East Providence City Council 9/15/26

Good evening and welcome to the East Providence City Council meeting of September 15, 2026.

Starting a couple minutes late. We're getting some technology fixed, but we're in business now. Madame Clerk, would you please call the role of the council?

Councilman Fogerty here.

Councilman Lawson here.

Council Vice President Rio here.

Councilwoman Soua here.

Council President Rodri here. Let the record show that all five members of the council are present.

There's no executive session. Uh please rise for the salute to the flag.

Thank you. Madame clerk, if you would begin the reading of the agenda.

Consent calendar for discussion and possible vote. A. Council journals regular meeting minutes September 1st 2026 cancellations and abatements.

Make a motion to accept the consent calendar.

Okay.

Second.

Motion made by Councilman Lawson, seconded by Councilman Fogerty to approve the consent calendar as read.

All in favor?

I. Any opposed? The eyes have.

Next. Licenses for discussion and possible vote. A non-public hearing for non-public hearings. Special evented one-day entertainment license. Molly Burgess housewarming piano. Date September 19th 400 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Special evented one-day entertainment license. Steve Saltz cornhole competition.

September 16th 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Special evented one-day alcohol license.

Ryan Benedict, Dips and Dips Catering, Witches Parade, October 17th, 9:00 am to 4 PM. Special event, block party, Drew Shannon, reading only. Um, Crescent Park, September 8th, 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Rock the Vote. Special event, one-day entertainment license, read only, Crest of the Park, Rock the Vote, September 8th, 5:00 p. p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

New Mobilebile Food Establishment, Readin Only, PA X. Sam's New York system 9 um the event date was September 8th, 2026.

New Mobilebile Food Establishment Reading Only Rich Guckle FYI Food LLC event date September 8th 2026.

There a motion to bundle.

So moved.

Motion by Councilman Lawson. Is there a second?

Second.

Second by Council Vice President Rio.

All in favor of the bundle for the seven I I I. Any opposed? Motion to approve items one through seven.

Motion Councilman Lawson to approve items one through seven as read.

There a second.

Second.

Second. Council Vice President Regal.

All in favor?

I I. Any opposed?

The eyes have. Thank you. Next item.

Communications. Nancy Hill will not be able to attend today.

Council members, public comment.

No one signed up for public comment.

Okay. Um, Captain Ferrer, you had mentioned to me before the sheet wasn't out yet. Did you want to comment without um What's that?

Well, I think when he was here, it wasn't out. So, no. No objection. Council, if there's no objection, uh, Captain Ferrer, you can come up at this time.

Captain, just uh name and address for the record.

Yes, for the record. Richard Ferrer, 51 Arrowhead Avenue, Riverside, Rhode Island.

Thank you. Welcome.

Thank you. Uh Mr. President, I'd just like to say um before I start, this is uh no espersions against the fire department at all. You got a great fire department.

I know I've used them in a rescue, so I know what they can do. However, there is a seems to be a problem with the inter mural assistance between cities.

East Proidence residents, some are very old, are getting supplementary bills from Warren and other cities for that. They haven't called the rescue, but because the rescue was busy, rescues had to come in from other cities to assist like we do with Providence and vice versa.

In a couple of cases, these elderly people received bills of $200.

or the supplementary uh um cardiac evaluations going to the hospital.

Now, East Proidence residents should not have to pay for rescue services.

That's unacceptable.

It happens. And when these people call me because they know the next cop and I must know what's going on, um I tell them just call. But they shouldn't have to. Some people have dementia. They don't. They have guardians that that you know just look at it and they panic and they pay the bill and it's not right. So the intermural uh agreement between cities should be finalized to a point where the residents of that

community should not be given supplementary bills for emergency services.

Secondly, potholes. I know it's a picky thing. How many going to say this? Ferrari is very picky. Well, if we were picky about the Washington Bridge, I wouldn't be here talking about it.

So, a contract I've been work details as a police officer for 30 years.

Contractors are coming in putting asphalt down, leaving potholes at the drains instead of lifting the drains up.

And when the asphalt comes, it covers them so you have a straight road.

And it wasn't being done recently.

uh between the fire department and 114 Trail go to Bucket Avenue when I come off 114 uh east expressway hit a bump and I'm saying what the heck that was just done.

There was a big big pothole there man-made not by the frost heaves or the winter or mother nature. That contractor should not have been paid. That should have been inspected and the contractor should not have been paid until that's finished. The last thing, and this happens, this has happened many times. Now, it's a state road. It's not a city responsibility directly, but if I sent a letter to the Department

of Transportation, they put it in file 13. city clerk does it because the council is aware and our public works director it's a different story I'm not talking about city roads now talking about the state roads old ham school I think the Rick and I will disagree by the way thank you Rick for your service for the vets in in in a soua for help us um old school

I know the city wants to put u housing in there.

We need urgent care this side of Washington Bridge. As a matter of fact, we need a hospital on this side because people in Riverside, particularly all around that area, you either have to go to Warren Avenue for urgent care and half the parking lot is full or you can't get in and it's just not a good convenient way to have health care. Oldham School should be an urgent care center. The

city should use that property for that reason.

And uh um people are going to the emergency rooms spending hours and hours when they can easily go to an emergency care get preliminary tested and if hospital is necessary go but here's the ironic thing. I worked in a hospital for 10 years as director of security at VA hospital. So I know the system the emergency rooms generate about 15% of the inpatients.

the hospitals will lobby behind the scenes against too many urgent cares unless they are directly involved with it.

I know Rick and I disagree on that issue, but that's it. Thank you.

Thank Thank you, Captain. Uh, regarding your your first comment, uh, you you are correct. uh city residents do not have to pay for rescue service either from within East Providence or when there is mutual aid and in fact question had come up yesterday to me from someone else and fire chief and to the mayor's office reiterated that no they don't have to worry about those bills however they do

any of us get a bill we we get concerned so I will ask the mayor's office Andre maybe I'm not sure if It's on the city website, but maybe there should be a little bit of a clarification for people. Not everyone goes on website, so that won't be the be all end all.

Why are we even sending a bill?

Oh, we're not. I know what No, we're Problem is when Yes. Hold on. Councilman Lawson, you have the floor. I understand it's mutual aid and it's probably just the system, but systems can be adjusted that these folks in East Providence that have to get a fire truck from CCON warrant, they're not getting a bill from those communities. Maybe that bill can go to city hall or whatever rather than the

individual who, like you said, sees a bill. Well, sometimes the other communities, we don't control them. They send to the family and then if the family gives it to one of us, we can give it to the fire department. They take care of it. But the sending communities should send the bill to our fire department.

I'm saying just bypass sending.

But we can't control seek conquerobid property.

We sign a mutual aid pack. They should know that we could do but but the bottom line is people don't have to pay. Yes, council vice.

That's the problem. It's it's not the city of East Provin sending the it's when that computer when that out of town rescue comes or even our system when they when they pick somebody up you know somebody gets sick here and they live in Warrick that automatic automatically generates it. So on those calls, we I mean hopefully technology and uh with the different solicitors, you do come up

with the plan that as soon as that mutual aids call that that bill goes to the East Providence Fire Department and they negate it. I mean, that's it's a simple it's a simple computer process, you know. I just I just don't need anybody out there right now saying that the city of East Providence is sending and that this isn't directly at you, Captain. I just don't want the public out there,

you know, all of a sudden saying East Providence is sending bills out. It's the out of town rescues that's doing it.

I don't need to have on social media blowing up that we're sending bills.

We're not sending bills. It's a glitch in the system. It happens everything, you know, it happens everywhere because if you get you get in a car accident in Warren and you're from East Providence, as soon as they pick you up and you have to go to the hospital, you're getting you're getting builds. So that and that that's what I mean. So again, my I just want to reiterate so before it's not

blasted all over the place, City of East Providence is not sending the bills.

Thank you.

Okay. Okay. And regarding um the pothole thing, I mean, we can certainly um put together a letter. We'll talk with city clerk and and I I think what happens is if it's not inspected after, we don't know until someone like yourself drives over it and then, you know, it's too late then. So, you know, we can um we can pursue that. And as far as the um medical service at Oldm School, you

know, the East Bay would probably love something here, but I would think that's a long a long bet away. Look at they couldn't even maintain Memorial Hospital in Pucket. You know, hospitals are pretty much down. I mean, the council woman was probably the expert on this, but um I I even physically I couldn't see the building being retrofitted for a hospital or a urgent care center without

a lot of cost. When when the bridge went down, it came to light that there's no trauma center on this side of the bridge. So thankfully the whole bridge didn't go down because if not if you were having a a heart episode or something you're going in a a river or a helicopter wreck or Newport hospital or something.

Yeah it is.

But good points. Um do you want to add to that council woman?

Thank you. Um Captain, thank you for your service and thank you for coming up here and and bringing to light some of the concerns that you have about the community. Um just to speak on I know the pothole situation. And this is something that I know I've talked about many of times, especially during the repaving season um in asking the city to please go out and inspect all work.

We've had multiple issues throughout the life the last eight years with contractors and their work um that they've provided for the city. Some streets come out great. Other streets are left to be desired. Um and that goes from curbing to the threshold for driveways. there's been ongoing issues.

Um, unfortunately, I don't personally know the process of when they get paid, if we get paid up front, if they get paid halfway through, if they get paid after inspection. Um, but the ongoing um, response has been that there's like one or two people in our city building that go around and inspect the work that our contractors do. And as we know, on any given day during the contract

season, we have things going on all over the place. So, they're just not able to get things uh inspected the way I think we would appreciate them to be done, but they're doing the best that they can.

So, see something, report it so that way they can go back and then hold them accountable, which I know that they are really good about doing. So, thank you for bringing that to light and certainly hopefully there wasn't damage done to your vehicle and there isn't going to be damage done to other people's vehicles um because of it. Um I agree with the um the urgent care. I mean there's we have

our aging population that are requiring more medical services. Um I know that uh Brown um her uh health university has expanded throughout the state since merging um with Rhode Island Hospital and the rest of their entities. Um but there's obviously a lot of work still to be done. Uh the city of East Providence does have multiple uh urgent cares.

Unfortunately, they're all here in the center of the city. They're not towards the other end. Um, and I think Barington probably has something uh off of the um Does Maple A still have theirs?

Yeah. But again, it would be nice to have things a little bit more spread out throughout the community. Um, so uh food for thought, I guess, with, you know, talking with healthcare providers or even uh practitioners who might be interested in opening some a practice up. So, thank you again for coming up and discussing that with us. We appreciate it.

Thank you all. Next item, Madam Clerk.

Council members, sorry, it says none, but um number one is the fiscal year 2027 budget dates and hearings. Council President Rodri's.

So, Council Vice President Rio and myself uh started to uh formulate a schedule. We met uh at the mayor's office yesterday and with the finance uh director also. So we don't want to delay too too long. We have our budget process uh on underway. So we've have some suggested dates. A lot of this has to coincide with uh legal advertisement dates. So we discussed this with the solicitor and

the city clerk. So these are we we can change a little bit. We have some flexibility, but with the mandated schedule, not there isn't much flexibility.

Um, madame clerk, if you want to uh read the dates, unless you want me to read them or Oh, they're pretty much just every Tuesday going forward.

So, yes, we do have to make solicitor number E. There is a change that's that's yes, Saturday. It should be October 13th.

Um, okay. So that we have to make that change. Um after the mayor presents his budget on on September 17, 20 26. Uh the most important date after that is the public hearing on September 29th, 2026.

When we revised the schedule, we kept it to a Tuesday because that's what we were indicated that we had passed and that's dates that you council members usually reserve that date. But you could have meetings any between those weeks if you want us notice. We can schedule 48 hours notice but these are dates on a Tuesday.

So the most important date is the after the public hearing on the mayor's budget September 29th you can meet every other day if you want and then the last day to approve the budget is October 66.

So that's those are the dates but um these are all the Tuesday dates are basically because that's when the council usually meets um then the deadline dates are set by right so and we'll publish and publicize but just quickly they are Tuesdays in September the 17th 22nd 29th in October it is the 6th the 13th the 20th and the 26th and that would be the last day to approve the fiscal year 27 budget

17th council president is just the transmission of a budget to the city clerk to you the rest okay so that's that's not actually a workshop okay correct right so this is just setting up the um housekeeping for the process any uh problems with this these hearings no someone oh I apologize ahead thank you so um as I discussed um with the council president. Um my schedule for my shifts are two months out. So I

already have my schedule set for September and October at the hospitals.

Um I do have Tuesdays reserved for council meetings, but other Tuesdays in the month I do work um because I'm not already scheduled um for council meetings. So I do have some conflicts.

Um I will however try to make some uh shift changes if possible. Um, but if not, I will uh let the council know and maybe we can change it to a different day during the week that I'm uh available.

Sure. Uh let let me know and I'll the 22nd and the 29th. Um I am currently not available. So I will work on trying to get that. Um okay. So we we we can discuss that quickly now. Do you want to go on those two dates to the sorry the 29th is a set date that has to have to meet that That's that's that's that's a charter driven and that's the public though. That's

that's a public hearing.

Yeah.

So that's when the public gets after the mayor mayor presents his budget has a right to the public on that budget and usually what we've done in the past is that um we then you use a use as a workshop after that. We haven't had right.

Can I just for a quick question? So if there are any changes made to the budget, we do have to have then another public hearing. Correct.

October 13th, I believe on the regular council is October 20th. So yes, there is a regular council meeting budget is October that's reg uh I think I think it's the 13th is the date. The last day that you guys need to make changes because then we have to have public hearing on your changes on October.

Okay. Do we want to try to go to the 23rd council woman or just leave it the way it is and Yeah, I'll I can find out when the next Okay. Okay. So, we'll leave it the way I've and when we get it Thursday, do we email you requesting who we'd like here for the 22nd?

Yes. Let me know. And I I think past practice has been to be the major department heads. We may not need Yeah, we may not need all of them. So, I make them show up to sit here all day.

Yes, exactly. We'll we will let them know.

Uh, Mr. Solicitor, do we need to vote on these dates? No, it's justformational only. Okay. This is not a public hearing, but do you have a question about these dates, ma'am?

Yeah.

Right. You're Mrs. You're Anna Rigo, right? Yeah. Did you sign up to speak tonight?

You came in after the thing. Okay. Let's see if we can get through this and if we have some time, we'll have you speak. I know you and I spoke on the phone a couple days ago or maybe it's a week now. Yeah. And uh again, it's still in the lawyer's hands, but so if you want to hang on a few minutes, but we have to go with the legally advertised docket

for now. But if there's no objection later, we'll have you come up. Okay. So, next item, please.

Public hearings ordinance for second or and or final passes for discussion and possible vote. Number one, an ordinance and amendment of chapter 18 of the revised ordinances of the city of East Providence, Rhode Island, 1998, as amended, entitled Vehicles and Traffic Summary to make Bourne Avenue westbound from Bratton Avenue to Frederick Street a one-way street during the hours of

8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on school days. Sponsored by Council Vice President Rigo.

Yes, Council Vice President. It's the second passage. Uh it's Bourne Avenue to Brighton. Um as you as you if you know that area there, that street gets very tight with cars off streetet parking.

This way this will eliminate any god forbid accidents with cars or children dashing off people dropping off their kids. So this is a safety measure that was requested by the principal and the superintendent to me and I move passage at this time.

Second.

Okay. One second. It's a public hearing.

So um are there other comments from council members? If if not, open it up to the public. Is there anyone here that would like to speak on this item?

Once again, is there anyone here that would like to speak for or against this?

Seeing none, I'll close the public hearing. And we had the motion and second. Madame clerk, did you get that?

The motion and the second. All in favor?

I. Any opposed? The eyes have it. Thank you. Next item. Number two, an ordinance and amendment of chapter 18 of the revised ordinance of the city of East Providence, Rhode Island, 1998 as amended entitled vehicles and traffic summary to place a stop sign at Roads Avenue northbound and southbound traffic at Burnside Avenue sponsored by Council President Rogers.

Again, we discussed this at the last meeting. There was first passage. Uh there was really no no disscent. Um, there are no other comments. We'll open it up for public comment.

Anyone here that'd like to speak on this?

Seeing none, is there a motion?

Motion to approve.

Motion by Councilwoman Souza to approve.

Seconded by Councilman Lawson. All in favor? I. Any opposed? The eyes have.

Thank you. Next item.

New business. A. Mayor Communications Director of Policy and Constituent Services, Andre Herrera.

Welcome, Andre.

Good evening, council president, members of the city council.

Tonight, I'm going to go through these items. Appointment, reappoint, requiring council confirmation. We have none.

Second, appointment reappointment not requiring council confirmation. We have none. And item three, we have a presentation on the SOAMS national heritage area feasibility study that is going to be presented by Jim Moran with help by Laura McNamera.

Welcome back to your your former residence. Thank you, Jim. And welcome, Laura.

Thank you.

Back here in the city council chambers.

Uh enjoying retirement.

I am very much so and um as you can tell, I've been involved with a few things postretirement, including uh the PS heritage area. So, I appreciate the council uh giving uh giving us the time to present our uh proposal here. We have a feasibility study that we have completed. And I did a a a brief PowerPoint presentation. Um but before I really get started, I just wanted to give uh kudos to the board of members

that are part of the PS heritage area.

Right now this evening, uh Laura, who needs no introduction, has a storied history here in East Providence along with her efforts with the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council, but she also serves as the vice chair of the Psalms Heritage Area and um has been doing a great job in terms of uh the work we've all been doing over the past uh four years to bring this feasibility study to fruition. So, just to give you a quick

overview of where we stand, um the the the heritage area basically got started back in 20 uh 2022. We met as a group um going back I can't remember exactly. I think it was at Barington Town Hall at one of the early meetings we had and got together discussed this whole uh process of moving forward. Um if you don't mind, I'm going to just so use this my vision's not too bad. I uh

sometimes have to wear the glasses, but I think I could probably use this particular television.

Yeah, sure. Uh this particular television to kind of go through the presentation. Um you you're welcome if you want to sit in that chair and you can see better. Uh um Sure. I could do that.

Could just turn that mic on when you sit there and

mic almost fell off one.

Good point. Good point. Thank you.

So, basically uh again, this goes back to 2022. Um we had as a group um the board of directors have been working on this for quite some time. And at this point, we have uh a a presentation that would be uh presenting this feasibility study to the city council at this meeting. And we have some um overview information here on our presentation that we'd like to go through and discuss

what led to where we are today. So, if we could go to the next slide. Um the INDUP study in its findings demonstrate that the region of PS satisfies the criteria for federal designation by Congress as a national heritage area.

And um it's important to note that the current heritage area is a local heritage area, but it has not received national heritage area designation. So what this feasibility study does is determines if we meet the criteria, if the Psalms region meets the criteria for designation as a uh national heritage area.

Next slide.

And you know the history of this area is very interesting going back more than 12,000 years. Tribes have existed here for that long. Um the history's been rich over those years. There's been a lot of various communities that have been here over that time. And um the important thing about this PS heritage area is that it takes a look at the entirety of the history of this area and the impact of all the cultures and

peoples that have existed here over these uh these millennia. So it really does talk about the rich history and I think we're all very familiar with the King Phillips War, Massoy, all the various colonial history. But there is also a prehistory here that uh goes back amazingly 12,000 years. It's hard to believe that uh you know that's that's as far back as our our our c cultural uh

communities go back and really kind of an amazing thing. Uh next please.

Um this is just a couple of images from the the more than 460 meetings that we conducted over the period from n from 2022 to uh approximately 2025.

And you're seeing a couple of meetings where we u had conducted uh special meetings where we were getting impact from board members. We had many public meetings. Uh Laura, I think you know you were a part of the places of the heart discussion. That was a lot of the work you did. So that was excellent. that particular um theme brought together a lot of people and brought together a lot

of great comments that came in as we were developing this feasibility study.

Uh next and you know you take a look at the the early history of the uh colonial history when Roger Williams and uh the members of the the Pocona tribe first uh met uh in 1621. um you know they both basically um were kind of unsure of each other initially but made a pact of non-aggression for 50 years that non-aggression treaty held up and and each saw mutual survival in that watershed alliance but divergent

concepts of law land ownership and personal freedom were worlds apart and would change the course of history and of course we all know that the history in the late 1600s into the early 1700s was quite u divergent indeed.

Um that image of course is a the peace treaty that was signed between uh the white um settlers and the poken hook.

Next please.

Um what you see on this screen are the nine communities that represent the uh area that comprises the PS area.

Bristol, Barington, East Providence, Providence Rahobath Secon Somerset Swansea and Warren and um diverse members from the each of these communities participated in the many meetings that we developed and I think when you look at the uh cooperation that existed between all of us. Uh it was a very productive uh period uh putting this all together. We worked with uh Point Heritage Development Consulting

who did an excellent job of developing this uh feasibility study throughout the process. We spoke with them. Uh they came to meetings uh uh one one of the principles was from Colorado, another was from Pittsburgh. Uh so they all came together from those areas and and and came here on multiple occasions and work with us uh virtually in multiple Zoom meetings to develop uh all kinds of

things. We had meetings with ST uh stakeholders. Uh it was a very productive discussion that that took quite a time amount of time but it was very productive and uh if you look at the map you can kind of see the map of the area that comprises this area. Um and some of the major uh areas it's hard to see um for the for the people attending this but there are a number of

locations within the PS heritage area that are very important part of the cultural uh aspects of the community.

Um next.

Um, and you know, we talk about our vision. One of the things we talked about a great deal was the vision for our uh for this uh community study. And and I'll just kind of read that off as um we envision a vibrant network of diverse communities united by a shared respect for the living history of Psalms. We aim to create a space where everyone feels a deep connection to this landscape where the legacies of those

who come be came before us are honored and the land and water are cherished for future generations. So that's that's the vision we generated as part of the study and is one of the major themes that's written with within this feasibility study. Um and guided by the criteria for the National Heritage Area Act of 23, the plane team focused on three core questions. What nationally significant

stories link the region's communities and help define the American experience?

Do the region's historic, cultural, and natural resources possess the integrity and concentration needed to convey these stories? And does PS have the organizational capacity and partnerships to steward these resources, enrich quality of life, share important history, and foster sustainable economic development. So those were the three core questions that the feasibility study were looking at and what the uh

313 pages within this document kind of puts together as the answers that we need to come to to determine its feasibility. Um next slide and if you look at the criteria these are the criteria that are identified. I won't go through all the details but there are these uh seven criteria nationally significant living landscape um traditions and customs which they certainly are when you look at the

Poconocs and the rich cultural history they have conservation recreation and education um criteria D is significant resources criteria E engaged sustainable and supported which uh this group has shown over this past four years that there's plenty of support for the uh for the national heritage area. Um partnership management entity. Uh along the whole process of this, we've been trying to

develop partnerships and making sure that everyone has an an opportunity to come to the table and talk about uh what is important for this uh national heritage area. And then uh a community supported boundary which over the years that we've been putting this feasibility dis together we have um gotten great support from all the communities including the city of East Province and including this city council which is

much appreciated. Uh next slide.

Um and again going back to consistent support and reaching our goal we've received consistent support from the mayor. Mayor Diller has attended events.

I believe at this particular photo is him attending um our session at the Newman Church and again we had a large number of attendees at that meeting. It was very successful and uh we got a lot of support from there but we also appreciate the strong support that we've received from the city council. I know that when we were putting this together was a resolution of support as we were

proceeding through this process and all of those resolutions and order and support were very important in our ability to keep this process moving forward. So, um I personally thank the council for for their assistance on that. Um next, uh the Psalms board of directors sincerely appreciates these province city council's support of our efforts to attain federal designation as a national

heritage area. Uh and this evening, the S board of directors, as which Laura and I are representing here this evening, um now asked the city council take the additional steps of accepting this completed physibility feasibility study and initiating all actions that it deems prudent to impress upon our elect our elected federal delegation to support the findings of this study and move to see the local SS heritage area

designated as a federally designated national heritage area. So um this evening um this feasibility report is being officially uh transmitted to you.

Uh I guess one other thing I would say is you know this is obviously a large document but it is available on the u psalms.org web page. So if anybody want to be able to take a look at this out in the public or if you're watching on television or or YouTube or wherever you're watching this uh you can go to the psalms.org or and on the front page, it actually talks about the uh the

study. Uh on the top of the uh drop-down menu, there's a a drop down for the feasibility study. You can just select that, hit the button, and it will open up as a PDF for anybody to read. And it includes the full document, so anybody can read it and uh and uh basically uh save a few trees by not having to print it.

You have to use the mic because it's being recorded. Thanks. Just push that button on.

Thank you, M. M.

There's also an executive summary which is the shortened version of this which will give you the highlights of the report, but we hope that you will read it. Um, in addition to your letter of support, we have 73 other letters letters of support from the nine communities. And if you want to talk about trying to get elected officials to agree on something, try hurting nine communities together to make it happen.

And we were able to accomplish that. We thank you for your support.

Absolutely. And and the you know the other thing too is that um this is basically an ongoing process. You know as we move forward we are going to be working um as a body. The board of directors will continue to meet and work diligently to uh see this uh area um reach its designation as a as a federally uh designated national heritage area. So, Laura and I, we're here to answer any questions that you

might have and we really do appreciate your time this evening to allow us to present this study and answer any questions you Oh, I'm sure we appreciate your time and I know this goes back some years uh in the working. I want to thank also former Councilman Cahoun who I know with myself has started attending some of these uh early sessions years ago.

legally or officially tonight? Are you requesting us to approve or accept the report that you're presenting? I guess that would make it official.

That's what we're doing tonight. We're we're presenting it to the council. U we had talked with Andre about whether or not we wanted to discuss a resolution to support the uh findings of the feasibility study. That can certainly be discussed. Uh if we needed to do that at a future uh meeting, we can do that. And then anything else that the council feels that that would help us uh uh

strengthen our our our our case for a national heritage area would be greatly appreciated.

Sure. I would think after comments and questions, we could um I'll entertain a motion to accept the report tonight and then we could work on a more formal resolution for the next meeting so you can have that in hand also. But are there other comments or questions of the council?

Yeah.

Yes, councilwoman. Um, so thank you both for being here and thank you so much for your years of work and dedication towards this. It's really something very important. It affects a lot of people in our community um in in our state. Um, couple of questions. One, that executive um synopsis, is it online also or do you have Okay. Is it like at the end? Um, I'm just I you we were nice enough to

get the brochure. Um, and I know we have a pile. So, I'd ask the city clerk to um put some at the uh office at the city clerk's office and maybe at the table outside um the elevators so that uh the community when they come into city hall if they wanted they can grab it. Um, additionally, the QRS code also scans and goes right to that website that has the feasibility study which I did while

you guys were talking just to make sure.

Um so I just wanted to because again 317 pages as you correctly uh stated um is is going to be daunting to read through. Um so I am interested in the the cliffnote version this um but where would that I don't see that techn is it on the last page of the physibility study at the top of the page. I haven't looked at it. It might be on the desktop version but I can

Okay. Yeah later on.

That's fair. So yeah, I'll check it online just to make sure on the computer because a lot of things do not translate onto mobile devices. So thank you for that. Um otherwise um I am I think it's a great idea to put something formal from the entire council sponsoring uh a resolution um and doing that for the next council meeting. So whatever language you guys uh want to provide and then we can add

some more meat and potatoes to it and that'd be great.

Be great.

Thank you. And the other thing we we would ask if you speak with any of our congressional delegation, please remind them about this. Um that's our next step to go to Congress. We do need to sponsor. So we're going to the Massachusetts and Rhode Island congressional delegation to put it into effect. And hopefully we'll get moving on it this year. There are some national heritage areas being considered right

now on a bill. So we're hoping to get um put into that package and then year.

We'll we'll do council vice president.

You just Laura, you just answered one of my questions. Obviously, this is interstate, so it's going to be delegations from Rhode Island and Massachusetts being involved. My next question is, how long is the process taking Congress to uh get this area recognized?

It depends on how long they want to talk about it. Um it could they could put it in now. Um they're going back in um one more week. I think they're going back into session. Um, it could be done as early as the end of this year or they could table it and then put it towards next year. Um, they're all unique and different. It depends how many national heritage areas are they're considering.

There's 62 right now that are already in in um existence around the country. We heard that there was at least three or four under consideration right now and we hope to be part of that.

Right. That's what we're trying to see if we can get that incorporated into the other national heritage areas that are being uh discussed. And in fact, I think our consultant actually is involved with the designation of another one that's located, I think, in Arkansas. So, we're trying to work to see if we can't get that added to the discussion. We've got a lot of people talking to one another.

We've got great members on our board who are very active and um have been discussing this and it's been a very important part of trying to make sure that our our our delegation is fully aware of exactly what we've accomplished and we want how we want to move forward with this.

Thank you. Uh, is there a motion to accept the the report as received tonight?

Motion to accept.

Second.

Motion, Councilman Lawson, seconded by Councilwoman Soua. All in favor?

I. Any opposed?

The eyes have it. Uh Jim, would you um have some time over the next several days or weeks, whatever, to work with the solicitor on wording for a resolution? Sure. And then we'll um we'll get that ready for the next meeting or two.

Yeah, that's fine. And and also I I I've been working occasionally with the planning department to discuss things.

Sure. whomever if you work with them to also and talk with uh Patrick Hanner has kind of been since my retirement Patrick has kind of taken the local role of uh being the planning department's contact for the psalms discussion so look forward to talking with him as well one quick I I will gladly text Congressman tomorrow to get this going but um department of interior have any say in any of this

that's where it starts with them and they're under the national park service Okay.

They're they're the ones that sign off on it.

Okay. Are we anticipating any problem?

We haven't run into any. Uh National has reviewed it and we met all the criteria.

Um there are some groups that put their um paperwork together with a lot missing and ours is ready to go. So just need the sponsorship and then we can present it.

Okay. So they put it forward in front of Congress or any congressman can put it forward. Any can, but we would prefer to have a Rhode Island or Mass andor Massachusetts congressman, right? No. No. My only concern is with the national political environment if there's going to be any push back from the administration on stuff like this, but that's it.

We don't anticipate any, but you it shouldn't. It absolutely shouldn't, but Okay. Thanks.

Just one follow-up question. Do we have any have there been any other municipalities either in Rhode Island or Massachusetts that have already provided a resolution or supporting um documents that we we've received resolutions of support from all of the communities the nine alto together and as we move forward with the presentation of the feasibility study. I don't know how many I think we're one of the first to

actually present the feasibility study to the council.

Last night I was in Bington Oh, good. Okay. So, we so we're working on getting these all to the council so they can accept them and then we can move to the next step of really lobbying.

So, there hasn't been resolutions request in the congressional delegations yet because I was going to say we just copy and paste.

Well, we can go now. We don't need the resolution. Already approved it whenized it.

But when you said other communities voted on it, that was about the feasibility part, right? Not the actual request, the concept. heritage. No, we've already received support on that.

There's 72 letters in that document.

Yeah, we we approved it like a couple of months ago.

You did. That's correct. Yeah. And again, that was uh very helpful because as we're talking to the National Park Service, I mean, it's one of those things where too many letters of support is not a problem. as many letters of support as possible are better and the more we get the more strength we have in our argument that this is a popular and uh very uh culturally significant effort

and quite frankly you know we've said it all along too that it's certainly from a recreation standpoint from a lot of various aspects it's very important but it's also important for economic development for re receiving future federal grants if we're applying for federal funding all the communities that might be applying ing for that funding would be would strengthen their ability

to receive funding, especially in areas that support the the heritage area. So, these are all positives that I think would bring a lot of um great things to this region, just like the Blackstone Valley designation.

Exactly.

Yeah, that's right. Exactly.

Perfect.

Thank you.

I will say over the years working with you two, I know everything's going to be topnotch and you got my full support.

So, whatever you guys need.

Thank you, Councilman. Appreciate. Thank you both uh for being here in and Jim in retirement. Thank you for your civic uh involvement still.

My pleasure. Thank you.

Much appreciated. Thanks again.

Next item.

Resolutions for discussion and possible vote. Number one, resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract with Osheen, Inc. to support cyber security improvements within the city.

$268,450 grant funds will be used to build the fiber backbone throughout the city and 70,670 of the grant funds will use will be used for the necessary hardware to support network redundancy introduced by council president Rodri and council vice president Rigo. So this large amount of um grant funding uh is to help with uh cyber security mostly in uh public safety areas and related areas and is

especially uh important in in this day and age of um ransomware and AI inevitability and abuses uh that we are getting. So I I have asked our director of IT to um present this a little clearer picture for us and describe uh what we're going to do with this uh large award.

Uh thank you councel.

Thank thank you and just your name and title for the record.

My apologies. My name is Carlos Sbrano the director of technology for the city of East Providence.

Um so for the first project is basically for a um to make our networks better. So it's going to be like an SDWAN project.

So basically it's going to be a fiber buildout uh for all emergency responding buildings to include DPW city hall the four uh fire station the police station.

Um in the past uh there has been some issues with the network and uh this is going to be improving it and also making it more resilient in case um it does go down via like any um LAN connection.

We're going to have like a a wireless backup through either AT&T or any of the other carriers depending on the buildings and what uh carrier has the best um service in that area and that's fastest service in the area. So, it's going to be more secure, uh, more resilient in the sense like the it going to be multiple ways into the city in each building. Um, and overall, it's just going to improve like the security

in the city overall.

And do you want to describe the second part of this while while you're there?

The second portion of it is basically going to be um the networking equipment that goes in the background. uh that basically will support this uh network infrastructure. Um this is uh basically we have to replace it around every seven to eight years. So basically we were able to get uh federal grant federal grant funding to uh basically take care of the this part of the project too as

well sir. So the duration will be about seven or the smaller part of networking equipment like the uh fiber usually um now they're kind of like warrantying it for like 50 years. I can't guarantee that but that's what it's supposed to last. So that uh bigger chunk should not be like needed for another at least 20 to 30 years. They do warranty it for like 50 years sir. So certainly seems

like something we we uh don't want to miss the boat on. Yes, council vice president.

I'd like to commend the director first for his work here in the last three years. Is it been two years you've been here with us so far? Two and a half years.

Uh two and a half, sir.

Years. I want to commend you on that.

But besides all the technology upgrades you've done, you've gone beyond and getting these grants where you just didn't worry about the IT information, making sure everything flew right in the city. Your uh diligence and going out and getting these grants, I commend you on saving the taxpayers of the city of East Providence boatload of money. I thank you again.

I I appreciate those words, sir, but I can't take all the credit because uh Chief Kerry has helped me a lot with this grant. So, it's all you car.

It's a team uh it's a team effort, sir.

Said that.

No, thank you. Uh well, well said. Uh both of you both of you for what you've done. You say you're saving the taxpayers money, things that don't go that go unappreciated.

And um I commend you again. I commend the you know the chief as well.

Other questions or comments?

Councilwoman just want to say that thank you. I had had my questions and you answered them before um the meeting. Um so uh thank you for that clarification.

You're welcome. Councilwoman further questions.

Thank you councilwoman.

Okay. Is there a motion to motion on the first resolution? I move passage. Second motion by council vice president Rigo on the first resolution that was read uh that's letter D and seconded by councilwoman Souza.

Further discussion all in favor?

I I any opposed? The eyes have it.

Councilwoman Soua motion uh approves of the second resolution number two under letter D. Is there a second?

Yeah. Can we just read it into the record?

Oh, sure. We didn't read that yet. Okay.

Madame Clerk, you want to read part two?

Number two, resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract with Staret Solutions, Inc. in the amount of $197,92 to support the cyber security matters introduced by Council President Rogers and Council Vice President Rego.

I make a motion to approve. Um, and just for the record, um, that is also part of grant funding.

Yes. Second. Is there a second?

Second.

Second. Councilman Fogerty. All in favor? I. Any opposed? The eyes have it.

Thank you, director.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Next item.

Number three, resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract with me.

O'Brien and Sons for improvements to Glenn Lion Park and Liborne Park sponsored by Vice President Ria.

Yes, council vice president.

Thank you, Mr. President. Um, this is the end of the opera funding to improve both these playgrounds. As I spoke at the last meeting, it's been over 30 years that the pox in the northern part of the city were touched.

Uh great improvements again to the walkway lighting. And this is the final step as far as new play equipment for both uh from newborns all the way up to teenagers. When we were up at Glenline, we even had some of the teenage kids look at the books and picked out the equipment. They stayed in budget, which was a good thing, but um it's nice we'll have more playgrounds in the city uh that have adaptive

playground for children with disability.

Both of these playgrounds will have that. So I move passage. Thank you.

Second.

Motion by council vice president Rigo, seconded by Councilwoman Souza. All in favor?

I. Any opposed? The eyes have it.

Point of order, Mr. President.

Yes.

Uh we skipped number C for my fellow council person uh report of the uh school committee leaison that got skipped over. So I at this time I asked that we move to that back to that.

Sure, we can go to that. I don't think anything was on the agenda, but you can some general The update is they passed their budget.

Um I believe they're going to be asking 106 mil. Um, they were supposed to trade. Did you receive the budget and the list of positions? They said that they were going to send it for you to send to us. Have you received that yet from the school department?

Got it. Um, Glenda just received it at 1 p.m. So, all right. Can you forward that to us tomorrow?

I haven't gotten it yet. It was just sent to Jen to um the director of Okay. They had mentioned they were going to send it to you to send to the council. So, I'll follow up with the superintendent on that. um you know biggest drivers um transportation special ed um you know this is a issue that it's a wider discussion than just East Providence every school department in the state of Rhode Island probably

across the country is dealing with cost and you know the amount of money we get from the fed and state we're appreciative but the way we fund is on the backs of property owners and I don't know who in America made that decision but um we definitely need to work with our state reps and find a way to help.

And the other secret, it's not really a secret, but the more we're building house and that's on the higher end and attracting wealthier people, our average median income is rising and that affects state aid formulas. Um the bills don't go down, but the amount of aid we'd received does because of that change. So um I was a little disappointed a couple members, you know, they do their yearly.

Oh, the council better do this and they they got to give us the money. Well, you know, you do your job, we'll do us, you know, um I'm going to push back on them a little bit on that. We have shown over the last four years how supportive we are. We approved that budget. Um Bob worked to create the um school building fund to help with all the repairs and

stuff. So to hear a couple of them kind of criticize the council and stuff was was you know I I noticed it and I I'll have words with them when I see them.

But um you know it is what it is.

They're going to they asked for what they think is the appropriate number and um hopefully we receive it tomorrow and uh we can start looking at it. I'm going to assume maybe next Tuesday the school be one of the departments we ask for the workshop. Um because that's the biggest part of the city budget. Um 106 million's a little less than what are we asking for? 209 did I see? Um, so it's

about 50%. So, um, I got some questions, but overall it's not it's not a budget of frivolous spending. It's the drivers, you know, um, heat, electricity cost, the utility cost. Um, as we know, the price of fuel has gone up these last few months. And because our budget Yeah. is not aligned with the state when they start at this time of the year. They're running on fumes with the cash on hand

that they have because they're not going to get the money until November one after we pass well after we pass our budget. So, um there's a lot of systemic things that cause the school budgets to rise and it's not any individuals.

Um there's always something in the budget somebody can point out that oh, why are we spending on that? But bottom line is you got to pay teachers, you got to maintain buildings, you got to have supplies, you need the support staff, custodians and stuff and that costs money and taxpayers. We want an educated society. So, um, just a heads up, it's going to be coming.

No, thank thank you. And as you noted, uh, we have not yet received the school budget. So, I'll I'll reserve comment until we get that and start our budget process. I would only make one one statement tonight. um all of us, but I'll speak for myself since I've been on this council, we have given the school committee every penny they've asked for. Plus, as a matter of fact, last year, I think at

your urging, um Councilman Lawson, we we increased the amount even though the school department was fairly satisfied with. So, we're there. We've been providing education with the necessary funding. Plus, now we're going to work together. This is not an us against them thing. We'll we'll figure this out, but the budget process will be starting very shortly. So, thank you for that. Uh

before we adjourn, um if there's no objection, oh, we didn't have another ordinance. I missed. Sorry.

And it's mine. Oh, okay. We didn't forget you, Miss Rio. But, uh you want to read that last ordinance? An introduction of ordinance for discussion and possible vote. An ordinance and amendment of chapter 18 of the revised ordinances of the city of East Providence, Rhode Island 1998 as amended entitled vehicles and traffic amending section 18-308 entitled parking time limitations 60 minutes. Summary section 18-308.

The purpose of this ordinance is to place a 60-minute parking sign at Warren Avenue, Southside, from a point 65 ft west of South Hall Street, Westerly, 60 ft from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday. Sponsored by Council President Roger.

Actually, also that should be sponsored with Councilwoman Souza and uh she has done the uh follow-up leg work on on this. So I would defer to you at this point.

All right. Thank you, council president.

So um mentioned this uh two weeks ago um and so it's back before the council with an amendment after speaking with the uh business owner and um others in the area. Um we updated it to a 60 minute um time frame um during business hours for the businesses in that direct area and it conforms with the parking that is generally along Warren Avenue. Um most of it is um timelmited um because of

businesses and to keep the flow um for residents. We don't want to um inadvertently negatively affect any of the residents who live in that area because it is a multi- um a lot of multifamilies in that area and they do use that on uh off- streetet park uh on street parking. So I think this was a good compromise. Um the business owners were were pleased with it. There wasn't

any um push back which is always um you know good to do. Make sure everybody's on the same page with things. Um, so I move passage for this uh first passage for this ordinance.

Second motion by Councilwoman Souza for first passage, seconded by Councilman Lawson. All in favor?

I I. Any opposed? The eyes have it. Thank you.

Um, Mr. We go. If you would like to come forward,

just pull that down a little so we can hear. I mean, the top part there. Okay.

Everybody uh I was here the first of this month and I did call the president to tell him was on a Friday to see what's going on and he said he was looking into it to get a response what's going on again. No respond. Nobody called me back.

So I just want to see what's going on with my property with my belongings.

Right. So um and what I had did mention to you is you know you could come back here.

I hesitate to get in the middle of a legal issue. I will ask the solicitor. I did call the day you and I talked did talk with our solicitor that day and um he may have other information but I'll turn this over to the solicitor at this time.

Mr. President, as council requested the next I think the next day the day after I did call the adjuster in the matter.

Um, unfortunately I have not heard back from him, but I did I do have an email and I and I I'm reluctant to get into too much of the details because Miss Rigo is represented by council. Um, she's represented by Mr. Jimmyfield who's a very qualified lawyer who I know personally and is a good lawyer.

Apparently, this seems to be dispute between uh Clean Care and her and the return of some of the Use that mic a little more. Sorry. This appears to be a little bit of a dispute between Clean Care uh who is the company that was hired to do some of the um cleaning of the goods and services. Um they were the uh Rhode Island Interlock Trust vendor at the time of the loss. Um

at uh about a week ago on September 4th, I was told that um the representative from Clean Care, Mr. Ernie Pulano uh had spoken to attorney Birfield about the contents matter and it was the the email that we got was that they are currently in the process of a negotiating terms of delivery so she get her items and cleaning here gets paid for the things he cleaned and it's held for her during

the dispute. Um the email goes on to the resident, however, is complicating the return of her items because now she's refusing to take many of her contents back or to sign a document authorizing the disposal of the items she doesn't want returned. Um and furthermore, she's refusing to pay for additional storage based upon uh the charges that she was incurred. That's all I know. Um it seems

like this is now a dispute between Miss Rigo and the Clean Care Company. Um, and I I don't really want to get too much into detail because I really don't know anything else about it. This, you know, but I do.

She is she is represented by council.

Um, as you know, this council has nothing to do with this. There's nothing we we can do. Um, it is something you can do.

Well, ma'am, we do not Yeah, let let him finish.

Do not we we do not control clean care.

We do not control the relative to local trust. Um this seems to be a dispute between um someone who suffered some property damage uh and uh the vendor and that's all I can say at this point. I'm I am not involved in this and frankly the council should be.

What can you add to that?

I was there two days ago. Is it possible I could put my photos on this TV?

Not tonight. No.

Not tonight, sir. Okay. I would like to come to the second meeting.

You said you were there yesterday. Where were you yesterday?

I was there to clean care. Okay, sir. They opened the bags and I said, "What's the smell?"

They opened the bags. I video and took pictures. Some of the stuff was clean.

You can see the where the package was.

He took it out one of the pillows and was still in there. The blankets, videos don't lie. And that was yesterday.

Mild, mildew, and everything. I even told him, "What's the smell?"

And he says, "We've been spraying every week. We come down here and spray. I'm not going to take those products." No, you're right about that. I'm not I'm not going to give that to my family to use. They took all the furniture, all the baby stuff. I still didn't get burst for my personal stuff. But I do have photos where they have all the stuff what they done to me with the food.

And Danny said, "Oh, maybe it wasn't clean." But it was in a yellow tape where all the stuff with bags closed was clean. When he opened that bag and I have a video, he didn't know I was videoing him and I took pictures.

And I even asked him, I thought you say you're going to throw that stuff away.

He got the mattress that matches the baby with mocks on it. And I says, "We're not going to take that."

And he goes, "Oh, we want to make sure you sign it off." And I said, "Okay." I asked, "Where's the sign for me to sign it off?" Never gave it to me. He goes, "Oh, you're going to come back." So, we made an appointment to come back Saturday started Saturday.

Well, all the other stuff they throw away, they didn't talk about reversing me, nothing. So, I want to know what's the best way to deal with it. I don't know what is he talking about the lawyer. And this is nothing to do with lawyer. I want my stuff back. I'm not asking for much. I'm asking what's mine.

What was ruined?

What? What? What? And I, you know, again, we're blind on this issue, but what is it you want back? If you said you didn't want to take the soil stuff, you guys throw all my furniture on.

We didn't take anything.

You know, the whatever they whatever they sent to my house, the the insurance company sent whatever they sent to the house.

Clean care company, right?

Whatever they sent to the house, they throw everything. What is good that you want back?

We're supposed to go there Saturday.

Yep. Yep.

She she was there yesterday or the day before.

It was yesterday.

And from the pictures I seen, there's not much you can take.

Yeah. I I don't doubt you. I don't even need the pictures. I believe what you're saying that this stuff is not worth taking back. But you just I don't know what it is you want returned back that is good.

I'm going to be responded to refund my money for my stuff I lost.

So you're talking about just being reimbured for loss of the furniture, everything I lost.

Now you've talked to an attorney, you said.

Yes.

What do they say?

Well, I didn't talk to him about this stuff like this because I figured this is my stuff, right? To get it.

Well, I would I'm not an attorney, but you know what I mean? I'm probably saying more than I should, but I would have your attorney call the attorney for clean care company.

They never respond to him and hammer this out.

It took him four months to get clean care to get to reach to the lawyer.

But you said your lawyer has not talked to them about this.

He did. He's the one to call me cuz somebody just said it. He got in touch with them for me to go check my stuff to go pick it up to see when can you do that Saturday?

Yeah, we're going to do that. I was there with my daughter and my grandson.

just think some of the stuff for the baby's clothes and everything still was okay. Of course, 6 months the baby grow.

The clothes is there was still marks on it. The clothes is not even going to need it for the baby right now. So, what I'm trying to say is if they throw the pillows the way they look, how do you figure the mattress would be if the pillows is on top of the bed?

It just don't make sense to me why they will save that stuff and to to see what this gentleman was saying about oh uh they they don't want to pay the storage. No, because I got a storage. I got proof of the storage I bought. They were say they were going to bring the stuff back and they never did.

So why should I pay them if they never bring my stuff back when I bought a storage for them to deliver the stuff?

They the day that clean contact us to come and pick up the ConX box. They had a conx box.

stuff there. We already been we've been through this already. I contact Clean Care and I told them, "You guys can come and pick up uh and drop our stuff off the same day they come and take the ConX box." They never responded to us. And we have proof that we contact them directly multiple times and they never responded.

And now they they want to charge us um storage fees, which I I don't think it's right. when we told them we even told them we're going to get a storage and instead of bringing the stuff here you we can meet you at the storage and drop it there because we got to go through stuff we don't know what we going to get we not going to get so it sounds to me like

they are not releasing some stuff because they feel you you have to pay the storage first I'm going to pay the storage right I'm not saying that's right or wrong I'm saying that seems to be where we are from what from what we just heard now now it seems like they're holding that so What's I I I guess if I could ask, ma'am, I I'm a little confused as to what you think

this council could do to assist you. I guess that's my question to you. What what how how do you think this council could assist you in this? Yes. In in this matter. And again, I do pay taxes in East Province.

Okay. I understand that.

Okay. I've been living in East Province for 27 years. I've been paying taxes.

I'm a Maric. So, I need to call him here.

No, I'm I'm I'm not suggesting you can't, but I don't know. I don't know how this council can assist you. You have a lawyer.

I just got a lawyer four weeks ago.

Okay. You have And how many times I've been here?

I understand that.

Let Let him finish.

You have a lawyer. There seems to be dispute between you and a cleaning company as a result of a property damage that occurred. And the way they handle that is to deal with the lawyer and their lawyer and whatnot. I am the lawyer for this council. I'm telling them there is nothing they can do. They cannot order a private company to give you your property back because you don't even want the property back. Now I

understand you. Yes, sir. Yes. Yes, sir.

So, this this sewage company is hired by the city to to to provide the service, right?

The sewage company is is is is contracted to run the uh the plant for the city. Yes. It's a contract. Yes.

They're a vendor. Yes.

So, us as taxpayers, we pay the city for the for the services. Who's contracted the sewage company?

Okay. So, the sewage company hired these clean people to come and take care of the problem.

No. Well, the the the the the city's insurer, the Rena Intel Trust, hired this cleaning company to clean up your house.

Okay. So, so it's all it's kind of a circle. It's all connected. So, so if like on the bottom because the cleaning service like the bottom, so if they're not doing the job, don't you think the person above that should make sure they getting the the stuff done right or even if the second step right?

Yeah. Now, I understand that you're not satisfied what the cleaning company has done, and I and I appreciate that. I I understand that you're not happy with the with the services that they provided, and I and I and that's something that we could talk to the insurance carrier with, but it seems to me now that there seems to be a dispute as you're not happy with the the um the services they they provided. They're

charging you money for storage which you don't believe you should um have and you have hired a lawyer to either try to get yourself stuff back or to get reimbured for the stuff that you don't want anymore. And I just don't see we can't order we can't order the payment by the by the cleaning company to give you money because we don't control the cleaning company, I guess, is my point.

And and I think you're going the right route. I think you had went the right route by hiring a lawyer, but there's nothing that we can do here. I and other than bringing it up and and we've made the calls and I have made the calls, but I just don't see and I and I appreciate this and I'm not trying to be um uh dismissive of your concerns, but I just

don't know how this council as a body could help solve your problems other than making the calls that we've already done and get more information. because it does seem to be a dispute sir and ma'am between you the cleaning comp and the cleaning company and to try to get your now it seems also to be dispute of you don't think you're getting reimbursed enough and there's a process to go through and that's all through

with your lawyer and you say it was not embarrassing enough you guys never offer me anything we're not we're not the ones who would offer you would we we would not be the ones to do that ma'am it wouldn't be the city it wouldn't be the city okay whoever put these people in my house they throw the baby's room crib, my living room, my son's room, who's responsible for all that they put on the trash.

Ma'am, all I can tell you is that the cleaning company or the company that was hired by the interlocal trust removed that material. Correct. That's they're the ones who moved it. Clean clean care removed that material. Right. So, yes.

So, and it seems to me that you're in a dispute as to who should reimburse you for that or what the damage was. And that's between you, your lawyer, and clean care and the c and the town's insurer. And the process is going forward. You may not like the speed of the process, and I understand that because I have a baby sleeping still and a play pen and so is my son sleeping in

mattress for 6 months.

But there's a dispute going on and and I can't we cannot solve that dispute.

This is not right. You guys, the way you treating people, even yesterday when I went to get the stuff, the way you says I'm not happy with clean care. Will you accept the way they giving me things? I got videos and pictures if I may. So the and I appreciate that you've come here and that you can continue to come here and voice.

Oh, it seems like it's not for help. He just said it himself. You know what I mean?

Yeah. So having been somebody who had to deal with insuranceances with my own properties, I understand and can relate to the frustration. Um it does take a lot of time. They don't want to do things. It's not a pleasant experience.

Um I think one of the things you want is what it sounds like to me that you're looking for is maybe our insurer or somebody at the insurance just to get my property to use every day more with why the vendor that they hired is did what they did or you can't resolve the issues that you've had with that vendor the clean company. I think it's a reasonable ask. I don't know if

you've spoken to the insurance company or if you've had your attorney reach out to the insurance company that hired the vendor.

He's not pleasant.

Not pleasant. Not the way he talked to me. That's why I went to get a lawyer because the way he was talking to me.

Again, I know it's a very difficult situation to go through.

But the gentleman works here, I forgot his name, on the front desk. That happened to him last year. Sue was back up in his house. White was so fast with him. He made three uh claims. The city paid him so fast like this. What's going on with me? Well, I believe that situation was different. It depends on the amount of money that's in the claim.

So, some things the city council can approve. Um, but after a certain threshold or amount or cost of repairs and cleans, it then has to go through our insurance company. Similar like if we got into a car accident and you just had a fender bend, but they never fix it yourself. So you don't go to through your insurance, but if it was a big accident and you can't afford, you know, your car's total, you go through

your insurance. So because your situation was a big situation, it went through, it's going through our city's insurance. I think you're just bringing to light that potentially that vendor is not practicing in good business with with obviously one of our citizens and it would be nice if they could just come to an agreement and you guys could mutually figure something out. Um I my things to use every day

something needs to be done.

So we we're not going to solve this tonight. My only last advice is this is if you don't want to do it yourself, your attorney has to keep pressuring pressuring the clean care company or the insurance company and and keep pressing them. Now, I'm sure lawyers know how to do that. So, your your lawyer needs to call the lawyer for the insurance company. If you need that information, we can give you uh the

contact information for the insurance company to give to your lawyer if your lawyer doesn't have it. And that's the next step here. The we're not going to solve this.

Is that Jamie Peterson? He's he's the trust.

I don't know the attorney at the He's the adjuster.

Okay. So, who am I looking for then?

Well, I would go back to him with your lawyer to Peterson and hammer it out.

We We can't solve this tonight here.

I understand. But this is the guy told in front of the people from daycare, "This son could still sleep down here with all this mess going on."

I don't know. I wasn't there.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah. None none of this is good. We we treated us. It's not good when other people had the same problems we did and they just got reimbured for everything and we not well.

And I'm not asking for much. I'm asking for the stuff for everyday use at home.

We we get it. We get it. All right. So, let's let's do that. seeing what we going through that the city or the mayor's office really like digs into what kind of people they hire to do stuff like this. Not but we didn't hire clean care.

I understand that but like like I say it goes from here to the sewage company then to the cleaning care and stuff like that. So I think they should look into it more how how they're doing business representing not just the the sewer company but also the city east province.

Well the first problem is how why did we have this sewage back up to begin with.

You know that shouldn't have happened but it does happen. I know of people in other cities. It's happened in our city.

It it it's a very sad thing.

Like you said before it happened 14 years ago. It didn't fix the problem and it happened again was worse. All right.

Well, we'll continue again. So, thanks for coming out. Hopefully, thank you for Yep. If I can think of anything else, we'll we'll try to make some calls and move this along. Thank you. There a motion to adjurnn.

Motion to adjurnn.

Motion Councilwoman Souza, seconded by Councilman Lawson. All in favor?

I. Any opposed? Meeting.