R.I. Gen. Laws § 46-10-17: Appointment of agent for director.

In case the director of the department of environmental management shall be absent from the island or shall be unable, from sickness or other cause, to attend to the duties of his or her office, the director may appoint some other person in the town of New Shoreham to act in his or her stead as commissioner of wrecks, while the absence or inability shall exist. The person so appointed or authorized shall be clothed with all the rights and powers which the director has under this chapter; for which the director shall be as fully responsible as if the acts were performed by himself or herself.