EP City Council 10/1/24

thank you all as as we begin Council deliberations I would ask anyone who's speaking to please uh maintain sense of decorum as we consider the events going on in the world today many of our brother and sisters in America at least maybe 200 have perished in recent storms some people will be without housing it looks like for couple of years and we know about events going on across the world where men women and

children are being um under stress and and killed every day so as we go ahead with our business as a municipal government let's be mindful of all of those things that are going on around us thank you for listening and I will defer at this time to Madame Clerk and to the city council woman from War I councilwoman Souza we're moving up a presentation on the agenda councilwoman thank you um so there are

two items I will start with the resolution um that's before the council today the resolution do you want to the resolution is a reaffirming relationship between the city of East Providence um Rhode Island and the village of V franu Portugal as our sister city um so I'm just going to read that into the record um whereas the Portuguese American Community within the city of East Providence has maintained a close

relationship with the country of Portugal and whereas many Portuguese immigrants within the city of East Providence originated from the village of V Fran on the island of s migala in Portugal and whereas with a significant amount of East Providence residents from V franka those immigrants came to the city from every um for everything East Providence has to offer and has brought with them their Traditions cultures and

many um their work ethics and whereas VF franka offers its thousands of tourists that visit each year great beaches inlets its famous custards kades V franu which is um imported from V franka to Canada Bermuda and to the United States our bakeries in these province also have them and whereas the purpose of becoming a sister city with v Franco du comp is to strengthen the relationship between the city of East

Providence and the village of v franka kampu in Portugal and since 1983 the nonprofit organization V Francis duovo Ina brought hundreds of people each year from The Villages Canada Bermuda and all over the United States to join in the anniversary celebration and where as the organization has an ongoing relationship with the city through its cultural educational events at Weaver Library

participations in the City events and Fund Raisers for various scholarships whereas the city of East Providence and the village of villa Franco duu are committed to developing tourism exchanging business practices creating opportunities for people and learning the experience in culture through a long-term relationship so therefore let it be resolved that the city council of the city of East Providence in

conjunction with the mayor's office hereby reaffirms the relationship with v Franco du um Portugal as its sister city with that I make a a motion to move the resolution motion made by Council Souza seconded by councilman Lawson all in favor I I any opposed the eyes have it thank you so I just wanted to add um for those watching and those in the audience even though um the city of East

Providence and I today am recognizing um my own culture um in a sister city capacity has we've done um before with the grand as another sister city I do recognize and the council and the administration recognize how amazing the city is to have multiple cultures and ethnicities and nations in our city and that it is ever growing and we appreciate all that have contributed to the culture of our city and that through

our celebrations on monthly basis is which um everybody is well aware who is in the city we support um all cultures and nationalis and we look to include them all um in the future thank you well said Madam clerk if you want to continue with the with the docket Breast Cancer Awareness Month councilwoman sus thank you madam clerk so um we're Breast Cancer Awareness Month um of October so

whereas breast cancer Remains the most common cancer affecting um women in the United States with thousands diagnosed yearly and it also does affect men um highlights the need for our continuing awareness and education early detection is the key to um uh to Pro um I'm sorry to prognosis and treatment um regularly screening self- exams um increase the success of treatments and um organization and Advocate across the

Nations do work tirelessly to support efforts in providing education and other resources that have impacted those by breast cancer so the city of East Providence recognizes the importance of the community's involvement in raising awareness um about can breast cancer and supporting the those efforts and during the month of October we honor all breast cancer survivors and remember those who

have lost their battle and commit to fostering a future that where the disease is no longer a threat the city of East Providence encourages all residents to educate themselves about breast cancer um participate in Awareness activities support local organizations that provide the assistance and awareness so now we'll let it be resolved that the city council of the city of East Providence does

proclaim October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the city of East Providence and we urge all citizens to join the rising awareness and support the efforts to combat the disease thank you once again thank you councilwoman dyslexia Awareness Week councilwoman Susa thank you so another um recognition for October dyslexia Awareness Month um it's the second week of October that we're dedicating for that as a um

dyslexia awareness week and um addressing the importance and understanding what dyslexia is um it's a common learning disability that affects millions of individuals um impacting the ability to read write spell and yet it doesn't reflect their intelligence most people don't realize they even have it till further along in the educational process before they're diagnosed um so early identification interventions are

critical iCal for an individual with dyslexia allowing them the access appropriate for resource and wraparound support to be able to thrive and Achieve academically and personally um raising awareness about dyslexia helps to reduce that stigma foring understanding um advocacy and teaching strategies in the educational practice and whereas the city of East Providence is committed to

supporting individuals with learning disabilities or different learning um styles we ensure that every resident has the opportunity to succeed whereas Let It Be resolve that the city council of East Providence does proclaim the week of October 7th through the 13th of 2024 as dyslexia Awareness Week um in our community and we encourage residents to learn more about dyslexia and support

the efforts to advocate for inclusive educational practices um I'd also like to um have the uh Chief of Staff also add to um that topic since it is on the mayor's items for tonight uh good evening councilwomen Susan members of the council uh thank you um we just wanted to make the community aware that we uh are also recognizing dyslexia awareness week uh we have in the past worked with East Providence resident

Tori Jessup I'm not sure if this today uh but we are um again holding an annual event on October 16th at 6 p.m. where we light City Hall red for the evening um and we work in partnership with Tori who is involved with decoding dyslexia Ri so we encourage the community to take part and learn about dyslexia and its impacts on our community thank you thank you thank you both both of you well well

said uh next item let see coun of East Province may meet in executive session yes at this time um I'll entertain um a motion on pursuing to R Island laws 42- 46-5 a and one a discussion uh on as you may see the wording here we're not discussing all of these things we have to just go in and talk about some agreement language that we have to do around the

time of the year so we um hope to be very brief to return move under state city session second motion by councilman Rego seconded by councilwoman suo all in favor I I any oppose the eyes have it we'll be back shortly

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okay we turn back to regular session there a motion to seal a minutes of the executive session move second mooved by councilman Lawson seconded by councilwoman soua all in favor I I any opposed guys have that 5 Zer Madame clerk next item on the consent calendar we have the council Jour journals August 7th 2024 the regular meeting minutes and that's it under consent motion to approve

second motion to approve councilwoman Souza seconded by councilman Lawson all in favor I I any opposed the I have it excuse me sorry that's okay then you have a consideration to bundle licenses 1 through 7 I make a motion to approve the bundle Ling of licenses 1 through S motion to bundle 1 through 7 it's actually 1 through eight my apologies 1 through eight second second by councilman fogy all in favor I I any

opposed eyes have it there a motion um is the Jennifer here the who please I just want to say you got the coolest name for a business I love it I love it I make a motion to approve 1 through eight second that is awesome I absolutely love it motion by councilman Lawson to approve including the awesome name there a second councilwoman souer I believe all in favor I I any oppos those is one

it's Savage Angel Fitness um you guys probably sitting there like what's Savage angel I love that thank you next item um we had uh Joseph batella listed under Communications but he did communicate to the council we wouldn't be making it tonight we have nobody under excuse me public hearing for liquor license Class B sorry and then we have public hearing liquor licens Class B for Himalayan

spice DBA swad thank you is the applicant present Mr Mr President Madam clerk yes Mr Vice President my participation in discussion of taking IAL action related to said matter under Rhode Island general laws 361 14-6 D1 thank you sir you are recused the applicant present uh I could you come forward please thank you uh this side there and just give your name and address for the record d Mercer I live in you're looking

for my personal address or the business address uh both would be okay uh 122 Lonzo Avenue and Lincoln that's my personal and then we're at 185-187 will Avenue for the business okay welcome meeting can you want to just very briefly describe your your business yeah we're looking to open a restaurant in the old East Providence House of Pizza space we purchased the building um we noticed that there was a void over there

a lot of people kn knocking on the doors and windows so instead of turning it into you know something else we decided to put a restaurant uh my partner and the uh majority owner of the building uh is from Nepal and it's very unique Cuisine and we uh decided to start it up with a friend of his nean uh who has a lot of experience in um Himalayan Cuisine and Indian Cuisine so we're

looking to open up what we would call a uh Indian Fusion restaurant with um some new takes on some of the Indian Cuisine great that's good to hear we've had a lot of uh concern about that that building it had been a popular spot um in in in the city have so you own the building outright now that part of the building or that whole building the whole building outright is owned by uh

the LLC and then the LLC will be uh rasing out that particular space to the rest so including the um convenience store there and the owner of the convenience store is now the owner of the building as well great so you've been in the empty building yes tell you why I'm asking I know councilman Lawson and I and councilman fogy too we if you're in there and you notice a lot of big

baseball trophies on the wall Riverside little league would like to see that they either stay there or get returned to them because they the previous owner sponsored the teams and so it's very funny that you mention that like in in just cleaning up over there I have to keep the lights off because people come knock on the windows and everybody wants to know what's going on and um I'm a I'm

a big part of the Lincoln little league and I'm a big coach and as soon as I walked into the space I looked at the partners and said these are staying here and you're continuing the sponsorship he was like oh absolutely but I've also had like some friends who who are from the area who live in the area uh come in one one gentleman in particular had uh his

son the team and he was like I need these trophies and we were like no these are staying here these are part of the community we're going to continue the tradition so great good news we're going to keep them on display but if they ever if they ever are not on display we'll make sure they get Backle good answer any other questions on the council before I open it it is a public hearing anyone the audience

present who'd like to comment for or against this application once again I'll just ask if there's anyone present like to comment please come forward hearing none or close the public hearing Council what is your pleasure motion to approve motion by councilman Lawson seconded by councilwoman suar to approve all in favor I I any oppos the eyes have it thank you good luck just for clarification mik we got away with the

two meetings right does it this is it he's I believe there's no two passages no yeah one okay okay thank you thank you thank you very much for to seeing you over great and let me know if you need help with the outdoor dining and the other stuff be more than happy to help you out

yep Madam Clerk and can continue councilman Rigo is back uh under Council memb statement on small business grants for businesses affected by Bridge closure and vote on hiring legal council to advise City Council on legal options against the mayor for withholding These funds from being dispersed impacted businesses discuss councilman Lawson so this is uh 1.2 million was allocated to the city of re

Providence as form of compensation for those businesses affected by um the state's failure to Main and inspect the bridge um we know the businesses that got hit the hardest you got the Warren AV Waterman Tav Cara pcket massao Broadway right in there those people got shut down for at least a week $500 a th000 isn't going to do it if you take 1.2 million if you divide it by 500 businesses that's about 2500 each a

little bit less we know 500 businesses weren't affected these businesses according to the process they have to quantify their losses so I would like the council's approval just to get some legal advice on what we can do to make sure the full 1.2 million stays in the form of direct grants that goes directly to these impacted businesses so I don't know if I have to make a motion or if it's just a general

request from the council that can reach out to get a legal opinion I did put down for a vote but there's no block so so that's it I just want to get some advisory on what steps we can do to ensure that that 1.2 mil is all in the form of direct grants to these small businesses that deserve it I'll make a motion that um I'm not sure how to word it so

councilman yes councilwoman so I think the proper C of action next to move this topic along would be to have a resolution okay um come before the council to allocate funds to get legal counsel yeah I don't have a dollar amount I just right it doesn't happen okay yeah I'll do that for the next meeting yeah so work on and and and be specific in what this outside counil I just want to make sure those

businesses that 1.2 million gets to them directly okay okay so we can work on it thanks thank you next item discuss new Precision for administrative assistance of the city council discuss councilman La uh let's table this get rid of it for now thank you next item ordinance of the Council of the CB Province appropriate appropriating 6,111 18,6 125 for the FY 2025 capital budget and the FY 2025 to 2029 Capital

Improvement program uh question I'm sorry yes no go ahead councilman voting on does this lock in what's yeah no no no I'm not voting for this this the Old Ham those other three things um if we got to do it tonight I'm ready to make those changes yes councilwoman um I make a motion to table one and two until after our workshops for the budget okay counc council president yes um solicor number two is

down for a public hearing as advertised that was advertised so we have to have a public hearing right on on both of these so the process is clear councilman these are always on the first budget meeting they're always tabled to a later meeting until you guys do your Workshop so there was no intent to vote on this tonight we're just preserving it so we don't have to advertise it again that's what

that's the process that it helps with the timeline I helps with the timeline and that's the process we use last year there's no nothing nothing nothing unry going on here this is the possib nobody said there was I'm not suggesting I'm just so councilwoman has a motion to table number one number one till till the October 15th meeting is that the date October 15th okay right is that the right date okay

before you table number two you have to have at least a public hearing on that sure is there a second to the motion to table until October 15 number one number one only yes uh you made a I'll second yes motion made by councilwoman sua second seconded by councilman Lawson for the table all in favor I I any oppos the eyes have it unanimously item two the ordinance appropriating well Madam cler you can

read that ordinance of the Council of the city of use Province appropriating 22,690 101 for the support of the city government government for the fiscal year ending October 31st 202 five so like the first one this eventually uh would wait until we go through the more of the budget process but it is advertised for public hearing so is there anyone present that would like to make a a comment at at this point in the

process once again anyone present like to comment at this point in the process hearing none I'll close the public hearing go to council comments continue to public hearing until 10 this will also be continued correct councilman yes make a motion to close public okay so public hearing is is closed second and we're all in favor I I anybody opposed and closing the hearing none okay motion to table number two

until October 15th second motion by councilwoman Souza to table list to October 15 seconded by councilman Lawson all in favor I I any opposed yeah I have that thank you next item please standing item discuss the impact of Washington Bridge closure in the city of East Province members of the council I don't have anything new to really hash over director was on channel 12 today um the

RF he is not ready but it's close for the uh the bridge to get it done um there was no update on when the demolition is going to start back up um when it does we know Waterfront Drive is going to um be shut down um shouldn't take too long though it's only a short span so um that is all I've heard so far where they're at so there's no RFP to

rebuild and the demolition is still stalled pending the litigators giving them the go ahead to go ahead thank you councilman anybody else want to add anything next item follow up on the implementation of the fourth full-time rescue for the C Providence discuss Council vice president R Council vice president I'm just going to briefly talk about this and expanded development City development we've seen a couple

more coming on board planning department zoning expanding development un needs more people and the resources in the city and will stay here until there's a fourth full-time rescue or you go to Five you need four so that's all thank you very much Mr chairman Mr President thank you Mr VP appreciate your staying on this next item under mayor Communications appointment not requiring Council confirmation Tisha

Nei reappointment to affirmative action commission seat for term 5224 to 5126 now make a motion just to accept all the mayor Communications um I make a motion to accept number one um under mayor communic unication since number two has the budget presentation unless you rather just accept everything okay it's up to you I don't need the you guys need it so would you want to restate the

motion we have the three appointments at least read the names these are not requiring Council confirmation so Madam clerk if you could just uh briefly read the names of of these folks Carol Brown appointment to East Province Housing Authority number 7 term 10 2124 to 10 2027 and Nicholas t Williams reappointment to East Province Housing Authority number three term 22624 to 22529 so a motion for those three items

yep councilwoman sua moves is there a second second second by councilman fog all in favor I any opposed the guys have thank you next item presentation of the FY 2425 proposed budget Mayor Bob to Silva name and address are just kidding thank you members of the council uh it was a tough budget to put together and um just want to go over some of the key highlights so that the public is made aware and Council hears

it from me directly uh the proposed fiscal year 2025 budget recommends general fund expenditures of $195 million 4158 that's a 3.9 million increase that's 2.09% over last year's appropriation the total general fund expenditure increase City operating expenditures increased by $1.4 million that's 1.55% funding of the school department rose by 2,531 1924 that's 2.61% $2.2 million from additional city taxes

plus a $300,000 that was um other school resources or other school funding that was not previously budgeted have been included in this budget to support the increases the proposed increase of $5.3 million are primarily related to the following a $1.8 million increase in the police and fire pension for the city's Actuarial report a $2.5 million increase for the school department a $1.3 million increase for municipal

salaries and contractual obligations and then of course inflationary costs and increases of goods and services electricity Heating and gas driving factor of this budget increas is our Public Safety pension contributions our Administration has committed to fully funding the annual required contribution in hopes of Sunday seeing our police and fire pensions fully funded and self- sustained Jem my 10 the city of East

Province will have gone out to bond for approximately $339 million for a new high school New middle school and major renovations to the Wasington Elementary School Additionally the city of East Providence from 2007 through 2012 has invested $24 million in infrastructure improvements to our Public Schools the reason why I bring this up is sometimes you hear people in the public saying that we don't support the schools

enough I think the actual numbers show that we do this budget continues to support our public schools by increasing our share of funding to the school department budget by an additional 4% school department came in and asked for the maximum increase which we were able to make work for this budget this proposed budget was carefully crafted to ensure that the city is able to continue to provide the

highest level of Public Safety Public Works social recreational and educational services to our residents it should be noted that we submitted an amended budget because on the day that we submitted this for CH the the the deadline the following day we were notified by the school department because they only received the information from the state at that point that our state housing aid

had been reduced so we saw a $1. 365 million decrease in what we had projected to be the state housing aid I didn't get notified about that until the the Monday after Malcolm came back from being on days off and he saw his email and he brings it up to me in a panic and so now with scrambling to come up with an amended budget the way we dealt with that without further increasing taxes on

our residents was that we shifted funding that was going to go towards next year's Capital and we shifted 1365 million into uh the general fund so and what what I mean by that is we're deferring putting in$ 1365 million into Capital it's not like we took it some El this proposed budget SE seeks a 3.5% increase in the tax levy and to be clear tax levy is how how much how many

dollars in taxes we've generated from the public last year so this year's budget increases the tax levy by 3.5% that does not mean that that will be the increase on individual homeowners property tax rates the mill rate itself will be factored in after we uh finalize the budget and it's probably going to be around 3% and then an effort to further realize taxpayer savings the Administration has

aggressively sought state and federal Grant dollars some examples include uh a 10 million do state grant for the community center $3 million uh Federal grant also to help support building the community center and 3.75 million for a safer grant for 12 new firefighters and those 12 new firefighters will eventually save us money in having to fill overtime slots so that will be a savings to us for the next few

years the $5.3 million increase to the proposed budget is being funded with the following projected revenue streams an additional 1.4 million in taxes 1.8 million in tangible reimbursement 1.1 million in interest income we actually have a lot of funding um in a 5% interest bearing account and that's generated some uh revenue for us $200,000 meals and other state aid $150,000 in fire rescue fees $150 000 in

a hsgp fire Grant and as was previously mentioned the school department used to carry about $300,000 of other Revenue that was never calculated into the budget and now we are calculating into the budget so for full transparency once again the city's finances remain stable and strong this budget continues our effort to provide affordability quality services while also recognizing the challenges that

taxpayers are facing in this economic inflationary climate um know one of the things I hear from people sometimes in the community is how much they appreciate the services that they get here uh police fire First Rate Services recreational opportunities First Rate Services a senior center incredible I hear from people all over that come to our senior center not just East Province res but people come from

all over our staff of approximately 400 city employees do an incredible job serving and providing services to our community and um I'm proud of every single one of them I'm proud of the work they do day in and day out and when you look at this budget you're going to see increases based on things that are outside of our control there's no fluff in the budget there's no real room uh in

the budget to add additional services without us eliminating Services the only way you add additional Services is either you have more Revenue coming in somehow or uh you eliminate other services to make those those other services available but I wanted to present to you my budget it is an amended supplemental budget uh the first one that I I submitted to you is slightly different than this one I did

send out a letter to every single one of you with the changes in the actual budget I want to thank you I look forward to hearing from you I look forward to listening to you during your budget debate question thank you mayor um any any questions I'm sure there'll be some during the workshop process uh any questions right now mayor well thank you mayor next item please East Providence Fire Rescue

coverage yeah yes go go ahead Madame director okay um again good evening council president members of thec is it one Interruption sorry is this part of the budget Workshop or do you have something else no did you I'm just going by what we routinely do with the communications if you'd like me to continue on that line I um unless there's something that you know breaking news if you will want you wait so we can get

into the budget workshop and if it if it is at propo at that time when we talk about fire department then please bring it up absolutely so you do have um in your packet or uh the mayor Communications a letter address September 24 okay thank you thank you we had the uh presentations uh we received email the finance reports from director Moore any questions specifically if not we can go into

Workshop which we will ask for some public comments after and for those department heads who are here we thank you for being here you may not all have to um participate if we don't have specific questions yes Council vice president I think there's a couple that really don't have to be here because Del Le till next week the police chief doesn't need to be here so I would I guess I guess he would

have to ask the mayor I don't doesn't work directly to me can Mo I talking about the police Department tonight so no no I'm just saying he doesn't have to stay so I'm just saying we're not doing police tonight so you're trying to get him to go home to watch the debate is that it no he could be fighting crime on the street I I hear you so let's go into

the workshop number one is listed as city government and Min as will go right to the first item of the comments questions in the mayor's office part of the budget I don't have any questions for any of the uh departments on the list tonight same yep same yeah and for the Public's uh knowledge uh some of us uh not not collectively but individually have uh been meeting with um the administration with the mayor and going

through this this budget we are obviously can't save it for one night so we've all been going through this I'm sure there'll be questions along the way but so under city government which lists mayor's office city clerk law we'll take this one at a time no no specific questions by Council right now I would ask if there's a I'm good on those three department so sticking with those three areas of government the

mayor's office office city clerk law budget uh is there anyone here that wants to make a comment there will be other opportunities to speak we do have other meetings scheduled we we have to wrap this up I what the end of the month anyway uh Mr solicitor before the end of the month October on that subject excuse me well late I just want to I want have it on

the next week is the E so we have a the same schedule right should stay in place so our last nothing will change our last cuts are in the is is is that the schedule yes yes well I just what I just want it now that I def definite now we went through this before and we voted it so it's it's going to stay all right so the 15th is our final

passage we didn't have the workshop last week because three of you decided to get set so we uh we do that as long as we're on the record so far we're we're on we're on just wanted to sure the public thank you C the next group under City operations did I hear that there were no specific questions from Council Members I'm all set under operations I'd like to bring up uh formative action okay you have a

question I think the director is here if you'd like to come forward please welcome Mr Pina good evening sir so this is a continuation from last year uh well thank you thank you for everything you do for the city and thank you sir outstanding I uh I heard from the mayor it's a tough budget and everything but there's one area that I think is underfunded you you're you're you remind me of a small business

owner you're the head dishwasher I don't think with doing the community an affirmative action total affirmative action as far as helping people I think you are definitely under under person I think we have to do something here as a councel to talk about we definitely got to add at least a part-time person for you for maybe 20 hours a week I I ass I mean this is we talked about

this last year and we can have all the banner raisins and we can have all the street names which are totally great but we need to help address the issues as far as all the affirmative actions protecting you know people of any race Creed or color and as this country gets more and more divided unfortunately we need as a community to show the opposite of what we were so I am going to do my

best in this budget to somehow and we will to move you to get that part-time person that talked about last year and I didn't forget it and that's what I'm saying any other questions comments from the council members anybody in the audience who would like to speak on this please come for just give your name and address for the record thank you Elma hello my name is Angie love Gro I

live on Don Avenue 235 Don Avenue in Bumford welcome hi Angie welcome I'm also on the affirmative action committee um and councilman Rego you said it perfectly I mean the the office is underserved we cannot serve the employees properly we're not doing a good job because have to time uh if Elmer is out of the office if he's sick or on vacation the office is closed they should it shouldn't be closed it should

at least have a part-time person in there answering the phone and keeping things going and allowing people the people employees and the public to be able to go in and speak to someone and it's just being it's just underserved it's not right it's the only office that I've noticed over and over again coming into this building that is closed when that when Elma is sick or on vacation so it's just it's just not

right thank you appreciate it yeah I wonder whether or not uh it's been set up to fail I'm going to be honest with you so that's all I have to say I think I said it all with that commentary thank you very much thank you my my only editorial comment is that um Mr pener and under his Direction has done a great job I certainly don't see any failure in

that department and um but we get your point that's okay right no we I'm I'm satisfied with what the office has been been doing but it can always use more help I'm sure uh anyone else in the public like to speak on that did you want to add no okay okay is there another area yes in that number two information techn ology do I have a comment yes if the director is present Council vice president the

director is relatively new so please go easy yes sir welcome for the public who haven't met you yet could you please uh give your name and the job with the city uh my name is Carlos Sano sir I'm the director of technology for the city of heast Providence thank you welcome yes Council as you just said well thank you Mr director for coming and you were here when you first got named to the position

back in July I think it was so why I'm asking you up here is is new and I want an overview of what you see you're coming in here brand new fresh eyes and I want you to be open I want you to tell us what you walked into where where we are where we should be and where can we go you're brand new you just I just hired you we just hired

you and I I just said I because I'm used to running my own business but so you're coming in here now it's a new it what are the what what are we doing good what are we doing bad and where do we got to go to make ourselves better um as far as good I think like we have good uh Personnel in the it uh Department um there have been some

expenditure done to improve the um the actual Department in the city um there's a lot of room for growth I've am working with uh both uh chief of police and uh the chief of fire to try to get some grants available to um basically fix some of like those uh improvements that we need to to do for the technology wise um just it's not that I don't want to be um forthcoming with you it's just like

um because this is being stream um I just want to be careful with the verbage that I'm using as far as like how the state of the city's uh technology is or yeah yeah

up to speed we up to speed where we should

be I would say like it's uh somewhere in the middle there there is some room for improvement there's some things that have been done that are good um in the future I will be coming to you with a plan um so I think like I would say like somewhere in the middle um there are some things in the cloud some things internally so I would say like in the

middle but there's with a lot of uh you know ransomware attacks and things like that there's always room for improvement with different things so that's why when I say room for improvement it's more like that area say because um like a criminal ransomware uh they get more creative and more creative with the way that they try to like break into your system and breach your systems so we

just try to um we had to be more consant and try to be ahead of that um side of the house so we just need to do a little bit more Improvement in that not that we're in bad shape but like it's just constant Improvement unfortunately just because the nature of of that side of the Beast is we always have to do Improvement and do a lot of actual um basically upgrades moving forward um another

question in regards to power outages they come more is every Department have a they have a dedicated computer or system so that they can continue doing their business say it's the tax department or record I mean especially uh what I'm thinking about is recording of records and there's you know a lot of buiness a lot of real estate transactions occur towards the end of the month for tax purposes is the clerk's

office tax department and they operate when power goes down is there is or we yeah no I'm talking about Sy yeah I'm talking about the system is do they have a terminal that can be utilized or laptop so I've um I'm working with Jill to try to get that issue resolved um so there's two different things one is an actual power um issue the other one is more um in one instance it was like the

actual uh internet service provider that went down and that's why most of the city except for like one department or outside of the city like um basically they have internet so there's a couple different things but I am uh working I am going to be working on fixing some of those issues sir so the same thing with the tax dep if I was to come in here or a city resident came in here pay their

taxes they would be able to that department will be able to function there is a we have backup systems in place so that that department continues to work so part of the issue is like that I now all city hall is under the generator systems sir So like um some of the computers might not be able to get to the internet and things like that because um unfortunately the generator

might be old or undersized so there's a couple of different issues if if we had the proper generator and all the computers were backed up properly sir um the other issue would be just like when the internet service providers go down then so in the future I am actually met with the mayor we are going to bring in a secondary ISP so in case one goes down the other one will take over for resilien

is you have all the this is you know you have all the tools

available of the city as well as maintaining uh five day five day work we so that the employees can work and the taxpayers in the residents the city can come up here come in here and have a fully functioned City so are you comfortable that you have all the tools the budgetary budget that's in this budget will fulfill your needs that you need move us forward some of it yes sir uh

some of them we are going to apply for Grants to try to get some of the needed equipment sir okay and just roughly I'm not going to hold you to this number what are you looking for in grant money because grant money obviously it's like asking Santa Claus to come you know give me my the best thing on Christmas it's not guaranteed so if there's something that you drastically that's missing on

this budget and you need us to look somewhere you're telling me you need a 100,000 or 200 I'm just throwing out numbers I I want to be I want you to be comfortable because this is the time to do it so two items that are in the capital Improvement uh plan um one of them is to address part of like the um data side and networking side and the other one is for

um to address the um access controls at the fire department all the fire station so if it's possible to get those approv for the capital Improvement I will appreciate it sir thank you um I appreciate your I I appreciate the work you've done so far and answering here and I I I thoroughly think you're great higher from what I can see and what you the couple of times we've talked briefly and

what you your presentation tonight I am I am very comfortable having you running this it Department thank you I'm glad you took the job thank you sir I appreciate that any more questions other questions from the Council on any of these items I think we were actually at in at the point we're asking questions from the public anyone else um want to speak yes sir Mr Mayor speak from the

public I I just want to make sure that the community and and the council members here understand how we arrive at this kind of budget the line of questioning that I hear is do you want more could you use more absolutely I will tell you I could use three more it people in it I could use five more people working with I could use 20 more people working in in

a rec department but when we devise this budget we sit down with our department heads we go over the needs wants and what can we afford and show me the workload show me what it is that you need and I just want the council to understand when you're asking these department heads do you need more I would say it'd be a fair answer to say yes we could use more because we're working on a very slim

Workforce if I if I ask any department head Diane Sullivan she could use three more people full-time uh finance department could use a couple more people I just want to make sure that you understand when you ask this question the answer is yes could he use two more it people absolutely can the residents of the city of East Province afford a tax a tax increase beyond the 3.5% tax cap Levy that we have in place

right now I I don't think that's I don't think we should go that route we we put together a very slim budget so the IT department Carlos was a huge win for our city hiring him was a huge win he's come in with fresh eyes like you mentioned Council vice president and he's looked at things with with an eye towards improving things we sat down he sat down and met with people from the RH Island National

Guard and and Rhode Island EMA to look at some funding they reached out to us and said hey we've got these hundreds of thousands of dollars millions of dollars available for uh cyber security upgrades and improvements of municipalities he got right on it matter of fact before today's meeting he was sh me all the different things that he's going to be asking for so yes if I could ask for

another million dollars to hire a few more people here I would but we can't and I just want all of you to understand and all of the department heads they they would absolutely ask for more if we could find the money but it's a very tight budget and I just wanted to let you know that this bu this budget wasn't done in a vacuum this budget was done with all of these people coming in the

way we work it is they come in and initially give us a budget we look at it then we look at everyone's budget together then we look at we talk to Malcolm and finance we say where are we now with the amount of money that it would take to to meet these requests and needs from all these different people and then we start asking everyone to come back for a second meeting hey pair

it down find some cuts and then we do a third meeting hey cut it so I just want you all to know yes the answer is yes he could probably use I would love to find the funny to add another it person that would just handle police and fire we've had that conversation we just don't have it unless you want to eliminate positions that's all it comes down to

but I to let you know I'm not I'm not against giving you another so that could that could happen I might be I'm asking for a wish list but you never know it might be haircuts might be to well that and I think that's I think as a council person you you're looking out for the community's well well-being and their financial interest and also making sure we have the highest level of services

for our community his question was because you said it the best hire you've done he's wonderful and but he he open eyes and I it's very important to so that's the reason why more and I think I think what we could do is he's putting together a presentation and we could do it I don't know if we could do this in executive session because it's it's something that you really don't want to share with the

public because you know we don't want to talk about any weak but we would happily have him come before you in executive session to talk about the state of the it thank you 10 one2 thank you thank you anyone else uh the public uh thank you Mr Zam brano okay so that covers a few specifics on the areas one and two Madam clerk could we go to uh the

next SL item letter B is it on page seven reports of other City officials once C solicitor executive session nothing to report next item report of school commit is on councilman you have anything School uh just that I'm putting in the capital for those three projects so I'll have that for next meeting thank you next item please resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a change order with acne

abatement contractor Inc relating to removal of a found on a portion of the roof of the former oldum Elementary School sponsor Council vice president rioo and Council there's a slight change to this it's um the change order is with the roofing company Acme is the subcontractor that's doing the abatement so this is a contract with the the people that are doing the roof the they don't one McKennon McKenna McKenna so

technically they're the ones that the contract will be changed for and then they're going to sub to Acme who is an AB bestus removal company I just have a question on that does the state oversee that um Michael because it's company has yeah I mean in a broad sense they don't have an inspector on site but there's reporting requirements when they do find a speci they got a document where they dispose it how they

dispose it there's not like a state inspector that there there isn't there isn't like a contracted um list from the state of asbest removers or you can just oh I'm sure there must be an approved list of yeah you got to be licensed right so um because I noticed that the subcontracts is from Mass so I'm just wondering does it have to be from State there could be licensed in Rhode Island

as well and there's no dumping in Rhode Island a bestas all goes to Connecticut yeah so I just was curious as to if that came out of that list from the state or if it was just um someone that was hired by the contractor do we know I don't know that specifically but they have to be a licensed contractor with and also uh councilman Lawson and I did an extensive um visit of of the site

along with um these builders contractors the mayor um Administration and walk through the building room for room and the contractors involved were uh very thorough and very aware of what they have to do with the bestus removals a very strict um State guideline so I'm sure that you know and as they said if they there's certain things they can do if there are if there is a portion of its

bestus that is away from activity it can be covered sometimes it has to be removed so they they have all the the regulations and so far that day in the walk through uh things were were looking pretty good I'm not concerned about the resolution the the contract is with AC but you're right there a sub to the r but it's going to be under the same contract so that's make a motion to

approve second motion by councilwoman Lawson seconded by councilwoman Souza to approve all in favor I I any opposed eyes have thank you next item res res olution authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement with it Savvy LLC for security training and email archiving system motion to approve I'm Sor motion to approve by councilman Lawson seconded councilman fogy this certainly goes

along with beefing up our it security all in favor I I any opposed yes I have it thank you next we did the just the city resolution next uh item an ordinance an amendment of the chapter 17 of the revised ordinances of the cvus Providence Rhode Island 1998 as amended entitled utility summary section 177-183 7 calendar day grace period to seven business days sewer sponsor councilwoman SE yes councilwoman if you want to

start a lot to read one sentence make a mo so I make a motion to approve second motion by councilwoman Souza to approve seconded by councilman Lawson all in favor I i i i s it an ordinance amendment of chapter 17 of the revised ordinances of the city of East Providence Rhode Island 1998 is amended entitled utilities summary section 17-36 7 7 calendar day grace period to seven business days water sponsor

councilwoman soua motion to approve second motion by councilwoman soua to approve seconded by councilman Lawson all in favor I I than Sav so before we move on from those the question that I have is that um you have two options we could put this down for the October 15th 15th the the second passage which would be really the budget these are ordinance kind of unrelated to the budget or we can wait for

the second it's up to you but I didn't want to so we're gonna pass tonight and then table no it's pass it just won't be heard second passage until until okay and SEC the second passage is in the public hearing so okay we I we generally like keep the budget on the 15th just all budget stuff but it's up to you so we have we're going to advertise anyway so GL another another agreement Council

great every so often we have a I so that's up to you you're the yes that's fine I'm I'm in I'm okay with that so the 20 we be it be AED for the second passage under 20 second okay all three of these uh just those two two the other two the other two have to be related to budget and that's why they have those will be on the 15th okay items number

three and four these all required second pass just to keep the timeline we have to least pass them once T night the other two are for the T correct got no not now I'm talking about a different ordinance so CL will advertise for this 20 it's 22nd 22nd so I'll make a motion to approve number three nope nope sorry just clarifying number one and two second passage will be on the 22nd okay

thank you now we I'm sorry now we now we're going to three councilman I'm sorry three needs to be passed tonight and these will be put on the 15th because these are budget items they need to be pass so the motion would be for first passage three so moved 15 second motion by councilman law second by councilman fog all in favor I I guys have it thank you I'll make a motion to

approve motion by councilman Lawson to approve number four go to October 15th seconded by councilman fogy all in favor I I I have and make a motion for number five approve motion by councilman Lawson seconded by councilman bogy number five on the docket the authorization borrow the funds in anticipation of bonds for passage until the 15th all in favor I I any opposed next item that will allow us to keep this

budget scheduled that we keep up the schedule will stay intact yes there a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second motion by councilwoman Su seconded by councilman fogy all in favor hi