This one could be a dud - but ya never know
By Will Collette
ADDENDUM: Speaking of "ya never know" items, I was reminded that sometimes items NOT up for discussing can be interesting.
For example, under tonight's "Consent Agenda" ("non-controversial" items approved as one big batch) is the appointment of 2010 Council candidate Joe Dolock to the Economic Improvement Commission. My sources tell me he simply walked into the Council agenda meeting and submitted his application there. That doesn't conform to Council rules about getting on an agenda and getting Commission appointments.
Dolock is the second half of the "Frick and Frack" team and, according to my sources, is more interested in infiltrating the "Glista Gang" at EIC than in the EIC's mission.
The upcoming Monday, January 9 regular Charlestown Town Council meeting has a less loaded than usual agenda, although, this being Charlestown, there always seems to be plenty of things to fight about.
For example, under tonight's "Consent Agenda" ("non-controversial" items approved as one big batch) is the appointment of 2010 Council candidate Joe Dolock to the Economic Improvement Commission. My sources tell me he simply walked into the Council agenda meeting and submitted his application there. That doesn't conform to Council rules about getting on an agenda and getting Commission appointments.
Dolock is the second half of the "Frick and Frack" team and, according to my sources, is more interested in infiltrating the "Glista Gang" at EIC than in the EIC's mission.
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The upcoming Monday, January 9 regular Charlestown Town Council meeting has a less loaded than usual agenda, although, this being Charlestown, there always seems to be plenty of things to fight about.
There is no one listed under “persons wishing to be heard,” no public discussion of legal matters and no public hearings. You may also note that some agenda items lack attached documents.
Some of the more interesting items
8a. Discussion about having discussions in one or more study commissions to try to figure out what the hell to do about affordable housing (for advocates – how to get more; for our Planning Commission and Council NIMBYs – how to make sure none gets built). No links to documents.
Without documents attached to this agenda item it is hard to know exactly what this item is all about. Is the agenda item related to Planning Commissioner George Tremblay’s idea about conducting some sort of affordable housing survey of the Chariho towns? Or the Council’s idea of getting the General Assembly to order the creation of some sort of state affordable housing study commission? Or something altogether different?
QUESTION: Has our town government, controlled by the CCA, those champions of open and transparent government, decided to stop putting documents up on Clerkbase in advance of meetings? The Town Council now conducts its agenda planning meetings in code (after we nailed them for voting at an agenda meeting to prohibit the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee from having a representative speak). The Planning Commission put NOTHING up before or after their January 5 meeting.
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| Deputy Dan sez "You only need to know what I want you to know" |
Did Tom Gentz and Dan Slattery on the Town Council and Planning Commissar Ruth Platner adopt a New Year’s resolution to clamp down on the public’s right to know?
8b. Discussion about having discussions about Charlestown Tom Gentz , Dan Slattery and Lisa DiBello . The other version, proposed by the CCA’s champion for open and transparent government Dan Slattery, is a much tighter group consisting only of the head of the Budget Commission (Richard Sartor), Town Administrator Bill DiLibero, Tax Assessor Ken Swain and none other than Dan Slattery himself, as liaison to the Budget Commission.
8c. A proposal from Councilor Lisa DiBello to form some sort of subcommittee to look at the idea of what to do with the old Cross Mills Fire Station building since they have a new building. Such as the town buying it. Maybe she'd like the town to buy the building and donate it to a non-profit - using the plan for the YMCA Camp as a precedent. I wonder if Councilor DiBello will actually show up or whether she will be busy attending to her lawsuit against the town. There are rumors afoot that DiBello has actually filed the lawsuit, but I have not been able to get confirmation.
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| Craig Marr, owner of the Breachway Grill - will he get grilled or served? |
10a. Once more into the Breach….Breachway Grill, that is. It seems like the Breachway Grill liquor license is on every Town Council agenda. This is the new restaurant on the way to Charlestown Town Beach that the town is generally trying to drive out of business, for inexplicable reasons. On September 12, Council President Gentz subjected Craig Marr, owner of the Grill, to a serious grilling over holding a birthday party for his grandmother (Marr’s grandmother, not Gentz’s) on the restaurant patio. It’s always interesting to see how Gentz will behave when the Breachway is on the docket. Could be nothing, or it could be fireworks.
15a. First reading of Ordinance 346. This ordinance proposes to change the zoning map changing an 1835 house on Matunuck Schoolhouse Road from C-1 commercial to residential. The memo from the Town Planner and Building Official applicant says residential is a far better use of the land than commercial, since to make the place viable for a business, you’d have to take down all the great trees. But here’s the catch – it will mean a change to the Comprehensive Plan. OMG, that’s like spray-painting Moses’ tablets. There’s also some subtext – too complicated to get into now, but we’ll see if this item turns into something controversial.
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| Will Ruth Platner get her way, or will the Evil Anti-Dark forces prevail? |
15b. First reading of Ordinance 347. Here’s the one that should produce the fireworks. This is the famous “Dark Sky” ordinance that provoked Planning Commissar Ruth Platner’s December 28 hissy fit. In brief, the Planning Commission produced an ordinance to regulate lighting to protect the sky last July. But apparently both the Town Solicitor Peter Ruggiero and Town Building Official Joe Warner think the ordinance has legal, financial and enforcement problems.
Platner is pissed that it took them so long to raise these issues and threatened to take the ordinance to the Council over the objections of the Solicitor and Building Official, almost certainly dooming the ordinance. Platner says something – perhaps an evil force – is at work. If the ordinance dies, she said she wants the Council to be responsible for killing it. She said at the January 5 Planning Commission meeting that she didn’t expect the lighting ordinance to be enforced anyway, so it would join the long list of intrusive yet pointless ordinances Charlestown carries on the books.
This is what passes as “good government” in Charlestown, when elected officials knowingly and deliberately promote legislation that is pointless.
The entertainment value of this Town Council meeting could be fairly low if there are no fights over trying to set up commissions and committees to discuss hot button issues like taxes and affordable housing, or if Tom Gentz decides not to continue his jihad against the Breachway Grill, or no one objects to changing the Comp Plan to change the historic home from commercial zoning to residential.
There is entertainment potential in Item 16, a letter from attorney Maggie Hogan on behalf of Charlestown's one and only Dunkin Donuts franchise, which would like to actually put up discreet signs that say "Dunkin' Donuts" in the company's trademark colors. Her letter is here. If Hogan shows up, this could be fun. Otherwise, more billable hours for the lawyers.
I think an argument over the Dark Sky ordinance is the best bet for some action, but it depends on who shows up and whether a deal gets worked out in advance to smooth over any public displays of discord.
I’d say the odds favor some sort of advance accommodation. It’s now an election year and the Town Council majority probably would like to clean up their image.
Except there’s that nagging new problem of the clear pull-back from that once vaunted openness and transparency Gentz, Slattery and Platner used to think was so important.