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The people complaining that Tiverton built casino money into its budget are the very people who did exactly that.
News & Commentary
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News
No OMA Violation: RI Attorney General Adds to the List of Dismissed Complaints
On January 17, three members of the Tiverton Town Council – Patricia Hilton, Denise DeMedeiros, and Joseph Perry – filed an Open Meetings Act (OMA) complaint with the Rhode Island Attorney General against the other four councilors: Robert Coulter, Donna Cook, Nancy Driggs, and me, all of us members of the Tiverton Taxpayers Association (TTA). The complaint included three separate accusations, and after five months, more than $1,500 in expenses to the town, and many hours of lost time, all three counts have been dismissed. As the Attorney General’s ruling states, “we find that the Town Council did not violate the OMA.” When Town Solicitor Anthony DeSisto resigned three days after the November election and the Town Council hired Giovanni Cicione as an interim replacement, activists reached for any complaint process they could find. On January 12th, residents Stuart Gilfillen and David Paull filed an Ethics Complaint, which was dismissed without investigation because the hiring obviously did not violate the Code of Ethics. On January 22nd, resident Michael Burk filed a Charter Complaint, which the Municipal Court judge dismissed on the grounds that he lacked jurisdiction. One of the charges in the three council members’ January 17 OMA complaint was dismissed immediately because the OMA didn’t even apply to it. They claimed they hadn’t been provided with documentation prior to the hiring, which was true, but only because the town administrator hadn’t forwarded it and the three members never asked, despite having nearly three weeks of notice. The other two…
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Links to documents relevant to town government that may or may not be available elsewhere.
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