Mayor Sought Permission for Digital Sign for Two Gas Station Operators, Including His Boss

Should East Providence Mayor Bruce Rogers have been involved in a request by two gas station operators in East Providence to be allowed to use digital signs?

Councilman William Conley argued during a council meeting earlier this week that Rogers should not have gotten involved in the effort, since he works at one of the stations, Shell. He brought the matter up as part of criticism of the mayor for his attention to issues such as time clocks, name badges and the city's tow list.

But Rogers said he was just taking action on behalf of constituent requests. He said Shell had approached Assistant Mayor Thomas Rose and asked why the station wasn't allowed to use digital signs in the city. 

The station owners want permission to use the signs because they can then change gas prices from a computer inside and don't have to manually change the numbers, which can be dangerous, Rogers said. 

He said he has been working on the issue since he took office on Dec. 1 and has marked the current ordinance with proposed changes. 

"There's nothing wrong with digital signs," Rogers said. "That's why I didn't have a problem asking for it." He also said he had been copying Conley and the rest of the council on his questions about the legality of the signs. 

But Conley questioned whether Rogers had sent a request to the city's planning board seeking an advisory opinion about potential amendments to the city's sign ordinance and left the impression that the entire council wanted the opinion. 

Interim City Manager Orlando Andreoni sent a copy of the ordinance that Rogers had marked up along with a cover letter on Feb. 25  to Zoning Officer Ed Pimental. The cover letter briefly stated that the city's law department had determined that the digital signs proposed for the Sunoco and Shell and other time and temperature signs should not be prohibited, but provided no other legal explanation.

They aren't dangerous to drivers if they don't flash, Andreoni explained during the meeting.

Planning board chairman Michael Robinson wrote a memo the same day to the council saying that the board respectfully requested more information from the legal department. The board voted 4 to 0 to abstain from making a recommendation until it received the additional information.

Copies of the documents are here in PDF: