Councilor’s sworn statement confirms secret Y-Gate meeting

Town Council members met with Y-Gate players in secret session

Y-Gate - the issue that will not die

By Will Collette

On May 22, I reported on a secret meeting the Town Council had with four key players in the growing Y-Gate Scandal when the Council met in closed, executive session on May 14. 

This session preceded the public decision by the Town Council to remove $475,000 from the Town Budget to pay the Charlestown Land Trust so it could buy the Westerly YMCA’s abandoned campground on Watchaug Pond.

The Council members, most conspicuously Councilor Gregg Avedisian who has been at the heart of Y-Gate from the start, pronounced the Y-Gate deal dead unless it is presented to the voters for their expressed approval.

But apparently a lot more went on behind those closed doors than was publicly revealed because at the June 11 Town Council meeting, CCA Town Council President Boss Tom Gentz attempted to ramrod two resolutions through the Council, one to pay $398,000 in town funds to the Charlestown Land Trust, and the second to draw $200.000 from the town’s Open Space/Recreation Bond.

Both resolutions have been carried over to the Council’s continuation of its June meeting next Monday, June 25.

I wrote my May 22 article about the secret meeting based on two witness reports – these reports said that Sonquipaug Association leader Joanne D’Alcomo, Westerly YMCA Board Chair Malcolm Makin and Charlestown Land Trust officers Karen Jarrett and Russ Ricci were seen leaving the Council’s executive session and quietly exiting the building.

Councilor Avedisian was asked about this event during a deposition he gave in the Donoghue V. Charlestown case that challenged the Town Council 3 to 1 vote to give the Charlestown Land Trust $475,000 based on alleged violations of the state Open Meetings Act. Click here to read Avedisian's deposition.

Under oath, Avedisian confirmed that the meeting did take place and that D’Alcomo, Makin and Ricci were there. He said that Karen Jarrett was not present, but that another woman was. He was asked to identify her and said he couldn’t remember her name but did remember she represented the Westerly YMCA. He was asked if he meant Y Executive Director Maureen Fitzgerald and replied “No, it was not Maureen.”

The agenda for the May 14 Executive Session is listed as follows on Clerkbase:

1.      Call to Order and Roll Call

2.      The Town Council may vote to move into Executive Session pursuant to RIGL §42-46-4&5(a) (2) Collective Bargaining (Contract negotiations – Laborer’s Local 808 (Police Dispatchers; Teamsters; CPMA); (2) Pending Litigation (Donoghue v. Charlestown); (Charlestown v. Shelter Cove Properties); (2) Potential Litigation (Charlestown Beach right of way – AP 9 Lot 19) and (1) Personnel (Town Administrator; Acting Police Chief; Permanent Police Chief)

3.      Potential vote(s) from Executive Session matters

4.      Adjournment

It’s ironic that the Charlestown Town Council should commit yet another Open Meetings Act violation while discussing the Donoghue v. Charlestown lawsuit, given that Donoghue's suit alleges earlier violations of the Open Meetings Act.

While it’s questionable that Sonquipaug’s D’Alcomo and the Land Trust’s Russ Ricci should be in the room, at least they are named defendants in the Donoghue litigation.

But Mal Makin and the unnamed woman from the Westerly YMCA are not parties to the Donoghue case, and thus have no place in that Executive Session.

Since Makin and the mystery Y woman weren’t in the room as part of the Donoghue v. Charlestown agenda item, what agenda were they there to discuss?

Nothing on the official agenda gives us a clue.

However, the Town Council’s subsequent switcheroo makes it pretty likely they were in the room to discuss a new deal – the current deal on the table – to give the Y-Gate Scandal players the Charlestown tax money they have sought for most of this year.

Councilor Avedisian emerged from this secret meeting to say the Y-Gate deal was “dead” and it was going to stay dead unless or until it reemerged and went before the Charlestown voters.

Avedisian was asked about his statements, and an interview he gave to the Westerly Sun’s report for Charlestown, Cassidy Swanson.

Q. Recently you were quoted by Ms. Swanson, the latest reporter from the Westerly Sun, on May 15, 2012, so last week, that the deal essentially is -- it's dead; do you see that quote right there?

Avedisian. Yeah. I am aware of it.

Q. Is that reported accurately?

A. Yeah.

Here is the part of the Westerly Sun article Avedisian is referring to: “The proposal as it was written — whether it was as it was originally intended, coming out from the [open space] bond money, or out of the surplus — is under challenge,” he [Avedisian] continued. “Essentially, it’s dead.” Avedisian said that if a new proposal were to be drafted — using the town’s open space and recreation bond, or some other source — it would be “at best...probably years in the making.” 

My, how those years fly!

In an earlier interview, Avedisian told the Westerly Sun that he felt it would be illegal for the Town to put money into the Y-Gate deal without a taxpayer vote. 

It is clear from Boss Tom Gentz’s conduct at the end of the Council’s June 11 meeting that he is determined that Charlestown will pay $398,000 to the Charlestown Land Trust for the benefit of the Westerly YMCA and the Sonquipaug Association. He is also clear that he will be pushing hard for it at the June 25 continuation of that meeting.

Looking at the public portion of the May 14 Town Council meeting and their June 11 session, it seems logical that the Council majority led by Boss Gentz worked out a closed door deal with the Y-Gate players to make a great show on May 14 of pulling the Y-Gate money out of the Town budget, only to use another way of putting town taxpayer money into the hands of the Y-Gate beneficiaries.

It all comes down to what Gregg decides to do
on June 25

We are not supposed to know the exact nature of that deal because it was done in closed Executive Session. No one from the public is supposed to be allowed in.

Even though the meeting minutes are sealed, the Town Council owes the taxpayers of Charlestown an explanation for what those people were doing in that meeting for an item that was clearly not listed on the agenda.

On June 25, Councilor Avedisian will be put to the test. Will he back up his statements at the May Council meeting and his comments to the Westerly Sun that the Y-Gate deal is dead unless it goes to the voters?

Or will he vote with Boss Gentz to give your tax dollars away on this shady deal with little benefit the citizens of Charlestown?

Gentz will almost certainly vote YES for his own resolutions. Marge Frank has consistently voted YES on all Y-Gate votes because she thinks it's a nice piece of land, all evidence to the contrary.

Councilor Lisa DiBello has consistently voted NO. Deputy Dan Slattery has consistently recused himself.

Not counting Avedisian's vote, that's 2 yes, 1 no and 1 recusal. It takes three votes to pass the resolutions so Avedisian's vote is the swing vote. If he votes NO, yet another and perhaps final nail goes in the Y-Gate coffin. If he votes YES, expect more public strife especially as we learn more about the secret backroom dealing.

I hope Councilor Avedisian sticks to his public statements that Y-Gate is dead until Charlestown voters say otherwise and not let Boss Gentz and his CCA gang get away with this heist.

Read all the Y-Gate stories by clicking here.