EAST PROVIDENCE — In an interview as a follow-up to discuss a written opinion he offered last week stating elected officials in East Providence should serve four year terms, Assistant Solicitor Robert Craven said Monday night, March 10, not only should they, but that it is also his legal conclusion the current council and school committee should not have to stand for re-election in November.
Mr. Craven’s viewpoint was sought in the case by the council following a discussion on the topic at the body’s March 6 meeting. He was asked to submit a written opinion on the 2012 voter-approved change in term lengths for elected officials in East Providence, he said, at the behest of City Clerk Kim Casci-Palangio and Municode, the company that manages the city charter. Mrs. Casci-Palangio said Municode required a legal description from the city’s law department in order to codify the charter amendment.
“I don’t know why it wasn’t used in 2014. It was put to the voters in 2012 and should have been,” Mr. Craven said Monday. “And in my opinion there is no need for an election in 2018.”
In his written brief, Mr. Craven concluded the affirmative result of voters on the November 2012 ballot supporting a proposed change in length of terms from two to four years for both the council and school committee should have been implemented in time for the ensuing 2014 election.
Mr. Craven’s legal view agreed with the notion the city’s Home Rule Charter and the way the referendum item was written allowed the vote of residents to “supersede” any other action taken or not during the ensuing years. When asked, Mr. Craven said the opinion he gave on the subject in recent days was his first involvement in the matter.
In explaining his rationale for the need not to have an election in 2018, he said because the charter was being codified presently, it could only affect those currently in office. The idea of those office-holders elected in 2014 being reseated, as some in the public square have asserted, wasn’t viable.
“It was only codified now,” Mr. Craven continued. “It is now part of the charter, so it can only retroactively affect the 2016 election. This city council and this school committee are sitting at the time of codification.”
Mr. Craven stated his views with one caveat: The Secretary of State’s office could possibly deem the 2016 election wasn’t conducted properly because it was contested under previous term-length standards.
“The only question I would think is if the Secretary of State’s office would take a position on it because the voters in the 2016 election were presented with a two-year term under the names of the candidates on the ballot,” he said.
Asked about the potential for any litigation in the matter, Mr. Craven said, “It’s possible someone with standing could sue, but I don’t see it being overturned. I don’t see the will of the voters being overruled.”