Town Council - Regular Meeting

I'm glad she said that.

Usually I forget. Usually I forget. Microphone on? Sounded. Jonathan?

Yeah.

I didn't do anything yet.

Yeah?

It might not touch it.

No, I think you muted it over here.

I didn't. Yeah, we're going to do the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the land of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I have one announcement. I'd like to take a moment of silence for the passing of Virginia Peckham. I was in here a little confident. It was nice to talk with Virginia. So I will do a moment of silence. Thank you. Is there any other announcements?

Yeah, I'd like to make one. As we all know, there's another meeting going on down the auditorium, the planning board. is having, and I'm kind of upset about that because the two meetings that we all should be attending, because what's going to happen down there is going to give us direction in the future, especially about zoning. If they're going to put four houses on 2.6 acres, a lot of people have a problem with that. Um, So I don't know why the planning board decided to have it on the same night that we have a town council meeting. Cause as I said, I think we all should be down there listening to what the residents have to say, because we're representing the residents and being up here is our duty. But I just think that the, Somebody on the planning board blotched us. I heard that it was the only night they had where all the members could get together. So out of 30 days, the same night we have a town council meeting is the only night they could have a planning board meeting. So just a little upset about that. Thank you.

You're welcome. I think what originated was... There was a miss with the agenda, didn't get in on time. And I've talked with Jonathan, our IT guy, so we got that coming up and see if we can try to avoid that in the future. I know I've done it before. So do you have any other announcements?

I just want to add on that as liaison to planning. I also am disappointed that I can't be there, but I spoke with Jonathan earlier today to assure that they're recording it so that once they weren't able to live stream it, but they are recording it. And then Jonathan will post that on our YouTube live stream account so that we'll still be able to go back and watch it. So. Anybody can see it at any time after tonight.

Thank you.

And then I have one other thing while we're on announcements. And I have a bunch of these in the back of the room for anyone who's interested. This is a private garden tour at Siphonic Garden, Johnny and Michael's amazing sort of secret, not so secret garden. and they are offering complimentary admission and shuttle rides for Little Compton seniors on Monday the 24th from 12 to four. Our senior activity coordinator will be there and it's very nice to be able to tour it for free. And if anybody wants more info, it's at the back of the room.

Further announcements? Not sitting, thank you. Another motion to approve the minutes.

Motion to approve minutes of the August 6th, 2026 town council meeting, unless anybody has anything to discuss. Second.

I'm going to bounce around a little bit today. So hopefully you can keep up. If there's no objection, I'd like to proceed to old business one. I'm going to put department heads reports later in the agenda. Any objections? Not seeing any, thank you. Old Business 1, receive RFP pending bids for 144 Willow Web Building. Discussion and action. I don't see Anya over there. Is she over there? Is she sitting over there? I don't see her.

I do not see her.

Okay.

So I'm going to make a motion to give this to the solicitor and come back to the next town council meeting to make sure this is up to snuff unless you've already done so. I have not. You have not. Well.

Second that.

Okay.

For discussion. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Full business to receive response from the commons foundation regarding the request for tax exemption status and response from tax assessors requested by council discussion action. I will just lead into this. I think this is fairly easy. We got some clarification from the Commons Foundation from what I'm understanding. I just want to be treated like the housing trust. I'll just kick it off like that. Solicitor, do you want to? I'm sorry.

I had a discussion with Ty Howe on this by email. That's where this letter that I sent out to everybody originated. I asked them the questions we had. I asked them Would have been nice if somebody was there to represent him. He's in the audience right now. So I'd like to have him come up to the dais and you can ask him any questions we want. But my understanding is you want the same thing as the housing trust, which is they don't pay any taxes on the property. They own until it's sold to somebody. They're not going to do any leasing. It's going to be sold. So once it's sold, then the people that buy the houses are going to pay taxes. And I spoke with Denise and there's a formula they use for affordable housing to get a reduced rate on their taxes. Is that correct, Denise?

Not exactly.

Okay. So after Ty gets done, maybe you can come up.

All right. Ty, go ahead. I know I read your letter. It was pretty clear to me. I think it was a pretty simple thing we're going to do here, but go ahead.

Okay, so my name is Ty Howe, and I am a board member of the Commons Foundation. And for those in the audience who aren't familiar with us, our goal is to try to build houses that people can afford in town because houses are so expensive in town. And we have a property, a 209 long highway that we intend to develop locally. new homes, and then renovate the existing home. And all of those homes will be priced in a way to meet the state formula, which is a lowered cost so that people can afford those homes. So that's what we're trying to do. And as a matter of background, it's worth mentioning, I think that we've been working with a lot of tradespeople here in town, what they might be willing to do to help us keep costs down. I'm really happy to say that a lot of those trades people have offered their time, discounted rate, I'll provide you with materials at cost and start charging the materials, things like that to help us keep the construction costs down. And so the tax exemption request is just another very small test to sort of help us keep those costs down. The taxes that we are being charged a long highway property. We got our bill the other day. It's $2,100. And I'm thinking, hey, maybe we could apply for an exemption because we are a not-for-profit organization. And so the process was, I wrote to town council. They put it on the agenda. I apologize. I had no idea that they would work so quickly on the agenda. I didn't come to the last meeting. So I'm sorry that I wasn't there to answer people's questions and concerns. Is this going to be a perpetual tax exemption for the new owners? And Gary has already said, no. This is just for the period that we own the homes. The other part to remember is that when we're done and we sell these houses by the end of next year, if everything goes the way we hope it will, the town is going to be collecting tax on three new homes and a fourth renovated home. So the $2,000 exemption that we get now is going to turn into perhaps $8,000 in tax revenue for the town in 2028.

I'll stop there and see if there are any questions. Thank you, Ty Howe. I'm going to bring Denise up. Go ahead, Denise. Could you come up? So I see in Ty Howe's letter, the last sentence, his last sentence says, we are asking an exemption exactly like the housing trust. You can answer this in one word. Is it exactly like the housing trust? It would be if you... It's not one word. Go ahead, Denise.

Currently, the housing trust is not being taxed on their properties. They are a 501c3, just like Commons found. And currently, they are not being taxed.

Yeah, but they're not being taxed because they still own the land. It's not because somebody else has bought it yet.

Correct. They own the land.

So I'll make a motion that we approve Commons Foundation with the same tax exemption that the housing trust gets. I'll second it.

What do we need to do for that? Okay. And Denise, correct me if I'm wrong. Stay there, Denise. You're going to need to have section 44-3-3 of the general laws amended. to include this as you've done for the wellness center and the game club too. So that you'd need to have a resolution that would be forwarded to your legislative delegation in the general assembly and the necessary language would have to be drafted. Unlike the other exemptions and in this statute, there are, 94 different exemptions throughout the state for matters of this nature. But on this one, it would only be for so long as the property is owned by Commons Foundation.

We also need to do the same thing for the housing trust since they don't officially have that designation either.

Yeah, they're not in this. Yes.

So should the resolution be for both the Housing Trust and the Commons Foundation while they're holding land for development of affordable or attainable housing?

Okay. Yes, but that's not on the agenda for tonight. So you'd have to do that in a subsequent meeting.

Okay, I thought on the agenda, it said, did it not mention the didn't mention the housing trust? Okay.

So I know it's not on the agenda. I try and break any rules. But we're going to do that. Several other tax exempt, they've been getting the tax exemption. For instance, the Connaught Lighthouse, Little Cobden Historical Society, Little Cobden Scout Association, Boy Scouts, Rhode Island Red Club, Westport Land Trust. I think we should put them in as a whole package along with a housing trust. And we can bring this back to the next meeting. So I'll make a motion. Okay. So I'll make a second motion after our motion is approved.

I beg your pardon. I was speaking. Is the motion to codify all of the tax exemptions currently given to non-profits in Compton?

Not yet. We got a motion on the table to allow the Commons Foundation to have the same exemption as the Housing Trust. Then I'll make another motion.

They want to add language about the resolution or figure that's going to happen anyway. You have to write a resolution and we understand that. What do you want me to add to the motion?

No, I think it's, I actually think Gary's correct. You should pass the motion that was seconded. And then we'll make some comments afterwards.

Wait, is there any comments from anyone in the audience? We're in discussion.

Yes.

Come on in, come on in, sir. Come on in, sir.

I want to know in our town entity, why their private entity, why should we pay town people pay their taxes on us? Or even though it's always a tax rate, so we have to pay their taxes. They have put their money to the dollar, let them pay their own taxes. Not fair to town people.

Okay. Anything else?

No.

All right. Thank you. Anyone else? I see anyone else. All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? I see any. Thank you. I am going to now bounce to... Let me just... Oh, you got another one. Go ahead.

So let me make a recommendation to bring to the next council meeting so we can add to what we just did to go to the General Assembly for... which they already have tax relief, but we'll get it codified. It'll be the Francis Akana Lighthouse, Little Compton Historical Society, Little Compton Scouting Association, Rhode Island Boy Scouts, Rhode Island Red Club, and Westport Land Trust. Those are all entities that are already getting exemptions from the town. So we need to codify that in the General Assembly. So I'd like to bring this back to the Council meeting, so we can make it a vote at the next 1st.

Like a raft like that just have a whole laundry list and have it go to the general assembly and follow up question to that. Do we have to make a sort of an argument for each 1 or a justification for each 1? Or can it just be a request like a list?

It can be bundled.

Okay. And we don't have to have a reason rationale. We can just say these organizations we would like to give property tax relief to.

It can be an explanatory note that is sent along with the resolution, but I think really what's going to happen is when the bill is heard and committed, that's when the explanations have to be made.

Okay. So someone should go up with it.

Yes. Yeah. So it seems this wasn't on the agenda. Should that actually be a motion or should we just, I'm going to withdraw my motion, but I have to click to put this, what I just spoke about on the agenda for next time.

No one seconded, so I didn't hear any motion. Thank you.

Awesome. If I may, the housing trust is exempt because basically that's the town. The town is just not taxing itself.

The housing trust is actually a 501c3 corporation. A separate entity. Like a separate entity.

But the town, it's the town's 501c3. Not really. It's kind of a gray area. Yes, it is. So it's an entity owned by the town, but the town has to get an exemption to not tax it?

Because it has 501c3 status, that makes it a corporation and separate from the town. If it were a subdivision of the town, political subdivision of the town, then it wouldn't need the 501c3 status.

Okay, it just seems a little redundant. It'd be like the town over in the vehicle. It's registered to somebody else for the town owns a vehicle and the town can decide not to tax it.

I think it was, I wasn't here, but I think I was set up on that basis to be similar to, uh, housing authorities in cities and larger towns, which are considered to be separate entities, even though the councils will appoint the boards to those things. I think that's why they did it. And also to be separate.

Not to belabor a point that's not on our agenda, but I believe that the housing trust didn't establish their 501c3 status until after they had purchased properties. So it changed sort of midstream.

Can I ask a question for Denise? You brought up the formula that you use for assessing low-income housing in town. Is that going to be applied to homes that are built by the Commons Foundation that are not low-income, but they're in this new category that we've created for the attainable housing?

So the formula Gary was referring to is for low income housing development. We don't, our tax rate is so low that we, for us to do that, it's income based. We'd have to get the income from all of these properties and they have to be statutory 30 years restricted, deed restricted. So it's not going to be the case. It's not going to be the case at all.

They're not eligible for tax treatment. Okay. Yeah. That housing gets under 4553. That's a separate statute. They will be paying full. Correct. Yes. Great. Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you. Old business three, adoption of affordable housing and five lots of more subdivisions ordinance as revised by the solicitor discussion and action. If anyone remembers our last meeting, we were almost there on the fly with this language. I think some T's need to be crossed and I started, have we got there?

So I didn't notice the last meeting, but alternative to Basically says the same thing is what alternative one does work. Nonprofit housing provider, a local housing trust or nonprofit housing private discretion, the planning board. With the approval of planning board as to the choice. But so we're back into the same one with that when the planning board is going to say OK. there's five lots there, this one on the water, the planning board wants that one instead of the people that own them.

Yeah, I thought we were playing the same language from one to alternative.

I thought so, but it didn't be taken out. I beg your pardon, that should have included in the first sentence of alternative two, with the approval of the planning board as to the choice and location of such lots, for any subdivision of 10 lots or more. Right. I see that.

And I know we discussed that, but then it says the applicant is required to comply with this subsection by choosing one of the following two alternatives. And on the second alternative, it goes back to the same thing, where the planning board has a choice and location of such lots.

I think it was the same. That was supposed to be an alternative, too. It was just an omission. Yeah, that was an omission.

You need to add for any subdivision of 10 lots or more. Yeah, for any subdivision. Added, right? Yes.

All right. I beg your pardon. That should have been. I'd like to make a motion to. So this is... Alternative two at the end of the first sentence. That was my mistake.

I'm going to make a motion to approve this with the addition of or any subdivision of 10 lots of more after of such lots 3rd.

Sentence an alternative to 1st sentence 3rd line 3rd line so I I just had 1 question for us that's a motion that I get where you're at I'm sorry you're on the line right over here going to be. Any location of such lots? With 10 house lots or more. Housing units for subdivision of 10 houses, of 10 lots or more.

Down here?

Yeah. There's such lots. Comes down here.

Right after such lots.

So it'll say planning board as to the choice and location of such lots of 10 lots or more?

For any subdivision of 10 lots or more. or any subdivisions of 10 lots or more. I have a motion, I have a second. Any further discussion?

Yeah, I have one question for the solicitor. Suppose somebody has 21-acre lot, splits it into three 7-acre lots, gives each one of those to three children. If they subdivide it again and make three, two and a third acre lots so they can give it to their children. Does this come back?

It does. If you take a look at the third sentence in the first paragraph, the planning board shall deem successive applications that result in five or more lots 20 years from the recording of the most recent subdivision to be subject to this section. Okay.

So a subdivision would be a 21-acre lot divided into seven-acre lots, right? And each one is owned differently by a different person. So if one of those persons now divides that into three lots, they're going to have to have an affordable housing on that? That's correct, yes.

Unless they wait 20 years. If they wait 20 years, no.

But if not, it's still not. I still just don't think that's a good situation for residents of the town that do have some property and want to leave it to the children and grandchildren. You know, so that's just my thought on it.

It brings back what I was saying. Subdivide the farm for my kids when I want to do five lots. I have to give them money. affordable housing.

One of the last to be burst up for affordable housing. Yes. Yes.

And Tony, that's that's in our current. Thanks, Greg.

What was the second?

Andrew.

So here. Not seeing any all in favor. I am both. I am. Yeah, I am as well. I was ready to pass this. Thank you. I am going to no objection. Jump to envy seven. Any objections? New business seven is little Compton Housing Trust annual report fiscal year 2025 discussion action. We have some housing trust people here that want to come up.

Well, sir, this is your last item.

Of the resolution.

I'm going to watch and get up and leave. All right.

So whenever you're ready. Thank you very much. Good evening, everyone. My name is Patrick Bowen. I'm the chair of the Little Compton Housing Trust. My name is James Harrington. I'm the treasurer of the Little Compton Housing Trust. We're here tonight to provide an annual report. Bylaws of the housing trust do say that we should do that on an annual basis. So here we are. I'd like to compliment James on putting this together. And Jonathan, thank you for putting it on the overhead. So just quickly, the Louisville Compton Housing Trust was established by the town council in 2006. It does receive funding from the town, from the state and from other sources. All of the trustees are appointed by the town council. I know there was some discussion moments ago as to whether or not it was a part of the town. Every trustee does operate as though this is an entity, it is a part of the town of Little Compton, in spite of the 501 status. And we won't go down that road too far, but I'm happy to speak to that at another time. In 2018, the town council, came up with a funding mechanism whereby 40% of building permit fees were appropriated to the Little Thompson Housing Trust. And that has made a big difference. In addition to an annual appropriation, this most recent fiscal year was $25,000. It has made a big difference. But we all know that the cost of real estate as well as construction is very expensive. We recognize that this takes a lot of time. The process of building takes time in the private sector. But when it's done in the public sector, everything is done in public meetings. Everything is noticed 48 hours as it would be in any public organization. So where it does take a lot of time. On the other hand, it does enable members of the community to be aware and to become involved should they choose to do so. So without further ado, I'll have James run through these slides, and we're happy to answer any questions we might be able to afterward.

Thanks, Pat. Looks like there's a big crowd here today. I don't think they're here for the housing trust, but we won't take it. Oh, sorry. Take too much of your time. Just going off what Pat said, as we understand here in Low Compton, 65.65% of housing stock here. Quite short of our 10% goal, but we're getting there. Our mission, as Pat stated, is to to address the problem of housing affordability in our community. And we aim to address this goal through property acquisition, development, and management. So we do have five affordable homes planned. We have a modest operating budget of $20,000 thanks to town council. And our threshold for these homes are up to 120% AMI. You guys may ask, what does that mean? It's around $135,000 per a family of four. You can hop to the next slide, Jonathan, if you'd like. Thanks. This is our biggest project today. It's for affordable single family homes. located right in the Tiverton Westport border. The thought of these homes and any home that we're constructing is what fits best for family that's gonna move in there. So we designed these homes to be net zero affordable with the highest standards quality, with bedrooms, with play areas, with fencing, to make sure that the families that we plan to move in there have everything that they need. Said earlier, this project was funded mostly by the town through grants and through Rhode Island Housing. So we're extremely grateful for that.

You should point out that Little Compton Housing Trust has chosen Church Community Housing Corporation in Newport to be the developer for the project on Old Harbor Road. The process of acquiring grants and developing is a pretty complex one. And though we have a lot of talent on the Housing Trust, Church Community Housing does it very well and they have a long history and they're very well respected. So we're happy to be with them.

And then this is our single family home on 184 Colebrook Road. I'm sure many of you have driven by it and wondered, what the hell is the housing trust doing with that? Well, we're almost there. We're proud to say that this house has been 100% funded by the town council. And the majority of this project, we have local contractors like Amesberry Mowing. We source everything local. I don't know if, Pat, you want to talk a little bit more about it.

Oh, yeah. So for this project, Union Studio Architects in Providence is both the architect and overseer, the developer for this. They will be... very soon providing their final drawings for this. We're in the process of getting cost estimates, which will then enable us to apply for grants for construction costs. But as James pointed out, that 40% of building permit fees accounts for that $175,000 purchase price for this property. There is an existing building there, as many know, and we have chosen not to demolish that until such time as we've chosen a contractor to build a new one. Union Studio Architects has a great deal of experience in both private sector and an affordable home. So we're happy to be partnered with them. And as I said, we're expecting a final set of drawings to be in very shortly.

and the homestead exemption. Many of you know what that is. I'm happy that came out of committee of the housing trust. I want to thank Gary Matter on us over there, uh, as well as Jack hair and Amanda, Nikki Santosi for putting together a working group to, uh, provide tax relief to, um, year round residents here in little Compton. So, um, I guess like Pat said earlier, we are a public body. We meet once a month here in town council chambers. We thank everyone, all our partners, board members.

Yeah. Happy to answer any questions anyone might have.

So I want to just thank you guys for coming up. It's exciting. There's five houses coming on that you're doing. I just want to spotlight James Harrington. He's 24 years old, and he's fighting for his generation that can afford a house here in Little Compton. We know the median price is $960,000. It's not something you're going to be able to afford at 24 years old, I don't think. James went to PC. His grandfather was a mayor in Bedford. And you certainly spending time on the housing trust and doing a great job. I appreciate that. And thank you. Is there any questions for these folks? I didn't pay you to say that, right?

Good job, guys. If I could just note, as I did at the last council meeting, the Little Compton Housing Trust, while we hold these two parcels, have not paid tax on them. It is fully the intention of the Housing Trust to put every single one of these five homes on the tax rolls once they are sold. Thank you very much.

I am now going to, there's no objection, I'm going to pivot to NB3. Any objection? NB3 requests for resolution to the Rhode Island General Assembly and Executive Office of Housing to recognize the unique challenges facing the town of Holocompton and the development of affordable housing and to provide support to address these obstacles. discussion and action. Councilor Talbot has been the lead on this resolution and spent a lot of time this important discussion. I will turn to Councilor Talbot.

Thank you. So the idea for this resolution kind of grew out of attending some housing trust meetings recently and understanding that with all the good progress that they're making, they are still facing an uphill challenge to secure grant funds to actually build the houses. So as they showed on the four slides, four house subdivision. They've received grant monies for the land and some of the pre-development costs, but they don't have funds secured for construction. And what I learned from attending their meetings and some of those conversations was from church community housing, that their recent application with a similarly scaled project with similarly estimated price per units was recently turned down by Rhode Island Housing and the Executive Office of Housing for their grant monies. And that was discouraging to church community. And then he was they shared that news with the housing trust to say your per unit cost is as high as the ones that just got rejected. So what I don't want to see happen and I don't think any of us want to see happen is for them to go through all the trouble that they have and get this far and finally have some houses in the queue to go and not receive grant monies. When I thought about that, I also. on the other hand, was thinking about how much money is going from Little Compton up to the state for the new owner-occupied property tax, known as the Taylor Swift tax. So I did some research on that. And actually, it's the non-occupied owner. How does it go?

Non-owner occupied.

Non-owner occupied. Taylor Swift is easier. That tax, I spoke with the Department of Taxation, and they have recently revised their estimates upward for what's expected for Little Compton's tax liability. Currently, that is estimated to be in excess of $4 million a year. Come down with people applying for exemptions, but that's their current estimate. And the statewide estimate is $54 million. So Little Compton's case is up. Eventually much more than its fair share, I would say, up to the state. And so when I thought about, you know, we might be getting turned down or we're very likely to be turned down because our per unit cost is so high for our affordable housing development. And yet we are sending them $4 million, potentially a year for property tax. I thought maybe we could make some noise as a town. and ask for some recognition about that. So I worked on a resolution that was in the packet. Basically, it's asking the General Assembly and the Executive Office of Housing to formally recognize the unique challenges that Little Compton faces in developing affordable housing, namely extremely high land costs, limited developable land, and a lack of municipal water and sewer infrastructure. These factors result in significantly higher per unit development costs compared to other municipalities. The resolution highlights that the Little Compton Housing Trust has its first five projects in pre-development and will soon be seeking grant funds. And it asks the Executive Office of Housing not to use the per unit cost as a basis for disqualification of grant funding. It asks the General Assembly and the Executive Office of Housing to further consider this in light of Little Compton's disproportionately high non-owner occupied property tax liability, the fifth highest in the state. So the goal is to secure recognition, support, and partnership from the state And that's what I tried to achieve in the resolution draft. And the solicitor has given me a little help with that. And that's what you have in your packets tonight.

After reading this, where it says the state's newly enacted non-owner occupied property tax will be levied on property owners in Middle Compton to a far greater extent than in most other Rhode Island communities. With Little Compton's estimated tax liability being next to $4 million annually. And you can do whatever you want and solicitor has a way in this. I think we should hit a little bit harder and say that we would like a percentage back of that $4 million, maybe 25% come back right back to the town. Why are they taking our money to go into the General Assembly to take care of all of Rhode Island when the $4 million is coming from Little Compton? We should get some of that money back like we used to do on a car tax. We used to get some of that money back. Is that possible, Solicitor? It is, yes. So I don't know if you would want to add that into your resolution somewhere.

So like I said, this came from the genesis of this was the fear that we're not gonna get grant funding for housing and understanding, I believe I'm correct in saying that the funds that the state collects are earmarked for affordable housing in the form of I think affordable housing tax credits and that we're very unlikely to get those. So my thought was get some of this money back in the form of support of our affordable housing since that's the reason that they have the tax. But by all means, I would be happy to see more of it come back to Little Compton. I just wanted to get the conversation started and saying at the at the least, we should be getting some support for our affordable housing projects if that's the intent of this tax.

Right. And to go, like I say, to go a step further, we should ask for 25 percent of that $4 million back to come directly back to Little Compton to help us on affordable housing.

And I don't know enough to know whether or not that makes sense to include this resolution ask, or if that becomes like a bridge too far and then that gets turned down and then we don't get the recognition that I'm trying to achieve for the grant application. So I'm not sure, I don't know enough to know how best to strategize that politically.

Are you in a hurry to get this going?

Well, the reason I kind of hustled on this because I just learned this news from a recent housing trust meeting was because I thought it would be good to get it in front of our legislators and in front of the executive office of housing before they receive the application. And I don't know, Pat, if you have a sense of when the applications are likely to be submitted. I just, I wanted to get on their radar before they said no. So that was why I moved kind of quickly on it. But I'd love to hear if Pat has a sense of timing on that.

The Housing Trust has Attorney Gerard Galvin representing us on the Harbor Road project. I was in touch with them today and they are intending to submit the plan to the Planning Board next week. So it's my expectation that Church Community Housing will be seeking grant funding as soon as and compliments on the resolution as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Tony, what do you think about, I take Gary's point and I think it's a solid one. Do you think that that should be a separate ask or does it make sense to lump it in with this? Does that have the chance of kind of tanking this request?

It has to be a separate section from what you have because this is directed to grants. And I think that what Gary's asking for here is a reimbursement, similar to what used to happen with the car tax. So my advice on this from a strategic standpoint would be go ahead with this to a separate resolution for that 25% because you're giving so much up.

And Gary, just on that one, I actually saw Senator De Palma on Sunday and was talking about this with him. And he, I think, is sensitive to this issue and recognizing that the estimates that we're getting from the state have doubled just in the last couple of months. I don't know, in the newspaper, in the Second Times, in the Providence Journal, they were estimating the total tax liability, the tax haul for the state was going to be $26 million, and now they're up over $50 million. So I know Senator De Palma is keenly aware of what's going on and he's receptive to this conversation. So maybe it could be a further conversation with him and development of another resolution.

I'll go forward with your motion and approve yours to go forward. And then I'll make a separate motion.

I think, did you just make a motion to approve my resolution? Yeah, I'll make that motion. All right, I'll second that.

For discussion. Not seeing any, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? I'd like to make another motion to have the solicitor come up with a resolution asking for the state to get 25%, whatever they take. But the not only a occupied property tax to come back to town a little confidence things that getting it from little confident, I don't think that's a too much of an ask and I'm pretty friendly was that a diploma, I will all him and discuss it with him and see his feelings on Russia.

Thank you for the discussion. I thank you. Well, the bingo water around I'm going to go to envy to it. There's no objection. New business to not saying any request from DW DPW director proposal to purchase lease a wheel excavator. The attachment discussion and action. We have a DPW director here at my finance director here. I think we have this discussion now.

Thank you for considering. This is Boddington Public Works. We have an opportunity to purchase what's called a wheeled excavator, which is an excavator with tires on it instead of tracks. We're able to drive it on the road. Available in multiple attachments. One attachment that I'm looking for is a mowing attachment. You've seen the states out mowing. We hire a vendor to mow the sides of the road twice a year. This option would allow us to do this.

going off.

So that $14,000 was for the spring mowing, which was the last half of last year's budget, which essentially put us $1,500 over budget on that line item.

So I think this is a good idea. I've been thinking about this myself. If you do it on a 10-year lease, it'll actually be cheaper than what we budget for roadside mowing. And the only question I have, I know we have one man that has a license to run the- At this time, we only have one. So we have somebody that's qualified to run this? Do. And we're not going to have to hire another man?

We do not. Okay. Not to operate this machine.

Okay. So if I make a motion to go forward with this- I don't want you to come back next year and say, well, we don't really have time to do the roadside mowing because we're too busy doing other things. So you will have the time and the manpower to run this machine. So we won't have to go out to a vendor to do our roadside mowing.

We'll do the best to do that. Yes. Before you motion, I wanted to, I've had the finance director here and I wanted to bring him in on this, on the finance side. That's fine. I don't think it's a 10 year lease. I don't think that's the way that we're discussing this. John, Mr. McNamee wanted to let us know what you think of this.

Yeah. So I looked at last, the budget for the last three or four years and we were at $25,000. The intention was that we could probably do a five-year lease. We could use some of the current year $25,000 as a down payment on the lease and then what we've done as we did with the radios for the police department is you do it with the annual payment in arrears. So that the impact, the only impact would be on this year would be the deposit that we'd be making down payment on the equipment. And then the lease would then be due if we get the equipment, let's say in September, every year in September, there would be an annual lease payment made. So you could do a five-year lease, which would basically go up six years and do it that way, which I think is probably,

And it's a lease to own. It's a lease to own.

It's a lease to own, yes.

And these things usually last, what, eight years? I mean, I know we're buying it used, which is not ideal, but it's cheaper. I understand the staffing thing, which is an issue, right? We don't want to make sure we have someone there to do it.

We won't, the use we'll have on it won't be like a commercial construction company who use it almost every day. So I think we'll have, this machine will last us a lot longer.

I would say that for the amount of use we're going to get out of this, it's going to pay for itself because we don't have to go out to a vendor. The vendor is only going to get more expensive every year. this machine should last 15 or 16 years. So I thought the difference between a new one and one that's two years old is 32,000, so.

Are you risking them for a motion, Aryan?

I'm going to go for a motion, but I mean, I'm not sure which one. Can you come back to us and give us your thought on the best one to buy?

I mean, I would prefer the new one because of the warranty.

What's the number on the new one? $170,000. The used one is $138,000. It's got 1,000 hours on it.

The unused one is $138,000. It has an option that's not available on the other two. It's called a steel wrist. The oldest one, it's $122,000. And I believe the warranties expired on that. We'd have to get an extended warranty.

Finance director, if we're going to do 170, does that change your intent?

Well, I can get some quotes on the financing. So if we did a down payment and then did it over a seven-year period, I think we could fit it into that budget.

Okay, so I'm going to make the motion to allow the DPW director to go forward or bring something back.

We haven't had a motion yet. We're going to go into discussion.

Yep. To bring back some information on the new one. Could you do that? Just bring some information back to the council to look at on the new one.

What in particular are you looking for?

Just how the public finance is going to go, sit with John McNamee, see how the finance is going to go, what kind of unit it is so that we can all take a look at it.

Could I add to that? Do we do a side-by-side for the new one and the middle used one? Is that way we can compare the different warranties and finance costs? We can look at a side-by-side on two options and then we could...

choose a motion to include victorious language to my motion.

I can take her out for a date before we marry her. I have a second we have any discussion. Sure, go right up, sir.

I'm going to go and call the code. This excavator, it How workers, have they ever ran an excavator before? Have they ever mowed before? I think it's a liability to the town. There's a big machine on the road and there's things that break all the time. What's the maintenance cost in this thing? Yeah, you know what? When it's down, are you going to hire a vendor now?

You know, I questioned Ted about maintenance for it and talked to me about it. And he says we have someone to do it. I would defer to Ted on those questions.

Well, I mean, we don't know a lot about it. I can research that a little more if you want. I mean, as far as maintenance, I mean, again, prefer to buy a new one because we don't use ones. We don't know who operated it before. It's typically their rental units. I have the option to rent one this fall to do our fall mowing. It's $8,700 delivered for the entire month of October, which is significantly less than what we just paid for the spring mowing. And we'll see how long it takes to operate, to do a mowing. We can do that. And if we use that machine and we want it, we can also apply that rental to the purchase price.

Are there other uses for the machine, sorry, are there other uses for the machine beyond the spring and fall mowing? Does it have other?

Oh, absolutely. Because it'll come with a 24-inch digging bucket, a five-foot-wide tilting grading bucket, so like roadside ditches. Just rented one to do 150 feet of trench on the side of Town Way, where rainwater was spilling over into the street, crossing and flooding someone's basement. Weekly rental for a mini excavator was $2,300, I think it was. We did the same thing last year, cleaning a few ditches. I've spent about the past two years, about just under $5,000 for renting a small excavator.

So beyond the offset to the vendor cost to mowing, we also will have the offset to not having these rental expenses. Thank you.

I think I'm going to withdraw my motion now that he said he can rent one. I would like to see... to rent one to see how this goes, to make sure it's going to go and be satisfactory to what you want. I'm sure it will be. But the previous vendor was always calling me and telling me that there was debris where he was mowing and his machine was always getting broken. And two years ago, it cost him more to repair the machine than what he made. So before we go spend $170,000, maybe that might be the way to go just to see how it works out. to rent one.

Okay. I think you might remember that we looked at one, which was just a roadside mower to purchase a number of years ago. And the reason we didn't buy it was because we didn't have an operator, but that would have been paid for 15 years ago. Um, to me, man, I see it as a long-term investment. Um, As we've noticed that the cost of hiring the vendor keeps going up every year. And he didn't even finish the job on time this year and threatened to quit because I didn't pay him the entire amount because he billed me before he was done with the job. I mean, I'm willing to do some more research here, certainly. If you want me to rent this other first, this one, I'd be willing to do that.

I had a retracted motion. I did retract. Do I have a retracted second? Do we know who made the second? What does it mean? Andrew did.

Yeah, I can retract it. Retract it.

Okay. Any further? Well, let's get to a resolve here. Okay. What's your thought, Andrew?

I think the Ted's point, it could have a greater budgetary impact than just beyond the roadside milling. So I think we need to look at how this could affect the budget and the finances in a longer period. I mean, if you're saying that we've rented machinery for other things, you know, this year and previous years, then we need to know what the offset is going to be in the long term and how much we're going to be spending on this, including maintenance. We need to see what expected maintenance might be on something like this over five or ten years.

Well, that's why I'm saying if we rent one right now and they get halfway through and they hit some kind of debris that breaks this thing, Who knows how much it's going to cost, but it won't be our machine. We have our machine that's $107,000. We break something, it's going to be considerable to get it fixed. So that's just my thought. Things break. Oh. I mean, I'd like to make a motion that we allow Ted to rent one for this upcoming fall season and see how that goes. Renting one and then come back to us in the winter to buy a new one. If it all goes okay, there's no breakdowns. Somebody can run it. It's not taken away from the guys that are doing the regular mowing and whatnot. Just to make sure everything's going to run smooth before we drop $170,000. Yeah, I'll suck it. Now we're in discussion. Again. Again. Any further discussion? The $8,600 that's cost for rent when it's still fall less than $14,000, it would cost us for a vendor to come in. And let's just see how it works. See if the guys can do it. See if it comes out good. Give us a trial basis. Then if everything works out good, I'd be happy to make a motion that you go ahead with a new one. Do you have a comment?

Yes, I agree with Gary because we have no one that may have experienced before in their lives, never mowed in their lives. So would they hit someone and break it? It's a trial thing. I think you're right in preventing it. Not buying and paying no one because it's going to cost a tax and spend a lot of money. So I thank you, Gary.

All right. I have a motion. Do I have a second? Paul's second.

Oh, Paul's second.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Thanks, Ted. Thank you. Okay, I appreciate everyone having me jump around. I'm going to go back to the beginning.

If nobody minds, I'd like to go to communication three, which deals with the young family bond. Communication three.

I don't have an objection to that.

Does anyone else? So we got...

probably an inch and quarter worth of letters for and against the Young Family Farm. My motion is to forward all these, which I think has already been done to the planning board for the September 1st, and to have a council hold on to this package for when it comes back to us for the public hearing, and that we have no discussion on this tonight. Second.

Any further discussion? Not seeing any, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Thank you. Thank you. All right, we're going to do our last job and we're going to jump back in time to the front to department head reports that I'm going to ask for the finance director's report. I want to thank him for hanging in there tonight for an hour. I appreciate that. You've got a long drive back to Lincoln. So we all appreciate your time. I hope you're enjoying it.

Just as good as the school committee meeting last week. Let's just start with 630.25. Right now, what we're looking at is Unaudited excess of expenditures over revenues being $1,163,791. As you know, that's compared to the budget that we had of $1,116,796. Now, with that $1,163,791, that's going to bring our fund balance down to $733,000, which would be the start of the FY26 year. And the unassigned fund balance, which is going to be about $250,000 less because you have to take out some of your prepaids and your inventories and those that are sitting on a balance sheet. That's going to give us an unassigned fund balance of $483,000 in the general fund forward into $26,000. The good news as we look into 26 is we're looking at a surplus for the year of approximately $580,000. We have revenues that have exceeded budget. Our tax revenues are above our budget by about $52,000. But some additional increases in building permit revenues and one of the things that you look at is on the beach receipts. They're going to they're going to come in at about $308,000 compared to our budget with 300. so that we are on the positive side when we're looking at the beach receipts. Expenditures for 26 will be $17,134,356, which is $449,000 less than the FY26 budget. The two areas of concerns that I mentioned at the last meeting were the fire department and the highway department. Between the fire department and the police department, we actually wound up a net savings of about 144,000. We were a little bit over on the fire department, but we were in a position where we were unable to hire the full complement for the police department. We did wind up with the overall savings of about 144,000. The highway department, which is where the paving had gone through. We're looking at a deficit in that budget area of about $202,000, which was slightly less than what I had projected in May. And that, as well as the increase on snow removal budget of approximately $23,000. So at this point, with that $580,000 that we've been showing, you add that to the $483,000 of unassigned, our unassigned fund balance at the end of 26 is going to be expected to be just slightly over $1 million. So we should be at $1,063,000 at this point in time. The 26 numbers, I've gone through most of the revenue. I think there's a little bit of interest I've got to add to that in my projection column. I've also added about $50,000 to my expenditure line item for any unforeseen payables that might come in. But overall, the expenditures, we've got 26 weeks of payroll in there. So we're pretty good, I think, on the expenditure side. So I'm pretty confident we'll be showing a surplus, certainly something between the $500,000 and $600,000 for FY26. Cash flow, which obviously is always a concern of mine. We were down probably to our lowest point in terms of reserves. At the beginning of July, we had a pretty good collection period for July and August. As you know, we got the bills out probably within the first couple of weeks of July. Thank you, Denise. And so far we've collected $1,783,000 of taxes for this seven-week period. Of that $1,783,000, $235,000 was collected for prior year's taxes during that period. And if you look at FY25, when we looked at the past due collections on real estate taxes, we wound up collecting for the year about $579,000 of past due taxes. So there's always a little bit of a carryover on the tax side for people that have actually missed a couple of payments. And then again, But the hard core we are looking at a tax which we're targeting now to do in the fall probably in the September October period. Which will probably target about somewhere between 250 and $300,000 of the past 2 guns. That's my plan to report or.

And if we've got a order to report the fiscal year 25 yet.

But the go to report that they're working on putting the what the other right now so it should be issued. It's a long report is a lot more work they had to be doing on 24 when they have predecessor or it is. Well they used to be able to look at prior work papers now they have to do a certain amount of testing to satisfy themselves and 24 so. That process has been a little bit longer than I anticipated it would take.

They'll be coming soon.

Absolutely.

Thanks, John.

Thank you. Thank you. I'd like to take out the IT department monthly activity report. Gary spoke about the two meetings that I discussed with Jonathan. If there's anything we can do to help out with meetings that aren't posted within the 48 hours. He's probably going to say a lot of words close to sleep, but what it comes down to is if we can get an alert, you know, somehow an alert to the town administrator, the chairman of the committee, the clerk, The IT director says, hey, you know, you have 72 hours. You don't have your agenda. So I put that in his mind. I don't know what it spit out in his computer mind to him, but let's hear it, Jonathan. Is there some way we can avoid... having late agendas and having a problem like we've had tonight?

We can definitely do something to help with that. There's still a human element, obviously, involved in everything. But I think we've looked at how everything works. We've talked to some people up at the Secretary of State's office and gotten a little bit more information on how their systems work. And we can handle this by approaching it from a couple different angles. One is kind of combined with a much-needed website overhaul that we've been talking that is coming. We build out a system of basically calendars that automatically pulls in all the information from the Secretary of State's database so that anything that gets scheduled, rescheduled, canceled, et cetera, it brings that front and center somewhere very visible And that also kind of leads into option or angle number two, which would be a system that distills all that data, compares it to our existing calendars, our existing public postings, the schedule of meetings that all committees decide on once a year, especially, and looks for similarities or differences. And then that feeds into something that will eventually do exactly that. We can't, dict exactly what is happening in all situations, but what we can do is set a series of timed reminders based on that information we have coming in so that, say, at 72 or 96 hours, we actually have an alert that comes in to remind somebody or draw attention to the fact that this meeting is supposed to be scheduled, but it doesn't appear on a calendar anywhere. So now we have time to do our due diligence, make sure that is out there. We can choose who gets those alerts depending on a chair or a secretary of a board or clerk, et cetera. And then we can follow that up with several reminders right up until the posting deadline, which would essentially be a final reminder saying something didn't happen properly. The system is broken down. So this meeting, we need to advertise that this meeting has been canceled and inform people. But I think we can create a series of checkpoints essentially leading up to those meetings that ensure multiple people have their eyes on it. instead of maybe just one in some circumstances and make sure nothing gets missed.

Further discussion on John's brainstorm.

On the second page, public safety systems overhaul. Or it says the department is upgrading both police and fire records management systems alongside replacement of the dispatch rooms, operational technology and the dispatch console. Where's that money coming from?

Is it in the budget, police budget? Yes, everything in there is either supplanting existing hardware or software that we already have budgeted. A large amount of that has been funded through a series of grants that the chief primarily worked on to fund the hardware upgrades. And then some of this is also we're getting some help from the state. The record system management for the police department is moving to a statewide system. So they're helping with the implementation and the conversion of all the data costs there.

Same thing with the public safety hardware refresh that's being paid for through the departments.

Yes. I don't have the exact dollar amount in front of me, but I would. It's not coming out of the town budget. I would say comfortably that at least 95% of all the upgrades we've made at the safety complex have been grant or externally funded. Music to my ears, grants.

Jonathan, while we have you, can you say a couple words about the download, just so people are reminded about that and whether or not that's successful so far?

Definitely. I haven't checked today, but the last time I did look, we're up to just over 320 subscribers to the download, which represents a good, I would say 10% of town, more so if it's only one per household. But feedback has been excellent. We have almost every edition has an over 80% open and click rate, meaning people are opening it, interacting, following through to see what public meetings are posted, where the agendas are at. We certainly get a lot of hits anytime there's a public hearing or a job posting advertised. Many people tend to focus on those areas. But I'd say the traffic is probably... 50-50 split between the special interest and the just regularly occurring meeting notices. So I've heard from many people that they appreciate having that inbox that they can go to, that message, and kind of a one-stop shop. And they can actually click on that and find out if the meeting has been canceled, if it's still on. So we're definitely looking to improve that system, that functionality. using whatever we build upon from what we just talked about so that all of that information is automatically aggregated, people are aware of it, and then any updates to that are subsequently would also deliver to your inbox. So we'll have the capability to let people know that a meeting is scheduled, but also that it's been canceled without receiving multiple emails.

Thank you. My hope is not just that it's sharing out information widely, which is obviously the first point, but maybe reducing some phone calls into the clerk's office with questions. If they're answered by their biweekly email, they have a lot more information that they can just get. So hopefully that helps to cut down on some of the phone calls that come in, Heather, for all the questions.

Honestly, no. But some of the phone calls that have come in on confusion of the information that has gone out. So we'll try to clarify that. But I would like to say something also, if I can, about the posting. proposal here. This is the first I'm hearing of this, which is a bit disappointing as the clerk who pretty much handles a lot of that for people. I just, whatever is proposed or discussed, I would ask that I'm involved in because as I say, this is the first time I'm hearing of this. And yes, it is a human error that happens. We've all done it in any municipality you can think of. But I'm concerned for more confusion if all these alerts start coming in, because there already is confusion on the process. So I just ask that whatever is being proposed because Jonathan and I have already discussed that 3 years ago. I. of the calendar for the clerk's office and all boards and commissions in the town hall and the buildings and everything like that. My goal is by 2027 to have that electronic long before others were even here. And I'm also finding that that is being moved forward that I know nothing about. So very disappointing.

All right, so we'll get you with the town administrator, Jonathan, to clear any of that up. Appreciate that. If you haven't heard enough from Jonathan, he'll be back. I have another question. Oh, sure, go ahead.

Yeah, about the fiber optic expansion.

Yeah, we've got that on OB5. Oh, okay, sorry.

We're going to bring Jonathan back for OB5.

Thank you. Also, I'd like to take on the town administrator's monthly active report. I know there's a lot of stuff on your report that's to be on the agenda, but I think there's maybe one thing you want to talk about.

Yes, thank you. And I apologize if I contributed to the bouncing around on your agenda. Your town administrator decided she needed a nap before this failed to wake up. So here I am. The one item that, yeah, I'm going to talk about some of the major items that would have been in a written report throughout your agenda. The one that's not in your packet and that I wanted to make sure you heard about tonight is It has to do with PFAS, which I'm ashamed to say I can't remember what it stands for, but they're forever chemicals that you've probably read about being in water in some places, and most notably in Tiverton. And Councillor Talbot has done some research on this and asked me to report out to you on the testing that's been done so far in Little Compton. on this. And I have talked with the Department of Health and with Chief Petran about this. So just wanted to give you a brief update. The source, as far as folks know, in Tiverton of PFAS in drinking water in private wells has to do with a fire station where they were using a particular type of foam fire retardant. Chief Petren tells me that they don't use that kind of foam. They never have. They use a different kind of foam that is less toxic and is not, and they don't store it on the premises. And so that's not an issue here in Little Compton. The state has come and tested our wells to confirm that we don't have any pollution in them. So they tested the one at the school that serves this entire complex and that passed the testing. They also tested over at the safety complex and initially they found some elevated levels, but it turns out that they were taking the water for that test from a spigot that is not that the departments know is not potable water and it doesn't go through their filtration system. So they retested from an indoor spigot and everything was below the acceptable limits. There may be some places where there are private wells in town that would have elevated amounts of these chemicals, but it does not appear that it comes from any municipal activity.

I thank you for that update. I think I saw on social media there's going to be a meeting.

Yes, there is going to be a meeting, and I'm forgetting it's Wednesday, I think.

Since September, if I'm not mistaken.

Yeah.

You'll probably find it. I think RIDO is coming down to over here to update. I guess they're going all around the state and trying to educate people. I appreciate that, and we'll catch you on the rest of the agenda. I'm going to make a motion to accept the department head reports. I'm going to go back to old business form, rural health transformation program, application, discussion and action. Anya?

Yes, thanks. So I talked with you last time you met about this grant program and told you I'd come back and here I am. So this is a state grant program under a federal program where the state has designated 18 communities as eligible to receive rural health transformation funds. In order to receive those funds, we need to submit an application by the end of this month. So you see a draft in your packet. What we're eligible for is $125,000 to do so-called community engagement activities and $30,000 for public health supplies. I am not coming to you tonight telling you how we're going to spend those monies, but I'm coming to you saying that my proposal for how we initiate this grant is that the town be the grantee. It could be an organization within the town, but I think at this point, it makes sense for the town to keep that control over the grant and that I be the point of contact in the short term. We will be involving, if you approve this application, we will be involving all sorts of people in what we do under the grant. And you see some of them under number eight listed, but Honestly, there's about 14 different organizations with whom I've spoken so far. We had a big meeting here with the state folks to orient everybody to the grant program. And really what we have to do in year one is get all those folks together and do what they're calling a asset mapping. So what do we have here in town to address the health needs of the community and a gap analysis? What do we need? That would be the activity. And with the 125,000, we can either hire somebody or contract with somebody to facilitate that work. And the 30,000 I've had conversations with, Petran and with Pam Coward and others about what we might need in terms of immediate public health supplies. So we'd be pulling that together in the future.

Okay, thank you for that. The only thing I see that might need to be corrected before this goes in There's another member from the community center since Amy has stepped down. Definitely. If everything goes in correctly. Yep. Thank you.

Make a motion to approve Anya to submit this application.

Second. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. will be by Rural Broadband Access, BEAD. I've read this for the past three years. I'll read it again. BEAD, the acronym is Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program. We're getting close here. It's a $42.45 billion federal grant program in the United States created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to expand high-speed internet access to unserved and underserved areas. So if you're driving around, you've noticed it's coming through Portsmouth, it's coming through Tiverton, and it's coming here. We just had a meeting with Daniela Fairchild of the Rhode Island Commerce Corp, who's overseeing both the Middletown, Portsmouth, and Tiverton installation. Lou DePalma was on the call. Our IT director was on the call. Myself and Councilor Talbot was on the call. So it's coming close. The fiber is coming to give us stability in our internet. I will say from working with this and studying it for so long now, it's not a cure-all to everything. And I think it's going to take a lot of effort from this body, whoever's sitting here, for the next year to make sure that we are on Verizon, we're on the commerce, we're on Commerce Corp, and we're making sure every driveway we can get down. You know, everybody wants to know about their phone. It's not about your phone. It's part of it. But there may be some infrastructure there that we can, or they can, someone can put something on there to get better phone connectivity. But it's coming. It's going to take a lot of diligence, a lot of work, the council, to make sure that they deliver what they're supposed to deliver. Make sure new poles go up with Rhode Island Energy. Make sure we're working with people and they don't want things going wrong with stone walls or trees, etc. So we ask for your patience as this is going to come in soon. They're targeting this winter in December, so depending on the weather, it may not hit until spring. That was our last meeting. They are setting a meeting with Verizon directly with us so we can report back on that when that happens. We just got an email today that they're setting that up. So we'll report back on that. And we'll give Jonathan a few minutes not just to squirrel our brains with some stuff about this and all your technical questions.

Thank you. Definitely want to talk about this one, not only because it represents technology, of course. I know everybody stayed specifically for this agenda item. But this also ties into a letter that many residents have received from Verizon if you have copper analog telephone service. So Verizon sent out a notice to many of our residents saying that they have the ability after a certain date to disconnect those phone lines. The letter specifies that they have the ability to, it does not say that they will be doing so. There's a couple important things to mention there. Like our town council president said, the town is working with Commerce RI and has been for some time now meeting with them to try and advocate for the people here in town. This represents a really good opportunity to not only modernize town infrastructure, but for other companies to come in and build off of that infrastructure. So once we have fiber optics throughout town, it becomes very trivial for wireless carriers, whether they're Verizon or somebody else, to come in and install additional cell tower equipment. Many of those you've driven by, but maybe not seen, modern cellular towers can work as essentially caps on telephone poles. And they would connect to that infrastructure that's being installed here. So, well, again, it's not an absolute schedule as to what's going to happen. It's certainly on the horizon that everybody, the majority, certainly we are advocating for everybody in Little Compton is going to be able to get fiber optic internet to the premises. But then following up on that, you'll have additional options and much better service delivery from other cellular providers and other options as well. As far as the letter itself, there are a couple options in the meantime available. to varying degrees of viability, depending on where you live. But you do have the ability, if you receive a notice that they will be turning off your access, to port your number, keep your telephone number, and move it over to another carrier. By and large, that is Cox, currently in this town. So you may or may not have reliable service from them. You can also, if you have internet from another source, like Starlink or a cellular provider, There are also devices that you can port your existing phone number to plug into your landline and connect to your internet. And it essentially works the same as a landline over your existing internet connection. There are two options in the cellular category. One is a very similar type of bridge device that connects your home telephones to a cell phone network. Your phones still ring like you would expect. You still keep your same number. And then the similar option is to just move your landline telephone number over to a cell phone account. I know service is definitely spotty depending on where you are in town, but I think it's probably worth noting that most of the big four carriers will give you trials if you call up and ask for them. You can say, I have questions about my service. I don't think I will get good service. And they will preemptively send you a test device so you can make sure one of the carriers does actually work reliably enough in your home. As a very last alternative, we don't have an exact time on this. That's something we'll be asking for clarification for in these meetings. But if you receive notice that your home phone service is going to end before Verizon Fios is available for your house, you do have the ability to notify Verizon directly that there are no viable alternatives and they are not allowed to disconnect your service until there are. So it's something we can kind of also use in a way to prompt them to move a little quicker and make sure that they're covering every single resident. But it's a very big focus in the conversation to make sure that all of the new internet options are available and in place before anything starts getting made unavailable to our residents.

Anybody understand that?

And I should add, I think it's probably worth, I can put together maybe sort of one pager of the options moving forward that breaks this down. I think that would be helpful to have on the website, the town website.

Yeah. So is this option not going to be available for every resident in town? Are they going down every single private road? No. So it's a little bit broken out.

Bede might go down my road. We don't have a clear answer on that yet, but what I can say for certain is that the eligible street addresses and the maps and everything else that we've been able to access are specifically tailored towards where the federal money, the BEAD program money is being spent. That's about $1.6 million. Verizon has agreed to chip in an additional $1.9 million. in investing in the infrastructure in this town. And what we have seen in other municipalities near us is that the the bead money forms a nice backbone, a starting point for the carrier, but they are not leaving the rest of town in the dark. They are still going above and beyond what the federally mandated minimum is. That is going to be one of our Strong suggestions slash requirements of Verizon is going to be some assurance that we're going to be able to cover every street in town, not just the ones receiving federal funding.

Okay. So are there any resources for us or people in town to see where it's going to cover or see if their own address is going to be covered by this?

There is on the Commerce Rhode Island website, there is a broadband map that shows where the deployment money is going. But again, that's only where the federal dollars are being spent. Verizon is going to be investing the additional dollars.

We're trying to get out of Verizon in these meetings is comprehensive information so that we can share that visually and so everybody can see.

And what we have to work at as public officials here with these people is say, listen, This is underserved here. I know it's not on your map, but these folks are underserved here. So we're going to hammer them as much as we can so we can get as much coverage as we can. And they want the business, right? Verizon wants the business. They do. And like you said, they put in $1.9 million.

So it's just going to take a lot of effort, that's all. One thing we could entertain is if, and we could come up with a mechanism to do so, the more we know from the public that they would be willing to switch to a fiber optic internet solution, the more numbers we have, the better an argument we can make when we sit down at the table with Verizon to say, hey, you need to include this because 80% of these residents do agree and want to subscribe to the service. It's a lot easier to have those discussions when you know those numbers ahead of time.

So we've talked a lot about that over the years as hiring consultants to find that data. So the more data that we can give them in these meetings, the more they'll listen. But that costs money to do that. Is there a way that we can get people to test their numbers and send them in because they have a threshold?

At this point, we are beyond the testing phase. That has already been done by a large number of people in town. Back in 2021, they did participate. I'm thinking a simple form on the website that would allow residents to go and register their interest as long as we can have... Positive indication that that that household wants it and a street address that we can come up with meaningful data that will certainly sway horizon. Yes, we'll talk about this for so we'll let you go on that.

More to come.

Does any more questions anybody can ask? So, you mentioned that it is conceivable that they could. Turn off someone's phone service before they have another option and it's on the phone. owner to contact Verizon to say that they don't have another option.

It is. And the first eligible date, I believe, is sometime in late October that they are able to.

The FCC has allowed them to. There's concern that some residents in town might not realize that this is happening and that their phone service could be shut off without them knowing that it's going to happen.

I've heard from a couple people who called in or stopped by the office on this and spoke. I just was speaking actually with Michelle McGaugh last night and again tonight about it before this meeting. And she's in communication with her contact at Verizon and also at the which I don't know what the D is, maybe Department of Public Utilities Commission. And so she's speaking with them and wanting to be clear that we've got constituents here in Little Compton who might only have a landline. We don't have the broadband access yet, and they're afraid that their landlines are going to be shut off. And so I think, Jonathan, you stated that that's illegal for them to do that. So people need to be able to stand up and say that they don't want to have that happen, but we need to advocate for them too. Michelle McGaugh is also working on this on our behalf, and we'll share more information as it comes through.

Anyone else? All right, thank you. New business one, receive letter of resignation from Julie Shredberry, clerk of the Planning Board of Zoning Board, effective December 4th, 2026.

Motion to accept with regret, send her a letter of thank you and advertise for her position.

Second. It was outstanding and we're certainly gonna miss her. All in favor? Aye. We are here. Am I on new business four?

I think that's right. I did two. No, you're right, four.

Jason Virgin, tree warden resignation effective August 11th, 2026, discussion and action. Same motion for Jason. Same second. So Jason Burson is going to be some big shoes to fill. I think he's done it for 12 years. I might be wrong, might be eight. But my interactions with him were nothing but fun. And he really cares about this town and took it very personal. And, you know, it's got to be tough driving down the road every day. All these years when a tree is going to fall and hurt somebody. So he's done a great job for hurricanes and storms. And it'll be tough to replace him. My chair's going down at the end of the table. Oh, fine. Presentation. We'll look at the primary care work for discussion and action. I'm sorry that you had to wait through that.

Okay. Good evening. My name's Susan Kilenberg. I'm a resident of Adamsville. and thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My goal in the next five minutes is to introduce you to the work of a national organization called Primary Care for All Americans, and more specifically to a work group formed here in Little Compton that we're calling Primary Care for Little Compton. Primary Care for All Americans is a national initiative focused on expanding access to primary care within communities. Their work is based on research that shows people who have access to primary care in their communities, number one, receive better care, number two, remain healthier over their lifespans, and number three, spend less on healthcare. Last year, Dr. Michael Fine, who's the former director of the Rhode Island Department of Health and a national leader with primary care for all Americans, spoke at the Brownell Library about this initiative. After hearing his talk, our work group started meeting regularly with Dr. Fine to explore steps needed to eventually recruit and retain a primary care provider in town for adults and pediatric care. Members of our work group include Nan Haffenraffer, a veteran community nurse, two physicians, myself and Linda Pololi, a psychologist, Nina Pinnock, two people with master's degrees in public health, Sophie Pafard and Joan Kaufman, and Larry Anderson, who of course has vast knowledge in our town governance. So we're a group with a lot of lived experience in health-related fields and with a high level of conviction about the importance of bringing primary care to Little Compton. We were also extremely excited to learn last month about the Rural Health Transformation Program that Anya spoke about earlier. We share many common goals. Our group met earlier this week with Anya and began discussions on how we could collaborate. Many of the items on the handout that are in your packet are self-explanatory, but I want to call attention to a few of them. There is a critical shortage of primary care providers across the nation. Here in Rhode Island, it is common to wait six to 12 months to get an appointment as a new patient with a primary care provider. In Little Compton, as you know, we have an aging population with half of our citizens age 60 and above. Primary care is important at all age groups, but as we age, our need for primary care increases to manage chronic conditions such as hypertension or high cholesterol, for routine visits, for vaccinations or cancer screenings, and for more urgent visits such as respiratory infections. Currently, we do not have a primary care provider in town. By necessity, we all travel to neighboring communities and as far as Providence or Boston for primary care, and there's no public transportation for these appointments. So you can imagine the improvement in our quality of life if we had these services in our community. In the not too distant past, we did have two physicians practicing in town, Drs. Von Trapp and McDonald, and a pediatrician, Dr. Shaw, who saw children at the Wellness Center. Our hope is to reestablish access to similar services here again. Having local primary care not only improves the health of our residents, but it also makes good economic sense for a small town with a tight budget like Little Compton by reducing dollars spent on emergency medical services and ambulance rides to the hospital. I will wrap up by summarizing the goals of our primary care for Little Compton work group. We have two long-term goals. The first is to recruit and retain primary care providers for adults and children in Little Compton. Second, in order to build the healthcare workforce across Rhode Island, Dr. Fine is in discussion with the Rhode Island Foundation to establish town-by-town scholarships for students studying primary care medicine or nursing. These scholarships would defray the cost of schooling, and in exchange, after graduating, students would practice in the town that sponsored the scholarships. As these conversations go forward with the Rhode Island Foundation, our group will work with Dr. Fine to try to establish a scholarship like this for Little Compton students. Those are the long-term goals. The more immediate goals, and we anticipate working with Anya on several of these short-term goals, are one, to hold a community meeting to survey our residents and understand where they receive primary care and what barriers they have to receiving care. Two, survey the Brown Health System and South Coast Health and other local practices, excuse me, to understand wait times for appointments. And three, once we have this data, we'll complete a report with our findings and share the report with Town Council. And finally, we intend to work and figure out how to make this vision of community-based primary care a reality for Little Compton. So thank you for your attention, and I'm happy to try to answer any questions.

Thank you. That was very lovely. And I think it's a wonderful thing, and I think it's going to be a big success, especially with the help of this new program.

The timing of this new program with the work we're doing is fantastic.

Any questions or anything for these folks?

Thank you, Susan.

Thank you. Thank you. I think I'm down to six tax-assessive abatements to be approved, discussion and action.

I spoke with Denise briefly on this, so I'm going to make a motion to approve the abatements and the amount of $12,236.35. I'll second it.

All in favor?

Yeah, hold on one second. I just wanted one explanation. So some of them, there's going to be There's an abatement, but there's going to be a bigger tax coming from the same people. So the net effect is only $646. $646. Okay. I have a motion.

I have a second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Thank you. A request from the Harbor Commission for the town to reconsider. Former objection to this kind of point club's desalination system design. Discussion and action. I know Ben's here. Ben, I went to the desalinization meeting and learned a lot about desal. I call it desalination. And I see that you folks have come to a good point here. The fishermen seem happy, which is like our fishermen happy, our fishermen.

And I just make a motion that the town council approve the letter from the Hobbit Commission and send it to the CRMC and RIDEM.

I'll second that with a caveat. Ben, would it be appropriate or helpful if there's a letter from this council to the CRMC?

And support in your view.

Yeah, hi, Ben got the nature of the harbor commission. So when this started, it came to us with a 30 day notice, right? We had no. performance data with it. We meet monthly. You folks meet biweekly. You had two days to get a letter out after we looked at it. And so that letter went out through the clerk's office speaking for the town. So the letter that you have from us in your packet is recommendation to the council to follow the same route and have the town uh, respond back to CRMC and DEM who adjudicates salinity issues, um, saying that we, you know, are now supportive of design having seen the, the performance models, the analysis, um, all the work that the, um, that the Sakana Point Club has done to, to make a system that is not, uh, hazardous to the harbor environment. Um, I got invited to the preliminary hearing with the D's team, the team that adjudicates this at DEM. They felt that the design was impressive and likely to be approved as is. And then the club, again, in response to concerns from the fishermen, moved the the outfall of the system, another finger pier over, so another 40 feet over just to get added separation from town docks. So now it's going to be well over 100 feet away from town docks. So, you know, I think just commendable goodwill at considerable expense to make that last minute change. How much was the expense? I think they spent almost $40,000 more to redesign it, move it, and then present that change to DEM in addition to the hundreds of thousands that they're in already for the design of the system. How far was the move? Another 38 feet away. 38 feet, 40,000 for 38 feet.

Yeah. Yeah, okay.

I mean, this whole thing has been, I think, a tremendous example of people coming together, actually listening to each other's concerns, and then, you know, working with integrity to do the best possible job, hiring extremely skilled people. Um, and I think they've, you know, I think it deserves our support at this point in time.

Great. So I reread this quickly in the last line. The town withdraw its objection to CRMC application 20250313 by letter to CRMC. I think I might have missed that. So, Gary, you're. um motion does that include a letter to the crmc yes it does um is that okay putting that on there for the for the motion do you have that included what's on that you had you had written letter even though he didn't say it you have it on there that was just that's what i got from him that's what you got from all right i think we have a motion in a second any further discussion all in favor thanks ben thank you communications Again, I got to come up a little bit higher. Requests from Russell Boggs and for a single event entertainment license for family wedding on December 26. Some of the comments from six to 10.

Approved. With all state and local ordinances adhered to. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Boy, if you really, you know, if you're a single person, you get these weddings to go through or no?

No. It is too much damage and we're going to the town prior little confident.

What should approve this wholeheartedly seconded any further discussion was approved this was just all in favor.

All right again we didn't 3. Turn our page. Last one. Letter from Eileen Storris Salino and Robert Salino, 2016, Wichita Farm and Salmon license issued in correspondence dated August 17, 2020.

I'm going to make the same motion on this one. Make sure the planning board has this for the September 1st meeting and for the town council to keep a copy of it when this comes back for public hearing in front of us.

Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Ready for payment of bills? Motion to pay the bill. Second. All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. I have a motion to adjourn.

Can I just... Oh, we have a hand.

Hey, she's awake.

Awake. Just because Jonathan kindly pulled it up on his computer, I wanted to say the PFAS meeting with the Department of Health and DEM is on the 18th of September, which is a Wednesday at 6 o'clock. at the community seems to be able to 60 because should center on you, yes, thank you.

We're in discussion on adjournment.

I've got a question just received. I may have missed it. Business one over this one was go back to it. What do we do?

Let's go back once.

Gary second from Andrew to give to the solicitor review when they went to the solicitor.

Yes, I'm glad you brought that up on you weren't you weren't here.

I was sleeping and checked it off.

That's what I wanted.

That was not that voted on. It was thrown to the solicitor for the review.

Okay.

All in favor or adjourn? Aye.

Aye. Adjourned.

It's the guys are there.

They made it up. No, nobody made it.

Okay. All right, Larry.