The North Smithfield Town Council walked away from a settlement in a decades-old quarry lawsuit Monday night, voting in closed session to end mediation and take the case to court instead.
The council met August 3 and, after an executive session — the closed portion of a meeting allowed under state law for litigation and collective bargaining — announced it had taken one vote on a proposed memorandum of understanding in the case captioned Pound Hill Realty, LLC and Material Sand & Stone Corp. v. Town of North Smithfield, and one vote on a cell tower lease agreement. The minutes of that session were sealed by roll call vote.
"We were unable to come to an agreement on the mediation," a council member said in reporting out the result, adding that the town's outside attorney had been instructed "to cease all mediation discussions and move forward with the court case."
Local sponsorAffordable photography lessons in Newport, Jamestown, or your town.E.L. Photo RIThe proposed agreement, according to the agenda language read into the record, would have resolved litigation dating to 1999 along with a related zoning text and map amendment petition filed by the property owner for roughly 89.44 acres identified as Assessor's Plat 7, Lot 38.
Attorney Thomas Plunkett, who gave his office address as 146 Westminster Street in Providence, addressed the council after the announcement and said he was "a little taken aback." He said the parties had worked on the matter since January, had agreed on "80 or 90 percent" of a town proposal, and were down to two or three items needing clarification. "I suppose if your decision is to resolve it through litigation, we'll do that," he said. The council did not announce a next court date.
Earlier in the meeting, a council member read nine written questions submitted by a resident about the proposed settlement, including whether it would resolve the legality of a 32-acre expansion, whether it placed enforceable limits on blasting hours, dust and road washing, and what protections it offered for the underlying aquifer and nearby private wells. Because the settlement was rejected, none of those questions were answered on the record.
License plate cameras: the administrator says he gave the nod, and now regrets it
The council held a public discussion on automated license plate reader cameras after news coverage reported that North Smithfield had signed off on a Rhode Island State Police installation. Pressed during open forum on who approved it, the town administrator said he did.
He said the police chief contacted him in November of last year after being approached by the Rhode Island State Police, which was seeking to deploy cameras statewide, and asked whether he had a problem with it. "I said, 'Generally, no,'" he told the council, describing the exchange as an email he treated as a general inquiry rather than a formal approval. He said two cameras are now deployed in town, both on Route 146 — one northbound, one southbound — and told the council he has since told the chief he does not support the police department buying cameras of its own.
He also said his view has changed: "In hindsight, knowing what I know now... I would have said no." He said 37 of the state's 39 municipalities gave the state police a similar nod, and that one community later asked for its cameras to be removed and was refused.
The administrator said he plans to send written communication through the chief telling the Rhode Island State Police that no further camera expansion will occur in North Smithfield without formal written notice to the town. He also said the state police likely do not need town permission to place equipment on a state highway.
Two residents asked the council to ban the technology outright. One, who said he lives on Iron Mine Hill Road, argued the North Smithfield Police Department's record — including a federal court ruling against its practice of withholding seized property, a settled lawsuit brought by dispatchers alleging a hostile workplace, and prior misuse of commercial vehicle software flagged by the Rhode Island State Police — should make the council reluctant to trust an unregulated database. Another resident said he founded a local group opposed to surveillance and asked the council to bar all mass surveillance technology, including on private property.
A council member who identified himself as a retired state trooper defended the technology, saying cameras had helped identify a driver in a fatal road-rage case and that the answer to abuse is stronger law, not banning the tool. "Technology can always be abused," he said.
The council took no vote to ban or remove the cameras. Members noted that any binding restriction would require an ordinance, which requires a public hearing and a formal vote. One councilor asked that any future request to install more cameras come before the council for discussion. A resident submitted written questions to the administrator about the length of the state police contract, who can access the data, how long records are retained, and what capabilities the installed cameras have that are currently disabled; the administrator agreed to seek answers.
A dumpster 15 feet from a property line
A couple who said they have lived on Sayles Hill Road for 40 years spent much of open forum on a trash dumpster placed at a state-owned group home next door. They said it sits about 15 feet from their property line and roughly 40 feet from their deck, and that the smell has at times made their yard unusable.
The resident said he filed a zoning complaint in December, a notice of violation was issued December 15 with a January 14 compliance deadline, and nothing has happened since. He said the town's ordinance allows dumpsters in residential zones only temporarily, with a permit, tied to active construction. He also described contradictory information about whether a $450 fee applies to appeal the zoning official's handling of the matter to the Zoning Board of Review, and said he received no reply from the town administrator.
The administrator said he has relied on the zoning officer and town planner, who concluded the ordinance addresses construction use and does not apply here, and cited a state law waiving local zoning requirements for community residences. He said the public works director has asked the state for clarification and has not gotten a straight answer, and that he emailed the state on Thursday. Six group homes in town use commercial trash containers, he said, five of them dumpsters, serviced under a state contract.
The town solicitor explained that state law supersedes local ordinances in areas where the state has jurisdiction, and that a home rule charter governs the form of government rather than overriding state authority.
A council member suggested a simpler fix: swap the dumpster for town-issued barrels. "Who cares if they have the right to do it or not?" the councilor said. The administrator said the public works director has met with vendors and will pursue that once the town knows where it stands legally. The couple's second resident said pickup has dropped from weekly to roughly every four weeks since the complaint was filed. The administrator apologized for not keeping the household informed and offered his cell phone number.
No vote was taken. The council asked the administrator to stay in direct contact with the household.
Route 7 passing zone
The council voted by roll call to petition the state Department of Transportation to study making a stretch of Route 7 a no-passing zone. A resident of Douglas Pike opened the second public comment period by submitting a written petition asking for the same change.
A council member showed a photo taken that day of the northbound approach, describing a posted "do not pass" sign paired with dashed center lines that mark the same stretch as a passing zone. He said the road was made a no-passing zone in another section at the town's request after 2022 paving, so the change is achievable.
Several members pushed for a broader review, citing heavy truck traffic, engine brake noise, speeds well above the posted limit, and the possibility that highway truck tolls would divert more trucks onto Route 7. One member said she had spoken that morning with a regional director of an organization opposing larger trucks about pending legislation to raise weight limits and allow double trailers. The motion approved covers a study aimed at eliminating passing between the two cross streets identified; members also asked staff to check whether the state has already studied the corridor.
Other business
The council voted by roll call to hire outside counsel at the municipal rate to represent the building and zoning official before the Zoning Board of Review in an appeal filed by a business on Iron Mine Hill Road challenging a June 18 violation notice. The solicitor explained that because the solicitor's office represents the zoning board itself, the official whose decision is under appeal needs separate representation.
Two payment-of-bills motions passed by roll call, one for invoices from the 2025-2026 fiscal year and one for 2026-2027 invoices. The figures were read into the record in a garbled form and are not clearly reconstructable from the audio.
On the police station renovation, the council approved $20,215 in May requisitions — $7,215 to the project architect and $13,000 to the owner's project manager — that the administrator said were missed in an earlier submission. Members also approved a $4,775 contract change for engineering review of substituted HVAC equipment, which the administrator said will cut about $25,000 from equipment costs for a net savings of roughly $20,000.
The administrator reported that a federal earmark for the project came through at about $500,000 rather than the roughly $800,000 sought, and will not be final until signed later this year. He flagged a separate federal grant for the dispatch communication system as time-sensitive: the town cannot sign the equipment contract before final approval without risking the money, and he said the matter needs to be resolved by around Labor Day to avoid delaying project completion.
The council accepted the first reading of the annual salary and wage ordinance, which sets pay rates for every town position after budget adoption. Members flagged two corrections: the deputy tax assessor line, held flat at $53,560.94 with no 3% increase, and a seasonal personnel rate that must reflect the minimum wage increase to $17 effective January 1, 2027. A second reading is required before the ordinance can be adopted.
The sewer commission chairman gave an update requiring no vote. The 30% design for the pump station improvement project now carries an estimated cost of about $5.5 million, up from just under $4 million when the work was scoped in 2022, and roughly $6.3 million if every element is included. The town has an approved $4 million loan. The commission plans to use a base bid with alternates to bring costs in line. Two facilities must be redesigned for a 100-year flood after the state Department of Environmental Management changed its flood zone rules.
The timeline he outlined: town review of 90% plans in November, state submission in December or January, advertising in March or April, contract award in May or June of 2027, construction starting around August 2027, and completion around August 2028. He said the commission will return next month seeking about $4,400 from its own funds for design changes, and invited councilors to tour the pump stations in person.
What's next
The salary and wage ordinance returns for a second reading before it can be adopted. The sewer commission plans to seek the additional $4,400 next month. Any binding restriction on license plate reader cameras would require an ordinance and a public hearing. Council meeting agendas and packets are posted by the town clerk ahead of each meeting.