Police remove man from Warren Town Council meeting

David Silvia, council president have heated exchange over alleged ‘gag order’

By Ted Hayes
Posted 7/14/17

Police removed a man from the Warren Town Council meeting last Tuesday after a heated exchange with the council, town manager and town solicitor.

Child Street resident David Silvia was there to …

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Police remove man from Warren Town Council meeting

David Silvia, council president have heated exchange over alleged ‘gag order’

Posted

Police removed a man from the Warren Town Council meeting last Tuesday after a heated exchange with the council, town manager and town solicitor.
Child Street resident David Silvia was there to complain that he had been “victimized” by Warren Town Manager Jan Reitsma. Mr. Silvia, who uses a scooter to help him get around, has filed suits and complaints against the town and federal government for Warren not doing enough to make sure its sidewalks are passable. He said he was upset at Warren Town Manager Jan Reitsma’s actions with respect to previous correspondence between the two, and said he believed the manager had improperly issued a “gag order” to town employees.
“I’d like a response,” he told the council. “Why is he being allowed to do this? It’s false allegations (and) slanderous remarks.”

Read Mr. Silvia's letter on the altercation, submitted Thursday

Council president Joseph DePasquale responded to Mr. Silvia’s complaints by referring to their own past interactions.
“Sometimes, they way you go about communicating with me makes it very difficult for me to appreciate the issue,” Mr. DePasquale said. “When you (start) calling me a liar, when you say that I’m useless.”
“This is a one-side conversation,” Mr. Silvia replied. “We’re not talking about you. We’re talking about the town manager.”
After a few minutes of back and forth, Warren Town Solicitor Anthony DeSisto rose and tried to alleviate Mr. Silvia’s concerns that Warren Town Manager Jan Reitsma had treated him unfairly.
“The manager’s referring these matters to me,” he said. “There’s not a gag order. Things get referred to me because of the legal nature of the claims that were made.”
After Mr. DeSisto finished, Mr. Reitsma said his own peace:
“Because this is being said in public, I think it is important to let the public know what is being said and why. Following an e-mail from you (Mr. Silvia) in which you… referred to a complaint that had been filed with the Department of Justice in a tone that suggested that we’d better watch out, as a former lawyer I am familiar with the phrase ‘in anticipation of litigation,’” Mr. Reitsma said. “That is clearly what was suggested in the e-mail. It is further my understanding that … I have a duty to refer correspondence to the solicitor in instances like that and to caution our staff not to engage in any further communication on this topic with Mr. Silvia.”
“There is no gag order. There is no attempt to somehow shut him up,” he said, referring to Mr. Silvia’s history of corresponding with town officials “in a not very elegant fashion.”
Mr. Silvia was not satisfied with the answers. After several minutes of back and forth, during which Mr. DePasquale told Mr. Silvia to respect the council and not speak out of turn, he told him, ‘You’re out of order.”
“I’m not out of order,” Mr. Silvia replied. “You’re out of order.”
With that, Deputy Warren Police Chief Joseph Loiselle and a patrol officer positioned at the rear of the council chambers approached Mr. Silvia, ordered him out and escorted him out of the room.

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