Maritime policy professor resigns from Rhode Island Coastal Agency

PROVIDENCE — Nearly two years after she was first appointed to the Coastal Resources Management Council’s executive branch, an influential council member resigned earlier this month.

Catherine Robinson Hall, a renowned coastal policy professor and former attorney for the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, resigned from her position at CRMC in a letter dated May 22, effective immediately. In her letter, Robinson Hall, who is an associate professor at the Center for Environmental Studies at Williams College, said she is “very busy with work and wants to devote more time to her family.”

Robinson Hall acknowledged that her term expires at the end of this year and said she understood that Gov. Dan McKee’s office recommended renominating her for another term.

“I am very pleased to have been appointed to the Council and am deeply grateful to you and the Governor for the opportunity to serve,” Robinson Hall wrote. “I appreciate the support of my recommenders, members of the Senate who confirmed my nomination in 2022, as well as you and other members of the Marshal’s Office who support my nomination and recommend me for renomination.”

Her resignation increases the number of vacancies in the 10-person executive body to three. Unlike most state agencies, which authorize a single office (usually the executive director) to make final executive decisions, the CRMC has been confirmed by the Senate since its creation in the early 1970s.

“This is a great loss for CRMC and the council,” Topher Hamblett, executive director of Save The Bay, said Wednesday morning. “We supported Robinson Hall’s appointment to the board because of her expertise, experience and integrity. He knows maritime policy and environmental protection law. “She further insisted that the council follow its own policies and procedures, which the council has failed to do on numerous occasions, particularly in recent years.”

Robinson Hall was the first of McKee’s two new appointments in June 2022, during the final days of that year’s legislative session. Board nominations as well as agency reform were a hot topic this year. In the spring, the council struggled with quorum issues.

Under state law, six members are required to be present before council members can take any actionable votes. The council did not meet for two months, from mid-April to mid-June this year, and council members were unable to hold those meetings “due to health reasons.”

During her confirmation hearings, environmental advocates identified Robinson Hall as an ideal council member. Before the appointment of Robinson Hall, it was typical for CRMC members to have no experience in coastal politics and planning. Previous appointees include a dental hygienist, a liquor store owner and developer and labor officials.

A spokesman for McKee told ecoRI News Wednesday morning that the governor’s office is currently in the process of identifying qualified candidates for the board. With less than a month left in the session, lawmakers have little wiggle room to review the picks if they are appointed before their one-year adjournment.

“New candidates should possess the qualifications that Catherine Robinson Hall brought to the board,” Hamblett said. “Save The Bay supports removing the council from the structure, which requires NOAA approval. Until NOAA approves this change, the Rhode Island Coastal Agency remains in the hands of the board and it is imperative that the Governor nominate candidates with experience, expertise and a respect for the rules.”

After Robinson Hall’s departure, here’s who remained on the council, what they do and who they represent:

Raymond Coia, officially Vice Chair of the CRMC Board, has been acting Chair since the departure of former Chair Jennifer Cervenka in 2021. Coia represents Cranston, a coastal community of over 25,000 residents. He works as an administrator for the New England Employee Health and Safety Fund. His last term expired in January 2020.

(Under state law, board members can serve until someone replaces them, even if their term officially expires.)

Patricia Reynolds, also representing the East Greenwich community of over 25,000 people and serving as planning director for the City of Newport. Her last term expired in January 2020.

Donald Gomez, a retired Navy warfare technician, lives in and represents Little Compton, a coastal community of fewer than 25,000 people. He was last appointed to the council in 2022.

Stephen Izzy, a zoning and zoning attorney, lives in Cranston and occupies a large public office. Izzi was a partner at Moses Ryan, handling commercial clients and real estate matters, until 2020, when he started his own private practice.

Joseph Russolino, a certified public accountant and managing partner at his own firm, Russolino and Young LTD, represents Warwick and was appointed last year. Russolino has experience as a member of the Port of Warwick Management Commission and previously served on the East Greenwich Planning Board and Zoning Review Board for 22 years, during which time he was a longtime resident of the city.

Kevin Flynn, another Warwick resident, was also drafted last year. Flynn served as vice chairman of the city’s planning board and, until his retirement in 2015, was deputy director of the Rhode Island Department of Planning.

The last member of the CRMC is a person appointed ex officio by the Department of Environmental Management. On paper, it is supposed to be the director of the department, currently Terry Gray, but in practice, the agency is represented at meetings by Ronald Gagnon, administrator in the DEM Customer Service and Technical Support Office.

Coia, Reynolds, Gomez and Gagnon were members when the council approved a secret 2020 agreement with Champlin’s Marina to allow it to expand to Block Island; an agreement that was later rejected by the Rhode Island Supreme Court. Their presence made the council a prime target of reform efforts by Attorney General Peter Neronha and environmental groups such as Save The Bay.