Swansea residents file open meeting complaint over special Town Meeting

SWANSEA -- A group of residents has filed an open meeting law complaint against town officials over the June 1 special Town Meeting and is asking the state Attorney General to rescind the unsuccessful vote for rezoning Pleasure Island.

Through Fall River attorney Paul Machado, the group alleges that there was no means through which residents could vote remotely on the matter. The group also alleges that some voters were turned away from the Venus de Milo due to concerns that they could be carrying COVID-19, according to documents from Machado.

At that Town Meeting, the main article looked to rezone the approximate 5-acre island separated from mainland Swansea and currently not in use. Local restaurant owner Al Monte was looking to redevelop the island as a family-friendly summer spot for ice cream, dining, walks and kayaking. For financial backing, Monte needed the island rezoned business, rather than its mixed residential and business zoning.

At the Town Meeting, approximately 55 percent of voters approved the rezoning but the zoning change requires a two-thirds majority, or just under 67 percent.

“Due to health concerns, the number of people who were allowed to attend the meeting was capped. Some town residents who had planned to attend the meeting and to vote were turned away,” Machado wrote in a letter to select board members, the town moderator and the town administrator. “There was no voting accommodation given to those town residents who were not allowed to enter the meeting.”

“Additionally, there were other town residents who chose not to attend a live meeting due to health concerns. Given this health emergency, it is surprising that no mechanisms were in place to allow these residents to vote remotely.”

Machado went on to mention some of the voting residents who were not able to weigh in at the June 1 meeting. He mentioned residents Joann and Evan Colbert, who were denied entry into Venus de Milo because one meeting worker noted that they were caring for Evan Colbert’s mother, who was recently in quarantine.

He also mentioned Susan Nedar, a local official and a longtime town resident who is taking care of her elderly mother. Nedar avoided the Town Meeting, and is avoiding any social gathering in fear of contracting COVID-19 and passing it along to her mother.

Selectmen Vice Chairman Christopher Carreiro is a real estate broker who represented Monte. He recused himself as a selectman but as an interested party mentioned last week that he was disappointed that people were turned away.

Carreiro said that he received calls from residents who were also disappointed with how the meeting was handled.

Selectmen Chairman Steven Kitchin, reached this week, indicated that legal counsel is reviewing the complaint. He also noted that thorough planning and research went into the meeting, keeping public safety and residents' constitutional rights at the forefront.

The meeting spanned three rooms, used hanging microphones, offered six-foot distancing, as well as health questionnaires, noted Kitchin.

“We did everything we possibly could to ensure that no one’s constitutional rights were violated in this process and we took the best guidance from the (state) Center for Disease Control, the (state) Department of Public Health and other agencies within the state,” Kitchin said.

“It was not done in a haphazard way but done in a thorough way and with much research.”