TOP STORY: Middletown Town Council shuts out citizens from speaking on fire dept concerns…

(The issue facing the citizens of Middletown continues to garner attention and concern – so much so that the Town Council meeting had many wishing to testify – yet, public testimony was not allowed. This story was our Top Story of the week.)

RINewsToday has been following the issue of understaffing claims of the Middletown Fire Department for several weeks, following a fire where the department was delayed in responding because of another emergency.

This week, the Middletown Town Council meeting was held on Jan. 21st. Members of the public showed up to speak on the staffing issue. However, they were not allowed to speak due to the agenda format.

The Council meetings are live-streamed. Below is the video of the entire meeting. At the 1:22:20 mark, members of the public are exiting the room, expressing their disappointment that they would not be allowed to speak – with a woman shouting as she left the room, “Are you serious? Our whole town is in danger…we’re in danger.” Our council member turns to the other, while shaking her head, “That’s our resident?” To which the council chair says, “I think so.”