NBC 10 I-Team: Westerly motel owner doesn't want to pay for state mistake
WEST WARWICK, R.I. (WJAR) — “I thought I did what I was supposed to do,” Tom Riley said outside his Sea Spray Inn, a rooming a house and motel he owns in the Misquamicut section of Westerly.
Riley said he replaced 10 windows on the building over the past year.
That was after the Rhode Island Fire Marshal's office found the old small windows to be in violation of the fire code last January.
Inspectors recently came back after all the new windows were in.
“They said they're still too small,” Riley told the NBC 10 I-Team.
The new windows still are not big enough to meet code, for a firefighter to fit through.
But Riley said he sent the window dimensions to the Fire Marshal's office before he bought them, and the Fire Marshal's office approved the plans in writing.
“They approved the specs on the windows. So I bought the windows, I installed the windows. I get inspected and they say these windows are too small, we made a mistake in approving them,” Riley said.
He said inspectors admitted the mistake in a follow-up meeting a few weeks ago, but did not offer help with what to do next.
In a statement to the I-Team, the Department of Business Regulation and Office of the State Fire Marshal "acknowledges a clerical error during the approval process for new windows."
Riley doesn’t think he should have to pay more to now fix the problem.
“I told them that the only way these windows are going to get replaced if I get a grant or something like that because I don't have another 10, 15, 20 thousand dollars to do this again,” Riley told the I-Team.
“They made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes, I understand that. It was not malicious. But I'm left holding the bag.”
Maybe not, though.
After the interview with Riley last week, the I-Team contacted the spokesman for the Fire Marshal, leading to the statement which also reads, "The Department remains in communication with the property owner and is currently considering various options with the property owner to determine a best path forward."
Riley said he still hasn't been offered an actual solution.
He does have a history with the Fire Marshal.
The Sea Spray was shut down for a time in 2019 after the Fire Marshal found the fire alarm system out of code and Riley fought back.
To meet code now, the new windows would have to be replaced, or a sprinkler system would have to be installed in the building.
“Somebody has to take ownership of the mistake. I’m perfectly willing to come into compliance but I don't have the money to do it in a short timeframe,” Riley said.