[A] draft letter from the board of aldermen asks the State Department to disregard any and all previous letters of support for refugee resettlement submitted as part of the application process. The letter was on the agenda at Tuesday night’s meeting but was referred to committee for discussion after failing to receive the necessary number of votes to suspend the rules, which is required for the board to take formal action. Seven board members voted in favor of sending the letter and three voted against it. The Community and Economic Development Committee will take it up next week.
The letter, written by alderman Scott Tommola, says the board still has not received information it needs to assess whether Rutland can support refugee resettlement.
The letter asks the State Department to disregard Mayor Chris Louras’ letter of support; to disclose the full application submitted by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants; and to provide a description of the methodology used to determine the number of refugees resettled in any given community.
“The board has made its position already very very clear to the Department of State,” said Louras, “and I’m not sure there’s any utility in the board reiterating their position.”
In July the board formally withheld its support for refugee resettlement due to what it described as lack of information. According to Tommola’s letter “the withholding of critical information … continues.”
Sharon Davis, who chairs the Community and Economic Development Committee, said the board should play a central role in the resettlement process. In order to do so the statement of rationale for new sites and supporting documentation submitted with the application should be provided to the board.
“The board is not saying we don’t support refugee resettlement, the board is not saying we don’t support the humanitarian effort, the board is saying we need to have this information because we are accountable,” Davis said.
“Would you pass a budget without seeing it?” Davis asked. “This is no different.”
She said Tommola’s letter is simply a reiteration of the board’s previous request for additional information.
However the letter not only asks the State Department to disregard the mayor’s letter of support but “any and all previous letters of support … as well as any representations made by any individual or entity, written or otherwise, regarding Rutland’s capacity to resettle refugees …”
Board president William Notte said the letter originally requested that the State Department dismiss or retract the mayor’s letter of support. Notte, after conferring with the city attorney, told Tommola the board does not have the authority to undo a proclamation or letter from the mayor and the language was changed to reflect that.
Notte, who as board president does not vote except to break a 5-5 tie, said it is a “colossal overstep” to ask the State Department to disregard any and all letters of support for refugee resettlement and he told Tommola it was an overreach.
“I pointed out to Alderman Tommola there are so many people in Rutland supportive of refugee resettlement, so many people who’ve already invested hours of time in volunteer work to welcome refugees here,” he said. “And it seemed like incredibly bad form for an alderman to say, because we still have questions, I want you to disregard the opinion of everyone who supports this.”
Mayor Louras said that portion of the letter was especially disconcerting. He said the board has made it clear that they disagree with his position but “it’s wholly another matter to extend that rationale to other individuals and entities that wrote a letter of support of which there are many.”
Tommola could not be reached for comment.
Although he doesn’t think the letter would have any real impact on the deliberations of the State Department, which is expected to announce its decision in October, Notte said it could consign the board to a position of irrelevance if Rutland is selected as a resettlement site. “It shows we don’t need to be counted as viable players in this game,” Notte said.
Alderman Chris Ettori, who voted against the letter and supports resettlement, said it sends the wrong message and weakens the board’s position. “It feels to me we’d have a stronger seat at the table if we work in a collaborative manner with VRRP and not an antagonistic one,” Ettori said. While some people have legitimate concerns Ettori said, the board’s letter, if approved, “makes Rutland look unwelcoming to the outside community.”
Dave Allaire, a member of the Community and Economic Development Committee, voted in favor of bringing the letter before the board and said he’s prepared to sign it. He said that some board members continue to feel they’ve been left out of the conversation.
“I think we need to take a stand,” he said. “More importantly the voters and residents of the city are the ones really being left out. And we represent them.”
Alderman Larson also said many on the board feel left out of the loop and would like the State Department and VRRP to provide them with the information they’ve requested. “In order to generate good policy for the future we need that information,” Larson said. The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants has said that because the application process is competitive they will not release the full document. USCRI has provided the board with a three-page abstract on Rutland.
Larson said he was more concerned with access to information than the letters of support submitted to the State Department. He said Tommola had drafted the letter and it was his decision to include the section on disregarding letters of support. “It’s his right to put it in there,” Larson said. “I’m not going to ask him to take it out.”
However Larson noted that the contents of the letter could be modified at next week’s meeting.
Davis said that if the mayor’s letter of support represents a commitment from the “site’s governing entity,” as it is referred to in the application, it could have violated the city charter. The city’s governing entity, she contends, is the board of aldermen. The city attorney is currently reviewing whether the mayor’s actions violated the charter.
The Community and Economic Development Committee is composed of five members. A simple majority of three is needed to have the letter placed on the agenda at the next board of aldermen meeting. Davis, Larson and Allaire have said they will sign the letter. Ettori and Vanessa Robertson, recently named to the committee in place of Matt Bloomer who has stepped down from the board, have said they’ll vote against it.
Only six votes would be needed for the full board to approve the letter. The next board meeting is Sept. 19.
Correction: William Notte did not tell Scott Tommola he had “colossally overstepped” by asking the State Department to disregard any and all letters of support for refugee resettlement. In an email to Tommola, he said it was an “overreach” to do so.
