A brief but heated exchange took place between the current town council president and a former town council member at the meeting on Monday night, Sept. 9.

The clash occurred during the portion of the meeting where the council interviews applicants for town boards and commissions. After the council interviewed Roni Phipps for openings on the Housing Board of Trustees and the Planning Board, former council member Ann Strong raised her hand while sitting in the audience and asked to speak at the microphone.

Barrington Town Council President Michael Carroll responded, stating that the council would not be allowing comments during that time but offered people the opportunity to speak during the public comment period later in the meeting. The public comment period followed the part of the meeting where the councilors voted on the board appointments.

Mr. Carroll also said to Ms. Strong: I am not going to allow you to defame anyone.

Ms. Strong responded, stating that she was not going to defame anyone — "it's all in the public record."

Barrington Town Solicitor Michael Ursillo also spoke out, reminding the council members that they were not required to listen to or allow comments during that portion of the meeting. 

Shortly thereafter, the council voted to appoint Ms. Phipps to the Housing Board of Trustees as a full member. The council also appointed Ms. Phipps to fill a vacancy on the Planning Board a short while later. 

After the interview portion of the meeting concluded, the council invited people to the microphone for the public comment period. Mr. Carroll stated that everyone was free to say what they wanted, adding "but there are consequences."

That comment quickly drew a response from Ms. Strong as she walked toward the front of the council chambers. 

"I take that last comment as a threat," she said. "I think you should be ashamed of yourself."

Ms. Strong proceeded to say that she had sat on many boards and commissions and not once had an ethics violation ever been handed down against her. 

"One of the people you appointed tonight did," said Ms. Strong. 

The Barrington Times contacted Ms. Strong following the meeting in an effort to clarify her reference to an ethics violation. Ms. Strong responded by forwarding to this newspaper a copy of an official opinion from the Rhode Island Attorney General in 1995 — Ms. Phipps was a member of the Barrington School Committee that was found to have violated the Open Meetings Act six times during a Dec. 1, 1994 meeting. 

Ms. Strong, who has also sat on the town's Planning Board in the past, offered one last remark during the public comment period at the Sept. 9 council meeting: "I think it's a shame that an organization that takes great pride in open meetings and ethics, that you would do such a thing."