PORTSMOUTH — A discussion about a Aquidneck Island Planning Commission (AIPC) questionnaire was used as an opportunity for critics to hurl verbal grenades at the organization during Monday …
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PORTSMOUTH — A discussion about a Aquidneck Island Planning Commission (AIPC) questionnaire was used as an opportunity for critics to hurl verbal grenades at the organization during Monday night’s Town Council meeting.
The planning group recently submitted the eight-question survey to individual town or city council members on Aquidneck Island. Among the questions: “How can we best keep communication channels open with town councils?”; Does the current board appointment process process work satisfactorily?”; and “How could AIPC be more effective?”
The discussion started with a debate over whether council members could answer the survey individually, or if the discussion needed to take place at a regular meeting open to the public.
Council member Elizabeth Pedro, who put the item on the agenda, said she was concerned that by answering the questions individually rather than as a group, council members could possibly be violating the Open Meetings Act. Although the Rhode Island attorney general’s office recently ruled that the AIPC Is a private organization and not a public body, Ms. Pedro said the council should still err on the side of caution.
“Even if it’s OK to meet privately with each member of (AIPC), I don’t think that’s the best way to go about this,” Ms. Pedro said. “When our public body interacts with this private organization, my opinion is that we should be meeting in public.”
The discussion soon veered off into criticism of the AIPC, similar to what’s been heard at previous council meetings. Critics have charged the planning group with a lack of transparency when dealing with town officials and its own members.
Philip Driscoll, one of Portsmouth’s representatives on AIPC’s board of directors, said he’s constantly having trouble getting information and documents he’s requested from the planning group. “There has been this dismissive attitude toward people who seek information and you need to address that,” Mr. Driscoll told the council.
Thomas Grieb, a frequent critic of AIPC, said the planning group has become a “flawed, private organization strongly influenced by their special-interest benefactors.”
Support for AIPC
Local resident Ben Furriel spoke in support of AIPC and said the council was spending too much time debating the questionnaire. “Looking at these questions, they seem rather innocuous,” said Mr. Furriel. “Be executives and don’t get mired so much in detail.”
He suggested that council members who answer the questions individually could have their responses published later for public viewing. If someone felt uncomfortable answering a particular question, they could ignore it, he said.
Council member Linda Ujifusa also didn’t have a problem with the questionnaire being answered individually, saying the AIPC was asking for “our personal opinion,” not the Town Council’s collective opinion.
The council voted 5-2 to discuss the questions in public during its Jan. 22 meeting. Ms. Ujifusa and council member J. Mark Ryan voted against the motion.