New president's appointments rankle some council members

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified John Lombardi, who was reappointed as a judge for the Providence Municipal Court. 

PROVIDENCE — During the first meeting of the new Providence City Council on Thursday, council members elected city officials, voted on union contracts and passed resolutions.

But one of the most controversial topics on the 100-item docket was Council President Sabina Matos’ appointments to council committees.

In her appointments, Matos largely left out Councilwomen Helen Anthony, Ward 2; Nirva LaFortune, Ward 3; and Katherine Kerwin, Ward 12. Councilmen Seth Yurdin, Ward 1, and David Salvatore, Ward 14, did not receive committee assignments.

These council members did not vote for Matos for council president when she was elected last week. LaFortune abstained during the vote.

Reached on Wednesday, Matos said she invited all members of the council to a leadership meeting to discuss committee appointments. Some didn’t come, and some said they didn’t support the leadership team, she said.

“Everyone was invited to come to the leadership meeting and to be part of the discussion and to let us know what areas they were interested in working on,” she said.

Matos said she left vacancies on a few key committees, including the committees on finance, city property and public works, so that the chairs of those committees could make the final appointments.

During Thursday night’s meeting, Yurdin stood to express his disappointment with the fact that Ward 10 City Councilman Luis Aponte was appointed chairman of the Committee on Urban Redevelopment, Renewal and Planning despite the fact that he is under indictment on charges of one count each of unlawful appropriation and embezzlement and two counts of personal use of campaign funds.

Aponte was also appointed to sit on the Committee on Claims and Pending Suits, Special Committee on State Legislative Affairs and the Rules Committee.

“These appointments cast a dark cloud over the City Council and the city,” Yurdin said.

Last term, the council voted down an ethics ordinance proposed by former Ward 2 City Councilman Samuel Zurier that would have prohibited council members under indictment from serving in leadership positions or on committees.

In a statement, Salvatore said it “boggles the mind” that someone facing embezzlement charges could be appointed to lead a committee such as the Committee on Urban Redevelopment, Renewal and Planning, which is charged with overseeing federal funding that is allocated to the city.

“Providence cannot afford this kind of leadership,” he wrote.

After the meeting, Aponte said he had the right to a presumption of innocence, just as Yurdin has a First Amendment right to speak his mind.

He said the committee process is open and transparent and invited anyone with concerns about his participation on the committees to attend a meeting.

In other council business:

• Council members reappointed James Lombardi to serve as city treasurer, reappointed Gina Costa as internal auditor and reappointed John Lombardi and Frank Caprio as judges for the Providence Municipal Court. Caprio was also reappointed chief judge.
• Council members approved contracts for the union representing city employees and the Providence Teachers Union.
• The council unanimously passed a resolution supporting the Rhode Island Reproductive Health Care Act, a bill recently introduced at the General Assembly that would protect abortion rights in the state even if Roe vs. Wade is overturned.

— mlist@providencejournal.com

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On Twitter: @madeleine_list