Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

WARWICK, RI -- Four members of the Warwick City Council who met in private to review budget figures violated Rhode Island's Open Meetings Law, according a letter sent to local officials this week.

School Committee member Paul Cannistra, who filed the complaint, said he received a letter Wednesday from Special Assistant Attorney General Laura Ann Marasco which details the reasons why the council members violated the law.

According to Marasco's letter, the council members -- all of whom were members of the finance subcommittee -- improperly gathered at the home of subcommittee Chairman Raymond Gallucci on May 31.

Marasco explained that the meeting did not fit the description of a political caucus (which is sometimes exempt from certain parameters of the Open Meetings Law) and that it is also clear that the council members were discussing council business.

She rejected City Solicitor John Harrington's argument that there was no violation since no action was taken. Harrington was not available for comment Thursday morning.

"That is to say, it is not only the 'action' of a public body that is governed by the OMA, but also all of the deliberations and discussions that occurred before the 'action'," Marasco said.

She said the attorney general's office now must determine if the violation was willful and requesting a written response from the finance committee members.

In addition to Gallucci, the members who took part in what was described as a weekend work session were Council President Bruce Place and council members Steven Colantuono and Donna M. Travis.

Gallucci publicly discussed the closed door session at a tempestuous June 1 City Council budget meeting during which he was questioned by council members who had not been included.

Gallucci, who described the Sunday meeting at his home as nothing more than a work session, said he had believed it was allowed since the council has had caucuses in the past and no action was taken. At that council meeting, Gallucci proposed cutting the School Department by about $2 million.

Cannistra, who was in the audience, jumped to his feet and asked to be heard because he felt that the council was proceeding based on suggestions that had resulted from an illegal closed-door session. He was ruled out of order by place an escorted out Council Chambers by a police officer.

"I felt that they were trying to craft the school budget under the cloak of darkness," Cannistra said Thursday. "And it appears that the attorney general's office has recognized the same thing that I did.

"If they wanted to discuss cutting the school budget, it had to be done in the light of day. The way they handled it was completely inappropriate."

Once Cannistra's complaint was filed in June, council members referred all questions to Harrington.

Cannistra said the attorney general's ruling backs up the concerns he tried to raise publicly at the June council meeting. "As an elected school official I have the responsibility to make sure we have the resources to supply our children with a good education," he said, "and they were behind closed doors considering an additional $2 million cut that would have crippled us."

 Tags  city council Open Meetings Law violation Warwick RI

Comments

mra said:

but it alright for them to cripple the rest of the city.

Link | October 8, 2009 1:40 PM
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bill said:

investigate williams and the dos reis family ag lynch.take on a difficult case never mind the open meetings.or does frankie scare you also??

Link | October 8, 2009 2:53 PM
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dave from ashaway said:

I don't see the words democrat or republican mentioned in this story. That is huge when the Attornry General is on the case.

Link | October 8, 2009 5:32 PM
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Joe Schwartz said:

I doesn't really matter whether they are found in violation of open meetings laws. Nothing will happen to them. Worst case scenario is the town gets fined, how does that help the town?

Link | October 9, 2009 7:00 AM
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Tax Payer said:

It's seems odd, Mr Canastra states the 2 million dollar cut would have crippled the school dept, when it was recently reported the school dept. had a 2 million dollar surplus. It appears the council members were right on the money, attempting to save tax dollars!

Link | October 9, 2009 7:35 AM
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Another Taxpayer said:

The 2 million dollar surplus that 'Taxpayer' refers to was from the previous year. Approx $900,000 was used to pay past due pension contributions and $672,000 toward what the school dept owed the City of Warwick. The cuts that were being proposed were for the current fiscal year and after the city council had already level funded the school dept. I go to meetings and pay attention.

Link | October 9, 2009 7:26 PM
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