oath of office was immediately administered by her mentor, recently retired Town Clerk Jodi (Jo Jo) Lecroix.

Click on the arrow at the end of the line, below:
Agenda item 2. Appointment of Amy Rose Weinreich as Town Clerk

News Flash: Amy Rose Weinreich hired as town clerk

As many had hoped, Amy Rose Weinreich has been hired to permanently replace her recently retired, long-time mentor Jodi Lacroix. Amy had been serving as Acting Town Clerk. She has worked for the town since 2002.

Pending final Council approval, Jodi will administer the oath of office to Amy at the May 18th Town Council meeting.

Congratulations, Amy!



Jodi (left) and Amy (right)



Jodi Lecroix tells all! Well, almost....

Jodi and her acolytes Amy Rose Weinreich (right)
and Carol Cullion (front)

Jodi LaCroix recently retired as Charlestown’s Town Clerk after 25 years of devoted service. She and her family are moving to Chattanooga, TN next month. I wanted to catch her before she left and tap her experience with this town to perhaps shed some historical light on why Charlestown politics is, well, so bughouse crazy. Here’s how that conversation went.

WILL: Cathy and I moved back to Rhode Island eight years ago to settle in Charlestown. One of the first things we noticed was how nasty and vicious town politics can be. Was it always like that?

Thank you, Jodi LaCroix!

After 30 years of government service, 25 of those in Charlestown, Town Clerk Jodi LaCroix is retiring and moving to Chattanooga with her husband and daughter.

Many of us celebrated with Jodi and her family tonight at the Meadowbrook Inn. Friends and colleagues stepped up to tell Jodi stories and crack jokes. Jodi also walked away with a box full of commendations and awards, a really nice print from the Charlestown Historical Society and our gratitude.

At the end of the evening, Jodi turned the tables, telling her own stories and handing out gag gifts to her colleagues, singling out her protege Amy Rose Weinreich. Jodi, quite rightfully, told the audience of her hope that Amy will be appointed to succeed her and passed a very classy $9.99 torch to her.

Rep. Donna Walsh (left) presents a congratulatory resolution by the House of Representatives to Jodi

It is quite an achievement for Jodi to have served this town for so many years, and to have seen so much, without having to go into witness protection. Instead, in Chattanooga, she will need to learn a whole new culture. No more clam cakes. No more coffee milk. In Chattanooga, the only way to get Peeps® is chicken-fried.

Jodi will need to learn a new language and change her name to something like Jo Jo. Double names are mandatory south of Maryland. I told Jodi that nobody in Tennessee will be able to spell "Lacroix" so she should consider something less alien like "LeRoy." As in Jo Jo Leroy.

Well, again, thank you, Jodi and y'all come back.

Author: Will Collette