2008-04-30 New PCC Newsletter
Hot off the press; read the first PCC newsletter of the year.


2008-04-02 PCC Bylaws
The PCC Bylaws as adopted at the April 1, 2008 membership meeting.



2008-03-08 Joe Robicheau's LTE and the Town Charter
Joe Robicheau's Letter to the Editor as it appeared in the March 8th edition of The Newport Daily News and the Portsmouth Town Charter are presented here in PDF format for your consideration.



2008-03-07 Partial Transcript of the January 28th Town Council Meeting
This is a partial transcript of the January 28th town council meeting.  The meeting was an action packed event.  Amongst other interesting developments, Mr. Katzman apparently learned a brand new word that week, "ludicrous," and takes every opportunity to use it.  Well worth the read and an eye opener on some council members' distain for the community they claim to serve.

 

2008-03-03 Draft Bylaws
Here is the first public draft of the PCC Bylaws.  This draft will be discussed at the March 4th membership meeting.

 

2007-11-07 Special  Election Results
Question 1: Charter change                     approved: 2,026    rejected: 1,694
Question 2: Wind turbine                         approved: 2,237    rejected: 1,492
Question 3: Open space and recreation    approved: 2,120    rejected: 1,630

 

2007-10-25 PCC Newsletter, October 15 2007 Edition
A new edition of the PCC Newsletter is now available.  This edition includes articles on the sewer project; the proposed charter change; the open space and windmill bonds; the request for an investigation into unauthorized spending; and an article discussing RI public school test scores by RISC President, Harry Staley.

 

2007-10-24 PCC Requests Investigation Article (unabridged version)
This is the full version of the PCC Requests Investigation article referenced in the October 15th edition of the PCC Newsletter.  The article includes all relevant excerpts from the Town Charter.

 

2007-09-10 PCC Requests Investigation
In early June members of the PCC discovered that the town's budget totals for last year exceeded the totals passed by the Tent Meeting and as later increased by Judge Indeglia in the Caruolo case.

 

This is a very serious matter as it appears that a direct violation of the authority of the town's electors acting in the Tent Meeting has occurred.  If the budget and tax motions passed by the town's electors can be overridden by the Council, or members of the town administration, then the authority of the citizens to overrule the Council's budget decisions is meaningless.

 

This action by the PCC lies at the heart of what we are all about.  If we can't trust our town government to abide by the rules, then the government no longer will serve us all as was intended when the Charter was drafted.  It is the duty of the Council to investigate such incidents and we are asking them to determine if there was a violation (we can't see otherwise) and who is responsible.

 

_________________

Portsmouth Concerned Citizens
50 Kristen Ct
Portsmouth, Rhode Island 02871
Telephone Number: 683-6127

 

September 7, 2007

 

Dear Council President Canario,

 

The members of the PCC would like to bring to the Council’s attention a budget matter regarding the total budget expenditures in the 2006 – 2007 fiscal year.  While there was no supporting tax increase, we believe that there have been unauthorized increases to department budget totals and consider the increases to be a direct repudiation of both the electors’ authority, exercised at the Town Meeting, and very likely the ordinance and budgeting authority of the previous Council.

 

In early June, during our review of the proposed budget documents for the current year, we noted that the budget totals for the 06 – 07 fiscal year were higher than what we expected.  We compared those budget totals to combination of the budget totals approved at the Town Meeting in August of 2006 plus the increases directed by Judge Indeglia in the Caruolo case.  The total expenditures exceed the authorized numbers by $634,749; with excesses of $384,077 in the municipal departments and $250,672 in the school department.  A summary of the 2006 – 2007 budget totals is included with this letter as Enclosure 1.

 

If our understanding of the situation is correct, and we believe that it is, a number of very important issues are involved:

 

1. The Portsmouth Town Charter (Paragraph 208 – 6 and 7) reserves to the electors authority over the totals of the school department, total of the municipal departments and total town budget expenditures, in years in which a duly constituted Town Meeting occurs.  While Judge Indeglia directed additional expenditures in the past fiscal year as a result of the Caruolo case, the authority of the Town Meeting, conducted in August of 2006, over the budget was left otherwise intact.  Any further increase in the total expenditures of either the school department or the municipal departments above Town Meeting established levels by the Council or Town Administration is clearly unauthorized.
2. The Town Charter clearly delegates to the Council the sole budgeting authority in years in which a Town Meeting is not held.  In the 2006 – 2007 fiscal year the Council did not, following the budget measures adopted at the Town Meeting in August, pass formal a budget ordinance that authorized the additional increase in total expenditures.
3. At some time following the Town Meeting, and before the Caruolo case, the total budget authority of the municipal departments and the school departments were increased.  We believe that this occurred in September of 2006.  Our review in the Town Clerks Office of all resolutions and ordinances passed by the Council from August 2006, to January of 2007, failed to locate any ordinance or resolution passed by the Council.
4. The school department budget totals presented by the Superintendent in the Caruolo case were in conformance with the motions passed at the Town Meeting.
5. My visit with the Town Financial Director, Mr. Faucher, in early June to seek answers to the budgetary discrepancies resulted in an extensive and forthcoming discussion.  When asked about the increase in the budget authorization he produced from his computer records a copy of a Council ordinance of September 13, 2006, authorizing the increases.  A review of the video tape of the September 13, 2006 meeting, minutes, agenda and all resolutions and ordinances passed by the Council between August of 2006 and January of 2007 by members of the PCC reveal no budget action by the Council.  While this action would have been outside either Council’s authority, the PCC found no indication whatsoever that the Council took any budget action of this sort.  A copy of the September 13, 2006, Council agenda and minutes are included with this letter as Enclosure 2 and 3.  Two old business items concerned budget issues were on the agenda, but did not result in a budget ordinance or any motion to increase the 06 – 07 budget totals.
6. In my discussions with Mr. Faucher in early June 2007, it was agreed that he would approach the Town Administrator to seek a solution to what I believed at the time was an unauthorized budget increase by the Council.  Mr. Faucher responded by telephone two days later to the effect that Mr. Driscoll had consulted with the Town Solicitor, Mr. Gavin, and that he was of the opinion that the action taken on the budget was perfectly legal.
7. In view of the above, we in the PCC also believe that there is a high probability, lacking any authorizing resolution; it is likely that reporting to the Office of Municipal Affairs and the Auditor General has been inaccurate and misleading regarding authorized spending totals.  Absent any reporting to state agencies, we believe that the Town violated the state provisions that prohibit deficit spending.

 

We request that the members of the Council conduct an immediate and thorough investigation of this budget incident and report in writing to the people of the Town of Portsmouth the actual expenditures, original source of the funds and identify those expenditures in variance with the Town Charter, State law and decisions of Superior Court.  We also request that the report identify those responsible for this incident.

 

Respectfully,

 

 

Lawrence Fitzmorris

President,

Portsmouth Concerned Citizens

 

 

 

 

 

Enclosures:

1. Portsmouth Department Budget Totals, FY 06 – 07
2. Council Agenda, September 13, 2006
3. Council Minutes, September 13, 2006
4. Transcript of Old Business Items 5 and 6 of September 13, 2006 Council Meeting

 

Enclosure 1
PORTSMOUTH Department Budget Totals 2006 - 2007
Municipal Departments Budget Current Budget Data June 20, 2007
Total Town Budget in Administrator's budget documents of June 20, 2007	$50,644,728
School Budget subtracted*	$32,178,738
Municipal Departments Total	$18,465,990
Budget Total Approved by Town Meeting	$18,005,913
Court Authorized Increase for legal fees	$76,000
Total Authorized Town Budget 2006 - 2007	$18,081,913
Excess	$384,077
School Department Budget Current Budget Data June 20, 2007
	$31,359,015
Court Directed Increase	$544,051
Court Adjustment on Warrants	$25,000
Total Authorized School Department Budget	$31,928,066
Total School Budget for 2006 - 2007 Administrator's budget documents of June 20, 2007	$32,178,738
Excess	$250,672
* Subtracted to obtain municipal departments total		Prepared by: PCC

_____________

 

Portsmouth Concerned Citizens
50 Kristen Ct
Portsmouth, Rhode Island 02871
Telephone Number: 683-6127

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

July 24, 2007  

 

The Portsmouth Concerned Citizens has serious concerns with what has been described as a "Stakeholders Meeting” between various groups this Thursday in Middletown in order to assess tying into a future Portsmouth Sewer System.

 

This meeting, sponsored by the RI Department of Environmental Management and the RI Economic Development Corporation, is being conducted without a firm Portsmouth sewer design and it is in the wrong town.  It is our belief that discussions surrounding the placement of a Wastewater Treatment Plant, the offshore pumping of treated wastewater into the area’s recreational waters and the associated costs of the various design approaches are topics that should be conducted in a public Forum in Portsmouth by the Portsmouth Town Council. 

 

It is the citizens of Portsmouth who will pay the enormous costs associated with this proposal and we expect that the principal design decisions should be decided in Portsmouth.

 

In addition, there are questions surrounding the polling of developers interested in tying into such a system.  It is becoming more and more apparent that there is an ongoing drumbeat being orchestrated to over-dramatize the need for public sewers in order to accommodate the future needs of developers.    Our Town's Comprehensive Plan describes our character as semi-rural, but it appears that there are those in Town Government - motivated by the big taxes that developers pour into the town’s coffers - who are overly sympathetic to these developers.  Their concerns are resulting in a demand to water down the protection of that character by the Town Council.   We absolutely agree that there areas in Town which should be monitored and corrected where needed, but town sewers are not a magic bullet and without more definitive information, may not correct existing problems.  We have only to look to the South to see that sewers could not compensate for the problems that over-development can bring. 

 

These issues should be aired in an atmosphere of total concern for real stakeholders of Portsmouth; its citizens.

 

Larry Fitzmorris

President,

Portsmouth Concerned Citizens