Residents press council on turf field, PFAS and professionalism in public comment

Burrillville — Several residents used the council’s public-comment period on March 26 to press officials for more study of the town’s artificial turf project and to raise concerns about PFAS contamination, the town’s legal response and the public conduct of council members.

One resident identifying her location as 183 Nancy Lane said both sides of the turf debate have submitted expert testimony and urged the council to “study this a little bit more,” saying residents were worried about “possible contamination of the water supplies.” The speaker added, “These are citizens that are only looking out for the best interests of the athletes involved.”

Deborah Brown, who identified herself from the public, criticized council responses on social media and said council members should “represent the town professionally.” Brown asked about the conservation commission’s decision not to reappoint Adam Schatz and noted that she could not find recent minutes online. Melissa Novicki of Whipple Avenue echoed concerns about professionalism and also raised the issue of whether the council had effectively bypassed proper permitting processes when authorizing legal action tied to the turf field, characterizing use of taxpayer funds for litigation as “misappropriation of funds” in her remarks.

Council leadership redirected Brown to the agenda item addressing the conservation commission appointment and assured the public that the reappointment item would be considered later in the meeting. No formal policy decision on turf testing or PFAS was made during the meeting; these remarks were raised during public comment and in relation to separate agenda items.