City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Call the meeting to order of the East Providence City Council, September 1st, 2026. Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll on the council?

Councilman Fogarty? Yeah. Councilman Lawson? Council Vice President Rigo? Yeah. Councilwoman Souza? Yeah. Council President Roderick?

Yeah.

Here with the record show as a quorum for members present. I did hear from Councilman Lawson a little bit earlier and he is unable to make it tonight sends his regrets. Thank you. Please rise for the salute to the flag. Madam Clerk, you can commence with reading of the docket.

Consent calendar, regular meeting minutes, August 11, 2026. Please note there's an amendment to the meetings where the resolution was tabled, but it says motion for the minutes. The motion would have to be amended.

Is there a motion to amend?

There is.

Councilwoman Souza makes the motion. Seconded by Council Vice President Rigo to make the amendment.

yes thank you so um amending the minutes to august 11 2026 item e 2 that was tabled um let the minute reflect that uh vote so that's a motion and a second all in favor aye any opposed the eyes have it thank you next item Make a motion to approve the consent counter as amended. Second.

Motion by Councilwoman Souza to approve as amended. Seconded by Councilman Fogarty. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have. Next item, Madam Clerk.

Previously approved permits, license reading only. Block Party Applicant John Fusick, Rhode Island Folk Fest. Application location, Crescent Park, 701 Bullocks Point Avenue. date and time of function, August 30th, 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., street to be closed, none. Second one, read-in only, block party, applicant Corey Wright, applicant location, 201 Mercer Street, time of function, August 16th, 2026, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., street to be closed, 201 Mercer Street.

Motion to approve the read-in.

Motion Councilwoman Souza to approve. Seconded by Councilman Fogarty. Other discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? You guys have it. Thank you.

Licenses for discussion and possible vote. A, non-public hearing. Application for special event alcoholic beverages, Natalie Connie 187 North brow street date and time of function, September 6 3 PM to 7 PM food truck and ice cream social. One day special event, alcoholic beverage, Michael McIntyre, 701 Bullocks Point Avenue, September 5th, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., Indy Fest, 2026. Special event, beer and wine, applicant, Jade Thomas, Providence Country Day School, 666 Waterman Avenue, October 16th, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., mobile food establishment, Permit, Kayla Daly, Lemon Lane LLC, DBA, Lemon Lane. Food Mobile Establishment Permit, Mark Sorrell, Hippie Dog Inc, DBA, Hippie Dog. VETICULING LICENSE, MICHAEL ARENA, BROADWAY DINER, INC., 446 NORTH BROADWAY. FOOD ESTABLISHMENT LICENSE PERMIT, LEE CORDERO, CORDERO CONFECTIONS, LLC, DBA TAG TEAM TREATS. ONE DAY ENTERTAINMENT LICENSE, TRACY JOHNSON, GREAT TOWNY PUMPKIN FESTIVAL. crescent park october 3rd 11 a.m to 4 p.m dj in the band entertainment license tracy johnson food and wine pairing crescent park september 24th 6 30 to 9 30 p.m acoustic performer Special event, beer and wine, Tracy Johnson, Providence Crescent Park, September 24th, 630 to 930. Food and wine pairing, one day entertainment license, Tracy Johnson, Stubbs Wedding, Crescent Park, September 19th, 4 p.m. to 930 p.m. DJ. Special event, beer and wine, Tracy Johnson, Stubbs Wedding, Providence Crescent Park, September 19th, 4 p.m. to 930 p.m. Wedding and block party, Paul Mendisi III, Crescent Park, Bayside, September 5th, 12 p.m. to 7 p.m., street to be closed, none.

That last item, the name is Paul Mendins, just in case they're watching. You're welcome, no problem.

Motion to bundle. Licenses as read.

Motion to bundle the licenses first by Councilwoman Souza, second by Council Vice President Rigo. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it.

Motion to approve non-public hearing licenses.

Motion to approve those licenses as dread by Council Vice President Rigo, seconded by Councilwoman Souza. Discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you.

Public comment, Anna Rego.

Ms. Rego, you just come up to the podium to your right there.

Whatever you want, you got the right last name.

Sorry, it's my first time. And I'm very nervous. Relax. Everything's good.

Hi, welcome to the meeting. You can proceed.

We're not related to Mr. Regal. I wish I was because maybe you would take action on my problem.

I would have to recuse myself if we were related.

You are very fortunate not to be related to this man. But I'm sorry. Please proceed.

If you guys know, I live on Meryl Street. I don't know if you guys know, on March 23rd, I had a sewage backup in my house. I was 11 and three months with my family and my nine-month-old grandson. We've been back home for three months. We then had no hot water, no heat. Everything was damaged down the basement. I went to the news because nothing was being done. I came here to City Hall five or eight times. I was embarrassed. and the mayor to help me. They were approaching to Riola, Viola, whatever. The only person who helped me, crying, was Andre. He should have been run from there.

You have a heart of a salt.

You helped me, and he tried to help me from everybody. And nobody, I've been back, nobody's still helping me. And I need to know what's the actions to take for this not to happen again to anybody in East Providence. Because nobody's taking action. This is not the first time this has happened to me. This has happened to me in 2014. Not as bad, but nobody did nothing about it.

Do you have like receipts and everything?

Yes, we do. I have everything that needs to be done. Everything. They had a cleaning crew come into the house. I was not there. I didn't know what happened. Things were missing out of my house. They threw everything in the trash. I don't have nothing. Not the balloon. Not even the crib for the baby. Still sleeping in a sleeping bag. Those little play pants. And there's no need for that.

And I'm not familiar with it, so sorry to hear about this. I'm glad that Mr. Herrera was able to help you, at least give you an ear to listen. So Veolia, the company that manages the sewer system, what was your...

They sent everything to the trust.

Right, the insurance company is the trust.

So what's the problem? I'm back home. They were making a big deal because they had a container. And I have all this proof they have a container. They were forcing me to get out of the motel. They were paying too much taxes. They were paying too much money for the container to be in my house. But you know what they sent inside those containers? I came and showed, oh my God, I'm sorry.

Andre.

Andre, the photos, they packed the food full of shit. The containers. And the boxes, all the crap was in there. Like who had dogs to eat that? And nothing has been done.

Now, has this been fixed yet?

No.

Nothing is, so you're not in the house?

We've been back in the house for three months. And I've been coming to the city.

With the sewage in the house?

Oh, they clean it.

That's what I'm asking, if it was cleaned.

They broke everything. They broke, they had a big line. Destroy everything in the house solicitor.

Can you add to this? So I'm not Intimately familiar with the case, but I am aware of it. I can confirm that it has been referred to the round interlocal trust I believe I'm sorry miss Rigo is not satisfied with the way they have handled the claim and They are the ones who do handle the claim for us. I'm also told through Andre that Ms. Rigo does have an attorney that I guess she's working with.

I had to get an attorney a month ago.

And that's fine, and that's your right to do so. But because of that, I would just... We need to handle it through that trust process and the claim process. Obviously, she's upset about the way it was handled, and I guess there might be some issues about whether or not she believes the cleaning was sufficient or she's been put back to a whole place. That's going to be litigated either through the claims process or through the court process. So that's where that lays.

I'm sorry, but I got an attorney a month ago. It wasn't because I didn't come here so many times crying for help and nobody helped me. You guys all turned their back on me. So is the trust. Nobody.

Well, just to be clear, just to be clear, and it's the first councils hearing about it, so we didn't turn our backs. But I don't know, Vonda, do you want to add anything? It seems like you were, or do you want to just wait because it's an illegal?

We're not going to turn your back.

Hang on. I'm sorry.

That's all right. I would, because there's legal.

That's all they've been doing. We, the council, will not turn our backs. Right.

I'm happy to hear that, but the council really, this is out of the hands of you and the city.

Right, it's in the hands of the attorneys. Yes, sir.

Even all this happened, the trustees got this clean kid to do the work. So it was three houses on that street. One of the houses, the guy had the camera in the basement, didn't even know. So the guy in charge of the crew was telling them, Take the cabinets out of the wall, clean them up, put them in a box, and we'll pretend we replaced them. Would you want somebody like that working in your house?

No, I would not.

Okay, so now they get... We've been back in our house for three months. We still don't have our belongings. They're holding our belongings still, that cleaning company. And that guy... The trustee that's in charge for the...

The lawyer for the trust.

Actually, the adjuster that's in charge for the trustee.

Okay, insurance adjuster.

The way he talked about it before and the way he treated her, he's lucky I don't see him in front of me because that guy shouldn't be in charge of anything.

Mike, I have a question for you. their belongings. If they, you know, again, I remember when I came home to an in-ground swimming pool in my basement because hot water, hot water, no, I mean, my hot water heater blew and, you know, I was on the baseball. No, but yeah, why have they not had their personal belongings returned from the cleaning company? Like when they took the stuff out of my house, I obviously wasn't a claim to the city or anything like that, but through my insurance company. They did the work. If things were beyond repair, they said it. Three, four months later, these people don't have their personal belongings. We got to look in that. I mean, at least get them their personal belongings, and then... then we'll deal with, and obviously we have to deal with the trust on the financial issues, but for their personal belongings, and to hear that God grandchild, I think, sleeping not in their crib, that's wrong. We gotta get their personal belongings back.

That's not even the worst, because I know he went on vacation last week, and he contacted Clean Care and told them, you need to contact my client and set up a time with them for them to get their stuff back. So we made a list saying, there's some stuff that was under the sewage. It doesn't matter how much you clean. You're not going to clean it. Yeah. So we made a list, stuff we want, stuff we don't want. So I guess now she talked to Care Clean. Was it today? Yeah. He's telling her, no, we're going to bring the stuff we think you should have. And who are you to tell me what I'm going to get back?

The food is totally wrong.

That's wrong. That's totally wrong. That's no, no, absolutely not. No, I mean, and it's obviously we didn't hire that company and, you know, shame on them, shame on them, shame on them, the way they've treated you that, you know,

So can we do this? Can you get us a report from the trust? And for those listening, the trust is the insurance company that the city is involved with. Cities and towns throughout Rhode Island have this trust, municipal insurance.

It's a Rhode Island to local municipal trust.

Yes. So at least I know we can't get involved in the legal back and forth, but can we at least get a report from the trust?

I'll get a report.

Okay. So we'll get a report from the trust, see what they're telling us. We agree with you. We understand that you're being very truthful about everything. So we'll try to get them to... Well, it's not your fault.

Yeah. Also, it happened before, and... What happened before, it was grease clog from the restaurants over there on Meryl Street. The clog was on the main way of Meryl Street. So the guy from the city that came that night, the clog that was there, he remembered what happened 14 years ago. And he said it was the same thing. It was a massive grease clog. And when she came here, They told her on the news, they reported it was a tree. There was no tree. So now the trustees don't want to spend the money to fix the problem. They're trying to get us to pay for half. We pay for half. They pay for half for me to put a back floor on my house. It was like, why am I going to spend money when the problem is not on my house? It's on your side. And you know this happened before. Why didn't you fix the problem now? Then, now it's causing a bigger problem. And who's to know it's not going to happen five, ten years down the road again?

Would we have, I mean, obviously it's 12 years ago already, Mike. Do you think the city has the report from 12 years ago about the... same situation so that we can you know stop this obviously it wasn't the first time and and if that gentleman from if it was from the water department or sewer whoever came down there and said it's because of those restaurants then we have an obligation to uh make sure make make make sure

Andre, did you see the 14 records?

No, and he wasn't here.

You weren't here, okay.

Okay, we will get a report. Could you come take this, and I want you to call me personally, keep me apprised of what's going on. I'll let the council know. This is my cell phone. And we're going to get a report from the city solicitor. Okay, yep. That's right, we're not on the mic, so you can't, you can't, you can't. Yes, thank you. Okay, thank you very much. We'll be in touch. Thank you for coming tonight. We'll work with it. You're welcome. That's why we're here. Next item, please.

Council members, building permit process for non-structural work, window replacement, permit fees, et cetera. Discussion only. Council President Roderick.

So based on a couple of questions from a constituent, I wanted to bring this publicly for other people that might have questions. I did speak briefly with Andre, I don't know if you, and any kind of a report, but the basic question is if a homeowner is replacing a window, and not doing any structural change to the house. As I understand it, you still need a permit from the city to do that, and I just want to verify that publicly that obviously the constituent didn't like that, thinks that he's not changing anything. If he has a two by four window and he's replacing it with a two by four window, Why does he need to have permits and inspections? And I'm sure safety might be, but do you have anything to illuminate this policy?

Hi, Council President. Thank you. Rob Walker would have that information on the specific reasons for the permits. Pulling permits is pretty common for all types of work for safety reasons, as you stated. But if you could forward that email to me that you received, and I can get a definitive answer for that.

Okay, I'll forward that to you. Thank you. Okay, so I'll follow up with the constituent.

Next item.

Public hearings, ordinance for second and final passes for discussion and possible vote. And ordinance and amendment of Chapter 18 of the revised ordinances of the City of East Providence, Rhode Island, 1998, as amended, entitled Vehicles and Traffic. Summary, Section 18-307. The purpose of this ordinance is to place a no parking sign on both sides of Dover Avenue from Warren Avenue south to Baldwin Street. Sponsored by Councilman Fogarty.

Councilman, I think we have some further clarification.

It's much needed, and I thank you, and I appreciate your support for this. There's no reason not to support it. There's only a couple of houses. There's Lander Park on the Remax side of the street, and it's mostly for safety reasons for that area. Coming off of Warren Ave, it just makes complete sense to have that open and clear for fire, rescue, and anything that has an emergency setting. And the homeowners that have been there forever deserve some peace and quiet from everyone parking there that doesn't belong there.

Yeah, it's a dangerous corner. And especially now there's work being done in Warren Avenue, Tuckett Avenue, as people change their route and come up Dover. It makes it tough. But this is a public hearing before the vote. Any other comments on the council? Not anyone here that'd like to comment for or against this or in general? Once again, this is a public hearing. Anyone here? We have discussed this a couple of times before. Hearing none, and I'll close the public hearing. We have a motion and a second. All in favor? The motion was Councilman Fogarty, seconded by Council Vice President Rigo. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you, Councilman. Thank you. Next item, please.

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

Andre, we just need to move, have a little desk for you right next to the podium.

Oh, there's a chair right here, but. Yeah, you could take this chair right here. All right, good evening. Thank you. Counselors, Mayor of Communications, Director of Policy and Constituent Services, Andre Herrera. Item number one, appointment or reappointment requiring council confirmation. There are none. Item number two, appointment reappointment not requiring council confirmation. We have the appointment of Hope Moran to the Mayor's Young Innovators Advisory Committee for a one year term effective August 3rd, 2026 to August 2nd, 2027. Item number three, items for announcement or discussion. We have principal planner three, Dominic Leonardo, to give a presentation on city projects.

Thank you. Welcome, Dominic.

Good evening, council president. I think he's gonna pull up the presentation. Just gonna give a overview of some of the ARPA projects that are being completed by the end of this year, as well as some of our capital budget projects. So you can, if you don't mind tapping through to, you can go to the next slide.

Or the next one, sorry.

So as you know, the community center, we have about 2.7 million left out of our city's 3 million in ARPA spending that will be spent by the end of this year. So this is one of the projects that it's fully encumbered and the project's still on track to be completed and it'll be spent by the end of the year. So that is the community center as far as ARPA projects.

Dominic, are we on budget for that?

Yes, we are.

Thank you.

And Crescent Park, a couple of different ARPA dollars have been spent here as well as some capital budget items. One is the Crescent Park seawall has been repaired. The shoreline is being stabilized. We have our phase two stabilization that I believe is out to bid and should be coming back, I believe the bids are closing this month, September. and we have about $459,000 left that is going to be fully spent by the end of the year on the Crescent Park bathrooms, office, and building facilities. So this will be fully spent by the end of the year. It's fully encumbered. It's just tracking to make sure everything's spent by the end of the year.

On budget?

Correct, yep. Placemaking, a variety of projects throughout the city. We have $33,000 about that we are finishing by the end of the year, and that has been allocated towards a variety of park signage throughout the city. A utility art box, similar, with 13,000 is left, and this is fully allocated for 14 more utility boxes that'll be painted, and again, before the end of the year.

Can we get the locations for those 14 boxes, please? Sure, yep. Thank you.

Glen Lyon Park, a lot of different repairs and upgrades at this park. Again, this is a mix of Capital and ARPA. I have the dollar amount in the bottom of about $146,000, and this should be fully allocated. Dan is working on the equipment that's going to be upgraded at Glen Lyon, as well as a variety of a couple of Rumford parks.

Is that in Ward 1?

Yes, yeah, Glen Lyon's in Ward 1. Yeah, a couple, we added, you can see from this aerial image, added, repaved the basketball court, the tennis court, and added pickleball, some lighting improvements. Yeah.

You've done some great ideas. I mean, it looks fantastic. And then when I met with Dan up there coming up and we talked with constituents, kids and families that would want to use the equipment, so the new equipment, it wasn't just... Somebody, you or Dan or myself or the administration picking the equipment that they like. We actually went to mothers with young kids, teenagers, and they picked the equipment up. And they stayed in budget.

Good, oh yeah. Yeah, important. That's great. Next slide. This is a before and after of Lyle Bourne, so similar park improvements, and you could barely see the old paving, whatever was there, whatever courts were there, and now that is a three pickleball and a basketball court. John Lewis Park, this is currently happening right now, and this is, again, on track to be completed before the end of the year. This is going to be the parking lots being repaved, guardrail, new guardrail, and then benches.

And there's going to be like a walking path along the area with some greenage.

Okay. I know Dan's worked on it, so that was what I thought. Yeah. Okay.

I'm sorry. Do we have an amount that was allocated to that?

It's definitely fully encumbered, but I can check to see. I know that was also a mix of capital and ARPA. Pierce Field, I added this one because we are redoing the track right now. Actually, I think most of this was capital, and then the track is actually a $2 million congressional directed spending grant we got. This one, I don't believe ARPA, but we had a lot of things happening at Pierce that I just wanted to highlight. added the batting cages. We are currently constructing the police substation at item number three, and then the new track in handicap accessibility down into the field at Pierce, as well as a new bathroom.

Just to clarify for everybody, the police substation is all through grants. It's nothing came from city budgeting.

So the track, correct. The track is 100% grant funded, the $2 million. I believe the police substation I think was a capital as well. Yep, capital.

Yep.

Yep.

The bathrooms, are those the bathrooms in the stadium?

The bathroom I had here was the capital budget item number five, which is the compostable bathroom in between the baseball fields.

So we haven't done any work to the bathrooms and the stadium?

I'd have to check with public buildings on what improvements they've made in there. I know they've done things. But I couldn't speak to the exact specifics within the bathrooms.

Anna, I can remember them being redone years back.

I know the main bathrooms, they did an overhaul on the main bathrooms.

I don't know how new it is now.

I know recently they had added partitions as well. When someone was walking by, they needed to do some stuff. So I know there's been work.

I'm just interested if they had completed, because I know they were doing pieces of it. Okay.

And then saving point the stormwater drainage improvements again this is actually is an arpa but another large city project that I just want to go over, as well as new playground equipment so that's happening right now. And these are some of the larger completed arpa projects and again some of these blended capital with arpa and grants, but so large projects. This is Bold Point Park, a good before and after showing the impervious and then pervious pavement we actually added along with the walking paths and lighting. It came out really nice. And then Kent Park, again, this was a mix of grant funding and capital and ARPA dollars. Yep, so the new pickleball, foot saw, creep pad. Willett Pond, this was grant-funded. This is, again, pervious pavement up against the pond to allow for better drainage. This was, I believe, DEM and Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank grant-funded.

Dominic, if you could back up for just a second to the Riverside Rep. Yeah, please. The police chief is here. Chief, if you want, just make a mental note, and I'm sure you'll hear from some of us. as we get into the youth football season and some soccer. We have that beautiful big parking lot now behind the school, but there still are people that are parking on the street even though there are no parking signs. There are days I've been there, I think many of us have, where you can't get by, people are parking. You only need to walk a couple hundred yards away, and there's a big parking lot. So as the season starts, we need to... I know it's hard because it's a habit. People park there. I remember doing it when I was involved with that program. So just for those that are involved, we... We will enforce, again, the parking along the street, alongside the REC, or the Big Al C&T Complex, as it's also called. But thank you. Continue, I'm sorry.

No problem.

That, by the way, is Somerset Street.

Yeah, I was going to say, I thought about Somerset. And then you can click the next one. The next one is just a street view of Willett. So again, that's pervious asphalt, so the water can actually drain through it instead of running off into the pond. The guardrail fencing was added, as well as a pergola and different tree plantings. Providence Avenue this was ARPA funded and we believe we also got a grant from DEM for the splash pad so these basketball courts were repaved and the playground equipment or the that playground structure has been moved as well as a new splash pad in Providence Avenue and Riverside so yeah we have the splash pad at Providence Ave it's right at the corner of Providence Avenue at the entrance of the parking lot And then Vintner Avenue, another project of new playground equipment and walking path in Riverside, so another park improvement. Wastewater treatment plant, ARPA dollars were spent on this as well. This was, I believe Dan recently gave a presentation on kind of the work that was done here, but I also just wanted to flag this as a significant project that ARPA dollars were used for.

Is that completed yet? I know Dan gave us the presentation like two months ago, but has that project been completed?

I believe so, but I don't wanna misspeak when I had talked about, so yeah, I would have to refer to Dan on that one. I'm just gonna try to keep this presentation going over here, I apologize. And then city hall, again HVAC upgrades, the council chambers upgrades as far as adding carpet throughout the building, new ceiling tiles, and now we are going to be replacing the windows. I believe this is also capital. And then police station utilized ARPA dollars, renovated the police station, new roof, HVAC interior, access controls and expanding the parking lot.

And you, can probably answer this and maybe the colonel chief can answer it for me but under the ruling of the department of justice for the remodel we could not use any of the camp i mean asset for future money is that something you can answer or is that something that you want to you know i'll defer to the chief on that Can you, under, we followed all the protocols under the asset forfeiture where we used the 2.5 opera money, but we couldn't use any of the asset forfeiture money for the majority of this building?

Unfortunately, that's correct, yes. I wish we could because we could have done a lot more, but the DOJ spending parameters with the equitable sharing and asset forfeiture accounts is very strict.

Thank you. Thank you for the clarification on that.

Absolutely.

Thank you. And then animal control facility added a new roof, new kennels, updated the flooring, upgraded the HVAC and ventilation systems.

That really came out great.

Good. Now, these are the capital budget line items. So that was the overview of some of the large scale, like the ARPA projects that are still going, and then the completed ones.

So some of the projects that weren't larger in scale.

Yeah.

You didn't include them.

I didn't capture every single purchase

Kimberly Ann Rockfield, because it was the backstop set. Okay. And, you know, taking the baseball field and converting it into the softball field and being the first city in the state to have, you know, the mid-range, you know, 60-40 field that you didn't put that in. But that falls under opera.

Okay. Okay. Okay, I mean, there's, yeah, I didn't, that's not inclusive of every, absolutely everything I kind of wanted to go over, especially the ones we were still working on, the community center crescent.

Smaller pieces that, yep.

Correct, correct, yep. Yeah, so planning, these are ones that are active. We spend down the tree planting, maybe have one tree left, and then public art, we draw down from a variety of public art projects throughout the city. And then the next one is the library. These are currently underway with the window replacement at Weaver Library, and then also the elevator modernization at Weaver Library, which takes you to the children's section. So that's currently being worked on now. Engineering, these are kind of like annual city road improvement projects that are funded annually and continually being spent down. a variety of highway projects, I believe for Willett Pond, just some final plantings at that projects, sidewalks are citywide. And again, you'll see some overlap with some of the capital projects that we also had combining funds with grants and ARPA dollars for some of the projects. and continuously making repairs escape here of the kettle point ramp at Ada that's currently that's in connecting the bike path to the kettle point pair making that Ada accessible, so we have capital funds for that, and I know Dan and Eric had put together a plan to get approved by dem and dot for that connection. City Council Chambers and then some other some other purchases vehicles and there it is i'm Councilman sues I believe the final dollars there as a for john Lewis park is 21,000 and then also the South broadway and Martin cleaning and lining in paving project, which was just just recently approved of 1.7 million. Refuse and recycle, this is a project, Dan is working on that he's designing where the public goes to commercial way kind of reorganizing how the public is able to do like the drop off of all. All the different types of debris that's happened to make it safer and easier for all the city vehicles and the public to interact with that space of the drop off recycling area. Public buildings, this is the surveillance cameras at Pierce. That final spending will be on the police substation to have security cameras on that at Pierce. The city hall lighting, we've used that for a lot of the exterior lighting at city hall. And then the VAV installation, which is like the HVAC equipment throughout city hall. And then repairing the pump hills, on smell a pump house there is to stabilize that building to make it weather tight and then making ad repairs the bathroom at City Hall and then again the window replacement which is going to be happening Police, the police substation, which I already talked about, and then their parking lot security project that was funded last year. I know the chief's working with Dan on securing just additional security with the police station. And then the two cruisers, which he's ordering, he's awaiting delivery. And that police substation at Piercefield is actively being, it's now, work is commencing on that now. And then fire these are different vehicles that have been purchased over the past few capital budgets rescue three ladder three rescue to rescue for and then to fire car. The marshals. recreation, this is the landscaping and lighting project we did at the senior Center, and this is the remaining like plantings for for that area. and then the pierce field. It looks like we have the 10,000 remaining for the bathroom upgrades and then the concession stand, I'm sorry, the bathroom that we installed as well as the new lighting that you guys just approved recently for the softball field. And then the carousel, these are a, most of these were all kind of the facility improvements that are currently being constructed now. So it was the combination of these capital budget items for the concession buildings and the facilities improvements with the ARPA dollars to construct the facility that's being constructed now, the bathrooms and the office.

So, Dan, where it shows zero remaining, does that mean they're pretty much complete?

Yeah, that's all encumbered. I wouldn't say complete because that's all being funded for that construction project that's happening right now.

Okay.

And then stabilization phase two will occur in what, fall, Tracy? After, yeah. So that's happening. And that concludes my presentation.

So, Dominic, I'd have to say it's an amazing report. I mean, when you notice the budget and what's remaining, that tells me that everything is on budget, which is obviously a good thing. But more than that, I mean, I talk to people in other communities, and we've become kind of an envy group. Of some communities are pox from the tip of Riverside to the tip of. Rumford and the Tucket line, um, I'll argue with anybody that they're as good as anywhere. In Rhode Island, I walking around the Kent Park, which is an area that I grew up in as a kid. remembering how it used to be, and I always thought it was great, but seeing it now, I was talking to a person who's lived there for about 40 years, and he said it is absolutely amazing the amount of people that he sees, his family see, at Kent Park. Growing up, we called it the field. But at Kent Park, every day, he swears there's 100 people or more Just enjoying it. The two dog parks, which are way out of the way, away from the neighborhood, away from the playground equipment. And the rest of the parks, from some of the smaller parks in the center of the city to the larger parks where there's more space. And Pierce Stadium is... is getting beautiful you know is when i first got on i mean there were fences that were curled up spiking athletes and people nobody want it's it's amazing and we're doing all of this without taxing the budget these grants aren't going to be here forever so let's use them and then we just need to keep maintaining i know the councilman and i talked about this the other day yeah we got to maintain which we know We have to do that. Today, I walked around the community center, Council Vice President Rigo and I, and we're gaining 100 parking spaces, I think, which is going to be an improvement. And the building, you know, at first I was wondering, is it going to look good? Is it going to fit? But it fits, and it looks good, and there's plenty of parking, and it's across from the high school. So that's a great report, and people... that have questions really need to check this stuff out. Thank you. Anyone else want to comment?

Yeah, I just wanted to say thank you so much, Dominic, for coming up and presenting this and working on it to update us on this stuff. It's really important, I think, for us as a council to see the structure, because I think that's a big portion of it, along with the city staff who work so diligently to get these grants and get this money and work to make sure that this all comes to fruition. So we appreciate, at least I know I do, but I'm sure I'm speaking on behalf of the council. We all appreciate everything that you guys do on a day-to-day basis to make these things happen for the community. Because it's coming out great, and I know...

I mean, you cleaned it up, you did it. You know, again, as Councilwoman Souza said, the past council and this council have definitely our attention to detail on parks and to make this community better have, again, I don't want to grade myself, but I think you, everybody's done a great job.

Well, the key is research, find out who is Lyle Bourne, and then it's a city park, and now it's better than ever. It's probably a secret that not everyone wants to know, get out there, because you can go and have picnics, and anyway, I don't want to belabor it, but thank you very much, Dominic.

Before you go, you know I'm going to weigh in, right? I've known you half your life, at least. Great job. We had a bike with the stop signs that yield, and we discussed more of those coming our way. The waterways, the infrastructure, I'm really happy about all that.

You did such a good job. So this is another step along the way.

Move passage.

Council Vice President moves passage, seconded by Councilwoman Souza. Any other discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you.

Resolution in support of the reintroduction and passage of the Natural Forest Protection Act. Councilwoman Souza.

Thank you. So this is something that we've discussed probably at the beginning of the opening of the session. last year, and the House bill was before the House, 79-14, and it's kind of still sitting there. They haven't really moved on it either way from committee. It's a really important piece of legislation because it protects the forest, the public forest that's state-owned and biodiversity throughout the state from being harvested by commercial logging companies, which is really important because as we know, green space is important space and it needs to be preserved for futures to come. The state did have in 1978 to 2007 a statewide National Heritage Program that identified monitored and protected a wide variety of species including native plants and rare endangered species on these state-owned properties. This is just another push for us to help protect that wildlife and the forest management to again protect and sustain what we currently have and for future generations to come. So with the council's support, I move passage to send this to the General Assembly and the House Environment Committee and Agricultural Committee up at the State House.

I'll second that motion.

Thank you. A motion by Councilwoman Souza, seconded by Council Vice President Rigaud. All the comments? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you for that.

Thank you. And just to mention, we do have specifically state property here in the city of East Providence that could be endangered if this was not to be passed. It could be used. And so since a lot of people have already expressed concerns about having wildlife disturbed and being in the communities, this does affect us here locally, not just on a statewide level. Thank you.

Resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract with One Door Corporation to increase school safety at East Providence High School, sponsored by Council Vice President Regal and Councilman. Mr. President.

Yes, sir.

Through the solicitor. There's some language changes that need to be put on this resolution. I just want you to have it. I just want you to read it so it's properly noted for the record.

For the next three resolutions, the... The resolve clause that the City of East Providence, City of East Providence, hereby authors the mayor of the City of East Providence to enter into a contract with the various, it's actually to release funds, release grant funds. We'll call it COPS grant funds for the stated purpose, for the stated purpose.

We're releasing these funds to the school department.

Correct. So would that have to be in there, releasing them to the school department? If you want to add that, you can. Release the funds from the cops for the purpose of the school department. The grant was for the school department, so that's why.

But at least they, you know, so the public knows that this isn't the city side, that this is the school department, school committee program.

Correct. The grant was particularly applied for, and I know the police chief is here, in conjunction with the school department. But the process of awarding and whatnot had to come through.

And this is similar to what we just did for Bayview High School. Now it's continuing on for our high school. And if there are questions, the chief is here.

Otherwise, it's pretty standard. Okay. yeah is there a motion um i just so over the next three so we just know the resolve clause will will state for the for the mayor of the city of east province to release the cops grants to the east providence school department and then for the state of okay and the chief is here so if you want to add a summary of of of this and it's uh it was intended to do what in the high school

The COPS grants for 2025 included and was very specific to increasing school violence and safety. So I had my COPS grants, excuse me, my grant writers meet up with community policing and the local schools, and we received approximately $250,000 to implement some of these projects that were requested through Bayview Academy, which was already approved. and the school department, and then we had a small amount of about $7,000 for some initiatives with the elementary schools with our officers.

Great, another good use of some federal funds that can't help but hurt, help school security, especially this time of year. Other questions?

Keith, can you just specifically mention what the school improvement, safety improvements are gonna be for the high school that are related to these three?

Sure, there was some security door upgrades. There was camera upgrades, a lot of wiring, updating some of the camera needs, and then two-way radios that would be district-wide. It was about 175 radios that would be used throughout the entire school department, school division.

Thank you.

There are invoices and things that are involved. I think you did get emailed out, so if you want to get into the weeds, there's a lot of stuff here, but this is good news. Who made that motion? Council Vice President, is there a second?

Through the Chair, can I make a motion to amend the wording to state the resolutions authorizing the Mayor to release COP grant funds to the vendors listed in 1, 3, 4, and 5.

Okay, so that'll be both Council Vice President and Councilwoman Souza doing the amendment which is releasing the funds. It's not a contractual thing at this point. Seconded by Councilman Fogarty, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that. That's all on my grant writers. They do a great job. Thank you.

Council President, I make a motion to approve the amended resolution.

Motion now is to approve as amended by Councilman Susan. Seconded by Councilman Riga. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you, Chief. Good luck.

Can I get some clarification from the solicitor? Yes, sir. So there's no confusion. We're involved in this aspect of money with the school department because it was a grant. But am I right in, I think it's section 16 of the Rhode Island general laws, that after the city council approves a school department budget that we no longer have any authorization in where the finances go or how it's dictated?

Correct, under Title 16 of the Rural General Laws, once the council appropriates money to the school department and you appropriate a lump sum, how that is spent is up to the school department, not to the city.

This was a little different because this was like a- Yeah, not this grant, but in general.

the clarification because people are saying what why are they doing here but we can't do this well this is the clarification thank you mr solicitor thank you very good thanks next item am i reading four and five this may be amendments yes yes as amended yep the amendment applied to all four of them three of them so just

So those have been voted on.

No, four.

Except for four and five. Four and five, right.

Resolution authorizing the mayor to release grant funds.

Great. As amended.

As amended. Sign it to increase school safety at East Providence High School. Council Vice President Regal and Councilman Fogarty.

So it's what we just discussed and the amendment's been made. So is that a motion to approve?

Yeah, motion to approve.

Second by Councilman Fogarty. The motion is to approve as amended. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it. Next one.

Resolution authorizing the mayor to release grant funds for the stated contract with Challenge Electronics Inc. to increase school safety in East Providence High School. Not contract. With Challenge Electronics to increase school safety at East Providence High School. Sponsored by Council Vice President Rigo and Councilman Fogarty.

Same motion and second by Councilman Fogarty. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it.

Number six, resolution authorizing the granting of an easement to the Narragansett Electric Company related to Crescent Park improvements sponsored by Council President Rodricks.

So as we've done with other projects throughout the city, we sometimes have to grant easements for utility companies or other vendors to have access to crossover land and work on the project. This is all related to all the work being done in Crescent Park. Pretty standard.

Motion to approve.

Motion by Councilwoman Souza to approve. Seconded by Councilman Fogarty. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have. Thank you.

Resolution authorizing the mayor to execute all necessary documents related to the Washington Bridge project concerning a temporary construction, easement, and contamination of land for the Washington Bridge sponsored by Council President Roderick.

Once again, permission being requested to get going on the Washington Bridge. I do not want to be the person that's in the way of getting this bridge done, so if they need some permission to work on some of our land to get that bridge done, I'm okay. Motion to approve. Motion to approve. Use my pocket. Use your lots, too. Councilwoman Souza makes the motion to approve. Councilman Fogarty, Councilman Rigo, second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you.

Resolution requesting that the East Providence City Council name the traffic island on Pawtucket Avenue and Center Avenue the James B. Lappin Senior Island, sponsored by Council Vice President .

Just one note on that. That should be Center Street. I mean, Center Street, not Center Avenue.

We'll amend it. Make a motion to amend that.

Make a motion to amend Center Avenue to Center Street. Second.

Motion is made to amend the language to say Center Street, not Center Avenue, by Councilman Rigo, seconded by Councilwoman Souza. All in favor of the amendment, aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it. Motion, Councilman Fogarty, seconded by Councilwoman Souza, to approve as amended. And this was something discussed at a prior meeting at length. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it.

And I like to get with you and well Dan because the city sign I'd like to have this Presentation and sign up like in October I don't want to wait in a month or so we can get this done so that the families around and not wait till cold weather Congratulations to the family Next item

introduction of ordinances for discussion and possible vote and ordinance and amendment of chapter 18 of the revised ordinances of the city of east providence wood island 1998 as amended entitled vehicles and traffic summary to make bourne avenue westbound from brighton avenue to Frederick Street, a one-way street during the hours of 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 3.30 p.m. school days, sponsored by Council Vice President Rigo.

Councilman. Thank you, Mr. President. Are you people familiar with where Myron J. Francis School is and Bourne Avenue? the road narrows and it's also a situation where cars come around the curve and it's a and cars parking, it becomes a potential liability for, God forbid, a child or even a parent from picking up their child from school to get hit. So this is a safety precaution measure, and the hours fit in. It's not like we're doing this all day long. So I move passage as another safety aspect that we have been doing with our schools.

Second.

Motion by Council Vice President Rigo, seconded by Councilwoman Souza. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have. Thank you.

An ordinance and amendment of Chapter 18 of the revised ordinances of the City of East Providence, Rhode Island, 1998, as amended entitled Vehicles and Traffic Summary to Place a Stop Sign at Rhodes Avenue, Northbound and Southbound Traffic at Burnside Avenue, sponsored by Council President Rodericks.

Another traffic managing process requested by the neighborhood and city officials. I don't have anything else to add. I support it. Is there a motion?

Motion to pass.

Motion by Councilwoman Souza, seconded by Councilman Fogarty. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you all.

Ordinance and Amendment of Chapter 18 of the Revised Ordinances of the City of East Providence, Rhode Island, 1998, as amended, entitled Vehicles and Traffic. Amending Section 18-308, entitled Parking Time Limitations, 15 minutes. Summary, section 18-308. The purpose of this ordinance is to place a 15-minute parking sign at Warren Avenue, south side from a point of 105 feet west of South Hill Street, west of the late 20 feet. Council President Rodericks.

Councilwoman, did you want to make a comment? Thank you.

So this was tabled last meeting. I'm going to table this again for the upcoming meeting. Having spoke with the business owner that is directly in front of this, we came to a resolve for a more appropriate time of no parking than the 15 minutes. and the length of which that parking would be restricted to. So everybody's on board with that. So we'll bring it back in two weeks before the council for a vote.

Good compromise. Motion by Councilwoman Souza. The table. The table. Yes, please.

My input is I went by also just to make sure that I was looking at what she was talking about. I agree. So I would just vote for the vote.

Yes.

So that's a second to table. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

Motion to adjourn.

Before we adjourn, don't forget, I hate to use the term end of summer, but remember we have a council-sponsored concert, the end of summer concert at our beautiful Crescent Park, Saturday, September 12th. Right, Becky Chase? September 12th. I want to thank... 2 p.m., thank the rec department and others, Tracy and the mayor's office and everyone for helping out with this. It's 2 to 7. At 2 o'clock is a vintage car show, thanks to Joe Medeiros and his volunteers, and the fabulous nationally known band Brass Attack. will come on at 4 30 to 6 30. thanks to the rec department we will run a shuttle service because parking is a little different this year with some of the construction at the park there is parking but if you want to go to the oldham school the old closed oldham school there will be a shuttle bus running from three o'clock to seven o'clock to take people back and forth um and our own riverside resident dave tannery rhode island music hall of fame part of brass attack and it will be a great show hopefully the weather uh cooperate so mark the date and time down and don't don't miss that concert i'll be i'll be singing yes um along that that just means no one will show up now Is that a motion to adjourn?

Yes. I just wanted to say thank you for staying this whole meeting and listening to us.

The Rigo family, yes. Thank you.

And I wish and I hope that there's good resolve and that we all can help you in any way we can. I appreciate that.

Yeah, we're going to get a report on that. Is there a second to the adjournment?