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By MICHAEL SOUZA
NARRAGANSETT - The reappointment of Narragansett resident Donald Goodrich to the state Housing Appeals Board, originally scheduled for Wednesday, has been postponed.
This, according to the Governor’s Director of Municipal and External Affairs Deborah Smith, who made the announcement late Wednesday. Goodrich, who also serves as the chairman of the town’s zoning board, is highly regarded by his peers on the state board, but has drawn fire from critics locally. The terms of seven board members, including Goodrich, expired on Jan. 1. Their reappointments were scheduled to be perfunctorily approved by the state’s Senate Committee on Housing & Municipal Government. Goodrich was removed from that list. “We had received a lot of comments, both for and against his reappointment. I had to remove his name from the list until we could review all the comments,” said Smith. “His fellow board members have nothing but positive things to say. He does his homework and asks intelligent, thoughtful questions,” she said. “We’ve also received a lot of comments against him. People in the town have mounted quite a campaign against him,” Smith said. According to Smith, the comments will be reviewed and a decision will be made to either reschedule his reappointment hearing, or to remove his name from consideration. Smith could not estimate when that decision would be made. When contacted, Goodrich said he had just been informed of the postponement. He explained Smith had merely notified him and did not elaborate on the matter. Understandably, he declined to comment. Goodrich has served on the town’s zoning board for about 30 years, but recently has been criticized by residents as being too pro-development. He has also been criticized for his involvement in an affordable housing project in town, viewed as a conflict of interest to some residents. Last year, the town council reappointed him to the zoning board by a 2-1 vote, despite the strong and often heated opposition by some townspeople. The decision outraged some residents, solidifying their displeasure and belief the council ignored their concerns. This, along with other factors, prompted some residents to become even more involved with town-wide issues. As a result, a grassroots organization called Shake the Pier was formed by 16-year resident Russell Matuszek. Shake the Pier, (with a Web site of the same name), runs a “citizen information Web site” and considers itself a citizen advocacy group. The movement to have Goodrich’s name removed for consideration was led by Matuszek. “I give credit to the e-mail bloggers who worked so diligently in the past 10 days,” he said. “There were at least two or three dozen letters – letters and emails - that we received. All I asked was that the letters should be well written and documented with facts,” Matuszek said. “We didn’t want any name-calling. We wanted to be professional about our concerns,” he said. Shake the Pier was originally formed with the intention of advocating a voter recall option for the town, a special election where any elected official could be voted out of office. The response to the site was enthusiastic, and residents voiced additional concerns. Now, inspired by watchdog groups such as the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition, Matuszek has expanded his range, scrutinizing the actions of both town and state governments. Although Goodrich’s fate on the appeals board is unclear, he is satisfied the action was postponed, citing the General Assembly failed to post its intent 48 hours prior to action. The State Assembly commonly ignores the time period requirement, as reported by Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis earlier this month. |
