Coventry Dist. 5: DeLellis Pledges Steady Service

COVENTRY, RI —  Come Aug. 5, Robert DeLellis, 56, of 18 Regalwood Drive, Guidance Counselor for Burrillville Schools and  the sole Coventry Dist. 5 candidate in the special election, says his knowledge of history and focus on fact over social media talk will help him serve his neighbors.

Following the resignations of former Dist. 5 Councilman Scott Copley and Dist. 3 Councilman James LeBlanc in April, Coventry will hold a special election Tuesday to elect new Town Councillors for each seat. The pair left the Council in protest over stonewalled attempts to access un-redacted invoices for Town Solicitor Stephen Angell’s services concerning the town’s eminent domain taking of Johnson’s Pond last year.

Coventry Town Council President Hilary Lima says the redactions are legal exemptions under the state’s Access to Public Records Act for negotiations, as Angell  continues to defend the town’s position regarding the pond. Also, she said, Copley and LeBlanc previously voted for the contract in unanimous votes, and have attempted to put the issue on the Council agenda even though it has already been discussed during previous meetings.

DeLellis: Focus on Facts in Coventry Dist. 5

DeLellis, a Coventry resident for 29 years, spent about 17 years as a history teacher at  Burrillville Schools before switching to working as a guidance counselor. He said he  hopes his experience learning and teaching history and time as a counselor will guide his time on the council.

He said he decided to run for the seat to serve his community, and because the timing seemed right.

“I do have a sense of civic duty,” DeLellis said, “I decided that this would probably be the best time. I’m not getting any younger.”

Regarding the  taking of Johnson’s Pond last year, DeLellis said the change of ownership is overall a positive development.

“It seems like an upgrade to me,” DeLellis said when reached by phone to discuss his approach to local politics. However, he said, he and his Wood Estates neighbors are still waiting on word of wider public access to the newly  acquired pond. It’s one of several issues he’s catching up on as the election approaches.

“I know what questions to ask,” he said.

Also, DeLellis, who has testified at the State House before the House Finance Committee in support of increased and better organized school funding, said he intends to do what he can to support the town’s schools.

Regarding the resignations, DeLellis said it seems to him that the disagreement among the Council members got personal, and that cooler heads might  have allowed them to work out the issue. Shortly  after the  resignations, the remaining members of the Council voted to expand access to the invoices to the entire Council. Previously, only Lima was able to view the un-redacted invoices.

DeLellis said that issue seemed unnecessarily dramatic, which he attributes partly to heated comments on social media. For  the moment, he said, on the matter of restricting access to details of the Johnson’s Pond ongoing legal case, “I have to go with the guy who went to law school,” he said.

“People approach things in sound bites,” on social media, DeLellis said. He said he intends spend his time on the Council focused on a calmer approach, focused on what is fair and what he learns about the issues.

The polling place for the Dist. 5 Special Election is at:

• Club Jogues, 184 Boston St.

Voting hours run from 7 a.m. till 8 p.m. Tuesday.