Trillo Accused of Submitting Mooring Bill for Revenge

State Rep. Joseph Trillo is denying accusations that he submitted a bill that would divert mooring revenues away from cities and towns to get revenge for his suspension from the East Greenwich Yacht Club last year.

NBC10’s Bill Rappleye reported that Trillo said the bill was “absolutely not” submitted to get back at the yacht club. (Trillo has not returned repeated calls for comment by the Patch).

The bill, first reported by the Patch, which proposes diverting mooring revenues collected by cities and towns and giving it to the state Department of Environmental Management instead, has been met with consternation by state and local officials across Rhode Island, including the DEM itself. DEM Director Janet Coit said she is opposed to the bill and the DEM didn’t know about the bill when it was submitted.

In Newport, the city expects more than $400,000 in revenues this year alone from mooring fees. And those fees go to pay for harbor management operations and to maintain facilities in the City-by-the-Sea. Word of the bill irked local officials, who said the bill was another example of the general assembly squeezing municipalities.

“It’s unconscionable,” said Newport City Councilor Kate Leonard. “Most municipalities depend on this income for seawall maintenance, dingy docks, launch improvements, harbormaster services and facilities. In Newport, our Harbor Facility welcomes and enhances the experience of boaters that come from throughout the world. These same boaters both locally and worldwide bring tourism and sailing dollars to the economy of our state and municipalities. If this legislation is passed in the House and progresses to the Senate, the result will be yet another raising of local taxes to counteract the loss of this funding.”

Leonard’s sentiments have been echoed by harbormasters and boaters across the state, who questioned whether Trillo’s assertions that the bill would “level the playing field” and get out-of-state residents out of mooring fields.

Instead, many believe that Trillo, who has a reputation for not mincing words, submitted the bill to get back at the East Greenwich Yacht Club for the revocation of his membership.

The revocation came after a series of incidents last summer, first reported on East Greenwich Patch.

Matthew Jarbeau, the yacht club’s manager, told police on Aug. 18 that he wanted to file a report documenting two incidents involving alleged verbal abuse from Trillo.

The first incident occurred on May 5, according to a police report, when Jarbeau was helping Trillo dock into his summer slip.

Another boat had apparently docked in Trillo’s slip, forcing his boat to be docked elsewhere.

The second incident occurred on Aug. 9 on Block Island. Though East Greenwich police have no jurisdiction on the island, Jarbeau said Trillo was verbally confrontational and profane towards him in front of several witnesses and asked the May 5 incident to be documented.

In an e-mail obtained by the Patch — and not in a police report, as it has been reported — the incident on the island is described as beginning at around 1:30 p.m. when Jarbeau along with two other men were on Champlin’s Dock trying to enjoy the summery weather.

They were approached by Trillo who came right up to them and called Jarbeau “garbage,” a “jerk,” “scum,” and several expletives.

One of the men said to Trillo “Joe, come on, let’s not get into this here. Let it go, come on.”

Trillo replied by saying “He’s an f--- baby, a-----, guys from the Yacht Club don’t belong out here, they don’t have the [expletive] money to be out here.”

The three men then walked away and Jarbeau claims to have not said a single word.

As they were leaving, Trillo reportedly screamed and swore in front of “100 other people,” according to the email.

A short time later, as the three men were walking up the pier, Trillo came out from his boat and from his cockpit, yelled more expletives.

Trillo then allegedly flipped the bird about 25 minutes later in front of Jarbeau, the two men accompanying him, one of their wives, two young daughters and a young nephew.

When told not to make the gesture in front of children, “they don’t know what that means,” Trillo allegedly said.

“Uncle, that means F-U” the 10-year-old nephew replied.

Trillo did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking a response.

Trillo did tell NBC10 that he hopes his bill will be fine tuned in hearings.

But the bill is unlikely to get much support from the General Assembly, especially after the loud outcry from local officials. The bill was a hot topic at a recent meeting between local leaders and state officials in Newport last week. And the Senate President, Teresa Paiva Weed, has said she doesn’t support the bill.