The Town Council’s Special Meetings Are Inefficient And Not Transparent
The following letter was printed in local newspapers and is shared with us here by the author Bonnie Van Slyke. Bonnie Van Slyke was a member of the Charlestown Town Council from 2014 to 2022.
The Charlestown Town Council is conducting important business in special meetings that are scheduled randomly at the call of the Council. As a result, being an informed citizen in Charlestown in 2023 has suddenly become a formidable task, and instead of fostering more transparency and more citizen participation, using special meetings for important business has resulted in less, much less, of both.
For example, instead of the Budget Commission presenting the proposed budget at a regularly scheduled Town Council meeting, where there is usually healthy debate, the new Council held a special meeting to discuss and make changes to the budget.
Who knew the budget would be discussed and changes voted on at a special meeting? Not many, one can assume, because there was no public in attendance, none. There also has been no presentation of what your taxes will be used for, that is, what is in the $15 million budget and why. Even a good budget, which this one is, deserves public consideration.
Another example, the Town Council called a special meeting to discuss the findings and recommendations of the independent consulting company hired to examine, in depth, the town’s finance area. As was the case with the recent audit report, no serious issues were discovered in our very small finance area, and money to implement important improvements has been provided in the budget by the Budget Commission. However, there was no public present to hear the presentation, ask questions, or provide input, none. For those interested, the report can be found in the backup to the March 29 meeting.
In short, as stated by Councilor Stephen Stokes, when he proposed giving our Town Clerk a raise, the number of meetings has tripled. In addition, there are meetings of newly formed committees looking at ordinance changes, amending the town’s Charter, and selecting a new Town Administrator. What this means is that you must continually check in multiple locations to see when meetings will be held. As always, to ask questions or provide input, you must attend in person.
The Charlestown Town Council’s new process of conducting business in special meetings is inefficient, burdensome, and definitely not transparent. Important business of the town should be conducted, in full, in regular Town Council meetings on the second and fourth Mondays of the month, as designated by ordinance.
Bonnie Van Slyke
May 8, 2023 @ 2:01 pm
I believe there are consequences for not following procedures for open meetings.
How can I file a complaint if I believe OMA has been violated?
You have a few options. You can file a complaint with the Attorney General’s office, which investigates allegations of open meetings violations. You can also contact the ACLU for assistance, or go directly to court. Any complaint must be filed with the Attorney General within 180 days from the date of public approval of the minutes of the meeting at which the alleged violation occurred or, if the meeting was improperly closed or announced, 180 days after the public action of the body revealing the alleged violation. Similar time limitations apply for court actions.
May 8, 2023 @ 4:29 pm
Your observations are correct, but the special meetings of the Town Council and the meetings of boards, commissions and committees have most likely been noticed correctly, that is, filed with the RI Secretary of State and posted at the Town Hall. Finding where they may be posted on the town’s website is more challenging, of course.
Important action is being taken in the special Town Council meetings, rather than in regularly scheduled Town Council meetings. For example, much was made about the management of the Town’s finances, which it turns out was much ado about nothing. The outside consultant found nothing amiss, but the discussion of the report was confined to a special meeting.
In addition, the absolutely astounding number of special meetings of the Town Council; meetings of recently appointed ad hoc committees; and meetings of Boards, Commissions, and Committees makes it a formidable task to follow what is being done. Added to the confusion, some of these groups do not file minutes of their meetings in a timely fashion, or at all.
May 7, 2023 @ 10:52 pm
Unfortunately, this is exactly what we were afraid of when these folks were elected. Clearly we need to organize and vote them out next time around, but until then we should expect them to take a torch to anything that doesn’t involve making money for their business buddies. It’s pretty clear the preservation of Charlestown’s natural beauty isn’t a high priority for them, given their willingness to gut regulations, regardless of the environmental impact.
None of us should be surprised at their apparent disdain for democracy. Autocrats tend to roll that way.
May 7, 2023 @ 3:24 pm
So, what can we do as a group of citizens to demand notice of meetings and complete transparency? We need to preserve beautiful Charlestown’ not allow it to be “sold out.”