Providence (R.I.) Journal, Dec. 10:
One has to wonder what is going on when the Coventry Fire District Board convenes an emergency meeting at 8 a.m. on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, conducts its business in secret, and then offers conflicting reasons for it.
State Rep. Patricia Morgan, R-Coventry, who rushed to the scene that morning and was told she could not listen in, was so troubled about what transpired that she called on Rhode Island Atty. Gen. Peter Kilmartin to investigate whether the board had violated the state’s open meetings law.
“What are they hiding?” she asked. “The taxpayers of the district deserve honest management, honest accountability and honest transparency from these elected officials.”
Ms. Morgan added: “I am hopeful the attorney general will see through these deceitful actions by the Coventry Fire District board, and act accordingly, and quickly.”
Members initially said they called the meeting to discuss “personnel.”
The board members, however, denied to Representative Morgan that their discussion had anything to do with their recently announced investigation of Fire Chief Paul Labbadia, who was caught on videotape by WPRI-TV drinking alcohol during the workday, using a department truck to go golfing during work, and driving that vehicle to a party on Federal Hill. There, he drank, and smoked what the TV report said appeared to be marijuana before driving the truck home.
One member later said that the meeting also dealt with “financial planning,” which is not legal grounds for locking out the public.
Ms. Morgan was concerned that the board, dominated by firefighters, may have convened the emergency meeting ”“ when the public was unlikely to attend ”“ to deal lightly with the chief and to extend a collective bargaining agreement, which essentially would have neutered the power of the incoming board. Neither would constitute an emergency as the term is commonly used.
Sometimes local officials forget that government belongs to the citizens. Boards should encourage public participation by holding regularly scheduled meetings and making it easy for citizens and taxpayers to find out when and where meetings will be held. The abrupt Saturday-after-Thanksgiving session hardly meets that standard.
We hope that Mr. Kilmartin quickly gets to the bottom of this matter and reassures citizens that their government is being conducted legally. Meetings must be open to the public with only narrow exceptions.
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