By JOSEPH FITZGERALD

BURRILLVILLE — The town’s Zoning Board of Review has sent a formal letter to the Town Council requesting that Councilman Kevin Blais be replaced as council liaison to the Zoning Board.

Zoning Board Chairman Raymond Cloutier has requested that action on behalf of the town’s zoners, who say Blais has overstayed his welcome as liaison. Cloutier made the request in a letter to Town Council President Nancy F. Binns, which details the board’s concerns about Blais.
When asked about the letter, Binns said, “It’s my understanding that in his position as council liaison to the Zoning Board of Review, Mr. Blais is viewed as an obstructionist who is becoming more and more noisy and disruptive at zoning meetings, particularly the last couple of hearings where his performance as liaison was described as egregious.”
Binns said members of the Zoning Board have described Blais’ behavior at recent meetings as “disruptive” and that the councilman has asserted himself in zoning proceedings to the point where he has questioned the board about permits and argued legal issues with the board’s solicitor, all of which, she says, is beyond the scope of his duties as council liaison.
The various members of the Town Council act as liaisons to other town boards and committees. The role of council liaison, Binns said, is to communicate back to the council any issues or concerns a town board or committee may have or to communicate to the committee or board any concerns the council may have. The council liaison is not a member of the committee it represents, she said.
As a result of the Zoning Board’s request, the council will discuss Blais’ job performance in his capacity as liaison during an executive session Wednesday night. A motion to remove Blais from this position as liaison is expected to be made and voted on.
Blais was notified in advance and advised that he could opt to have the discussion in an open meeting. Binns said she is not sure whether or not Blais has decided to take that option.
The council’s meeting begins at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 105 Harrisville Main St., Harrisville.
It’s been one controversey after another since Blais’ election to the council last year and yet another situation illustrating the problems between Blais and the town manager and Blais’ fellow council members.
Earlier this year, copuncil members criticized Blais for discussing sensitive and confidential information when he talked to the press shortly after police on Nov. 9 discovered the body of  Vicki Connolly, a Woonsocket woman who went missing in September 2007. Blais’ conduct angered many town residents as well as the police and his colleagues on the council.
Last year, Blais accused Councilman Wallace F. Lees of making threats against his life. Lees denied the accusations, calling them ridiculous. Before that Town Manager Michael C. Wood and a majority of the council notified the attorney general’s office that a possible compromise of an executive session may have occurred when Blais left an assisted-listening device on the seat of his car during an executive session after becoming ill.
Blais has also filed a slew of open meeting complaints with the Attorney General’s office against the town, and was involved in a court case involving the town and his girlfriend’s property on Tarkiln Road in Harrisville.
Blais was elected to the council last year, two years after he was defeated at the polls as an independent write in candidate for council. Blais says he ran for council to return accountaibility to local town government and end wasteful spending and backroom deals. Long before he was elected, Blais had butted heads with the town manager and council over a controversial junk car ordinance.
Blais has been described as a malcontent who is trying to undermmine the work of the council.