Sun exposes job
offers by quarry principals to town zoning officials
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By
Will Collette
Westerly
Sun reporter Dale Faulkner has done a Helluva job doggedly pursuing the truth
behind the controversial Copar Quarry. The quarry sits on the Westerly-Charlestown
town line and has plagued more than 100 Charlestown and Westerly households.
His
three-part reporting in the Sunday, March 24 Sun (click here
and here
and here)
really ups the ante and starts to get into the real dirt. Topping the list,
Faulkner documents how the operators of the quarry offered a job to Zoning
Officer Elizabeth Burdick while she was determining their compliance with the
town’s zoning law – and how the Zoning Officer was seriously considering it.
Faulkner
also detailed how Westerly Housing Authority attorney George Comolli offered
another job – as head of the Westerly Housing Authority – to Bob Ritacco, chair
of the Westerly Zoning Board while the Zoning Board was reviewing Copar’s
appeal of the enforcement notice issued by the Zoning Official. Comolli just
happens to be the lawyer to his family’s company, Westerly Granite, which owns
the land where Copar operates.
 |
| Bob Ritacco - Zoning Board chair and central figure in growing scandal |
But
first, a quick background: the quarry is located on the Westerly side of Route
216 opposite the northwest corner of Charlestown.
The
long-abandoned quarry is owned by the Comolli family, long-time Republican
political scions in Westerly. It is leased to Connecticut-based Copar Quarry
which has a very colorful history.
When Copar re-started granite
quarrying at the site, they ran it like a strip mine. They use explosives to
break up huge pieces of rock which are then dropped into a rock crusher to be
ground up into smaller pieces. Those rocks are then hauled out in a continuous
stream of Connecticut-tagged trucks to parts unknown.
As
you might imagine, it was a shock to the system for neighbors when the quarry
opened. The blasts not only scare the crap out of pets and some veterans with
PTSD who live nearby, but also cause damage to foundations, chimneys, and
drinking well casings, according to area residents.
Huge
piles of finely ground granite dust end up as clouds of silica dust when our
winds blow. Rains and snow melt carry mine run-off into streams and wetlands,
especially on the Charlestown side.
Federal,
state and local regulators have been issuing citation after citation for
Copar’s many violations. More than 50 worker safety violations have been issued
by the Mine Safety and Health Administration. EPA and RIDEM have cited Copar
for Clean Air and Clean Water violations. The Town of Westerly has issued cease-and-desist orders against Copar for mining outside its permitted area.
Copar is being challenged in court for operating on land that is improperly zoned “light industrial” when it was supposed to be residential.
Click
here to read more about those violations and what it feels like to live
with them from one of the members of the Concerned Citizens of Bradford-Charlestown
which is leading the fight against Copar.
With
Copar’s checkered history and all these violations and legal problems, you have
to wonder why it is still operating, especially after the town issued its cease
and desist order.
The
answer is complicated. The simplest explanation is that Copar admits nothing
and appeals everything, using its due process rights to avoid consequences. It's most recent angle was to file a $10 million nuisance suit against Westerly charging that Westerly town officials conspired against it, which is an amazing accusation when you consider what the Sun uncovered about the job offers to zoning officials.
In
August 2012, Westerly Zoning Official Elizabeth Burdick issued the town’s first
notice of violation and cease-and-desist order against the Copar quarry. What
she actually wrote is now in some dispute.
As
issued, the enforcement action cites the conduct of the quarry as well as the
question of whether it is legal to mine there in the first place. Noting the
long abandoned status of the quarrying operation, the notice states the quarry
is operating on an invalid zoning certificate.
Now,
Ms. Burdick claims that portion of the notice was added by the town’s Zoning
lawyer Jack Payne. Copar attempted to seize on this alleged discrepancy to cast
doubt on the order’s legitimacy.
Why
Burdick’s lawyer chose to raise Payne’s addendum now is not explained in his
letter. As I understand it, as the town’s Zoning lawyer, it was Payne’s job to
review Burdick’s work and to make corrections when necessary. There was strong
evidence – aerial photos – showing Copar’s activity outside the permitted
mining area.
Five
months later, on February 28, Burdick left town employment under a cloud. The
Sun’s Faulkner uncovered an e-mail
string showing that Burdick had been offered a job working for one of
Copar’s trash “recycling” operations in Connecticut and was considering that
job offer.
 |
| After Burdick was removed from the Copar case, Bob Craven took over and issued a strong cease-and-desist order |
This
compromised Burdick’s ability to continue working as the town zoning official.
The day after Burdick’s e-mail, she was removed from the Copar case and, on an
emergency basis, she was replaced by Bob Craven, who is also an assistant
solicitor for Charlestown as well as a state Representative (D-District 32).
While in command, Craven issued another notice of violation and
cease-and-desist order that was even stronger than the one that Burdick (with
Payne’s add-ons) issued a year ago.
When
Copar received Burdick’s initial stop-work order last year, it filed an appeal
with the town Zoning Board so it could continue operating until it had
exhausted its due process rights.
That
put the Copar matter in front of Bob Ritacco and the zoning board over which he presides.
Inexplicably
– and to the utter frustration of the neighbors of Copar – Ritacco
delayed holding a hearing on Copar’s appeal for months. Finally, in February,
when it looked like there might be a hearing, Ritacco declared that he “might
have a conflict of interest.” He
recused himself without any further explanation, denying the Zoning Board
of the quorum they needed to appeal.
Later,
after pressure from the anti-COPAR group, Ritacco’s required
recusal explanation form appeared, but it didn’t actually explain anything
except he “may have a conflict of interest.” After a public uproar and
criticism in the Sun, Ritacco filed an amended form saying that he had had
“business dealings” with George Comolli.
Later,
it was revealed that Ritacco's business dealings with George Comolli involved
negotiating a contract with Comolli that would have given Ritacco a new job as
executive director of the Westerly Housing Authority. This, despite Ritacco’s
extensive property holdings in Westerly, including properties that were
subsidized through the Westerly Housing Authority.
Comolli is legal counsel to the Housing Authority though based on the articles Faulkner wrote for the Sun, it's pretty clear that Comolli runs the Authority.
Once
Ritacco’s impending appointment to become Housing Authority director broke in the public, that offer was
withdrawn. According to Ritacco, the offer was withdrawn at his own request
because he could not come to terms on a contract. That’s his story and he’s
sticking to it.
Disclosure note: Ritacco is
also head of the Westerly Democratic Town Committee. I have had numerous
encounters with him when I’ve changed hats from my Progressive Charlestown role
to that of a CDTC member and state Party Committee member. I do not condone his
conduct.
Meanwhile,
back on the Elizabeth Burdick front, her
lawyer filed a letter with the town of Westerly that complained his client had
been subjected to a long litany of broken promises and humiliations. Some of
these offenses are generally described with no names attached. Other charges
are more specific and name names.
For
example, the
letter names Town Planner Marilyn Spellman and others. The
letter makes this claim about Bob Ritacco: “The Chairman of the Zoning Board attempted to intimidate and threaten
Ms. Burdick if she continued to independently and objectively enforce the
zoning laws with respect to his own personal relationships.” That clearly
refers to Ritacco’s belatedly acknowledged ties to George Comolli and Westerly
Granite.
Ritacco
told the Westerly Sun, “Those statements are untrue and anyone that you
would speak to at Town Hall would know the relationship we had was excellent. I
am very surprised to even hear about this.”
Copar has exploited this
confusing mess of charges, denials and conflicts by demanding that it be allowed to bring
statements from Ms. Burdick forward in its still pending appeal before the
Zoning Board, despite the evidence indicating that they had attempted to hire Ms. Burdick.
Burdick’s lawyer says that Ms. Burdick was not working for Copar while she was
handling the Copar case, but does not deny the job offer referred to in Ms.
Burdick’s e-mail.
The town of Westerly
asked the Judge hearing the lawsuit brought by town residents against Copar to
bar Ms. Burdick’s statement from being placed before the Zoning Board. The judge refused to do that, saying the Zoning Board was entitled to make
its own judgment on the merits of her statement.
One lingering question
is whether Ritacco will attempt to return to the podium to chair the Zoning
Board as it takes up the Copar matter again. In statements made to the Westerly
Sun, Ritacco hinted that his conflict of interest in the Copar case only
existed while he was in negotiations with Comolli for the Westerly Housing
Authority job and that now there is no longer a conflict.
Rather than hold a
hearing on March 27 with all these clouds hanging over the proceedings, the Zoning Board cancelled its
meeting. The earliest they will
be able to continue hearing Copar’s appeal of Burdick’s original
cease-and-desist order is sometime in May.
 |
| Former Charlestown Town Administrator Bill DiLibero is now Westerly's interim zoning official |
That led one of the anti-Copar
leaders, Steve Dubois to comment, “So
this gives them another 45 days to continue destroying our homes?” The
answer – yes.
Adding to the irony that
is Copar, the current interim Zoning
Officer for Westerly, is Charlestown’s former Town Administrator Bill DiLibero. Hounded out of his job last year by the CCA
Party’s “Kill Bill” campaign, Bill is looking for a new job (he was a finalist for a job in
Massachusetts) and taking short-term
jobs like this one. Westerly Town Manager Steve Hartford said Bill was picked
because he knows the subject matter and area, needs little orientation or
training and could fill in quickly.
Getting
back to the revelations in Faulkner’s investigative writings about the Copar
scandal, his revelations about the offer of a job by George Comolli (Westerly Granite) to Bob Ritacco
(chair of the Zoning Board) and by Copar’s principals to Elizabeth Burdick
(then Westerly Zoning official) – and Ritacco’s willingness to take the job and
Burdick’s serious consideration of the Copar job, led me to a review of the
Rhode Island General Laws.
Specifically,
RIGL
11-7-3 which makes it a crime for a public official to seek or accept an
inducement and RIGL
11-7-4 which makes it a crime to offer an inducement to a public official.
“No person shall corruptly
give or offer any gift or valuable consideration to any person in public or
private employ, or any public official as an inducement or reward for doing or
forebearing to do, or for having done or forborne to do, any act in relation to
the business of his or her principal, master, or employer, or the state, city,
or town of which he or she is an official, or for showing or forbearing to show
favor or disfavor to any person in relation to the business of his or her
principal, master, employer, or state, city, or town of which he or she is an
official.”