‘I have nothing to hide,’ former Coventry Town Council president says harassment led to her resignation

COVENTRY, R.I. (WLNE) — Months of heated discourse in Coventry finally came to a head as both the council president and town solicitor resigned from their posts.

Now-former Coventry Town Council president Hillary Lima spoke with ABC6 Thursday for the first time since her resignation.

“It got to the point where the environment surrounding my public role, the hostility, the vitriol, all the threats, the cyberbullying, the harassment,” Lima said. “It was time to put my health first, my family first, and my career first.”

Lima stepped down alongside former town solicitor Stephen Angell, both of whom had been on the receiving end of scathing criticism at meetings and online over the past  months.

Tensions first boiled over back in April, when a pair of town councilors resigned, citing a lack of transparency and frustrations with how legal fees were being assessed and paid out.

“I think that it got completely blown out of proportion,” Lima said. “Everything by Mr. Angell has followed in accordance with the Rhode Island rules of professional conduct.”

At the heated April meeting, Angell revealed details of a violent sexual threat allegedly directed toward Lima by one of the councilors who resigned.

That case will be heading for trial, and the former councilor denies the allegations, but Lima said the discourse has not ended there.

“About two or weeks weeks ago, there was a threat on Facebook, to me, to the entire council, that this person said if we voted a certain way on a policy, he would take all of us out,” Lima said. “He didn’t care if he went to jail because he doesn’t have much time to live anyway.”

Councilman Richard Houle put forward the motion on Thursday night’s agenda that put Lima and Angell’s jobs on the line.

“There was no other way for me to get these invoices. She had blocked every attempt I made,” Houle said.

“We’re all adults. We’re all professionals,” he continued. “We understand what we can’t release, but we can’t release executive meeting minutes. But we’re able to see them. So what’s the difference?”

Lima stood by her actions Thursday afternoon.

“I have nothing to hide,” Lima said. “I have done nothing illegal or nefarious.”

“I will not apologize for wanting to protect privileged and confidential active litigation information that could have been gleaned from those unredacted statements,” she added.

ABC6 reached out to former solicitor Angell for comment Thursday and did not hear back.