Likely to be re-scheduled for Thursday
By Will Collette
The Charlestown Town Council's regularly scheduled monthly meeting that was scheduled to be held tonight at 7 PM has been cancelled because the required legal notice was not published in the Westerly Sun on Saturday. The meeting - with no changes or additions to the agenda - will likely take place on Thursday.
"For the record," said Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz, "the problem was at the Westerly Sun."
Tonight's scheduled closed Executive Session of the Council will be held as scheduled since notice of this meeting was published as required.
Rhode Island's Open Meetings Act requires that in addition to posting the agenda and meeting notice with the Secretary of State, public bodies like the Town Council must also publish a written notice in the locality's "newspaper of record."
For our area, that has been the Westerly Sun, although their status has been clouded by their move to Connecticut when they moved into Cherenzia Construction's building across the river and into Pawcatuck. The Sun managed to get the General Assembly to pass legislation "clarifying" its status as the legal paper of record even though they are now out of state (and have an out of state owner).
A lengthy article on the legislation, S-2238 sponsored by Senators Dennis Algiere and Cathie Cool Rumsey and H-7228 co-sponsored by Rep. Donna Walsh, ran in Sunday's Westerly Sun business section (page D-1) but is not available unless you have access to their E-Paper. Gov. Chafee signed the legislation into law on July 1.
The Westerly Sun is owned by the Record-Journal of Mediden, CT.