In the News
Letters to the editor by Jonathan Daly-LaBelle and Joy Cordio about coastal right of way, plus a good summary from Dr. Philo Willetts of where members of the council currently stand
Letter to the editor by Council President Duhamel responding to the petition to recall him from office based on a conflict of interest on shoreline access
The town will provide free home inspections “to develop a more complete inventory of Westerly’s water service line materials” from June 9-12
Senator Gu’s bill to incentivize housing development was approved
Former state senator Dennis Algiere was confirmed to serve on the Board of Education
Town Council
June 2 (agenda)
Former town councilor Joy Cordio initiated a petition to recall current council president Duhamel. We saw in the previous town council meeting the effect of the rumors about what is being said in executive sessions: that he might push the town to settle with the WHFD.
We voted to update our town charter in the last election, including making it easier to recall elected officials. The petition was presented to the town council — a process that they argued about for a while, including a mention of a clerical error in the first iteration of the updated charter? Now, those leading the effort will have to collect signatures of at least 20% of voters in last election, which I think might be around 2,500 people. No small feat!
The debate was long but actually pretty interesting:
The charter update doesn’t specify what the town council has to do in response to receiving the petition information from the clerk. It seems like the answer is nothing, but they argued about it for a while.
President Duhamel hasn’t actually been charged with anything unbecoming of the office; he literally just acts like a sneaky little worm and locals, particularly shoreline access advocates, don’t trust him. As far as I know, it’s still fully legal to be a sneaky little worm with potential conflicts of interest. If he is recalled, what kind of precedent does this set for future recalls?
Similarly - and I think this is a really prescient point - it takes many more votes to get someone onto the town council than it takes to gather the signatures to remove them, potentially paving the way for a tyranny of a very active minority. Someone even mentioned how the residents of Watch Hill could employ a similar strategy to remove right of way advocates off the council. (This is a useful hypothetical but a political stretch, considering the population of Watch Hill was only 224 in 2023.)
ACTUAL GOVERNMENT STUFF!!!!!!
Appointments to the Multicultural Committee, Planning Board (yes, Maurice Devine), and the 250th Commission for the Semi Quincentennial (congrats, Zack!)
Approved the water, sewer, and transfer station budgets and taxes, which includes removing the $50 annual transfer station fee
Voted to approve the list of projects for the first year of the road bond (some argument about whether or not state roads ought to be included)
In the solicitor’s report, he mentioned that the town won a legal case regarding the town’s responsibility toward reclaimed property for public use, saying that it would be a helpful precedent for other litigation in which the town is trying to maintain its land claims (right of way)
A few second amendment perverts got up to speak
I think there was a fight? The cops got called to deescalate something
There will be a special town council meeting tonight at 6PM to discuss the WHFD litigation in executive session.
School Committee
June 4 (agenda)
Presentation of the Westerly High School 2025 Rhode Island Interscholastic League Division IV Unified Basketball Championship Team
Executive session regarding collective bargaining with the WTA and Local 808
Approval of Secondary Grade Reporting Policy updates and K-8 Promotion and Retention Policy
There will be a special school committee meeting on Monday, June 9 to discuss WTA negotiations in executive session.
Other Boards and Committees
Citizen Spotlight
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