City Council Meetings Violate Open Meetings Act, AG Rules

Newport City Council meetings have been violating the Open Meetings Act and should be held at an alternate location until accessibility upgrades are completed at City Hall, the Attorney General ruled Wednesday.

The ruling (attached to this article, click "download PDF" to grab it) comes after a December complaint filed by resident Annette Bourbonniere, who alleged that she was unable to attend a council meeting in person because her wheelchair wouldn't fit in the elevator and a platform lift was very slow and "not very safe."

In the ruling, released Wednesday, Malena Lopez Mora, special assistant to the attorney general, noted that the same platform lift and elevator were deemed deficient after a July, 2009 inspection by the Rhode Island Governor's Commission on Disabilities. And the city's response — establishing a live video feed at the police station across the street from City Hall on Broadway — is ultimately not enough.

"We conclude that this alternative fails to comply with the OMA because the OMA requires that 'all meetings required to be open to the public pursuant to [the OMA] are held in accessible facilities,'" the ruling states. 

In her initial complaint, Bourbonniere said the police assembly room ends up "segregating and isolating persons with disabilities," and "this arrangement fails because we have no recourse when the sound system fails, which is frequently."

In a rebuttal, City Solicitor Joseph J. Nicholson wrote that Bourbonniere has participated in previous meetings successfully and that sound issues happen when people don't speak into the microphone, which is "no different from what might happen in the council chamber during the meeting."

Nicholson said system failures were unacceptable and would be addressed, but took issue with Bourbonniere's complaint being based on a meeting that she reportedly didn't even attend.

But Bourbonniere, in a Jan. 29 rebuttal of the city's response, produced evidence showing that she would have attended had the meeting been held in an accessible location. In an e-mail exchange, she asks the city if there is a council meeting that week and asks "that it be moved to an accessible location."

In response, Bourbonniere was told by a city employee "I checked with the City Manager and the meeting will not be relocated. However, the Police Department will be set up for video conferencing if you desire."

In the her rebuttal, Bourbonniere said she felt that response was inadequate because when the sound system does fail, "we are left with no recourse in this arrangement," suggesting she couldn't raise her hand or ask to address the council during open forum.

"We made repeated requests for another meeting to allow us to voice our input. This never happened," she wrote.

The AG's office conducted a site visit on April 23 with city officials and "confirmed [Bourbonniere's] allegations" in regards to the lift and elevator. The office also obtained a copy of the city's 2010 signed settlement agreement with the United States Department of Justice in regards to the accessibility failures, which required remediation of the problem within 30 months.

With the AG's ruling that the video feed arrangement is in violation of the Open Meetings Act, the city is now facing the prospect of moving meetings to another location. One possible location would be Thompson Middle School. And moving meetings to alternate locations is something other city boards and committees have done to accommodate people with accessibilities, the ruling notes.

The city's assistant city engineer has outlined the steps needed to furnish and install a new lift to meet ADA requirements in a Jan. 6 report, which is the starting point for a request for proposals and eventual upgrades at City Hall.

In March, city resident Zack Bastian took the City Council to task over the issue of accessibility at City Hall, pulling himself up the 21 granite steps to attend the meeting. 

Being physically present at meetings on matters pertaining to local government is important and today, he said, there are certain social rights that should be respected by now.

"This is a gorgeous building, this is where City Hall may stay, but I just think it should be more accessible," he said.

Mayor Harry Winthrop thanked Bastion for his comments and said "we take your comments seriously and appreciate your very valuable input."

Winthrop told NBC10 that people need to understand the building is very old and there are some hurdles to improving accessibility.

Winthrop said a contractor was hired to look at the elevator and a previous effort to upgrade the lift system resulted in no bids from contractors. A review of bids to replace the existing elevator is due in April.

For Bastian, his message wasn't to provoke but to say he was just "a friend trying to help you guys."