06/06/09 - Though the Town Council occasionally skirmished with the School Committee in recent budget discussions, it won’t push to control teacher contracts, councilors decided Monday.

Second Warden Ray Torrey entertained supporting an August 2008 Warwick City Council resolution that asks the General Assembly to allow town councils to ratify teacher contracts. Currently, that power rests solely in the hands of school committees.

The resolution says that town councils should have a say in how large chunks of taxpayer dollars are spent and that council ratification would provide another check in a system of checks and balances.

“Since the Town Council is the deciding body and takes the brunt of the criticism and responsibility for the budget process, we should at least have a seat at the table as far as the teacher contracts go,” said Torrey, moderating in place of First Warden Kim Gaffett, who was on vacation.

Torrey stopped short of proposing a specific resolution to support the idea, and backed down after fellow councilors worried about intruding on the School Committee’s autonomy. They also noted that School Committee members, as elected officials, also represent taxpayers.

“I would definitely want to have another discussion about this and consider all the ramifications of it,” Councilor Ken Lacoste said. “A lot of them I don’t think are spelled out in this resolution” from Warwick.

Councilor Dr. Peter Baute said it might be worth studying, but recommended meeting with the School Committee and superintendent instead, a thought echoed by Councilor Dick Martin. Both noted that the School Committee expects to name a new superintendent in the coming weeks and said the council should invite him or her to a council meeting. Martin said such a process could also avoid surprises at the Financial Town Meeting.

And putting the final nail in the coffin on the idea, Town Manager Nancy Dodge, who served on the Westerly School Committee for 12 years, said teachers union rules forbid a Town Council member from participating in negotiations.

“Unless you sit through that, it’s unfair to judge at the end and throw it back and say, ‘Do it again,’” Dodge said.

No School Committee members were present during the discussion. But audience member Bill McCombe, whose wife is a teacher, said that by not supporting the resolution the council was implying a spirit of cooperation rather than looking for a fight.

Council to debate wind turbine rules

On August 19 the council will discuss a proposed zoning ordinance that would create a public utility zone allowing wind turbines. The Planning Board drafted the ordinance with the intent that the zone be created at the Transfer Station.

Such a zone would permit turbines 265 feet tall from the tip of the blade to the base if they are 50 feet away from any property line and 275 feet away from any structure.

Planning Board member Rob Gilpin advocated that the council start a public information campaign before adopting the change.

“We all felt if this is going to happen you need to have it brought out for the public because I think you’re going to have a lot of resistance,” he said.

Councilors agreed and asked Gilpin and the Planning Board to help arrange a visit by administrators from Portsmouth Abbey. The school in Portsmouth has a wind turbine similar in size to one the Planning Board envisions for Block Island.

Deepwater equipment approved

The Town Council granted Deepwater Wind a special temporary permit to place an 8-foot tall, cylinder-shaped Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) unit at the North Light to collect wind data. The unit is about 2 feet in diameter at its base.

Deepwater is collecting wind data in anticipation of constructing two offshore wind farms near Block Island: one, with five to eight turbines, about three miles off the southeast coast and the other, with about 100 turbines, about 15 miles to the east.

In a letter to the council, the private company said it would surround the LIDAR with a fence. The unit will make no noise and there is “no reason why the LIDAR should materially interfere with the lighthouse operations, local tourism or area residents,” Deepwater wrote. The company said it anticipates leaving the unit near the lighthouse for a year once it receives approval from the state Coastal Resources Management Council.

The CRMC has scheduled a meeting for June 9 to hear that request, which Deepwater expects it to grant. The CRMC will also hear a request by Deepwater to install a 180-foot single-pole metal tower at the entrance of the Great Salt Pond to collect wind data. The Town Council approved that tower in March.

Deepwater expects to install both the LIDAR and the meteorological tower within a few weeks of receiving CRMC approval, said Vice President for Development Clint Plummer after the meeting.

Council opposes Indian gambling

The council voted to support a resolution by the Charlestown Town Council that urges Congress to prohibit Native American tribes with land to circumvent local and state zoning ordinances.

The Charlestown resolution came after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that stopped the Narragansett Indian Tribe from constructing a casino on its land in Charlestown. Some Charlestown officials fear the tribe will succeed in persuading Congress to pass a law that would overturn the ruling.

The Town Council directed its clerk to send letters the Rhode Island congressional delegation saying the town opposed such legislation.