Blais has been a divisive figure on the local political scene. The controversies surrounding his actions at council meetings dominated the headlines in 2008 and often overshadowed some of the council’s accomplishments, including increasing property tax credits for seniors and launching the process to build a new addition to the police station, among other things.
Blais was elected to the council in 2007, two years after he was defeated at the polls as an independent write in candidate for council. Since his election, it’s been one controversy after another.
In 2007, council members criticized Blais for discussing sensitive and confidential information when he talked to the press shortly after police discovered the body of a Woonsocket woman who went missing in September of that year. Also that year, Blais accused fellow Councilman Wallace F. Lees of making threats against his life. 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.
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.
That zoning case came to a close this year when the court ruled in favor of the town.
Here’s a look back at what else made the news in Burrillville in 2008:

January:
n The Burrillville Police Department launches an innovative community policing program designed to address the specific needs of the elderly and residents with special needs. Called the B-SAFE program, residents with an elderly parent, handicapped friend or sibling, a loved one recovering from an accident or surgery or anyone else with special needs can register information about that person with the Police Department.

February:
n A Harrisville man, Domenic R. Dimuccio, is arrested and charged with beating, torturing and holding against his will a 34-year-old man he had been living with since January. Ten months later in December, a Providence Grand Jury indicts Dimuccio on 22 charges, including 5 counts of first-degree sexual assault, 11 counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, 5 counts of simple assault and 1 charge of kidnapping.
n The School Committee approves a list of layoff notices to 78 tenured and non-tenured teachers, the highest number of layoff notices ever sent out by the Burrillville School District. School Superintendent Steven Welford warns that  less money expected in state aid; a projected $500,000 impact on the district due to the possible closing of the Father Holland Catholic School in Pascoag; and the district's obligation to pay more than $200,000 in tuition for students attending the Beacon Charter School and Woonsocket Area Career & Technical Center, could spell tough times for the district.

March:
n The Father Holland Catholic School, which was in danger of closing due to low enrollment numbers, announces it will reopen in September after enrolling enough students for the 2008-2009 academic year. The school had until March 1 to register 110 students, which was the number of paid deposits needed to keep the Sayles Avenue school financially viable.
n Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) is among the invited guests attending a ceremony to dedicate the Pascoag Utility District’s new well. The well off Reservoir Road is pumping 75 gallons per minute, or 50,000 gallons per day, to Pascoag water customers. This is the first time the district has delivered its own water since Pascoag’s groundwater supply was tainted by high levels of MTBE nearly seven years ago. The 2001 contamination, the biggest spill in Rhode Island history, crippled the village of Pascoag in August of that year, forcing more than 4,000 Pascoag Utility District water customers to rely on bottled water for months.

April:
n Acknowledging the burden the downturn in the economy has placed on senior citizens on a fixed income and low-income families struggling to pay the bills, the Town Council approves an ordinance to increase the amount of property tax credits for seniors, disabled homeowners and others trying to make ends meet. The increases are moderate and, in most cases, are about $100 more.
n The Burrillville School Committee elects to have the School Department join the Governmental Health Group of Rhode Island, which will mean a first-year savings of about $573,000 and a potential savings of $1.7 million over the next three years. (GHGRI), a non-profit health insurance purchasing group consisting of more than a dozen member towns and schools throughout the state — including North Smithfield and the Woonsocket Education Department — provides more competitive premium rates and lower administrative costs.
n A grand opening ceremony is held for the town’s new Jesse M. Smith Memorial Library in Harrisville, which was completed in April. Work on the library project began in earnest in 2004 when Newport Collaborative Architects Inc. was hired as the chief designer. In November of that year, town voters approved funding for the library and E.W. Burman Construction of Warwick came on board as project contractor. What resulted was a $9 million 24,900-square-feet state-of-the-art library, which includes a “River Walk” along the water’s edge.
n The Town Council meets with members of the Senior Center Task Force and Planning Board to hash out concerns and issues surrounding the projected $4 million Senior Center to be built on the north corner of a seven-acre parcel to the left of the police station on Victory Highway. It is decided later to hold off asking residents to approve a bond for the project.

May:
n USDA Rural Development State Director David Tuttle visits Harrisville for a groundbreaking ceremony to dedicate the Harrisville Fire District Water Department’s new pump station. The pump station, financed with a USDA loan and grant, is constructed adjacent to the existing station to minimize connection costs. This project ultimately provides a safe and reliable drinking water supply for users of the system.

June:
n Two months after it approved conceptual site and building plans for the $2 million expansion of the police station on Victory Highway, the Town Council votes to take the next step and award a contract for definitive design plans and construction bid specifications to architect Saccoccio & Associates. The new addition will provide an additional 7,000-square-feet of working space for the Police Department.

July:
n Town leaders vow to fight the Rhode Island Public Transportation Authority’s proposal to eliminate a segment of the popular No. 9 bus route that services Burrillville, Glocester and Smithfield in an attempt to address a multi-million dollar deficit this fiscal year. Four months later, RIPTA announces that not only will it keep the route intact, but it will also implement FLEX service in town.

August:
n Burrillville students are back in the classroom as were the district’s 200 teachers who have been working without a new contract since August of last year. Despite the protracted contract battle looming in the background, it was a smooth opening for district schools, which include Burrillville High School, Burrillville Middle School and the Steere Farm, W.L. Callahan and A.T. Levy Elementary Schools.

September:
n Bayside Family Health Care, a North Kingstown-based non-profit community health center, announces merger with Northwest Community Health Care, the Pascoag-based non-profit community health center that has provided services to northwestern Rhode Islanders for nearly 100 years.
n Aramark, a leading provider of food and nutrition programs, is hired to manage the Burrillville school district’s food services following the sudden departure of longtime food service director Michelle Selman. The change takes place a year after a former employee who worked for the program sent letters to school and town officials about the cleanliness of the high school kitchen.
n The Planning Board gives developers the green light to proceed with redevelopment of the old clock tower building at the former Stillwater Mill in Harrisville. The planners’ preliminary vote paves the way for Neighborworks Blackstone River Valley Alliance, which is heading the overall rehabilitation of the mill site, to begin work on the clock tower building, which has loomed over the sprawling 4.4-acre mill site for years. As part of the project, the clock tower building will be converted into 47 mixed-income and elderly housing units.

October:
n Richard A. Bernardo resigns as chief of Burrillville’s public works department after alleging interference, harassment and intimidation by Town Councilman Kevin Blais. Bernardo, director of the DPW for the past five years, change his mind two months later and agrees to stay after the Town Council votes to hire a special attorney to investigate whether or not Blais violated the town charter.

November:
n The School Committee rejects the Burrillville Teachers Association’s proposal to enter into binding arbitration and, instead, directs its attorney to schedule negotiations with a new state mediator. Union officials wanted to go directly into binding arbitration to resolve the two-year contract dispute, saying the protracted stalemate has led to nothing but hostility and mistrust. The teacher’s union, a unit of the National Education, has been working without a contract since Aug. 31, 2007.
n Under pressure to address accusations leveled by the union representing public works employees, the Town Council hires an independent attorney to investigate whether one of its own members — Councilman Kevin Blais — violated the town charter when he allegedly harassed and intimidated town highway workers, including the former director of the department.

December:
n The oath of office is administered to newly-elected members of the Town Council and School Committee. Dorothy A. Cardon, Joan M. Cote and Debra L. Stockwell are the newly-elected members of the School Committee, and Nancy F. Binns, Margaret L. Dudley and Kevin D. Heitke are the newly-elected members of the Town Council.
n The Town Council sets public hearing dates for residents in Burrillville and Glocester to weigh in on a proposed ordinance to create a dam management district for Pascoag Reservoir-Echo Lake. The district would be a multi-jurisdictional dam management district with the ability to assess fees to shorefront property owners.