Richmond hires new town planner from North Kingstown

RICHMOND — At a special 5:30 p.m. meeting Tuesday before the regular Town Council meeting, council members approved the hiring of a new town planner.

Shaun Lacey of Westerly will replace Juliana Berry, who announced recently that she is moving out of state. Lacey will begin to transition into the job on March 4 and take over the position on March 11. His salary will be the same as Berry’s, $60,000 per year.

Lacey is currently the principal planner in the North Kingstown Planning Department.

“He’s got almost 13 years of experience between North Kingstown and time in California,” Town Administrator Karen Pinch said. “He worked in California and then went to North Kingstown. He was there for three-and-a-half years.”

Pinch said Lacey was chosen from a group of three finalists who were interviewed by a hiring committee that included Pinch, Berry and Planning Board member Carolyn Richard.

“We called him the next morning,” she said. “We were unanimous that he was our guy. He’s got great experience and we all really liked his personality. We just thought he would fit in here.”

In other business, Pinch requested, and the council approved, a $750 stipend for Deputy Finance Director Jennifer Fournier. The town is currently without a full-time finance director since Kelli Russ, whom the town hired in May 2018, returned a few months later to her previous position in Foster.

Russ continues to work for Richmond one day per week, but Pinch told the council that Fournier had assumed additional duties since she is alone in the department most of the week. The town is continuing the search for a full time Finance Director.

“Jenn’s been working alone in that office,” Pinch said. “She’s the deputy, so she’s had to step up and do things that aren’t necessarily her job and she’s been working longer hours, and it’s certainly more stressful being the only one in there on a day-to-day basis. She still communicates regularly with Kelli and Kelli gives her direction, but it’s not in the office.”

Richmond has also been named Rhode Island’s third-safest town in the annual HomeSnacks survey.

“HomeSnacks rated Richmond as the number three safest place to live in Rhode Island, which is up from number four last year, so that’s good,” Pinch said.

The Raleigh, N.C.- based website states that the safety rankings are based on FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data. The site named Glocester the safest in the state.

The next council meeting on March 5 will begin early at 5:30 p.m. to allow people to attend the Chariho public budget hearing at 7:30 p.m. The hearing will take place in the Chariho Middle School auditorium.