hard deadlines

Town Clerk Kathy Viera-Beaudoin swears in new firefighters as Chief Lynch looks on.

Almost 50 citizens, friends, and family packed the Town Council tonight for the swearing in of four new Portsmouth firefighters: Brian P. Baker, Mark J. Dossantos, Domenic J. Lautieri, and Allan L. Levesque. There was a warm round of applause, and hearty handshakes all around from the Council and Chief Lynch as the four were welcomed aboard.

A third of the audience left immediately, and then another third after the rezoning of East Main Road near Budd's auto was continued until May 7, along with a hearing on the property abutting the old car wash. So the audience had thinned out considerably for the actual business agenda, which went pretty quickly.

The Solid Waste/Recycling committee got approval to increase their membership to 11, over objections by Tailgunner Gleason that this would "ruin the flavor of the dynamics of this group." She also admitted that she "wasn't aware" that there was a fine for not recycling in the Town of Portsmouth. Make of that what you will.

Fred Faerber, the chair of the Portsmouth Redevelopment Agency came before the Council to ask for conceptual approval to explore the creation of a single redevelopment agency for the whole island, in line with the Navy's requirement that they negotiate their excessing of land with one entity. "Collectively, we think there's more benefit," said Faerber. "All of this is better handled by pursuing it at a regional level. We're also able to capitalize on the goodwill of the Aquidneck Island Planning Commission." He said that based on conversations with AIPC director Tina Dolen that there might be significant grants available that would assist in forming the regional group.

Huck Little had put a discussion of the Wind Turbine on the agenda, but he said that most of his questions had been answered by the contract. Pete McIntyre raised some concerns about communications that had gone between the Portsmouth Economic Development Committee and the FAA which he had not seen. "When something goes out to another government agency," said McIntyre, "I believe, that when something leaves this building to another government agency, it should be a government employee that signs it."

A reasonable request, and Rich Talipsky of the PEDC reassured him that the communication with the FAA was limited to unsigned queries and responses in a public Web site exploring various preliminary locations for the turbine. Any physical letters from the FAA, he said, "They went to the town hall."

As the council wrapped up, they mentioned that the meeting next week to receive the findings from the school performance audit will not take public comment, to reserve time for the Council and School Committee, but there will be a meeting for community response and input on May 6. Meeting adjourned a little after 9 pm.