The meeting opened with a salute to the flag and moments of silence honoring the victims of 9/11, former educator and legislator Neil Corkery, and longtime town solicitor Matthew Callahan. Following tributes from council members and Mr. Callahan’s son James, the council heard a presentation from Revolution Wind (a joint venture of Ørsted and Eversource), conducted a public hearing on a homestead exemption amendment, discussed a consent agenda from which Item 15 (body‑worn cameras) was removed for separate consideration, and received the town manager’s report including plans for two November bond questions. Correspondence was read and the meeting adjourned.
Good evening. I'd like to call this meeting to order from Monday, September 11th, 2023. And welcome to the People's House in North Kingstown. Matt McCoy had uh let us know that he is traveling. He is a representative, he's a state representative for the VFW, and he's traveling to uh Washington, D.C. to meet with uh our state delegation. Uh Matt is therefore not going to be here. I did uh briefly actually Jeanette uh briefly went over the agenda with him, asked him if he wanted anything pulled, um, and he did not, so um uh I thought that is worth noting. Uh pursuant to Ron General Laws 42-46-6C. Uh notice of this meeting has been posted on the Secretary of State's website. Uh as you know, uh we now uh salute the flag. I I would like to make a couple comments before we do. Um the first is I'd like to uh thank the North Kingstown Fire Department and Police Department for once again holding a uh moving ceremony honoring the victims of uh 9-11. And uh after the Pledge of Allegiance, I'd like to uh have a moment of silence in their honor. I also um like to say that since the last meeting we lost two uh prominent citizens that have made an enormous contribution to the North Kingstown community. Uh North Kingstown resident Neil Corkery, and our town solicitor, Matthew Callahan. Uh Neil was a former teacher, principal, legislator, and tireless advocate for those who struggled with addiction. In fact, in 1993, the General Assembly named a substance abuse facility after him. Many of you may have known Neil from hanging out at Shayna's. He and his young dog would hang out there and always have political conversations with uh the guests there. I had the privilege of knowing Neil for over 35 years, and he was a tremendous human being. Our community will miss him greatly. Although Matthew Callahan was not a North Kingstown resident, he contributed so much to our community. On behalf of his firm, Matt devoted countless hours as a solicitor, providing this town and this council with invaluable legal and practical advice that has literally saved the taxpayers of North Kingstown millions of dollars. Our community owes him a huge debt of gratitude, and he will be a tremendous loss. I'm sorry, was his uh uh how much he cared. He cared about our town. He cared about our town's workers. He cared about this council. And most of all, he cared about his family. I miss that, along with his great Irish wit, uh, because any time you met with Matt, you'd always go away with a smile. I don't know if anyone on this dais would like to make any further comments about Matt, but if they would, uh now is the time. We will miss Matt had had a way of making sure that he took it something that would be very legalese and putting it very much into very ordinary terms. And uh he just had a uh a good way, a good demeanor to uh to all of our situations that we had here. Thank you, Kim. I think Matt was the ultimate gentleman. He served with dignity and distinction, and despite all of his experience and wisdom, he never made anyone feel less than or never appeared to be greater than. He was always humble, always happy to have a conversation, very empowering, very supportive in every interaction, and uh it's an enormous, enormous loss to our community. Uh our condolences to all of his family and friends. Uh I only had the privilege of knowing Matt for the last couple of years, and he was one of those people who is long on both smarts and common sense, and uh we'll miss him tremendously. The debt of gratitude this town owes him is tremendous, and he will be hard to replace. Uh we are only very fortunate that his son James has joined us at this table, and James, we wish you half the success that your dad had. Mr. President, if I may just join the council. Yeah, I was gonna ask you. I want to echo the council's comments that this is a tremendous loss, but I will also say that um to a lot of us. Matt was much more than a solicitor, he was a friend. Um Matt and I had the opportunity to share a lot of mutual interests and mutual friends, and I can tell you that while I'm sure it will still be that way. He, for me anyway, uh, made this job a lot of fun. Um he had a unique way about him that he could actually be calm yet assertive, which is pretty tough to do.