Richmond council rejects Green Energy settlement, records votes and seals minutes

The Richmond Town Council reported that it rejected a settlement offer from Green Energy after meeting in executive session and voted to seal those session minutes.

Councilors voted to enter executive session under RIGL 42-46-5(a)(2). When the council returned to open session, the chair announced the executive-session outcome: a motion — reported as made by Councilor Wilcox and seconded by the chair — to reject Green Energy’s settlement offer passed with a reported tally of three votes in favor of rejecting the offer, one vote against rejecting it and one abstention. The chair read the vote results into the open record, identifying Councilor Wilcox, Councilor Nasany and the chair as the three who voted to reject, Councilor Jianyu as voting against rejecting the settlement and Councilor Folasanti as abstaining.

The council also voted to seal the executive session minutes. The chair said there had been a motion in executive session and that the recorded outcome would be reflected in the public minutes, and town staff were asked to process the sealed minutes accordingly.

No settlement terms were read into the public record in the transcript. The council’s public announcement only recorded the executive-session motion outcome and the names of members who voted each way; the town clerk will retain the sealed executive session minutes.