Jeffrey Resigns From RIRRC Board

Just after Mayor Joseph Polisena over ongoing odor problems at the Central Landfill, his Chief of Staff Doug Jeffrey announced his resignation, effective immediately, as chairman of the RIRRC Board of Commissioners.

Jeffrey said during a phone interview this afternoon that he was facing "an ethical minefield" if he had stayed with the corporation in the midst of the town's lawsuit.

"I, frankly, was troubled by the position I was in — I was concerned about decisions I would make on both sides of the fence, so to speak, on the town's part and Resource Recovery's part," explained Jeffrey. "I felt that I would have to walk through an ethical minefield, and the casualties would have certainly been greater than just me — I didn't want to tarnish the reputation of the board of commissioners [and] I didn't want to drag them through that, so I thought it was best that I step down."

Within about two hours after Polisena left Providence County Superior Court, Jeffrey said he sent his resignation via fax to Gov. Lincoln Chafee's office and spoke with five of the six other RIRRC commissioners to inform them of his decision.

Jeffrey also said that, as a town resident, "it's difficult to look at this from a totally logical perspective," since he has his own family's quality of life to consider.

And while he acknowledged that the odor problem "is a complex problem," Jeffrey added: "I think, clearly, the process to evaluate it and mitigate it has to be ratcheted up."

Jeffrey explained that he plans to speak with Town Solicitor William Conley about whether he can talk with Polisena about the ongoing legal battle with RIRRC.

In March, the Rhode Island Ethics Commission issued a ruling that Jeffrey should "seek further advice from the Commission or to recuse himself" if a matter with a direct financial benefit to Johnston should be considered by the RIRRC board.