The agency charged with managing Rhode Island’s coastline says it is rectifying issues identified last summer after a routine federal review.
The R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council needed to respond to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s three primary concerns by the end of the year.
Council Chairman Michael Tikoian said the agency – in its view – remedied the first NOAA demand that staff receive better legal advice. Secondly, the agency separated, as requested, the jobs of the person hearing administrative cases and the agency’s legal counsel.
The third concern – filling vacant council seats – rests in the hands of Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee, who has yet to announce nominees.
Officials at NOAA, which must sign off on the response to its report, were unavailable for comment at press time.
To address concerns about the quality and timeliness of legal advice, CRMC arranged for its contracted legal counsel, Brian Goldman, to visit the agency’s headquarters three times a week for an hour a day. Goldman will also visit on the first and third Thursday of each month.
Tikoian said Goldman’s fees, which amount to about $145,000 a year, would remain the same because the number of hours would not change, just the location.
Staff are also now expected to filter questions intended for Goldman through senior management. Tikoian said some questions previously sent to Goldman “weren’t legal questions, they were difficult questions” that should be answered by management, not lawyers.
Besides serving as legal counsel, Goldman had sat as the hearing officer to consider cases in front of the CRMC. NOAA said the dual roles presented a conflict of interest and left CRMC without legal representation during hearings.
Tikoian, who said he disagreed with NOAA’s view, nonetheless told NOAA the council would serve as the appeals board. The small number of cases – typically fewer than a handful a month – should be manageable for the council, Tikoian said.
Ultimately, Tikoian wants existing hearing officers at the R.I. Department of Environmental Management to handle the cases.
That arrangement would be better than the full council sitting as an appeals board, said John Torgan, director of advocacy at the environmental organization Save The Bay.
Torgan also questioned the effectiveness of the meetings with Goldman. Torgan said Save The Bay believes that CRMC needs an in-house lawyer to advise staff.
Tikoian called that unnecessary, saying the limited amount of legal work does not justify the financial investment for a new staffer.
Tikoian and Torgan do agree the 16-member council needs more members. The council lost four legislative members in 2004 after the adoption of the Separation of Powers amendment and the remaining four legislative appointments in 2008 due to a state Supreme Court ruling on the SOP amendment, though by statute the panel should still have 16 members. With seven members required for a quorum, the council has struggled to maintain a schedule.
Tikoian wrote a letter in July to then-Gov. Donald L. Carcieri imploring him to appoint members. Carcieri nominated four people in October, but the Senate, which must confirm them, never acted.
Chafee spokesman Mike Trainor said the administration believes those nominations are no longer valid. Trainor said the administration would abide by a NOAA demand that the state fill the seats by May 2011.
The CRMC itself is also taking steps to address the “program suggestions” outlined in the NOAA report, CRMC Executive Director Grover Fugate said.
• The R.I. Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program has been completed and sent to NOAA for approval.
• The agency plans to update reports on public access to the waterfront.
• The agency has not progressed on a NOAA request to collaborate with the Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Research Center. The two agencies have yet to identify a common research opportunity.
• The agency has not acted to develop a plan that would allow it a say on applications in neighboring state waters subject to federal review.
The agency has made little tangible progress in addressing what NOAA called “tension and discord” between Tikoian and Fugate, whose contract expired in March.
Torgan, who talks frequently with CRMC staff, said the tension was trickling down through the ranks.
“The morale is pretty low and the tension between the executive director and the chair of the council has created a toxic environment over there,” he said. •
