Amazing, just amazing.
by Tom Ferrio
I attended the budget hearing on Monday night to learn more about the arguments, pro and con, for the two Warrant Items and the one Petition that will be on the ballot at our Monday (not Tuesday), June 1 financial referendum
(Disclosure: I have been assisting the team, as a late addition, working on the Petition to get funding authorized for Ninigret Park improvements. This article is not a product of that team.)
The meeting was reported in the Westerly Sun and it's available here (may or may not be visible to non-subscribers).
Besides the budget we will vote on three financial questions on June 1:
- Warrant Question 1: would authorize spending of up to $2 million for open space property. Unlike previous open space authorizations, this one does not include language to allow spending on recreation.
- Warrant Question 2: would authorize the Town Council to give away a conservation easement of the recently purchased land known as Whalerock.
- Petition #1: would authorize spending of up to $1 million for improvements to Ninigret Park.
Just have to wait a while: Council President Tom Gentz claims that people should not vote for the Recreation Petition because “hearings for the draft master plan are scheduled” and we should wait for that.
But no telling how long: Of course there is no sign of a schedule for those hearings and he has been refusing to hold hearings since the Draft Update was prepared last summer. But now we suddenly will have hearings. Someday. When we find time. But soon. Scheduled. Or not.
And another referendum would cost money: This led another speaker to question the wisdom of another referendum vote for that one item, with additional cost. But perhaps Mr. Gentz wants to wait for years, not months, for this vote.
We don’t answer no stinkin’ questions: The most "spirited" (that's a code word) conflict in the meeting was Mr. Gentz's refusal to answer questions or engage in any discussion. There was lots of back and forth debate about the Recreation Petition but when it came to the other Warrant items the Council refused to answer any questions. Remember - the Council voted to put those Warrant items on the ballot. And now they refuse to explain them. Mr. Gentz repeatedly said “I’m not getting into an inquisition!”; the others were silent. I guess if you're confident you can bus enough of your supporters to the polls...
Can’t vote "yes" without specifics: Opponents to the recreation Petition criticized it for not having the specific projects that it would fund
listed. How can you like it if the specific improvements aren't listed, even if they are to be taken from the Master Plan? We had to hear a long, sarcastic rant about what the cost might
be to implement the entire Master Plan and how that would be more than the $1 million.
But we don’t need specifics if the Council wants it: Those same people got up to speak
about the Open Space Bond and how it needs to be approved right now in case
some opportunity comes up that we cannot anticipate. Speakers asked the Council whether there were specific properties in mind. The first response was the
Is there a pulse?: Mr. Gentz was vocal in deflecting any requests for information. George Tremblay and Bonnie Van Slyke added to the arguments for the Council-supported Warrant Items. But I don’t know if Denise Rhodes
uttered one word all night. From what I saw she could be been an subject of taxidermy, except
that she did walk into the room and take a seat.
Some people like the Town giving away land rights: Russ Ricci (Charlestown Land Trust Treasurer) and Peter Arnold (a Founder of the Charlestown Land Trust) got up to say
that conservation easements are really great things and we should have no
hesitation about giving one away.
It’s a burden but we will accept: Ricci also magnanimously
offered that the Land Trust would accept the easement if it's free, even though such things are
actually a burden. It’s the nice thing to do for the town.
Charity or profit?: Then it was also noted that Ricci, Arnold and others have not lined up to give conservation easements away for free. The claim was that they made out very well financially when their
easements were bought from them and they had tax benefits.
And we care about the salt ponds: Peter Arnold spoke of his
profound commitment to the salt ponds. Unmentioned was the fact that his land,
next to the pond, is planted in corn most every year. Which is fertilized with
large amounts of ammonia. You know, that's the same stuff that septic systems put into the ground that turns into the pollutant nitrate that has caused people by the ponds to have to install those expensive denitrification systems. But ... agriculture is exempt from worrying about that.
It’s all about wind turbines, evil wind turbines: Wind turbines were repeatedly mentioned in the context of the conservation easement giveaway. It was clear to me that they are trying to imply that we either give away the land rights now or some people in the future will come back to put “500 foot turbines” there. And we will all die! I predict we will see more of this unfounded fear-talk during the next month.
Melt Down: Ron Areglado became positively hysterical and nearly broke out in tears at the thought that anyone might be opposed to giving the easement away. You must watch it. He went on and on and on, saying the word “turbine” at least every five words.
They spent so much money: Mr. Areglado also claimed that $40,000 in private funds were spent to fight the turbines. That was a surprise to me and I wonder if some documentation is available. You may recall that "anonymous abutters" to Whalerock had their personal $50,000 legal bill paid by the Town as part of buying the property. With no explanation. But now the implication is that we should, as a reward to those selfless people, approve the conservation easement so the Town can assure them they will have some nice forest next to their houses “in perpetuity”.
He did sign on to the script?: Mr. Areglado used Joe Dolock's name in a way that implied he also supported the conservation easement give-away. That prompted Dolock to get up and talk. First he explained that he was “closest to the turbines … I mean by distance”. Then he revealed that he is firmly opposed to giving away the easement. Awkward silence in the room at this point...
Larry LeBlanc is a smart dude: A couple people explained that we
only got Whalerock because we had open space bond money available when we
needed it and that having a new authorization is important. Others stated their opinion that the Council was well-played by
LeBlanc, with pressure to decide fast and a firm asking price double the
assessed value and exactly matching the money the town could pull together. Not likely a coincidence, according to those speakers.
It’s all Deb Carney’s fault: Zoning Board of Review member Cliff "in your face" Vanover got up to claim that this conservation easement is
needed to prevent exactly what happened when Deb Carney converted many acres
of open space purchased by the town to land for development, when she was Town Council President some years ago. That resulted in
eruptions of "lies" from Carney and Jim Mageau, with Jim presenting a detailed history of
that transaction that was totally different than Vanover's version. I know where my belief will fall when I am choosing between Carney and Vanover, and it's with Deb Carmey.
You go girl: Lisa DiBello got up to speak and tore
into Tom Gentz for the “no inquisition” rule saying this was new in
her experience and horribly offensive. I had eyes like saucers and I wanted to applaud when she was done. That showed much more initiative that she demonstrated during most of her Council tenure. Here is a
partial quote of her words, from the Sun: ““I don’t understand why there are
not answers to any of these questions. It almost makes me wonder if there’s a
hidden agenda or something else going on, which really concerns me,” DiBello
said. “It’s disheartening that there’s not more information given. I want to
encourage the residents of Charlestown to do their homework and come out and
vote either way.””
This is the end of my report. I urge every reader to watch the video yourself here and not just trust my words. (Don't worry, the video takes a few seconds to get started.)