Ethics Commission Clears Neville to Vote on Preservation Society Matters

In an advisory opinion, the Rhode Island Ethics Commission has given Newport City Councilor Naomi Neville the go-ahead to vote tonight on an application by the Newport Preservation Society to serve food at The Elms Carraige House and the Teahouse at the Marble House.

Neville, in a letter to the Ethics Commission, requested the advisory opinion because a book she co-authored, "Gracious Living: Home Design for your Future" is being sold at Preservation Society's gift shop.

In the March 11 letter, Neville said she was approached by a member of the society's staff at a local book talk and he suggested their store carry the book "because it fit within the context of the store."

Neville noted that she gets a royalty check twice a year that she shares with co-author E. Ashley Rooney and so far, the proceeds have been less than $100 and that represents all sales of the book including any bookstore, directly through the publisher or on Amazon.

Her request stemmed from the fact that the society is in the process of getting city and state approvals for a new visitor's center, which has been a controversial issue for Newport and "has generated some opposition," Neville wrote. 

She noted that the preservation society "occasionally applies for special event licenses and victualling licenses," which the City Council approves. But the welcome center issue has not gone before the council and "at the time the proposed project was unveiled, we were cautioned by our City Solicitor to not attend and I refrained from doing so."

The Ethics Commission concluded that the fact her book is being sold at the gift shop doesn't qualify as a conflict of interest because "she has no direct financial connection to NPS and its Newport Mansions Store," according to the March 25 opinion. 

"Given the absence of a direct financial nexus between the petitioner and NPS, there is no 'business associate' relationship between the [Neville] and NPS," the opinion stated. 

The commission apparently was not swayed by a March 24 letter by R. Daniel Prentiss, a lawyer representing the Bellevue-Ochre Point Neighborhood Association.

Prentiss contended that Neville's letter misrepresented the reality of the Newport Preservation Society's status before the council and that her statement that they "occasionally" appear before the board for licenses is "incorrect."

Prentiss' said the society has applied for event licenses, but never for a victualling license. 

"Service of food at a museum is prohibited under the Newport Zoning Ordinance," Prentiss wrote. "These applications have generated a great deal of controversy and are vigorously opposed by my client and many others."

And Prentiss said Neville's description of the welcome center plans is misleading. He said the victualling license applications are "part and parcel of the overall controversy over the commercialization of the residential zone in which the PS properties are located."

That means the victualling license and overarching welcome center controversy are intertwined, or "intimately involved in the City Council consideration of the current PS victualing license applications," Prentiss wrote. "Her eagerness to find clearance to enable her to be the probable deciding vote on a matter involving a business with which she has a financial relationship is abhorrent to the principles of Rhode Island Code of Ethics."

The City Council will vote on the victualling license request tonight (March 26).

The Preservation Society is asking for a license to serve food between May 22 and Oct. 31 at The Elms Carriage House. Plans show 88 seats with service running from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

At The Teahouse at the Marble House, the society is looking to serve 75 seats from May 1 to Oct. 31 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.