"Mr. Cicione works hard to move forward the agenda of the majority….That makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable. I want someone to be advising us on the best interests of the town and not the council majority."”

Tiverton Town Councilor Patricia Hilton

TIVERTON — Over the expressed misgivings of a minority of three councilors, the Tiverton Taxpayers' Association (TTA) majority slate of four town councilors (Justin Katz, Rob Coulter, Donna Cook, and Nancy Driggs) voted Monday night at the June 24 Tiverton council meeting to hire Giovanni Cicione to be the permanent town solicitor.
Mr. Cicione had originally been hired, as the then sole candidate, last December 27 at a tumultuous council meeting to be the interim town solicitor for six months, to serve until this June.
The controversy over his selection back then was that Mr. Cicione was professionally and politically linked to Councilor Justin Katz, and had had prior interactions with the other TTA councilors.
The interwoven relationships between Mr. Cicione and the four TTA council members that appointed him on December 27 are at the heart of a pending Open Meetings Act (OMA) complaint with the state attorney general.
The town over the past few months put out a request for proposals for other candidates interested in the position, and carried out a search and interview process. In the end there were four candidates, including Mr. Cicione, who were interviewed: Timothy J. Chapman, Robert E. Craven, and Michael J. Marcello. All except Mr. Cicione were eliminated.
"My vote will be to keep Gio going," said Councilor Driggs Monday night. "He has a good firm behind him."
"I don't think Gio represents me in the entire council," said Councilor Denise deMedeiros, who was critical of Mr. Cicione as appearing to represent the interests of the TTA councilors.
She also was critical of his work in respect to zoning matters. "We have a [zoning/building] department in total chaos right now."
"Mr. Cicione works hard to move forward the agenda of the majority," said Councilor Patricia Hilton."That makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable. I want someone to be advising us on the best interests of the town and not the council majority."
Ms. Hilton said her first choice was Mr. Marcello.
"I believe Mr. Cicione's work has been very transparent," said Councilor Katz, who near the end of the discussion made the motion to appoint Mr. Cicione.
Asked by Stu Gilfillen (from the audience) if he'd called references for the different candidates, Council President Coulter said that he didn't, because it was a "politically charged environment."