Resigned Councilmen Miss Solicitor Invoices Uproar They Stirred

Since neither Dist. 3 Councilman James LeBlanc nor Dist. 5 Councilman Scott Copley were members of the council by then, and didn’t attend the meeting as citizens, they also missed the opportunity to continue arguing their case, albeit from less privileged positions.

This was the fourth Council meeting at which the issue has been raised, once in February, then March 11, March 25 and April 8. Ironically, Copley’s reported reason for missing the meeting is a restraining order sought by Council President Hilary Lima against Copley, after Council Vice President JP Verducci mentioned that Copley had threatened Lima with sexual violence for not adding the issue to the agenda.

Verducci’s observation, made while talking with Town Solicitor Stephen Angell, compelled Angell, as an officer of the court, to report the threat to police. Angell also referred the matter to the RI Attorney General’s office. Coventry Police have not yet released the report, invoking a statutory additional 20-days to the requirement to respond within 10 days. Police did not respond to a question asking if the investigation was ongoing.

There was no immediate or apparent explanation for LeBlanc’s absence from the uproar he and Copley created. But Dist. 1 Councilman Jonathan Pascua criticized both men for resigning from the Council over not getting their way. 

“I appreciate the back-and-forth and I think having opposing Council is healthy and good, it’s a sign of a healthy Council, but when things get tough and you don’t agree with your fellow council members, and your constituents support your views, the last thing that you do is quit. You do not get up and walk away from your seat where you have the power to make change and leave. That’s a cowardly thing to do and I learned to not do that when I was five years old.”

Pascua noted LeBlanc’s service to the town, including leading the move to take Johnson’s Pond by eminent domain. But he reiterated his disappointment with his former colleague. 

“I thank LeBlanc for his service but I am utterly and furiously disappointed  in  him for getting up and quitting. Ridiculous.”

Pascua also mentioned that when LeBlanc was in charge, his opinion on the matter was different. “He did approve a very similar contract two years ago when he was council leadership and he never made a gripe about it. The language was the super majority was there, but it wasn’t a problem back then,” Pascua said,  “He was asked do you want to see these invoices, and he said ‘No, Lima, you can do it,’ and then all of a sudden we have the next very similar contract and he brings up a concern about supermajority.”

Unredacted Solicitor Invoices: Handing Coventry’s Competitors the Playbook

Bob Brennan, Coventry resident who served on the town’s charter review commission, reiterated Angell’s repeated warnings at previous meetings against allowing all Council members access to unredacted solicitor invoices.

“There are reasons why that should not happen. Some of those line items on there are concerned with ongoing legal cases, things that are discussed in executive session are protected by by the ethics commission and state law. If it goes out to the individual Council members, the Town Manager, whoever, outside of that executive session, it is subject to Freedom of Information Act, (In Rhode Island, the Access to Public Records Act, APRA) which means that you would be taking and putting confidential information available to anybody, in a court adversarial situation.”

Pascua also noted the serious danger of giving such access to someone outside the executive session loop, as has been suggested with the Treasurer. He noted that not long ago in 2022, the town had to fire its former treasurer, while Lima and LeBlanc were leading the council.

“You guys see the issue with the finances. It took us years to control the books. Can you imagine what would’ve happened if the person that we fired who was really pissed off at the town knew every single thing that we were doing legally, that we were about to sue people for, experts we were using to defend ourselves?. That’s a dangerous thing for all of us.”

“That’s a dangerous thing for all of us, and so I can understand the issue with not allowing somebody who is not in the executive session. Because the finance director’s not in the executive session. We talk about very sensitive, legal issues. So we’re essentially bringing information to somebody who knows nothing about this stuff and we’re actually exposing them to stuff that’s actually privileged confidential information.That’s a tricky thing. I can’t imagine anybody would want us to do that. It’s not good for anybody, the Town of Coventry, none of us,” Pascua said.

Brennan: Lima Shouldn’t be Reviewing Solicitor Invoices

Brennan also spoke about charter violations raised during the discussion at this last and previous meetings. 

LeBlanc said that Angell’s engagement letter prohibits Coventry’s Treasurer/Finance Director from being able to review the unredacted invoices as required by Coventry’s Home Rule Charter, Section 10.14 (e) which states: “pre–audit all bills, invoices, payrolls and other evidence of claims or charges against the town and see that budget appropriations are not exceeded by any disbursements in any department, office, or agency of the town, including the School Department“.

“Regarding the charter of violations there are two points that the contract is in violation one is that the the town council president does have access to that (unredacted solicitor invoices). That’s an administrative Duty, which she should not be having, that that position should not have. But making every other Council member have the same information, doesn’t make that better,” Brennan said.

The second,  he said, concerned the charter’s guidance on auditing by the financial manager. 

“If you read the charter and yes, I was on the charter commission with Scott (Copley) and I have read the charter and I reviewed that charter and that does not say a line item audit. It states that it should be audited to be within budget which, if I recall from past meetings, our current position is that solicitors budget is under budget for this year so I just wanted to clarify that. There’s been a lot of stuff being pushed out.

I’m sorry to see that Jamie and Scott have left. At the same time, remarks that they put out were inflammatory and vaguely, in the case and actually, in the case of Scott, insulting. I expect more of members of the town council, these five up here and those two who are no longer here,” Brennan said.

Author: Rob Borkowski

Rob has worked as reporter and editor for several publications, including The Kent County Daily Times and Coventry Courier, before working for Gatehouse in MA then moving home with Patch Media. Now he's publisher and editor of WarwickPost.com. Contact him at editor@warwickpost.com with tips, press releases, advertising inquiries, and concerns.