The East Providence City Council held a brief meeting on December 17, 2024, with all five members present. The council quickly moved through the consent calendar, unanimously approving council journals from November and December meetings, a tax abatement of $6,962.08, and a bundled list of licenses. The main business involved two key approvals. First, the council authorized a contract with Carousel and Carvings Inc. for the second phase of the carousel stabilization project. Carousel Manager Tracy Johnson explained that this extensive project involves completely dismantling the 129-year-old carousel to install new bearings, with work scheduled from January to May 2025, resulting in a delayed opening for the season. The project is funded by prior capital allotments and the carousel commission's 501c3 nonprofit. The resolution passed unanimously. Second, the council unanimously passed an ordinance appropriating $552,100 from the East Providence School Department's Capital Improvement revolving fund. This funding is designated for new intercom systems in schools. It was noted that the school department expects to be fully reimbursed by the state, at which point the funds will be returned to the revolving fund. Following the business portion, Council President Rodricks announced the annual free Christmas Community dinner at the Bright Ridge Club on Christmas Day. Several council members, including Vice President Rigo, extended holiday wishes to the community. Rigo also commented on recent calls for protests at officials' homes, condemning such actions and calling for a return to civility. The meeting then adjourned.
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Provident city council meeting of December 17 2024 Madame clerk would you please call the role of the council councilman fog yeah councilman Lawson yeah Council vice president Rigo yeah councilwoman soua here council president Rodricks here record show all five members are present please rise for the pledge
0:51thank you all uh there is no executive session tonight um Madam Clerk if you could please uh begin the agenda presentent calendar for discussion and possible vote Council journals November 12th 2024 regular meeting executive session November 12th 2024 November 19th 2024 regular meeting December 10th 2024 regular meeting executive session December 10th 2024 to accept motion to accept by councilman
1:33Lawson seconded by councilman fogy all in favor I I any opposed the I have thank you next Item B abatement tax assessment board of review $ 6,962 and8 isn't that part of the whole con you intended to accept the whole thing yeah yeah yeah okay so we don't okay thank you so that's been accepted you go on to see that's all part that's all the letters are all parament yeah we're on
2:10the license we're on a rooll licenses Madam cler make a motion to bundle second motion made to bundle by councilman Lawson seconded by councilman fogy all in favor I I any opposed the eyes have it there a motion motion to approve second motion to approve by councilman Watson seconded by councilman fogy all in favor I any opposed the eyes have it thank you non-public hearing one existing
2:42cosmetic and wellness new location applicant oh we just approved AO oh is there any public comment do anybody sign up this a non-public hearing but any other comments from the council we didn't none on those hearings notice on our agenda you can flip over we uh cler is now doing saving paper and doing both sides so you can in case you get lost like I did that's why I did saving us some
3:16money okay uh next item new business resolutions for discussion and possible vote one resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract with carousel and carvings Inc for phase two of the carousel stabilizer project can we call up Tracy to explain this is um last go around we did the footings and so this is starting to do a little bit more it's kind of intensive so Tracy would like to just give an
3:49overview of what they're going to be doing the work scope time frame we all know that that's going to be fluid but you are and and Tracy just for those watching and for the records just uh identify yourself and your position with the city Tracy Johnson I'm the carousel manager phase two uh we have talked about for the last couple years but for anybody who might not be familiar this is actually a huge
4:16undertaking we are going to be dismantling the entire Carousel and bringing it down to the original Mass we are hoping um of course with tonight's approval to Begin work early January and if everything goes smoothly we would look to start reassembling the carousel in May so it will require a later opening for next season um we're going to try to keep the public very well informed we're going to be doing a
4:50lot of videos um the carousel is 129 years old it has not been taken apart since it was put together originally we will probably find some things along the way that need to be adjusted before they can put be put back together um but I think it's going to be nerve-wracking and fascinating at the same time and once this work's done we're going to sand up the floors um C's going to be looking good
5:24yes and after phase two of stabilization that's it for the major uh needs at this point unless something please don't put that up I don't believe in um yes we're we're our goal after phase two would be um for the nonprofit to go back to beautification purposes um being able to send out horses every year um which is you know that's ongoing forever but we've held off to make sure that we have an
5:56additional cushion for this project um um the base price that's before you is a great start and it will cover taking the carousel apart forging the two new bearings installing them and putting the carousel back together and some small bumps but um if anything needs to be replaced along the way it would be additional and it will fall probably to the nonprofit um so we wanted to make sure
6:26that we had a really strong cushion to be able to fund the remainder of this project so it's not in the resolution but the funding is um prior years capital allotments and the 501c3 the carousel commission um from their various fundraisers like the food and wine pair and the um witches Gil just gave a nice donation so the carousel commission they really work hard to raise funds to kind of do these kinds of
6:54things but like Tracy said once we get past this they can kind of get back to those costes are handcrafted you can't just run a cloth over them you got to have them Prof done so we'll be back hopefully the the way things should be going um information I will enthusiastically make a motion to approve and obviously if there's any more questions um but again the funding source is capital and um
7:22501 second so the motion was by councilwoman Lawson seconded by councilwoman soua absent any other comments or questions all in favor I I any oppos I there eyes have it unanimously thank you Tracy thank you so much Merry Christmas Merry Christmas Christmas thank you very much next item Madam clerk introduction of ordinances for discussion and possible vote ordinance of the Council of the city of East Province
7:54appropriating 5521 100 from the East Province school department Capital Improvement revolving fund thank you so it's kind of timely we we're ready to move ahead with what we've recently passed we have had a lot of comment on this already uh the school department has forwarded this request and uh I think we've all been made aware of it any other comments Ju Just um and I reached out to my this so we all the
8:25way of the process they do get reimbursed by RI but they don't get reimbursed till down the road so these projects will fully fund out of this and then when the reimbursement comes it will go back into the fund um so this allocation is for the intercoms that was one of three projects we um so I will gladly make the motion second motion by councilman Lawson seconded by Council ran soua no
8:55other discussion all in favor I I any oppose motion to hold on before we uh adjourn uh that passed unanimously I do did promise to uh remind any of the viewing public about the annual free Christmas Community dinner being held by the uh the volunteer community group that has been doing this now I think it's about nine years and just a reminder that on Christmas Day from 11:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. anyone
9:35in in the community is welcome to go to the bright Ridge Club on bright Ridge Avenue right here of course in East Providence and sometimes some people in need from just outside the borders stop by and they're welcome to come there will be a full Christmas dinner full turkey dinner and other other food items there are uh clothing items and toiletry items and sometimes there is a uh hair
10:05stylist and a bobber there for folks who uh need need some personal attention get a haircut uh whatever and almost you name it and there will be personal services provided at no cost uh to the community and they're also looking for some help if you're watching this now there's a few days left I think this Friday Saturday they might need some help setting up the hall and they could
10:33still use a few donations for some of the toiletries and other items that they need I think they're in good shape for food so that's Christmas day you're welcome there from 1130 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and it's a it's a great great event and very inspiring for anyone who uh has some time to go there it's the back building another the right L not the main building yeah the the back hall
11:03right and it's for uh anybody in the state actually they actually provide services and go pick you up there's a boba is it's quite an event it's very good for the whole state Community whoever's in need and they were actually looking for service in the afternoon 3 pm on which obviously Christmas day uh I did notice that thank you very much y thank you councilman now uh Council vice
11:28president oh thank you Mr President uh first of all I want to wish the community of East Providence Uh Oh I thought you were going to re ahead happy holiday season you know Merry Christmas Happy New Year any other thing that I'll forget but for everybody uh I just want to thank everybody here and the administration at times you know we might not get along but that's what families do and and I
12:01uh just want to say uh that it's been a pleasure again another year to go by and we all stick together um especially what's happened in this country in the last couple of weeks uh to bring it all back we had somebody in this city put out to occupy City Hall wrong protest in front of our house houses and the May's houses wrong we might not always agree and you
12:35might not always agree on us but we have families we human beings and I hope that that person and everybody else in in this whole city state and Country brings back civilization the way it's supposed to be happy New Year and look forward to seeing you people in January motion to adjourn wait a minute you that you went from yelling motion to merry Christmas happy everything over the last year okay I I'll save my Merry
13:05Christmas Happy New Year everybody and uh it's been a pleasure working with you Council woman and gentlemen and uh we'll get a little more serious as we hit the ground running in January it's been a little light tonight but we're kind of in the holiday uh festive attitude any other Christmas messages uh did you even include the solicitor in your good wishes oh oh even the solicitor I'll second his adjourn
13:32all in favor of adjournment