When Mayor Frank Picozzi made three appointments to the Zoning Board of Review last month it raised questions whether or not an independent mayor is obligated to follow a specific rule in the City Charter regarding appointments. 

The charter states, “there shall be minority party representation on all boards and commissions. The minority party shall mean the party other than that of the mayor. The mayor shall make such minority party appointment from a list of five names submitted by the chairman of the city committee of the minority party at least five days before such appointment is to be made; provided, however, if the chairman of such city committee shall fail or refuse to submit a list as aforesaid, the mayor shall appoint any person known by him to be a member of the political party entitled to said appointment.”

The Zoning Board of Review had a Republican vacancy because the late Don Morash held the position until his passing in December 2020. 

Picozzi said that he received opinions from the City Solicitor and other attorneys that he wasn’t bound by the rule since he doesn’t belong to either party. He said the issue came up in February and the City Council was satisfied with it.

The Warwick Republican City Committee felt differently about the interpretation. 

“The Warwick Republican City Committee demands representation on all Warwick, RI boards and commissions in order to fulfill our legal obligations according to the Warwick City Charter, Article X (10.24) - minority representation,” Rick Cascella the Chairman for the City Committee wrote in a letter to Picozzi on Oct. 22. 

 “Accordingly, Republicans (the minority party) are legally granted representation on all boards and commissions in executing duties on the behalf of the citizens of Warwick. Today Republicans are not represented and should be,” the letter went on to state. “As WRCC Chairman, I am ready, willing and able to address and help remedy these infractions in partnership with the Mayor’s office.” 

“WRCC will offer qualified Republican candidates for immediate appointment to assist the Mayor in complying with the legal directive and thereby deliver balanced government to the deserving citizens of Warwick, per the City Charter. The WRCC is also prepared to seek legal remedy should the Mayor continue to disregard our legal rights to Republican representation, as previously cited.”

After receiving the letter, City Solicitor Michael Ursillo formally responded to Cascella. 

“This office is in receipt of your letter addressed to Mayor Picozzi dated October, 22 2021. In that letter you make reference to Sec. 10.24 of the City Charter and ask that Republicans be appointed to City boards and commissions pursuant to that provision. However, Sec. 10.24 provides in pertinent part, ‘There shall be minority party representation on all boards and commissions. The minority party shall mean the party other than that of the mayor,’ Ursillo wrote in the letter. “However, the Mayor ran and was elected as an independent candidate. Pursuant to state law RIGL 17-1-2(4) an ‘Independent candidate’ is ‘a candidate who has no affiliation with any political party.’

“Sec. 10.24 would only be applicable if the Mayor had a political party,” Ursillo went on to state in the letter. “But, as an independent, the Mayor has no political party and thus Sec. 10.24 is inapplicable to his appointment. That being said, you are of course welcome to recommend to the Mayor any candidate for an open seat on any City board of commission that you feel would be qualified for the position. However, such a recommendation will not be governed by Sec. 10.24 of the City Charter.”

Daniel Reilly, the General Counsel to the Rhode Island Republican Party said in an interview Tuesday that the party doesn’t agree with the solicitor’s interpretation. 

“The purpose of it, the spirit of the Charter, is to create ideological balance and diversity on the City Board and Commissions,” Reilly said. 

Reilly said that the Charter is clear and it should be followed. 

“There isn’t room for discretion and there shouldn’t be any discretion given to the mayor,” he said. 

Picozzi said he posted on Facebook asking interested residents to apply for the open board positions. 

He said in total they had 22 applicants. He said he would be reaching out to those who didn’t get picked to see if they are interested in serving on any other boards or commissions.

“I sat down with the planning department and we picked who we thought were the three most qualified and those were the three people that were there last night,” Picozzi said. “That’s what I want on the boards.  I want qualified people that want to serve the City.”

While the majority of the Council voted in favor of all three appointments made by Picozzi to the Zoning Board of Review, Councilman Jeremy Rix voted against the one that would replace the Republican vacancy. 

“I agree with my colleagues that Zoning Board members should be appointed on merit, not just politics.  But, we are obligated to follow our Code of Ordinances and our City Charter,” Rix previously told the Beacon. 

“The Charter sets a process for the Chair of the state-recognized minority party to nominate five persons for the Mayor to select from to fill one seat.  The Charter was not written in mind for a situation where the Mayor is not a Democrat or Republican,” Rix added. “But, even if the section cannot be taken literally, I think that we are obligated to follow the spirit of it.  The spirit would be that there should be a minimum of one Democrat and one Republican on the Zoning Board, as both parties are ‘part(ies) other than that of the Mayor.’  So, I could not vote to fill the seat of the former Republican member, leaving the Republicans with no representation on the Zoning Board.  That may be a violation of the Charter.”

Reilly said that they would be formally responding as a state party and giving their interpretation of the Charter. 

“At the end of the day we just want to get representation of registered Republicans who go through the normal appointment process who aren’t excluded on the basis of their political affiliation, aren’t forced to unaffiliate or renounce their political affiliation to participate and certainly result in a make up of board and commissions that do reflect some sort of ideological balance to include Republicans on there,” Reilly said. 

Cascella said that they wouldn’t be opposed to the Charter being changed but until then he wants the current rules to be followed, saying that following the rules laid out in the Charter is important. 

“You can’t change it on the fly, there's a process,” he said. 

In the meantime he said that until there is an adjudication to the issue he said that the City could either hold appointments that need minority representation, or appoint someone from the Republican Party. 

“It seems like the best way to fix this is just to appoint a Republican or a minority party member,” Cascella said.