Convinced the Town Council has defied voters' will, residents file three petitions

NARRAGANSETT — Instead of giving up their dream of renovating a former supermarket into a bigger, safer library, backers of the plan changed tactics Wednesday, the day after the Town Council voted to sell the IGA/Belmont property instead of seeking proposals from architects.

On Wednesday morning, Win Hames, one of a long line of residents who stood up at Tuesday's meeting to oppose the sale, filed three petitions with the Town Clerk:

One to stop the sale.

A second to require the council to borrow the $5.8 million that voters approved in 2016 to buy and renovate the former Belmont Market in Pier Marketplace and move the contents of the Maury Loontjens Memorial Library there. The vote was 4,513 to 2,173.

And a third to amend the Town Charter to add a process for removing an official who the voters regret electing.

Some library backers had left Tuesday night’s meeting dejected because they thought the plan they’d been advancing for 10 years was dead.

Council President Matthew Mannix, President Pro Tem Jill Lawler and Councilman Richard Lema, who had outlined their reasons for opposing the project, sat at the council table for almost three hours, unmoved by the passionate speeches, the scolding, the shaming and even the math.

In the end, despite overwhelming objections from the capacity crowd of 150 plus overflow in two rooms, the three voted to sell the building.

Mannix had argued that public discourse shouldn’t be so emotional. The town wasn’t debating the death penalty, he told residents Tuesday. People simply disagreed about the best way to fix the library and pay for it.

Backers of the Belmont plan met Thursday evening to organize, discuss strategy and exchange information. Volunteers were asked to think about the kind of work they’d like to do and join that committee at the February meeting.

Hames said he briefed the group about the petition process. He has taken the first step, getting the petitions into the town clerk’s hands. She will give them to the solicitor to inspect them for any violations of state statutes. Then they go to the Town Council, which could ignore them, send them back to the solicitor without acting or reconsider its vote.

If one of the “sell” votes changes to “don’t sell,” there would be no need to collect signatures.

If the council vote doesn’t reverse, petitions are returned to the solicitor and then to the town clerk.

Only then can volunteers pick up copies of the petitions and go forth seeking signatures and turn them over to the town clerk, who in turn would turn them over to the Board of Canvassers to verify the signatures. Then they would go back to the council, which, if it still refuses, “we get court relief,” Hames said.

The question would go on the ballot for the next general election, which is in 2020.

The third petition, to add a recall provision to the Town Charter, would go straight to voters in the 2020 general election.

“All I want to do is get this library built, that 68 percent of the people want, in the middle of town,” Hames said.

The Maury Loontjens Memorial Library has outgrown its building at 35 Kingstown Rd., and for years has not complied with the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. In 2008, the library board began researching solutions and ways to pay for them.

In 2015, the Town Council decided that renovating the former Belmont market in the middle of the Pier Marketplace, just feet from the current library, was more cost-effective than any other option.

In 2016, voters approved the borrowing of up to to $5.8 million. In March 2018, the council approved buying the former market for $2.8 million. Included in the deal was parking and a building being leased to a liquor store. The closing was in October. And then, a few days later, the outcome of the November election changed the council’s power structure and its orientation toward the library.

Library director Patti Arkwright says the project “has been a rollercoaster ride,” so putting the building up for sale “wasn’t a complete surprise…. We've just been used to this, so we kind of keep rallying. We hope these petitions will bring more attention to the fact that 68 percent of the voters wanted a new library and they were willing to spend that money," Arkwright said.

The day after the vote, said Laurie Kelly, chairwoman of the library board, people brought cookies and flowers to the library as consolation.

That first day, there was confusion on Facebook, on the Narragansett Town Council Forum page, about when people could start collecting signatures, but Hames has cleared that up.

Arkwright confirmed that Town Manager James Manni called on Jan. 18 to say someone had complained about the sign at the corner of the library lot. It said: “Don't sell my library, Town Council Jan. 22.”

“Somebody called and complained that it violated the sign ordinance,” Arkwright said, “So Mr. Manni read me the parts of the ordinance that we were violating.” The ordinance doesn’t allow the use of town property for personal gain or political purposes.

The board happened to be meeting when Manni called, she said, and members decided on the new wording, which was to change “my” to “the.” The sign stayed up long past the council meeting, to no objection.

Manni, chosen as the next superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, has given notice that he is resigning from the town manager's job.

Jesse Pugh said Thursday evening that he and Patrick Murray had done as much as they could as councilmen, and now they have to focus on keeping expenditures down.

He urged residents to get involved. "There's a lot of things they can do," he said. "They could keep coming to the Town Council meetings. Let the people on the council know that if they’re going to go against the wishes of the voters, they’re not going to get reelected.

"People need to keep their elected officials honest" and accountable, Pugh said. "I’ve heard from a lot of people who are concerned about possible behind-the-scenes deals" involving the library. "I really hope that there’s nothing going on behind the scenes."

— dnaylor@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7411

On Twitter: @donita22