Rep. Morgan Calls for Investigation after Closed-Door Fire District Meeting

Rhode Island State Representative Patricia Morgan (R-Coventry, West Warwick, Warwick) has asked the state attorney general’s office to investigate whether the Coventry Fire District board violated the open meetings act when it held a closed-door emergency meeting over Thanksgiving weekend.

The agenda for the meeting, posted on Nov. 26 on the Secretary of State’s Web site, listed “personnel business” as the topic for discussion during the “emergency” executive session meeting.

The meeting went on for three-and-a-half hours and the board emerged to say that they did not address the status of embattled Fire Chief Paul Labbadia, the subject of a Target 12 investigation who is alleged to have driven his fire district SUV while under the influence, smoked marijuana and repeatedly played golf while on the clock -- all of which were captured on camera during a months-long undercover investigation.

Labbadia is now on paid leave pending an internal investigation led by lawyer J. William W. Harsch, which is ongoing.

Chairman James Beckman told reporters who collected outside the door of the meeting Saturday morning that the board talked about contract negotiations with firefighters and outstanding grievances.

“We didn’t really talk about anything on personnel,” he said.

The board also reportedly discussed the budget in anticipation of next week’s annual budget meeting.

In a release, Morgan said the board’s explanation for the meeting is not credible.

“The public cannot know what was discussed in executive session, but one member said the reason for the meeting was to discuss ‘financial planning.’ There are two problems with this. First, such a discussion is clearly not an emergency. And second, it would have been illegal for the Board to have this discussion in executive session under the Open Meetings Act,” Morgan said. “The Board’s actions are suspicious, to say the least. Operating under the cover of a holiday weekend, did they intend to foist an unpopular decision on unsuspecting residents? Were they forced to amend the original notice of an emergency session with an implausible explanation because the media showed up? Their reasoning for having this closed to the public meeting is contorted, and as a result, not credible. It appears that both the meeting notice and the conduct of the executive session are in violation of the Open Meetings Act.”

Morgan has complained to the AG’s office about open meeting violations before. The board had failed to post meeting minutes for months, she said.

“The taxpayers of the district deserve honest management, honest accountability and honest transparency from these elected officials. I am hopeful the Attorney General will see through these deceitful actions by the Coventry Fire District board, and act accordingly – and quickly,” she said.

Concerns about the fire district heightened last month when the local fire union, Coventry Professional Firefighters Local 3372, raised concerns about the district’s finances.

At a recent budget workshop, union officials said they got a peek at the fire district’s books and they showed substantial debt and unpaid bills.