The Little Compton Town Council, meeting Thursday, July 9, voted to schedule a public hearing for July 23 on a package of roughly three dozen proposed changes to the town's home rule charter, according to the council's published meeting recording. The council must send final ballot language to the Secretary of State by August 5, and members said a special meeting will likely follow the July 23 hearing to finalize the wording voters will see, including a required plain-language summary of each change.
The council thanked the volunteer charter review committee for its work and said members should take a few days to read through the recommendations before the hearing. The town solicitor cautioned that summary language for ballot questions has produced litigation in other communities when it was written too broadly or too narrowly, meaning the town clerk and solicitor still have significant drafting work ahead of the August 5 deadline.
Deputy tax assessor position approved The council approved, by voice vote, filling a deputy tax assessor position after the town solicitor addressed a legal question raised by a council member: whether the position would still be valid if a related charter provision fails at the ballot. The solicitor said state constitutional and general law provisions allow the town council to create the position independent of the charter, so the appointment stands regardless of the charter vote's outcome.
Local sponsorWorld-class website design at a small business priceCompany 50Patrolman promoted to sergeant Acting on a request from Police Chief Scott Raynes, the council voted by voice vote to promote a patrolman to the rank of sergeant, effective July 11, 2026, filling a vacancy left by a sergeant's retirement. Raynes told the council the officer was the only one currently eligible under a memorandum of understanding — a side agreement between the town and the police union — that sets a minimum years-of-service requirement before officers can sit for the sergeant's exam. The officer already serves as the department's accreditation manager, de facto animal control officer, and frequent shift supervisor, according to the chief.
Tree removal rules near roadsides The town solicitor walked the council through the legal process for removing or pruning trees and shrubs in town rights-of-way, a topic raised previously by the town's tree warden. Except in safety emergencies, the tree warden must post a five-day notice near the tree before removal, giving neighbors or other interested parties a chance to appeal in writing; if an appeal is filed, the tree warden must hold a hearing and decide within three days, with further appeal possible to the town council. Public Works Director Fred Bodington, also known as Ted, asked whether the rule extends to lower shrubs and ornamental grasses that sometimes interfere with snowplowing; the solicitor said those fall under the tree warden's authority by statute, though public works can still flag concerns. No vote was taken.
Finance director contract draws pushback The council voted, with one member abstaining, to approve a one-year contract for an interim finance director running through June 30, 2027, at a $90,000 salary for a listed 20-hour work week. One council member questioned the math, noting that a $90,000 salary for a half-time position works out to roughly $180,000 on a full-time basis — more than the town's two police chiefs, who each earn about $105,000, or a recently hired IT employee at $110,000. Another council member responded that the finance director works considerably more than 20 hours a week in practice and cited unsolicited praise about the director's work in a recent meeting with the town's outside auditor.
Invasive plants and town land: no vote, but a request for support Luke Driver, a longtime Little Compton resident, gave a presentation on the spread of invasive plants — multiflora rose, bittersweet, and grapevine — choking stone walls, tree canopies, and roadside meadows across the town's roughly 5,000 acres of preserved public land, as well as private property. Driver, who said he has spent about a year clearing overgrowth by hand and with a small excavator, argued that decades without active maintenance have allowed invasive vines to girdle and kill mature trees, and warned the town could face large stands of dead forest without intervention. A resident who spoke on Driver's behalf urged the council to formally back his volunteer efforts so he can coordinate with the town's land trust, tree committee, the Nature Conservancy, and state agencies. The council took no vote, calling the discussion informational, and said a member could bring a motion to support the effort at a future meeting.
Other business The council also, by voice vote: accepted a letter regarding an unspecified state agreement for a town-owned maintenance building at 144 Willow Avenue, which has been signed by the town and now awaits state signatures; placed department head reports on file, a routine step that accepts written updates without requiring separate votes on each one; approved a one-day beverage license for a town family fun day event on August 1; approved a request to designate November as Veterans Month locally and to install American flags with veterans' names at a prominent town site; approved a resident's request to post lawn signs on a town-owned lot in July and August publicizing a historic cemetery renovation project, limited to 12 square feet under town ordinance; and accepted a facilities needs report covering town buildings, though one member asked to see a referenced sketch of a proposed community center addition before further action and noted the report did not address the town's old fire station property.
The council also voted to send two harbor-related communications to the town's Harbor Commission for review. One, from a resident citing water-quality data, prompted an extended response from a council member defending the harbor's water safety and questioning the data's sourcing; the Harbor Commission is due to report back August 6. The second, from a resident concerned about a private boating club's proposed desalination system discharging salty water into the harbor, drew comment from the Harbor Commission chair, who said outside engineers reviewed the preliminary design as conservative and that the club had agreed to relocate its outflow pipe away from the town dock as a precaution for commercial fishermen's live-catch tanks. That review is also expected back before the council.
The council closed by voting to pay the town's bills and adjourned. The next scheduled council business tied to Thursday's meeting is the July 23 public hearing on the proposed charter amendments.