Last week’s Warwick City Council meeting had a heavy focus on public comment, with little in need of passage on the agenda.

The only legislative item- a resolution to dedicate Barton Farm as a municipal public trust- was held after discussion during the Public Properties Committee meeting shortly prior to the main meeting. The resolution will be revisited in the Council’s March 4 meeting.

“I’m looking at several other role models through New England where they’ve conserved land like this, but they’ve also preserved it for community-based agriculture and farming,” resident Michael Zarum said. “Once I get that, I hope to compare the current deed for Barton Farm to what these other communities have successfully done, and then we can compare that to putting another public trust and then decide which is the best route from there, and I truly think that’s the best way to go.”

Zarum also thanked Ward 8 Councilman Anthony Sinapi, who introduced the resolution, for speaking with him about his goals for Barton Farm.

A portion of Barton Farm is currently being used by Westbay Community Action to grow fresh produce for its food pantry, on a lease with the city.

Also, during the public comment portion of the meeting resident Rob Cote brought up an six months ago that resulted in the ACLU filing a lawsuit involving Councilwoman  Donna Travis, claiming the City Council lacked any means of accountability for any such incidents. Travis in her role of council president pro tem shut off Cote from speaking on the grounds it was a personal attack. She  had him escorted by a police officer from council chambers.

“Ms. Travis violated [her oath of office],” Cote said. “But more outrageous is the fact that this City Council and this City Charter has no method of admonishment, no procedure of admonishment, punishment, dismissal, discharge or removal. So what does this mean? [The oath of office] is not worth the paper it’s written on. It’s meaningless.”

Cote went on to say that he believes the only way for councilmembers to uphold their oaths would be to introduce a procedure for admonishment and dismissal of a council member, saying that otherwise, they would be unable to fulfill their duties as elected officials.

Langseth wants airport hearing

The issues between T.F. Green Airport and the city were also touched on in the public comment by resident Richard Langseth, who said he was looking for the city’s support to make the Rhode Island Airport Corporation (RIAC) hold a public hearing about plans to build a cargo facility through the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA).

“Now, when it comes to RIAC and their plan to build the South Cargo Facility, they’re going to have to get a bond for this, they’re going to have to finance this,” Langseth said. “And I’m demanding that a hearing be held before they make any decisions. And I would ask the city to support this effort.”

Langseth also said that he had filed a complaint with Attorney General Peter Neronha regarding Bill Fischer, lobbyist for RIAC attending  RIAC’s executive session during their most recent board meeting.

Bid package approved

The Council unanimously passed its bid package during the meeting, though Ward 5 Councilman Ed Ladouceur warned other members that he believed issues with the bidding process could lead to issues with bids in the future.

“If this council does not agree with those changes [to the bid], if there are any changes, is the council or the administration going to say ‘well, here we are, we’re at the end of February, and it’s too late to put this out for a rebid, so we’ve got to go with what we have?” Ladouceur said. “It was mentioned earlier that the reason for not going back to rebid this, which we’ve done in the past, by the way, is because the bids were already out. Well, that’s not completely accurate. If these items.. that have very large variables involved between the equipment and the cost… are re-specified, that would automatically change the prices and automatically create a whole new bid.”

One item originally in the bid package -  the purchase of electronic equipment for the city’s harbor master boats - was tabled for one month. Council President Stephen McAllister said that he was looking for more information from the administration before taking up the bid.

The next City Council meeting will be held on Feb. 5.