By Will Collette
There was a time when the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) claimed
to be the champion of open, honest, transparent government. After all, this was their
rallying cry when they organized to oppose former Town Council President Jim
Mageau (2006-2008).
They even continued to trumpet this cause after they won all
five Town Council seats in the November 2008 elections.
Here’s an e-bleat the CCA sent out on June 23, 2009
attacking the Affordable Housing Commission for going into executive session to
discuss the acquisition of property next to Town Hall which was then being
considered for a new affordable housing complex.
The CCA decided during the 2008-2010 term that they didn’t
like the Town Councilors they had elected and decided to try to replace them
with new CCA Councilors. The issue that caused the CCA schism (and the excommunication of the CCA’s 2008 slate) was the Whalerock industrial wind farm
proposal which the 2008 Council supported.
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| Former CCA President Deputy Dan Slattery ....consistency is for lesser mortals |
The first thing the new 2010 CCA Town Council majority (comprised
of Boss Tom Gentz , Deputy Dan
Slattery and their ally Lisa DiBello )
did when they took office on November 15, 2010 was to act in a way that sure
looked a lot like a violation of the Open Meetings Act.
Minutes after being sworn in, the Council acted on a
resolution by Boss Gentz, seconded by Deputy Dan, to institute a moratorium against all
wind energy development in Charlestown .
The resolution was already prepared and ready to file and
may have been in direct conflict with
an earlier Attorney General decision on a CCA complaint filed against Jim
Mageau!
That decision came on a complaint filed against Mageau by
none other than CCA leader Cliff Vanover
(spouse of Ruth Platner) on January 22, 2007. In his complaint, Vanover charged
that a quorum of Town Council members – Mageau, Bruce
Picard and John Craig – met privately right after they were
elected and decided who they were going to hire for Town Administrator to
replace Richard Sartor.
Vanover successfully argued that a Council majority can’t hold a private meeting, even though they were not
yet sworn in to serve, and make decisions without following the public process
set out in the state Open Meetings Act.
Bravo, Cliffie, and boo-hiss to the new CCA Town Council
majority if they came to their first
meeting having already decided on a wind energy moratorium. I haven’t seen any
direct evidence that the three-member CCA bloc of Gentz, Slattery and DiBello
held an illegal pre-meeting, but the record certainly provides a Helluva lot of
circumstantial evidence.
Incidentally, the Council amended Gentz’s resolution to
allow for continued development of the municipal wind turbine project in Ninigret
Park – the same project they used later as one of the main reasons to oust Town Administrator Bill DiLibero. At that time, Gentz was still a huge supporter of the muni-wind project.
The Gentz resolution banning all wind energy in Charlestown,
except the municipal wind project in Ninigret Park, passed by the same 3-2
majority that has typified most Council votes since the November 2010 election.
At that time, nobody filed an Open Meetings Act complaint because,
let’s face it, in November 2010, everybody hated Whalerock. But, according to
the Attorney General’s office, there is no time limit on filing an Open
Meetings Act complaint.
Mageau bit back at the CCA Council majority by filing his own successful Open Meetings Act complaint against the Council for its handling
of what was then its enthusiastic job performance review and salary increase for
Town Administrator William DiLibero. As noted above, ironically, only a few
months later, the Town Council majority decided they not only didn’t like
DiLibero anymore, but actually ran their vile “Kill Bill” campaign to drive him
out of town.
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| Boss Gentz |
The CCA who once hated executive sessions and considered
them an affront to public order now tolerates, without a word, routine
executive sessions. Indeed, every Town Council meeting is preceded by a closed
executive session.
I’m not opposed to executive session being conducted for
lawful purposes. The state law sets out the requirements for informing the
public about these sessions through a posted agenda listing the topics. State
law also details what subjects are appropriate for an executive session and
which are not.
The Town Council’s Executive Session on May 14, however,
really takes the cake for being an insult to any reasonable definition of open
and transparent government.
On May 14th, the Council’s Executive Session
included the key players to the Y-Gate Scandal to discuss a secret deal to
renege on public promises that before the town put money into the purchase of
the Westerly YMCA’s abandoned campground on Watchaug Pond, they would be it to
a public vote. [Click here: go to page 18].
Without proper notice on the agenda for that secret session,
the Town Council majority worked out the deal that Boss Tom Gentz would spring on the town at the June 11 Town Council meeting
– a deal to take $398,000 out of the town Open Space/Recreation Bond fund
without the promised public vote.
What ever happened to the CCA that went nuts when the
Affordable Housing Commission held a lawful
executive session? I guess openness and transparency only applies to the CCA’s
political opponents.