East Providence City Council 3/17/26

Good evening. We'll call the meeting of March 17th, 2026 to order the East Providence City Council. Madam Clerk, could you please call the role of the council? Councilman Fogarty. Councilman Lawson. Here. Council Vice President Rego. Here. Councilwoman Souza. Here. Council President Rodericks.

Here. The records show that attendance is all five members present.

And please rise for the pledge.

Thank you. Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone. Madam Clerk, could you please begin the reading of the agenda? Number two, executive session. The City Council of East Providence may meet in executive session pursuant to the Rhode Island General Laws 42-46-582. One, final ratification, IBPO, Local 569, collective bargaining agreement for the period of November 1st, 2025 through October 31st, 2029,

incorporating all previously approved tentative agreements as of January 27 2026.

Mr President. Yes. At this time I I for one do not see a reason why we need to go into. No we're not we are we're staying here.

All right so I make already said that. Okay make I just want to have the solicitor explain it. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you so as you know back in January 27 2026 that this council approved all the tentative agreements that were subject to the bargaining and changes within the contract. Since January 27th, the HR department, myself and the union and the president, excuse me, and the

chief of police have been working diligently to incorporate those changes. And HR decided that the contract was so poorly organized that he basically wanted to reorganize it

and put headings where there weren't headings before. So no substantive changes are in this document other than that. I think everyone agrees that it's much easier read, it's much easier to administer, and hopefully it's much easier to execute. And we actually cut down by about a third of the pages by changing the font. So it's a smaller

contract, and hopefully it's a more readable and more understandable contract. But there are no substantive changes to it other than what you have already approved on that date on January 27, 2026. Thank you. I do. And I want to thank the chief of police for countless hours of sitting around a conference table with a screen before us going through this, as well as Kurt Ripke and a member of his negotiating team

and Rob Perry. Thank you. Thank you. And the tentative agreement has been approved by both the union, the council previously. We have gone through this prior executive session, so it's been well, well vetted. Mr. Vice President, is that a motion? Yes, I make a motion to accept the contract. Motion by Council Vice President Rego to accept the contract and seconded by Councilman Lawson. All in favor? Aye.

Are there any opposed? The ayes have it. Five-zero. Thank you. Number four, proclamation and presentation. Thank you, Madam Clerk. At this time, I'm going to defer to Councilman Lawson to introduce some special guests that we have with us this evening.

All right, how's everybody doing? Could I please ask Paul Moss, Donnie Senna, and Scotty Santos to come forward, please? So, We're honoring these gentlemen because recently the Rhode Island Hip Hop Hall of Fame had its inaugural class and two of these gentlemen were among the inductees and one was the creator behind making it a reality.

Years ago I was asked to start an arts council and I got this firm belief that the city of East Providence can utilize the arts as an economic driver, has a way to brand this city. to make it an amazing place to live.

It already is, but there's so much more. So when I saw this was happening, I thought it would be a good idea to bring them forward, honor them for what they did, and also bring some awareness that, you know, we do very well in the city with the rock and blues, you know, but there's many other forms of music that are amazing and awesome. And I've been talking with Elmer and the

city about more music events to celebrate that type of diversity and stuff. So we are gonna honor these three. So I'm gonna read off the citations, hand them to them, we'll do some pitches, and then I'm gonna offer them the mic to come up and say some words. So we're gonna start off with my buddy Paul. I went to school with Scotty and Paul and I work with Donnie,

so this is in my heart, it means a lot. So whereas Paul, P-Funk Moss, a lifelong townie, is a graffiti artist whose art focuses on hip-hop themes. And whereas P-Funk has created numerous pieces of public art, whereas P-Funk has been inducted into the Graffiti Hall of Fame, whereas P-Funk's support of the hip-hop scene has won him praise and accolades throughout the country.

Therefore, the East Providence City Council recognizes this townie for his contributions to the hip-hop scene and his induction into the hip-hop hall of fame you make EP proud

next we have Scotty Scotty's also known by Mason but those who've known him for a long time he's always been Scotty so um whereas scotty dj finesse santos a lifelong town he has been working dj throughout new england and whereas dj finesse has performed countless of shows performing in front of thousands with many high profile gigs pc uh folks over here may recognize oh fryers yeah not this year whereas

whereas dj finesse is a regular on the juice 93.7 the first black owned radio station here in rhode island

whereas dj finesse was inducted into the rhode island hip-hop hall of fame for as many contributions to the hip-hop scene therefore the east providence city council recognizes this townie for his contributions to the hip-hop scene and induction into the hip-hop hall of fame you make EP proud buddy

alright so Donnie wasn't expecting something but if you know Donnie and what he's done there's no way we can not put him here so Donnie said a lifelong town he's considered one of the top breakdances in the region Donnie was instrumental in creating the Rhode Island Hip Hop Hall of Fame.

He is a strong advocate for the b-boy scene by organizing and performing in many breakdancing events. Donnie's also one of the top DJs around. Ask anybody who the go-to is when we need local stuff. And he's always playing Stevie Wonder for me, so I love him. So the East Providence City Council recognizes this townie for his contributions to the hip hop scene and his role in forming hip-hop hall of fame

donnie you make ep proud buddy

and i want to give these gentlemen the opportunity to come up say a few words and uh thanks everybody i want to thank rick lawson my buddy scott my boy donnie first i want to thank my mother but not killing me when I used to draw on every little thing in the house. If it wasn't taped or it wasn't chained down, I was drawing on it. I don't know how many times East Proud police came to

the house with a bill to pay for the sandblasting. I don't know how they knew it was me, but for some way they figured it out. The autograph.

So my thing is, back when I was a kid, I always looking for a place to paint So it was a way of expressing myself. I didn't really know what I was doing at first. So like the stuff you see on the side of the roads that look like trash, that's how I was. That's how I started.

But eventually, the more you do it, the better you get. And my art's taken me places I never thought of, like with different countries, Puerto Rico, everywhere. I've been all over the place painting. And I would like to add Rick or anybody in the council, if we could set up like a public space where kids could paint a legal wall where they could come. They police themselves, you know, as long as

there's no like rated R or no profanity or anything and everything's clean, they clean up their own messes and it will keep all the art and it will keep the kids from painting all over the place and it will put it in one certain spot where they can clean it and they'll be responsible for it. And if they lose it, they lose it. So that's my, I would definitely like to spearhead

something like that as well. So. Good idea. I'm more than willing. And Paul, I've seen so much of your work and you are much more than what you were doing in your mom's house. You are truly an artist and very professional. Thank you for all of that. I thank you. Appreciate it.

Good evening again. Thank you, Councilman Lawson, for this award and the council.

Like Paul, same thing. I probably scratched every record my parents had. So this was an art form and a culture that we embraced long ago. And I remember at Silver Spring, I was sixth grade, and I heard Sugar Hill Gang, Rapper's Delight, and a friend of mine said, that's never going to last. It's going to be a fad. And then 30 years later, he's sending me a text on Facebook

saying my kids and my grandkids love this thing called hip-hop that I told you would never last. Like Paul, I've been all over the country, all over the world.

I was actually awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from President Joe Biden. And what I would say, by working in the school, East Province as a behavior specialist, we have a brand, we have an amazing, amazing school. I don't think that we pay enough attention to the arts like this. I think that, like Paul, having a wall where people could create their art, music production, DJing, because it literally

love for there to be some sort of programming that really infused this culture into the school and diversified it in that way.

Good evening. Thank you to the council, Rick Lawson, Paul, Scott. First, I got to thank my mom and dad because they're the ones that put up with this little kid on Angel Drive spinning on his head in the middle of the street on cardboard. And they're like, oh, my God, my son is about to kill himself.

So they but they supported me every step of the way. And the reason why I did the Rhode Island Hip Hop Hall of Fame was because I wanted my daughter who's sitting in the audience, I want her kids and her kids' kids to be able to come back and see what we sacrificed for and the things that we were doing that it all made sense and was for a reason. I just

want people to be rewarded and get their flowers, so to speak, for everything they did for this culture. And I have to thank the city of East Providence because running the streets with this big one over here, And first off, whenever Mrs.

Moss, it wasn't all my fault, okay? Paul was good for blaming it on me.

So, but every first weekend of March, we're gonna throw the Hip Hop Hall of Fame and we celebrate all the different aspects. We have DJing, rapping, break dancing, graffiti, and we have honorary inductees also. So we have a 10 year project that we want to do. I would like to get a brick and mortar building to be able to go in and see artifacts from when the early

80s, late 70s, so people can go in and actually see pictures. And so the next time that we do it in March, what I want to do is I want to have the awards ceremony. I want to bring it back to my hometown because you guys helped me get to where I am. So I want to thank each and every one of you. also uh donnie uh we've seen you in in action and you

are very good there's a lot of room in front here if you would like to put on a quick demonstration you can take the hat off and if you gentlemen will come forward we'll take a group photo it's a lot of room

Congratulations.

Yeah.

dog PC like that? Wow. I was just mentioning they were out of it.

Just remember who won on December 5th. URA women are the 11th seed. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you, Councilman. Madam Clerk, could you continue the agenda, please? Number five, consent calendar for discussion and possible vote. Council journals, regular meetings, March 3rd, 2026 and March 6th, 2026. I'm asking if before you vote to table March 3rd because it's actually

not included in the packet. Okay, is there a motion short of the March 3rd journal? I make a motion to accept the consent calendar A and B with the exception of regular meeting minutes for March 3rd, 2026.

Councilwoman Sousa makes that motion seconded by Councilman Fogarty. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

The ayes have. Next item. Tax abatements, cancellation and abatements, 2021, $686.