WEST WARWICK — Robert B. Boyer will remain the town’s representative on the board of the Kent County Water Authority, despite his recent conviction on three misdemeanor ethics violations, the Town Council decided last night.

Most council members extolled Boyer’s loyalty to the town and his commitment to revitalizing the community in voting to keep him on the governing board of the Water Authority.

“Bob has been a fantastic advocate for the taxpayer over the last 30 some years I’ve been in town,” council President Edward A. Giroux said. “The public doesn’t even realize how this man has stepped up to the plate. It would be a shame if we lost him … I think it would be a shame to not give him a chance to continue to serve the taxpayers of West Warwick in his capacity on the Kent County Water Authority.”

Last month, Boyer pleaded guilty in Superior Court to three counts of ethics violations as part of a plea agreement with the attorney general. Boyer, who runs a local surveying business, was indicted last year on eight felony counts of bribing a public official after the police found that he offered payment to the West Warwick building official in exchange for preferential treatment.

Per the plea agreement, five of the charges were dropped and the remaining counts were changed to misdemeanor violations of the Rhode Island Code of Ethics. Boyer was sentenced to one year of home confinement, two years of probation and 100 hours of community service, and was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.

According to council Vice President Peter F. Calci, one of the conditions of Boyer’s home confinement is that he can continue to work and serve on various civic and community boards as he has done in the past.

Calci said he had not seen a transcript of the court proceedings, but requested a copy and had conversations with Boyer regarding the matter.

Some spectators at the council meeting said the council should wait to vote until it sees the terms of the plea agreement in writing. Council member David Gosselin Jr., the lone dissenter in the vote, said that while he respected Boyer and believed in his ability to do the job, he agreed with them. “The reason I voted against it is I agreed with some people in the audience. I’d like to see the actual judgment,” Gosselin said. “If he served his time and afterwards, there was an open position, I’d vote yes for him.”

After Boyer’s arrest, the council removed him from the town Economic Development Commission and the Pawtuxet Riverwalk Commission. It also asked him to relinquish his seat on the Water Authority board but he did not do so. The council chose to wait until his criminal case was resolved before deciding whether to remove him.

David M. Cerullo, vice chairman of the Republican Town Committee, urged that Boyer be removed from the board seat and that a new appointment be made.

“I believe that Mr. Boyer has betrayed the trust of the people of West Warwick; he was convicted of that several times,” Cerullo said. “I think that all of the things you say today about him may very well be true, but this isn’t about one person. This is about a judiciary system. This is about trust in government. This is about we as a people rising above the type of practices that Mr. Boyer was charged with and which he eventually pleaded guilty to.”

At the time of Boyer’s conviction, officials said that since Boyer never offered money in exchange for a specific favor — an explicit “quid pro quo” — the evidence needed to prove a bribery case was not there. But the evidence supported the ethics violations, and consideration was given to Boyer’s age, 71, and clean criminal record in the sentencing.

tbuford@projo.com