McKee, Warwick officials at odds over local appointments to Airport Corporation board

A plan by city officials in Warwick to get local representation on the board of the quasi government agency overseeing Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport has hit some turbulence with Gov. Dan McKee’s office.

Warwick Mayor Frank Picozzi said when he last met with McKee in December, the governor was all in on a bill sponsored by Rep. Joseph McNamara, a Warwick Democrat, to let the mayor have one appointment to the Rhode Island Airport Corporation’s (RIAC) Board of Directors.

Proposal to resolve dispute between Warwick and T.F. Green officials is now grounded

But as the House Corporations Committee heard testimony on the bill March 26, the governor’s legal team submitted a letter of opposition to the legislation.

“I feel that the Governor’s argument DID kill the legislation and was meant to,” Picozzi said in an emailed statement Monday. “That is why they presented it to the House committee in the 11th hour without informing me, so that I didn’t have an opportunity to challenge it.”

Under McNamara’s bill, the Warwick designee would replace one of the current directors up for reappointment this year. Three board members have terms set to expire in June: Jonathan Roberts and Jeffrey Bogosian, both of whom were appointed in 2020, and Board Secretary Christopher Little, who was appointed in 2015.

The board does have one member from the City of Warwick, John Justo, who was appointed in 2023.

“But he wasn’t appointed by the mayor, he was appointed by the governor,” McNamara said in an interview Monday morning.

Companion legislation is sponsored in the Senate by Warwick Democrats Mark McKenney and Matthew LaMountain.

At issue for the governor’s office is the constitutionality of McNamara’s proposal. McKee’s executive counsel, Claire Richards, wrote to the House Corporations Committee March 26 that only the governor has the power to appoint members to any board, commission, or quasi-public entity of the state that exercises executive power.

McKee spokesperson Laura Hart said Monday the governor still supports the concept that Warwick should have a voice on the airport corporation’s Board of Directors. The office just doesn’t support McNamara’s legislation.

“As always, our office is willing to continue the discussion with the Legislature and the city to ensure a constitutional path forward for having municipal representation on the board,” Hart said in an email Monday afternoon.

The airport corporation also opposes McNamara’s legislation.

McNamara disagrees with the administration’s assessment. He argues the 2004 amendment was meant to prevent legislative appointments to boards with executive power.

Should his legislation pass, McNamara said appointment power would still lie with the executive branch — just with one pick at the local level.

“This is not a separation of powers issue — it’s not even close,“ McNamara said. “The fact of the matter is, when the Airport Corporation was formed, it did have a representative appointed by the mayor of Warwick.”

Indeed, Warwick’s mayor had the power to make appointments to the airport’s board of directors as recently as 2011. But the state that year passed legislation designating all board members were to be nominated by the governor.

And the airport board would not be alone in allowing local appointments. Along with six members chosen by the governor, the statute creating the Quonset Development Corporation (QDC) gives North Kingstown two board members, as well as one each from Jamestown and East Greenwich.

Legislation forming the Quonset Development Corporation board was passed in 2004, the same year as the constitutional change.

“It is a highly dubious argument that the General Assembly would pass a statute creating a QDC board that violates the current language — in the very same legislative session it was proposing that constitutional language to the voters,”  Warwick City Solicitor Michael Ursillo wrote in a memo to Picozzi April 1.

Even with officials at odds, McNamara said he’s hopeful there’s room for compromise. One idea, he said, is to make the appointment a collaboration between the governor and Warwick mayor.

“I think that can be worked out,” McNamara said. “The fact that the airport has such a tremendous impact on this city, it is important you have a board that reflects that.”

McNamara’s bill is co-sponsored by all six of Warwick’s State House representatives, including Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi. In an emailed statement Monday evening, Shekarchi said he plans to find middle ground with the governor.

“My goal is to pass House legislation that will satisfy the concerns of all parties because it is important that Warwick’s mayor has an appointment to the RIAC board,” Shekarchi said.