Town Council - Regular Meeting

Okay.

In 7 o'clock, I'm talking about so I'm going to all they want in the council of public hearing. The public hearing is a proposal amendment to chapter 2. 2.5. That's assessor. Anyone would like to. We must speak on this now would be.

It would be for the deputy tax assessor to give her the same authority as the tax assessor when the tax assessor is out of town or sick or something. Basically what it is.

Any further comment from the council? I will close hearing. Thank you. Now we're going to salute the flag. I would like to make a comment. No votes were taken in executive session. I will accept a motion to seal the minutes of executive session. Seconded. All in favor? Aye. Thank you.

Who was the first on that?

Oh, he's seconded?

He's seconded. Let's do the first. Sure.

Okay. We have announcements. We have a few today. Usually we don't have any, sometimes one. Today we have five announcements. I have one, but I'll go last. 1st, 1 will be Heather.

Okay, announcement number 1 is just a clarification at the last council meeting. I had made an error on the agenda stating that the pension committee seats were for a 2 year term when they're actually a 1 year term. So, they, the 3 appointed individuals will have an end term of June 30th, 2027, not 2028.

Thank you. I have another announcement and it says Jonathan and Victoria about a little content download. If you haven't heard about it, if you look around this room, you'll see codes, QR codes up. lives over here and over there. These two have been instrumental in bringing all the town's news and boards, agendas and everything that's going on and dumping it right in your mailbox. So you never have to say, I didn't know. I didn't know. So would you guys like to talk about it?

I'll just say briefly, first, thank Jonathan for he's done a really tremendous job with this. It's something we've been talking about for quite a while. Part of our efforts towards transparency and good communication. And yeah, this week, we launched the inaugural issue of the LC download or the Little Compton download, an email newsletter. And I'm going to let Jonathan provide a little more info.

Thank you. So yeah, it was largely very successful, I would say. Just for those who are curious, there were 115 recipients of the first issue that went out. where 75% of people that we know of opened it, and almost 50% actually clicked on and followed through to some of the links. Just to give you an idea of how this can also provide information back to us, we get some useful metrics out of it. So out of everybody that opened something, 15% of the traffic was directed to the page on the website about the homestead. change to the charter. 11% of the traffic or 22 clicks went to the short-term rental information page that we've set up. 21 people clicked on the agenda packet for tonight and nine people are interested in the zoning changes. So it does provide meaningful feedback back to us too. So we get to know more about what residents are interested in and where we should direct our focus, things we need to update or provide more information on. Nobody clicked unsubscribe, which was great. And I believe we've had six new subscribers as of like 10 minutes ago. Just to give you a quick idea, if you haven't already subscribed and you are interested, right on our homepage, if you scroll down a little bit, we've put a little form with some information and you just type in your personal details, first name, last name, email, and you are signed up. There's also a link here to a portal you can go to, which has a slightly nicer form, place to sign up. But if you scroll down, you can see past issues. So you don't necessarily need to have your email open to access these and just some other information. But just to give you an idea, I'll do it. This was the first issue that did go out, if you haven't seen it. basic information, at least to start, about upcoming meetings. You can click on any of these links to get directly to that public body's Secretary of State information page, which will give you upcoming previous canceled meetings, all that kind of stuff. A little bit further down, some useful links, postings from our town clerk for open vacancies, board positions in town, and then some of those useful links and information. Those are the homestead, short-term rental info, that I was referencing earlier. So starting out small, hoping to grow it, but we definitely get any feedback that people have, positive, negative, suggestions for content, anything like that. There is a FAQ at the very bottom that tells you how you can subscribe, share it with your friends or provide those feedback suggestions. And that is the download.

Okay, thank you very much for that. I have a few more announcements. I'm going to go to Anya to give us an update on the beach parking tax. Maybe if people aren't following that, maybe you want to give a quick overview.

Sure, thanks. So a law passed in the Rhode Island legislature last year that imposes a sales tax for beaches. And so that would include South Shore Beach in our case. Some towns asked this year to be exempted from that tax, and I was involved in last year's debate, so I know all the ins and outs of what happened for passage of life. Here, Middletown had asked for an exemption and there were some other towns that were seeking an exemption from the law. We asked for an exemption for Little Compton, Rep McGaugh and Senator DePalma. went to their respective finance committees and testified in support of us getting an exemption. But I think at this point, the likelihood that we're actually gonna get that is slim because number one, once towns realized they could ask for an exemption, there were a lot of other towns that raised their hands. And number two, the state had already kind of budgeted the revenue from this. So at this point, there is a chance they're still in session. There's a chance that we will actually get a bill that gives us an exemption, but more likely than not, we're going to have to administer the tax at South shore. It won't apply to town residents. It'll apply to others who come in on day passes and pay for parking. And yeah, Jimmy Farrell has figured out how they're going to collect that. It'll be a manual process because we don't have an automated system down there for collecting fees. But Jimmy has actually already remitted some money on the activity since the beach opened. And so he's figured out how to do it. It's not ideal, but we will comply.

Not president is not affected, right?

And I have another if they go in on a town resident, you know, if they go and get their free pass.

Thank you and some more information and we have a chief range here, so we might as well. Talk to him about some stuff since he's here, can you give us an update? She friends on the proposed striking project and party. Going around the comments.

So I hadn't heard from DOT in a few months in regards to ending projects. Reached out to my contact at DOT and she sent back an email. And I'll just read the email and it's easier. She sent the most recent plan package over to DOT's Cultural Resources Division in mid-April. It was officially submitted to the RIHPHC, Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission, in early May. DOT typically requests a 30-day review from that group. However, that group currently is without a dedicated RI DOT coordinator. Obviously, DOT's got a lot going on right now and may take longer than the standard 30-day review time period. So all of that means we don't know yet. I did let her know that, you know, we're obviously coming up on a busy season. We'll have the church via the road race, the community dinner. We have other things coming up and we'd kind of like to move things around and you know, know exactly when that's happening. To also give everyone some time, you know, get some electronic signboards from DOT and start flashing some signs around to let people know that this is coming and, you know, there'll be a change in the traffic pattern. It's good it happened. Right. We're going to go one ways.

One way this way. One way that way. Two way that way. Okay. And with an abundance more of parking spaces, was it 50? Yes.

It was more than that. We've been going back and forth about Pikes Peak and cutting back on spots on the north side and the south side to give people a little more line of sight. And then the people who live on the south side of the commons a little easier to come out of their driveways and or roadways. So it's a significant increase in parking in the company. Abundance is coming at some point. At some point. Thank you.

I have, I guess, I have two left in their mind. I'd like to welcome back Paul Ombeski tonight. He is a former counselor, and this is his first time back in a year and a half, and I'm very happy to see him here. And I welcome you. Welcome. Thank you. You're welcome.

Good to be back.

Okay. I have one other announcement. I have spoken with the planning board chair concerning the proposed changes, the zoning ordinance regarding farm promotion, accessory uses. The June 18th public hearing will be continued. The planning board will report their findings to the council in July. All right. Lewis, is there any more announcements?

Yeah, I have one. I'd just like the rest of the council to know that I had nothing to do with that announcement. contacted the Ethics Commission about the short-term rental meeting. Okay. That was nothing to do with me, although it was alluded to in the Sakana Times. I wouldn't do that to my team colleagues. Thank you. Thank you.

I have a couple of minutes.

Motion to approve the minutes of May 21st, 2026 meeting.

I just have one question. I thought we had an executive session on May 21st. Solicitor, do we have to have that now? That's just broken up or is it just minutes? That's separate. It's separate. So it's not in here separate. You don't have it in here. You're going to put it on the next one?

No. You sealed the minutes.

From our last, we had an executive session on May 21st.

Yes, but you don't bring them back. Thank you. Second carries. All in favor? Thank you, Andrew.

I was confused by your question. I'm abstaining. Thank you.

All right department heads.

Well to prove that Bob and heads written and they've been very watchful one for coming to say that you know what I mean.

Administrators union of the on the bar and eat for the roads. We are considering going to pay this year or so.

We have been preparing to put out to bid paving projects that would allow us to draw down state funds in this paving season and Data engineering, which has helped us get to it in the past is helping us this time around as well. And we're going to have hopefully by tomorrow, we'll have a draft RFP from them. Put out to bid. Swamp road. And 2 variations on long highway, kind of a short version and a long version. So that we can and so the cost of those projects separately and the smaller scope and the longer scope on long highway. And. So, once we've done that, we'll come back to you with. Hopefully it's and some costing on what it would take for us to get those jobs done and how we can realize the state funds associated with him for the reimbursement money.

It's not it's about the board that has been in the past year since it was.

It is a 91,000 I believe is what we would realize in the coming year or. the paving projects. And yeah, it's been ramping down. I have to look at what they budgeted for next year to see whether that goes back up. But yeah, it's been ramping down, so we don't get as much. But if we don't pave anything, we leave it able. And the state matches one-third. So we could scale back our paving, still get the funds if if the bids come in way above 2 times 91. We can scale back so that we're just doing enough so that we get to stay kind of the branches of getting on higher because oil prices. I I would assume so but until.

They're in hand to see and yet come right.

I'm all for the two-part proposal for Long Highway. I would like to see Swamp Road divided into parts as well. I mean, there's definitely different portions of it that are much worse than others. And I would like to give the town the option of paving portions of it instead of the whole thing. Thank you.

Well, you're stuck. I have a motion on the table. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. All business one, vote to approve proposed ordinance amendment chapter 11, 2-2.5, tax assessment for the town code. I'll make that motion.

I'll second it.

Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Point of one, five-year unexpired term ending July 30, 2030 on the Agricultural Conservancy Trust to fill a vacant seat. Do I have a motion?

I'll make a motion to appoint Carter Wilkie. Second.

For the discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Staying in. Thank you. I am going to move on 4 from 3 if there's no objection from the Council. Seeing any objection from the Council? Seeing any, I'm going to move on to a discussion for accessibility of bikes. Pete Carey, I have your name on this one.

So this is something I think most of us know Juanita Gulot, her son Seth, and she came to the Council Probably about a year ago. Then recently, probably three or four months ago when the curving was put in. And at the last Memorial Day, not this one, but 2025, his son's in a wheelchair. He's been in a wheelchair for a long time. And He had to help have people help her pick the wheelchair up and put them on the grass. So she caught me at the Memorial Day celebration this year and asked me if I would put that on the agenda, which I did. I've talked to Anya about it right now. Anya and Juanita are trying to work something out. So if Anya wants to speak on that or tell her what her thoughts are,

Sure. So I think there's a short term question and a long term question. And this relates partly to what the chief talked about in terms of the restriping project. So we in the basic facts are, it's a state road. state curb. We need state permission to cut through that curb if we want to make Pikes Peak accessible and have a ramp that goes up there. So that relates to what the chief was just talking about in terms of whether we get approval for all the things that are happening around Pikes Peak. The short-term solution that we may be able to pursue is to buy some sort of a temporary ramp that we could flip out on days where people need access up there. And so Mrs. Goulart has given me information about some research she did on those, and I will continue to pursue that. I need to find out from the state. Department of Transportation, what kind of permission we need to put that in place. Like, do we need their permission? And then I probably need to look into the liability that we would have if we put a ramp in. Longer term, we need, if we're going to make it accessible, we need not just a curb cut, but some sort of a real ramp onto that property. And then everything that happens beyond the curb is our responsibility in terms of accessibility. And so I think what we'll be looking at is if you want to truly make it accessible, we probably need to hire an engineer who can look at what are the options for a cut through the curb? What are the options for a ramp up At least the memorial that's over there. And what are the options for something that would allow somebody who is in a wheelchair, not just to get up onto the grass, but to actually navigate that space. So not an easy solution, but hopefully the short-term ramp is something we can, with state approval, do pretty easily. Any questions from our audience?

Thank you on what I'm going to make a motion to allow you to keep working on that with one need to cool and come back to the council when she has some more information second.

Thank you. We review and discuss contract terms and conditions of block or block cameras. Just to update everyone here today, the council at their last, I think it was two meetings ago, wanted the solicitor to look at the contract and the terms and agreements that has happened. So we're gonna discuss that today. This has been on our agenda once. This will be the second time on our agenda. That's my preference that is going to be on the agenda again. So we're all here to learn about it. Gather information. I think it's an important topic for us to discuss the town. Respect very much the police chief rains. Um, so I don't see any vote tonight, so I don't think anyone has to have any angst out there that we're going to vote tonight on this. Like I've said before many times, people in this town say, what do you do in Russia? And I didn't know about it. So it's only the second time on the agenda. So I expect to have it again on the agenda moving forward. So having said that, if you were gonna open this up for the council, to talk to the solicitor on what he saw in the contract, in the terms and conditions. So we also have Jonathan Gabriel, who just appeared here at the dais. I don't know if anyone saw that happen. Just like that, here he is. He is our IT and cybersecurity expert. So we may get into some more technical things and legal things. So we have two experts with legal and technical. So once the council is done talking with our two professionals, I'll open it up to the gallery and I just ask you to be group as you can and not be repetitive. Nothing worse than having someone come up and say the same thing as the other person said. So those are my rules. Hopefully they work. And here we go. So have you looked at this contract?

I have, yes. It's a fairly standard contract for technical service. Can you hear me? Can you all hear me? Yes. Yes.

Yes.

This is a fairly standard contract for technical services of this nature. That's the first thing. Here's the keys that you need to know. What you're getting, what's being granted to you is a non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and use the flock services via its web interface, subject to the terms of this agreement. Non-exclusive means that not only don't you have the ability, you could say the police department have the ability to do this, look at this information that is gleaned from the flock camera, but flock itself does too. And it goes on in the contract to say that they need to do that so that they can provide the necessary services. And you might want to look at paragraph four, data use and licensing. As between flock and the customer, a right title and interest in and to the customer data belong to and are retained by the customer. That's the police department. but the customer grants to PLOC a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide license to A, use and disclose customer data to provide PLOC services themselves, and B, use customer data to support and improve PLOC's products and services. There is a confidentiality agreement in paragraph five, each party exercising reasonable care to hold confidential information in confidence and not use it or disclose it to any other person or entity, unless it's agreed to in writing by the other party, And secondly, if it's required by law, including any court order, subpoena, or other valid legal process, provided that the receiving party shall, to the extent permissible, give the disclosing party reasonable notice, prior notice of the disclosure. Now, I know that that's not what everybody wants to discuss, but I have some other comments. Paragraph nine is a limitation of liability. Your damages that you can collect against a flock cannot exceed the total amount paid by you all for the 12 months of the contract beforehand. So I think you ought to know that limitation and liability. Why do I bring it up? Number one, you have here, which always bothers me, but that's what they do for these things. This agreement is going to be governed and construed according to the laws of Georgia. I have absolutely no idea what Georgia law is, but you need to be aware of that. There's also an arbitration provision in here that if there's conflicts, you don't go to court, you go to the arbitration association. Other than that, they will ensure their product. You don't have to do that. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

Thank you for that legal synopsis. I also want to include Chief Raines. I don't mean to exclude you in this conversation with Jonathan and the solicitor. Any other questions from the council? We're on a back gathering floor right now. Anyone who would like to come up to the podium and speak, that would be the time.

Hello, I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak. My name is Randall Rose. I'm from an organization called Rhode Islanders for Personal Privacy. And I should say up front, I am not a resident of Little Compton. And I appreciate that you're taking this deliberately and putting effort into this. I do have a background in privacy law, although I'm not a lawyer. And I'm always worried when a company like Flop makes the legal language itself because they know where the pitfalls and the loopholes are. If you're not familiar with privacy law, you may miss some of what's going on there. I did send you a legal analysis, but that was less than an hour before this started. So you probably didn't have time to read it. I'm just going to give you my, the high points of that legal analysis. And I think the solicitor found most of the, a lot of the main issues. I'm going to bring out one point and I'm not even sure I'm disagreeing with the solicitor here. The solicitor drew attention to the part that says that customer data is owned by the customer. But you have to, When I look closely at the definition of customer data here, and it's really easy to miss, but this is the definition of customer data at the bottom of the second page of the terms and conditions. It says that three kinds of things count as customer data. B, what you put into the web interface. C, what third parties at your direction put into the web interface. And A, I took them out of order, A is data and information captured by flock hardware, such as audio captured through microphones or video captured through the camera. So all those things count as customer data. But what I want to emphasize here is, as far as what's picked up through the cameras, it's only the raw recordings that count as customer data. Just the raw video or the raw audio. And Floch has said, They use AI to process their audio and video. They train AI on what they see in Little Compton or wherever. They run AI and they figure out, okay, who's that individual? Who's that car? I figure they give an ID number to each of them. And even though they say they delete the audio, the raw recordings, the audio and video... that derived information they can keep the derived information that um this id number was seen at this intersection at this time and whatever else the ai thinks happened um so even though the raw recordings are deleted um the raw recordings belong to you and they delete them after 30 days um still the derived information that they get from the ai they keep that forever um and um the um The way most importantly, the way the steel is structured is that the that it's not a contract where flocks network of devices is working strictly under the town's direction instead. Flock's network of devices can be used largely by Flock for Flock's own purposes. And as the solicitor says, all you get in return for paying Flock is you get a limited non-exclusive license. You get non-exclusive access to a limited part of the information that Flock obtains and Flock and nothing in this legal language restricts how Flock can use this. Flock can monetize the information. They say in some places that they don't currently sell the information, But even short of an outright sale, there are ways to monetize information, especially the derived information that they get with AI. And they can use it for Flock's own purposes. The deal does say that if Flock's taken over, all that information and Flock's rights. I'm going to thank you for that.

So you're anti-Flock. I got a feeling.

I am.

I'm sorry I didn't have time to do it all, but yes. I think we got it. Anything breaking you want to say about Flock again?

If I could have one more. Yes, I'm sorry. I'm probably holding other people up. But Flock has a terrible record in not preventing its devices from being hacked. There was a video last year of somebody who found that just pressing a button would give them access to a Flock device. And this contract actually bars you from doing it. This is something Flock always does. They bar towns from doing an independent security audit. There has never been, to my knowledge, an independent thorough security audit of Flock cameras. And that's important because of the hacking that is part of tech life nowadays. In fact, in modern warfare, cameras are always hacked by adversary nations. And I think you should be aware that If you put up the flock, it's not just the police department that gets it. Flock gets it. And it's not just flock, it's the hackers and whoever flock sells derived information to. Thank you. Let's send it there. Appreciate that. We have someone on.

Good evening. My name is Jason Anderson. I'm a town resident and I am not going to state my position on flock, but I do have a question as the town council and chief of police takes its technology into consideration. Is anyone taking into account? for the future possibility that additional human resources employed by the town are going to be needed.

The argument that I've heard anecdotally is if you have vlog cameras, you need less staff. But I just heard that anecdotally. I'll let the chief answer it.

I don't think we need additional staff. We're utilizing, should the program... be approved we're utilizing two members of the department already the deputy chief and our detective be the two individuals responsible for the use of the program as i stated previously at the meeting two meetings ago for us a department of allotted for 12 right now i have eight in two weeks i'll have seven people uh this becomes a bit of a uh It gives me more manpower. This is an assistance to us when we're lacking manpower. We're trying to bring our manpower back up to 12, but this would be kind of an assistance to us having this technology.

With that in mind, and I'm not... great respect for first responders in Little Compton. They've done us great service. If the department is stretched because of, I'm just, I'm trying to think outside of the box as to what might pass the town's finances not necessarily if you are fully staffed and blocks technology blossomed in town, not with just one camera and additional resources were needed. I think it's just important for us to go into this with our eyes wide open that it may, I don't know, require additional human capital.

I don't know. I don't think that's the case. That's a good question. That's a good point. I don't think that's the case. It's software program, regardless if you have one camera or 10 cameras, it's the same software program that certain individuals are going to be trained and allowed to use. Not everyone in the department is going to be able to use this. Just two people. I'm not even going to be able to use it. It's going to be two people, one in charge of investigations and the deputy chief who is basically overall in charge of internal affairs and how things are done, policies and procedures. I don't think we're going to need an additional person to just oversee the project. And I don't think this happens anywhere else. I could be wrong. But I believe, and I'm not 100% sure, but I'm only going to utilize sworn police officers to deal with this software. I'm not sure if other departments, bigger departments, maybe not in Rhode Island and other states might use civilian personnel, but we are not going to do that.

Okay. Thank you. That's all. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else?

My name is Bonnie Finney. I live at 43 Old Main Road. I read an article in the Second Times, I believe, about the flock cameras in Tiverton. I wish I had paid more attention, so I don't have facts straight. The things that I do remember, though, is that Tiverton is trying to get more cameras. And also, I believe I read that the two or three cameras that are there, that people in town do not know where they are, and that information is not being divulged. And even some people that should know where they are, according to them, do not know where they are. Having said that, my other thought is the fact that, and Tiverton's going to try to put up more cameras. As we all know, getting in and out of town, we have to go through Tiverton unless we come through Westport. Wouldn't their cameras suffice?

They would if we had the software to access their cameras. Okay.

I just don't see the level of privacy that will be invaded in our community equal to the demand that we would actually need this. I guess that's my concern is privacy. And that there's not, to my knowledge, there's just not that much of a demand for privacy. those kinds of people coming in and out of town all the time that you have to trace people. So that's my concern is privacy and people in Tiburton know where I'm going. So that's why I was thinking, sharing information that that might be an option. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? Anyone else here on the podium? Solicitor? Private security expert? You don't have to stay up here anymore if no one's going to ask you out.

Here, if you need, you can stay. I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have, but I do think it's important to note what type of service is being provided. I defer to the chief on that, but these are license plate readers, correct?

Yes, the photograph of the back of the car.

Can I ask a cheaper question? Other than the nefarious reasons we're all discussing, what is the positive part of this?

Having the software and the cameras? Yeah. We can use it for various reasons. Most of the time it's used for investigative purposes, but they have been used across the state for Amber Alerts, Silver Alerts, Purple Alerts, those for abductions and elderly Alzheimer's patients. A Purple Alert is for those who are developmentally disabled. So when you see those big electronic signs on 95 that say Amber Alert, you know, Red Ford AB123, that information can be put into a flock camera. And if that goes by one of the cameras, whoever owns that camera will get a hit, will get a message that gets passed by. So it assists in things of that nature as well.

So if someone in town... If someone, if you were looking for a license plate, and you didn't catch any town, the block camera and another town caught it. Does that information come back to you?

It does. The town in question, we would have to input that information, whatever the plate of the vehicles lacked for AB123, we would put that into our system. And if it drove past the camera in Tiverton or Fall River or whoever has cameras, France and Providence, they would get a hit. Then they would call us and say, hey, are you still looking for this? And then a coordinated effort begins at that point. You know, I said this before a couple of meetings ago, and I know you weren't there, Paul, but this is not, this is a piece of evidence that will help us in investigations. This isn't the end-all, beat-all that's going to solve every crime that ever happens in Northampton, but it's a piece of evidentiary, it's a tool that we can use and add to our tool belt, so to speak.

just to assist us in what we're doing on a day to day basis.

And if we don't use it, even better. That means there's no crime, don't get lost, there's no Amber Alerts, there's no elderly people getting lost, even better.

Chief, just a clarifying question. So I just heard your answer to Paul, but I thought that Bonnie had asked a similar question about our neighboring towns having the cameras, and you said it would help if we also had that software. What's the difference between your answer to her and your answer to him? I'm just confused. You had said that Tiverton's information would be helpful if we had access to the software. And Paul's saying if Tiverton...

If we have the software, we can put in an alert. We put in information. And if it drives by, Tiverton gets alerted. They'll call us.

And how is that different from what you just described to Paul? Maybe I'm confused. I thought that Bonnie had asked the same question. And you had said, yes, it would be helped. Tiverton's information from their flock cameras would be helpful to us if we shared the software.

Right, if we had the system, we were able to enter the information. If not, listen, we can call Tiverton and say, hey, listen, could you put this in your- It's just a manual.

It's a manual. Okay, that's what I was looking for. Thank you.

For the discussion.

be interested in the laws of Georgia. That seems to be the unknown. That's not something you want to be interested in, Sal. Well, you're saying that that's part of the contract.

The difficulty comes in if town has a dispute with the block company.

Mm-hmm.

Rhode Island law won't apply.

It will be Georgia law. Yeah, so it would be litigated in Georgia.

Well, there's an anti, I'm not going to say anti, but it's something that personally bothers me. The dispute resolution is in court. The dispute resolution is to AAA. which makes me nervous, but that's fine. I always like to bring that to the attention. Oh, that's a good point. These contracts always come in, and despite the fact that the service is being rendered here in Rhode Island, You know, the law for where this flock camera company is, I assume it's Georgia. That's the law that's in the contract. And I checked around and in fact, that's what this community does. I think most solicitors skip over that, but I always like to bring it to your attention because if there is a dispute, that just means that you're going to be applying laws from a different state. And frankly, I'm not a Georgia lawyer and I don't know what the Georgia laws are. I have trouble enough with the Rhode Island laws.

Another question would be, have you tried to insert Rhode Island law as a basis for the contract? In other words, that can be done also.

I'm not aware of that one.

On this one, that's a no. It's a no? Okay. Because we've done that. That's why.

On all the contracts, I have to say I've been successful and I've insisted on what I own law, but these guys, no.

Okay.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

My name is Timothy Haggerty. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak. I just wanted to bring up the fact that lots of communities around the country have been canceling their flock contracts. One of the main issues is they were being accessed by federal agencies without their knowledge. Lots of people have tried to cancel their contracts, but flock has been uncooperative with taking the cameras down. They've had to put bags over them because Flock is just refusing to take them down. Flock is a company valued at $7.5 billion. Investors are also investing in AI companies that target combatants in war and are developing predictive policing software meant to predict who is more likely to commit a crime. This transfer of military tech into domestic policing has great implications for civil liberties. We have already seen how Flock has been used to track individuals attending protests, a protected first amendment right. More than 50 federal state and local agencies have run hundreds of searches related to protest activity. As one federal judge ruled, the surveillance system of Flock cameras in Virginia creates a detailed chronicle of a person's physical presence compiled every day. Though that particular case failed to prove a violation of the Fourth Amendment, the fact remains that Flock creates a nationwide database that allows anyone with access to search an individual's movements anywhere in the country without a warrant. The use of threats to personal safety to justify the erosion of personal rights has been going on so long that it should be obvious to everyone. This is just another example. People opposed to Flock cameras are not opposed to safety. In a letter from the CEO Garrett Langley to Flock users, he characterized anyone opposed to Flock as the same activist groups who want to defund the police, weaken public safety, and normalize lawlessness. This is absolutely not what we want at all. We want a safe community. We want a well-funded police force that is able to protect the community. We just believe that safety should not require us to sacrifice all our individual rights. That is why we are focused on communicating and building relationships. We believe that we can improve mental health and increase safety in our communities by investing in meaningful relationships, not by expanding a surveillance state. We hope that people of Little Compton and the members of this town council will do the same. Thank you.

Anyone else?

Okay.

Anyone else? Thank you. Discussion. I'm going to move on. If there's no objection from the council, I'm going to buzz my way all the way down to communication. We have a young family here with children. And I'm sure they don't want to hear any more discussion of their own stuff. Any objection to that? I was enjoying the flux. Okay. Communications for requests from LLCs on the commons and LCC DBA, LLCs on the commons for victulating and holiday sales license located at 48 commons. Do I have a motion? Motion to approve. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed?

I'd just like to add with all necessary state and local ordinances adhere to. So important. Thank you.

Communications 5, request from LC's on the commons LC, DBA LC's on the commons for an annual entertainment license located for the commons. I have a motion. Motion to approve. Second. Further discussion?

Gary's comment.

Gary's comments added. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? No, thank you. I think that's it for Elsie's on here. Am I right?

Yes.

All right. Those kids home, wash them off. Get ready. All right, I am going to do business one. Consider Crescent alarm fire alarm for 32 Commons. This is the Ott Fellows building. This is to continue with our quest to get this building open, the second floor particularly open. And this is one of the things we do. Do I have a motion?

Good. I'll make the motion, but I'd like to- Do you have a second?

I'll second it.

Go ahead, Gary. Okay, so was there any other alarm companies solicited? No. No. because there's no other alarm company?

I can speak to that from when we got this quote originally, which I think was a year ago. I think it was over a year ago when we got this. And I talked with Carol about it at that time. And I had been hunting around to try to find another company for a quote. And they're just a very small pool of organizations that could actually do it. And the one that I reached out to declined to give us a quote. And Crest Alarm is the alarm company of record on the building and has done it also. It was approved at that point when they gave us- Anything over $5,000, would you only- They did the radio box for us, which this quote came through in two parts. The first thing we voted to approve was the radio box. We did that almost a year ago now. This was the second part of that quote.

Just a question.

Thank you. I have a motion but that is is the motion pursuant to 4555 dash 8 because it's in the nature nature of a sole source procurement, yes, yes, to make the motion that I mean.

Gary made the motion there is a 44 dash 5 dash 8.

I did. Before 55, 8, I thought I heard him say that 5, 8, yes, he did and the 2nd was by Victoria.

Further discussion? I have a hand.

My name is Aras Aranyan, 24 Baylors Lane. Thank you for putting this on the agenda and hopefully it will get approved. Our understanding is that this is one part of the steps. There's a second part of the steps so that art fellows can use the second floor. Is there any news on the second part of it?

That's coming soon with an RFP out for the stairs in the front and the handrails.

So if the Commons Needs Committee has done their report?

I can't speak for that, but I think they're close.

Okay. And you do have my report, of course.

I got your report. Okay. So we're looking forward to use the space. We're looking forward to getting up there.

So are you, I think. Yeah.

Thank you very much. You're welcome. Further discussion? All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. New Business 2 proposal from Allison Ring, Comprehensive Plan Agreement. The cost of this will be from FY26 and FY27. 27 and 28. 27 and 28. Sorry about that. Do I have a motion? I'll make the motion. Do I have a second?

What's your motion?

To approve for both sections? Yeah.

Okay. Yeah, I'll second that.

Second that. We are in discussion. Discussion?

I'll add. So this is a proposal from Allison Ring, who is a planner that works with several communities and has worked with Little Compton over the years. I believe she was instrumental in the 2018 comprehensive plan development. She has been hired by the town on many occasions to help the planning board with work through looking at zoning and updating ordinances and helping us to be compliant as state laws change. The planning board chair, Mike Steers, who is here, spoke with Allison and asked her to provide us a proposal to update our comprehensive community plan as required by the state of Rhode Island. We have to update and readopt it at least every 10 years. Again, this was a 2018 plan, so we're coming up due on it. This is Allison's proposal for doing that work over the span of two years in part to help break the large cost of it into two chunks so that we can budget accordingly. The first chunk is budgeted in the 27 budget that was just passed at our financial town meeting. The second chunk will need to be budgeted in our 28 budget. And Patrick McHugh and I, Mike Steers and Allison had a Zoom meeting earlier this week and reviewed it together. And I think it's a very thorough proposal.

And that Mike, remember what the fee from her was the last time? How much did she charges do the comp plan last time? Do you recall?

I do.

Mike Steers, Pennsylvania Road. I do not recall what... We didn't get a formal quotation the first time we were updating our plan from 94, and we got a state grant. We'd had some money on balance from the state, and she added to that. I think it was probably in the $50,000 category, but we didn't have to... do the extensive things that we do now.

Right. It looks pretty extensive. Is there any possibility or the planning board could get a grant to help pay for this from the state?

I don't believe that statewide planning is offering any money at this point.

The Allison probably would know if there's any money out.

And they, the statewide planning actually provided her to us back in 18 to get a planner to do the services. Part of the, what's different is it's orchestrated a month-by-month schedule through 26th and 27th. She can hold public hearings and gather input and deal with each subject one month at a time. So that we'll get a very complete review of our current plan and what has happened, the objectives we wanna continue with, new objectives we want to add. She's incorporated specifically a much more robust section on housing because we have a lot of information and input. And we've discussed that with the housing trust and also on agriculture. Pretty much right now, it's in land use. Pull out and have a separate section on agriculture specifically. So those things are going to take more time and a lot of

Very comprehensive, that's for sure. But maybe if you speak to her, you could ask her if there's any grant money out. Absolutely.

Yeah. Just while we have Mike up here, I'd just like to recognize that it's a tremendous amount of work for the planning board as well. And so even though this represents a lot of work from Alice and Ring, this is Mike and our volunteer planning board doing a lot of work. So I thank you guys in advance for that and recognize that that's a big ask. Thank you. Yeah.

We'll basically be at two months, two meetings a month.

I don't know if this is another. What do you want 55 a or was this put out to this originally.

You know there's an exception for professional or professional services of this nature.

It's 4550 40 for 40.

554. What a motion. Yes yes. And the motion Victoria second any further discussion.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? I'm going to move around the board again. And I want to apologize to my childhood friend, Marjorie, for her sitting out there. We don't have any kids, though. We don't have any kids. So if there's no objection, I would like to go to new business six. I don't know what four and five could be forever, Marjorie. Who knows?

Any objections?

Not seeing any. Number six, request a little account for the historical site and consult temporary exhibition banners commemorating local people and events from the Revolutionary War, the Town Hall, and Adamsville Ball Field during July 2nd, 2026 through October 12th, 2026. I will say, everybody knows the Hotels at Marger. Anecdotally, I've heard this is the best exhibit in New England. Why not?

Why not?

Why not? Anecdotally, I've heard it. And then Little Compton and Little Compton should be very proud of it.

Motion to approve. Second.

Further to the schedule.

May I just ask one question? Where is the display going in the Town Hall?

I don't have a clear idea of that Heather and I'm very happy to work with you.

Well, I only ask because if the intention was up here, Okay, all right. Okay, that's fine. Because I have early voting for the primary. That's all. I'm okay. Thank you.

All right. Not saying any. All right, go home to no kids.

During COVID, when we had the council, just to give you this is, they will be patriotic. But banners will be this size. Thank you. An image and some content. It makes me read the content. Little content was very proud of this.

Very horribly suffering right now.

They looked for constantly moving over to a new place. First thing, these are houses where there were only women and children and stealing the children's clothing. Oh my goodness. Women put their children to bed in their shoes so they could run into the woods at night. away to you. So there's a lot. We've learned a lot, and we'll be very interested to hear.

Thank you. I agree.

Thanks, 900. Thanks.

All right. Back up the board. We can go.

You need three.

Three what? New business three. New business three. Yeah, I'm going back to the board of the new business 3, sorry for I didn't hear it from town administrative honor and what by one contract extension I will make that motion to have a second. That good. And it was it. Thank you on in a few months. Discussion of town hall, courtyard area and I will just let everybody know where this is the long area between the tax and courts office. Everyone can order themselves on this discussion.

It's a little long down here.

And I have Victoria's name written down here.

Sure. So in trying to find a way to recognize Bob Mushen's decades of experience, some ideas were getting tossed around, and it was suggested that we might plant a tree in this courtyard area. I mentioned it to our clerk, Heather, who has great encyclopedic knowledge of all things town of Little Compton, and she helpfully shared that there used to be a tree in that location that was dedicated to a former resident of town. I believe it was planted in 1965. And that tree, I'll say disappeared for lack of a better word. when the renovation project was done here and was never replaced. So I think personally, I think this idea of planting a tree in Bob's honor also gives us an opportunity to sort of rededicate to that original honoree for the first time it was planted. I've spoken with the tree committee just to understand how that might work with their purview and they're happy to make recommendations If we vote on this tonight and decide to plant something, they would not only take care of the planting, but they would start by making recommendations for a few species that would fit the bill. We know the species of the tree that used to be there. It was a Cusa dogwood, and they would take that under advisement. So, yeah, I guess I'd like to make a motion to charge me to work with the tree committee to come back to the council with recommendations for a couple appropriate species of tree that could be planted there. That's my motion.

Could you involve Jason Burchard on this tree warden?

I believe he's on the tree committee or he works in conjunction with the tree committee. So yes, he would definitely be a part of that conversation. Thank you.

I'll second the motion. Further discussion? Any opposed? Seeing none, thank you. business five request from dbw direct to temporary dbw employee third extension to work until 7 11 2026 have banya written down on this one

Thank you. Yeah, we still have one full-time employee out on medical leave from the DPW and is simply requesting that we continue the temporary employee who has been covering those duties. We do have an ad now posted for a full-time employee for DPW, which will help to fill the gap. But in the meantime, if we could extend the temporary employee, that would help us cover all the duties of the DPW.

Motion to approve the DPW directives.

I'll second it and comment. We are under discussion. Go ahead, Paul. Were there any agreements or disagreements or any discussions at all with the union on this? No.

Uh, no, uh, might not have anything to do with it, but just, yeah, no disagreements that I know of in terms of the temporary employee and then in terms of the. Full time employee that we're for which we're advertising that's getting advertised with the union at the same time as as per.

That's okay. I think I have a motion and a 2nd on the table. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? I'm seeing any. Thank you. What a place is commissioners. But it's a kind of preservation association for a class of 1 ever choices annual meeting to be held on July 22nd 2026 of the motion to approve a favor I post. That's to request from the police to the local 6.4 plus of one day until that was wasn't like a summer night.

Mark Warren, motion to approve. Second, all.

Mark Warren, Communications. Mark Warren, letter received from Jay Miller why I live in little content question mark an argument to discuss what. Mark Warren, Should not be sold here.

PB, Jorge Boone, motion to put this with the flock camera. Paperwork and all of them.

I mean all there I I'm. You look to be possible to come to give me dinner. You may have a little country dinner on Sunday, September 13 2026 to prove back in. So I can make it to the end here all in favor. I give you. You know the reason for Jenny Nugent on block cameras.

Well should put that with the plot camera information thank you second all there.

Well got at least the former single day until it was is already did that one what I skip around.

This one was retail beverage this is a different one is well the entertainment of the motion to move immediately you're going to go down I did that's where it is the first one under board of licenses is listed as a. Is it in a day retail beverage.

What was the beverage? This is an entertainment license. Places for entertainment. All right.

Wait a second. You voted when the family was here for their holiday and victualing.

No, we're on to number six. Number six. Request from the police department.

Patrick went straight from three to six because we had been around. Because we had already done four and five.

So on board of licenses to it.

Yes.

And communication six.

Sorry.

Similar.

Yes.

But they're different. But they're different. This is their same but different. Same and different. I think I have a motion. I'm like, wow, it sounds familiar to me. application for a new mobile food license from a crazy food or we already give them a life that has to get their deals.

This is their seat.

Motion to approve with all state and local ordinances here to second.

Well, they were I was a private sector was for the ensuing year. Motion to approve. Thank you for us from 10 by 5 by 2, the 3rd. to renew his trash hauling license, consuming here one vehicle in excess of 10,000 pounds.

Motion to approve.

Second. All in favor? Aye. Anybody? I'm seeing any. Petitions from Sheila McIntosh and Aaron Thomas regarding opposition to positioning of flood cameras in Little Compton.

Motion to place that with the flood camera. Senator Chip. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Thank you. Consent? Yeah, I'd like to pull consent to and we got to consent to pull. This refers to squatting. I had a gentleman call me last year about he had a problem, the South Shore area. And he said that he was having was renting a house to somebody and the guy wasn't paying you hadn't paid for almost a year or something was not really any legal action you could take, which I'm not going to question that, but I think we should support this. And I would request that I would ask the town council president to sign one of these, just put little Compton in everywhere if possible.

Yes, that can be done, but I'm going to ask that if you do so, You refer it specifically not only to our legislative delegation, but the House Judiciary Committee. This is a Senate bill. It's gone through the Senate. It's currently in the House Judiciary Committee. There's about four legislative days that they have left. So if you're going to send a resolution out, it's got to go out as quickly as possible. We can draft it up. But among other things, I'm going to draft it. Yeah, I'll draft it. I'm just going to take theirs and take out Exeter and put it in Compton. Council President to sign, but it should go to the House Judiciary Committee specifically and the legislative delegation.

I guess I made the motion.

You want to make a motion to have me sign this thing? Yeah. Okay, I'll sign it. Okay.

Who's seconded it?

I'll second it. Thank you. Thank you. All right. All right.

But the full consent agenda was to place a full consent agenda on file second. I think the bill second second. All right. All right. All right.

All right. All right.

All right.

All right.

All right.