The Independent Townie

To paraphrase the popular 80's band The Clash, If they go there may be trouble and if they stay it may be double. While the four year terms come closer to being finalized six years after being passed by the voters, the latest furor has been how the likely codification of the four year terms would apply to the current city council. Would the current council stay an additional two years or would the four year terms take effect for the 2018 election? This is of particular interest to those who have announced intentions to seek council seats this year, including Bob Rodericks and Nate Cahoon. Rodericks released a statement to us stating "I appreciate mayoral candidate Chrissy Rossi again bringing up the issue of City Councils ignoring voter results. But I disagree with saying that the solution is to revert the calendar back to seek a remedy. Mistakes were made by prior governmental officials, at the City or State or with both. The answer isn't to say that Bob...

In a surprise move to many, Ward 3 Councilman Joe Botelho has resurrected the thought dead proposal for a 15 million dollar bond for road repair. The proposal, which was originally presented back in September, was a plan of the city administration in response to Botelho's challenge to City Manager Tim Chapman. The plan failed at that time with Mayor Briden, Councilman Faria and Councilwoman Sousa voting against it. The plan was also criticized by former Councilwoman Tracy Capobianco and School Committee member Joel Monteiro, the latter fretting it would take debt capacity away from a potential new High School. Botelho resurrected the plan in a Facebook post on March 6th, hours before the City Council met. The post, done in the form of a 'note' starts "Tired of bad roads and giant potholes? Me too!" the post continues "It called for a $15 Million program to fix our incredibly worn road network in the city that has suffered decades of neglect. But aston...

In a followup to our story regarding City Manager Timothy Chapman rendering legal services to Pawtucket. The Independent Townie has come into possession of a letter from Pawtucket City Solicitor Frank Milos to Pawtucket City Council President David Moran in response to the Pawtucket City Council's request for more information on the cost of legal services. The letter states that prior to September, the Law Office of William J. Conley Jr. had assisted on the transfer station case. Then in September Timothy Chapman began representing the city. Conley and Chapman worked together in the East Providence Law Department for several years and both rented office space in the same building in Riverside for several years as well. According to the letter, Chapman makes an rate of $175 an hour and has not yet submitted a bill to Pawtucket at this time. As City Manager in East Providence, Chapman makes a salary of $149,645 plus benefits. The response to the issue has been divided, wit...

The four year terms were a fiery subject of for March 6th City Council meeting. Again the issue was raised in Communications by former Councilwoman and now candidate for Mayor, Chrissy Rossi. Rossi brought the question up but got few words in. Mr. Botelho, himself a passionate advocate on this issue, dominated the discussion. Botelho first turned the matter of the School Committee terms over to Solicitor Gregory Dias. Dias explained that while Title 16 of the Rhode Island General Laws do call for four year staggered terms, in 1998 a charter amendment was passed for two year school committee terms and that charter amendment was affirmed by a joint resolution of the General Assembly. Essentially creating an exception for East Providence. After that explanation, however, Botelho made clear that the City Council terms were not subject to the same situation. Botelho said he researched the tracking of the original bills in the House and Senate. The House Bill was passed by the Hou...