Virginia Lee: I Am So Grateful To The People Of Charlestown

The following comments were made by Town Council President Virginia Lee at the November 9, 2020 Town Council meeting. Virginia Lee did not seek reelection in 2020. Virginia was elected in November, 2014 and served six years on the Town Council.

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Tonight is my last regular meeting as president of the Charlestown Town Council. I am so grateful to the people of Charlestown for your vote of confidence over the last 6 years and the opportunity to serve you with the best I had to offer. I hope you are even more engaged in town government in the future, including adoption of an updated Comprehensive Plan which will set the tone of our town for the next 10-20 years.

I thank each Town Councilor, the Town Administrator, the town department staff, our legal counsel and all the volunteers on our Boards and Commissions for your leadership, your civility, integrity, dedication and good judgement. It has been a privilege and pleasure to work with you. Your good work is why we all have good reason to be proud of our town – Mark Stankiewicz, is widely respected for his skills as Town Administrator, his talent and experience is sought after for leadership in statewide government associations; our department heads are also highly regarded and are leaders in state wide associations, we have one of the few accredited Police Departments and our schools are winning state and national awards for excellence. It doesn’t come easily, it comes from high standards and hard work day in and day out year after year. I hope everyone seeks this excellence going forward.

It is this excellence and our townspeople pulling together that were key to winning against some extraordinary threats. We were told that Dollar General is unstoppable and will put local stores out of business as they have done in towns all across the country, yet we stopped them from coming to Charlestown, where we value our rural quality and our local businesses. We were told that no one can counteract the power of the oil and gas industry, yet we stopped Invenergy from trucking away our drinking water. We were told that no small town can win against the Goliath of the Federal Railroad Administration, yet we stopped them from cutting through our town.

I learned many lessons from these challenges. I’d like to mention three…

First, when folks show up, speak up, and stand up together for Charlestown, it is powerful. Never doubt it is worth the effort. Keep doing it. Every voice matters. Every vote counts.

Second, to be respected by and have good relationships with other communities and the state is important. One example: in fighting off the train proposal, all five affected town councils got together to object, then all the South County legislators led by Blake Filippi wrote a letter of support against the railroad bypass plans, the Governor and state agency heads took note. The Governor responded again when your letters and petitions poured in and citizens rallied at the statehouse, where she made it the formal policy of the State of Rhode Island to object to the railroad bypass proposal. Then our US Congressmen, even though they had worked hard to make sure any train proposal did not leave out Providence, backed the Governor ‘s decision and supported us against the bypass. And we worked with like minded groups in neighboring states as well. We could not have succeeded alone. May these relationships continue to flourish.

Third, I have a new appreciation of how much the involvement of the Narragansett Tribe was key to our success. The awareness that the railroad was to go through sacred burial grounds of the tribe dealt a mortal blow to the train bypass proposal. When the Charlestown members of the Narragansett stood up for the sanctity of their water and wild lands, it helped break the contract with Invenergy. We have much to learn from them about how to deeply honor and protect our natural resources. Never has this been more evident than now in a pandemic. When all indoor recreation and health facilities, all public parks and beaches were closed earlier this year, the only place where we could get exercise and be with one another safely was outside on the trails and waters of our conserved open spaces. When the disease was raging through nearby cities, where did people flock for refuge but here in the beautiful natural places of rural Charlestown. In the recent drought, and for several years before, as our neighboring towns are running out of drinking water, where are they turning to seek new supplies but Charlestown’s aquifers. May we continue to work with the Narragansetts and learn from them how to better honor and protect our clean air, land and water for our well being and for our children’s future.

We are in the midst of a deadly pandemic. Thanks to some difficult but wise decisions by our Town Administrator, we have the resources and training we need to keep the town running well. Charlestown is the only town in RI that stayed open. We safely kept workers employed, kept public services running smoothly, opened town beaches and recreational offerings at reduced capacity by Memorial Day, before the state parks were open, gave 50 young people full summer jobs at a time when it was hard to find work, opened up the new communications tower in time for hurricane season, hired a new IT staffer who has upgraded our computer network and enabled town meetings to continue virtually and include public participation. Our town government is doing a superb job.

I am very grateful for my time on the Charlestown Town Council. I wish the next Town Council and townspeople well.