Town Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening to everyone who joined us at seven o'clock. The council came to order at 615 to do interviews for boards and commissions. We've completed that agenda item. And our next item is the Pledge of Allegiance, which will be led by our town clerk, Lee Carney.

Public for which it stands. Indivisible.

Thank you, Lee. In addition to our clerk joining me on the dais, Town Council Vice President Michael Donegan. I'm Mark Schwager. We have Councillor Karen Corinthal and Councillor Renu Englehart. Councillor Michael Zarella is absent for this meeting. Our next item on our agenda is public comment. This is an opportunity for members of the public to address the council on items that are not on our regular agenda. So is there anyone here tonight or on the Zoom platform who would like to make any public comment? Seeing none, we will close public comment and then move on to our consent calendar. Consent calendar is a series of items which are routine in nature and can be voted on as a group unless someone would like to remove an item for individual discussion. On our consent calendar tonight, we have minutes from the August 17th regular town council meeting. We have a proclamation for Charlotte Dumas as a recipient of the Boston Post cane, and she received that last week at a nice ceremony over at Swift Community Center. 5C is an application for a Class F alcoholic beverage license for Our Lady of Mercy Oktoberfest being held on September 25th. We have an application for a Class F alcoholic beverage license for the Westminster Unitarian Church fundraiser. That's on September 26th. 5E is the annual renewal of holiday sales licenses for the period July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027 for Bags by Iris and the New England Business Solutions. 5F is reappointment of Daisy Bassen to the Affordable Housing Commission for a three-year term to expire August 1st, 2029. We interviewed Dr. Bassen earlier this evening and she will be reappointed on this vote. We also interviewed Greg Dantas to the Historic District Commission for a three-year term to expire August 1st, 2029. We have an award to Turf Robotics of Hartford, Connecticut for the purchase of an autonomous GPS-guided athletic field line marking robot in an amount not to exceed $46,950. This is one of those high-tech machines that is replacing the old walk-behind wheel that our Parks Department is using now. It's GPS-guided, and it's a marking robot that uses satellite positioning to repeat precise field layouts on demand without manual remeasurement, reducing both labor hours and paint consumption. Item five I is an award of bid to BL companies of New England in the amount not to exceed 32,500 for landscape design services as currently scoped related to Eldridge Park accessible community space and restoration project. This is a project that our community services and parks received a grant from Rhode Island DEM through the green bonds and includes restoration of the historic fountain, a shade structure with lighting, ADA-compliant pathways, seeding, removal of invasive vegetation, and installation of native planting. There'll also be historical signage and a solar-powered waste receptacle. And the next item, 5J, is award of bid for bulk materials and road striping to the low bidder for the net price as indicated on the bid tabulation sheet. The vendors that were approved were J.R. Binagra Corporation, Materials Sand and Stone, Richmond Sand and Stone, Johnson Asphalt, K5 Corporation, and Reed Custom Soils. And the last item, 5K, is recommendation by the tax assessor to approve abatements to the 2026 real estate tax rolls, totaling 3,552.95, and in addition, in the amount of $3,961.27. Are there any items that anyone would like to have pulled off?

Council Corenthal? 5H.

5H is the turf robotics. And I'd like to pull off five I, this is for the new landscape design. I think it's just worth showing a picture of that because it really is a very nice project right in the middle of our downtown. So we'll pull those two items off. So what I'll do is ask for approval of the consent calendar for all of the items, except for items five H and five I.

So moved. Second.

Motion to second, all those in favor? Aye. Motion carries four to zero. So Mr. Wade, maybe you could tell us a little bit more about the two items. First, the turf robotics purchase.

Good evening. Thank you very much. Yeah, we're really excited about the opportunity to purchase one of these. The Parks crew has been asking me for one for a few years now, and we got to the point in our equipment replacement where we felt that this year was an appropriate year to add it in. and many hours at the start of most seasons setting up the fields for our youth soccer, baseball, lacrosse, leagues like football as well. Many times, for example, with a youth lacrosse field, particularly I believe the girls field is more complex and it may take four men six hours to lay that field out from scratch. This machine can do that field in a half an hour with one person just being on site to monitor its action and to set it up to make it go. So I think it's important and I know that with autonomous equipment, there can be the perception that you're looking to replace personnel I think it's important to recognize in this scenario that we're not going to be in a position ever to provide enough resources for manpower to properly maintain all of the acreage of parkland that we have in athletic field spaces. Um, so being able to add equipment like this allows our parks crew to be able to address issues that would otherwise have been prioritized down the list, whether it be the broken swing at a playground or a reparative offense or a bench somewhere, they can now work those things into the workflow more readily while doing these mundane tasks to be achieved by a single person. And now we've freed up three people to go somewhere else. So that's kind of the mission beyond that. And additionally, To date, their their method of laying stripes has been with an aerosol spray can, which is heavily inefficient. wasteful and more expensive to buy over the run the machine that i've requested for the Council to approve this evening as a pink capacity of seven gallons that you can now buy. full liquid paint, blend it with a mixture of a percentage of water, put it in, the lines are thicker, they're stronger, they're more accurate and less waste is caused and you're not using aerosol into the environment.

Somebody has to be there to monitor. It's like a robot, like lawnmower type thing.

Correct, yeah. So it's, you know, I mean, it's a $50,000 piece of equipment. So obviously they're coveted, I think, by some. But essentially you set up a tripod that, speaks to a satellite and that lays out the grid for the machine to communicate with back and forth once you plug in what type of field, U8 soccer field, you know, boys, youth, lacrosse, or girls, youth, lacrosse. And it... you start with a corner and knows where that corner is. And from there, and I went out there and watched a demonstration of this about three weeks ago, blew me away. It was really wonderful. I was watching Hard Knocks the other night.

And that's what they did. It was Seattle. And they had the little robot come out. It looked like one of those little vacuum cleaner type autonomous. It just went out and it did the whole thing. And it was incredible to watch because it was so fast.

Yeah, I mean, it's futuristic. I mean, I've heard about it probably first like five, seven years ago. And I was like, wow, that would be something else. But I wasn't sure if that would be the thing that we would be in a position to purchase. But I think the costs have come down a little bit. They've made the technology a little better. A couple other things about the particular model that I've recommended for purchase, because there were three good models that we've looked at and that responded to the bid. And pricing kind of was a little all over the place in terms of 50 grand is around the price. I think we're just under that. But the other two models in this scenario, they require subscription fees. So each year you're going to have to pay them. three to five grand and i think over time that you'll lose out with that this one we're buying it outright also the the swazi turf robotics unit is the only one that has handles so if you do need to go out and manually stripe just a little quick line you can do that also in terms of getting it onto the trailer is much more convenient than having to stand there and use a remote control to drive it into the thing. So the guys really like the features of it. And I think it's going to benefit their work immensely.

And you can assure us that this is not leading us to an AI extinction event?

I did keep the laser arm off of it, so I couldn't take anyone out. But no, it is, I think this is a tool that has a very limited scope in terms of the AI capabilities, but yes.

That's what they tell you.

Yes.

I have a question for you, Andy. You said that there's no contract for a subscription for, what is that, the software subscription that the other ones required?

Yeah, and other models have the annual kind of a maintenance software subscription as well as they want you to buy their paint. So you're kind of indebted to them, so it's a recurring, oh, we're going to keep investing on that. We have used Picker the Paint Company for many years here, been successful with that, and we're able to buy it in a form that fits this machine. So you can buy any paint on the market. And also, there were some other elements in terms of... Other than obviously the computer element of it, the physical components on this machine, you can replace and fix them all without tools, I think was pretty handy in terms of like the regular maintenance of being able to clean out the paint heads and to the routine maintenance after each heavy use to make sure it's ready for the next go. So I think all that kind of works into how easy it is to use this machine, the other ones kind of lead more on you got to talk to us you have to buy our parts like this guy you know this one's more like you can buy any. These are all generic parts you can just replace to do it so.

Andy the cost of this is what made me. Look at it and. I did a deep dive yesterday into these machines and I understand what you're saying about there is some some companies that do require subscription and exactly and buy your paint so. I'll say some things and then you can correct me if I'm wrong. I see this while you're purchasing this. You said it's more efficient. It's not replacing personnel. I'm going to assume it frees up personnel to do other things. I read that it's the upfront costs may be more initially, but then it sort of does a savings. Will you think that's true?

Yeah, I mean, that was kind of how I presented it to you in the proposal that I mean, yes, you were investing $47,000 in a machine. but over the course of its life, we're talking about man hours that won't be used on that and freed up to do other tax inside of town at the different times of year that we do it, the savings would be there. Also the cost savings per year on paint, we're anticipating it to be between five and $7,000 alone, just on the style of paint that we were buying. So yes, there will be savings over the life of the machine.

Then it makes sense to spend the money. Want the taxpayers knowing that they're getting a good bang for the buck.

Oh, for sure. You think about it like in the fall, there's 14 baseball fields that have to be lined. And we will have 10 soccer fields that need to be lined. for flag football fields that need to be lined. And they all need to be lined within a two-week period. And so that's very labor-intensive at the time. And then we need to go back out and restrike. And I think when I've talked to Peter Cambio, a park superintendent about too, with our youth soccer association, for example. So currently we lay down the initial stripes, we make sure we find the corners, set the fields up, and then it's on either them, their volunteers, but many of them are going out and paying now for a service to come in and restrike the lines throughout the season. Could consider I think this as a revenue stream to now ask them, instead of paying the third party customer, like we could probably do this and beat their price, but still do it as something where we can get some return on the investment that way as well. you know, cautions like, oh, I want to get used to the machine first before we think about that. But that is an option out there. And, you know, from time to time, we will host tournaments in the summertime at the Avenger Athletic Complex. And a lot of times those tournament teams want us to be able to build the fields for them for their use, whether it be lacrosse or soccer, because but those that time of year we don't traditionally have fields painted on the easements so boy would it be nice to be able to tack on a fee to that rental like we can do this in-house for you this is what it will cost but it won't take that time that it would have cost before that we had to do that and take during a you know busy season three or five four guys off of their duties to make those lines happen and how long is this machine last That's a good question. I know that the town of South Kingstown has had the first generation of this model for 10 years, and they still love it. So this is kind of a version two of that. And since the technology is rather new, we haven't really seen any of them reach the end of life. But I think that with this particular machine having the universal parts that we can repair it ourselves. It should last. The motors, the simple motor, hinges, the simple hinges, the wheels, the simple wheels, all replaceable items. If we provide proper maintenance to it, I would anticipate a minimum of 10 years. 20, but, you know, I can't say that for sure.

This is out of our capital improvement budget. Is that where? Okay.

Budget.

Mark, if I could just add just some context. So a couple of quick things is one is this is a one-time purchase for 10 plus years. It's valued at about half of an employee. So that's about the cost, you know, salary, benefits, everything else that goes into hiring somebody. So we view this application, although different and interesting, I think it's caught people's interest. Is not unlike anything we do in every other department for the upgrade and advancement of technology, whether it's the clerk's office to provide more remote access for the general public. We pay annual subscription fees, but now individuals and residents don't have to physically come into the building. whether it's for our public safety officials with their new dispatch centers. Clearly, we could do things at a much more simple level, although our hope is, as the council is very aware, all our costs are in people mainly. And so we do what we can at times to utilize proven technology to try to balance the investment in additional people that exponentially creates pressure on budgets and services and other things that the community prioritizes. So this is just an interesting application in a very specific area where this one-time $40,000-plus cost will get us 10-plus years and will really provide the Parks Department that is in great need of additional bodies in the field, provide them with some additional time to do some other things that were just... Many times, actually, you get the calls because you forward them to me. So... on the calls from people who have interest whether it's tree work or or other things dealing with our youth leagues in our fields or at the school facilities so we think this is a great step forward and we hope and again not replacing people but just trying to help us balance needs and increasing pressures and expectations of our local population with some technology to balance that need for to hire additional people even call the other nearby towns

our marketing this start a whole franchise of a fleet of them.

That's right. They all they all definitely want them.

In the OPEB is less on this one.

Hey, now five, five is also your item. Or the the new landscape design.

Yeah, so this is coming back to you. You've previously been presented the concept of applying for the grant funding through the Recreation Development Grants to Department of Environmental Management, supported from the Green Economy Bonds. We were awarded $125,000 for this purpose. This will be a nice addition on top of what already was a really great renovation at Eldridge Park, you know, the $1.6 to $1.7 million that we put in there in the last three years between renovating the Donnie Bowman basketball courts, to installing the ADA walking path, to building the new softball field, to, you know, Board on site for the softball field and dugouts. That's a beautiful, beautiful spot. So that corner, looking at it, the reason why we went for this in the grant round was that it checked a lot of the same boxes that Eldridge Park did when we received that $400,000 grant for that project. close to the downtown area, densely populated neighborhood, next to a bus stop. So we knew that those things were going to get us points to be able to be successful here. But also looking at that corner from Main Street, looking up to the intersection of Cliff and First Avenue, the corner that could use a refresh, right? And I think we can rethink about what we can do to that space to kind of engage it in a way to make it more of a congregate spot for the public to use again, more than just a holdover for the bus stop, but kind of a gateway in a formal entrance into the park with maybe improving some stairs to come in, improving the ABA ramp to come in from that side. very initial concept plan is not what I anticipate the finished product to look like. This is what we needed to begin to get a quick idea of what could happen to submit for the grant funding. So I do anticipate that I don't get married to anything in that picture. There may be some things that visit and stay through, but I don't anticipate it staying. But another really integral part of this program was to bring back to life the James Eldridge Memorial Fountain that sits on that corner. And we thought it would be very timely, especially with what this gentleman behind me has been talking about shortly, about the EG 350, that bring these things of historical significance, maybe pull it out, bring it in a little more prominent location. We'd love to be able to get it to put some water back through it again. and really highlight its significance with some historical signage on the property. So this, what I'm asking for tonight is to have BL companies who has been a partner with us before. They're currently working on Scallop Town. They did our community services and parks master plan back in 2022, 23. This will help us finalize the design. put the construction documents together so then we can go out to bid and hopefully break ground early next year and getting this work done.

I think it's great. That corner really is a highlight, potential highlight for the town and opening up the access to the park I think is really going to be great addition. Andy, the building nearby there with the restrooms, what's the status of that building?

It's on my list for future projects. So it's currently still functioning as its intended purpose. It is the location of the physical bus stop. There are men's and women's restrooms that are utilized from our youth leagues, our men's softball leagues. There is a score booth up top, kind of a crow's nest thing that would have been used probably initially for Avengers Football when the football games are still played on site. So it's not really utilized in that function. But if softball was to host a tournament now, when we repositioned the softball field, the intent now is that the home plate is right in front of that. So it would work well for scorekeepers to be up there and make announcements to the field. And then the concession area of the building is being utilized by softball and flag football for some storage items. It's not being currently used as a concession stand. I have been working on and haven't brought it to council because the funding isn't present yet, but I need to or we need to give to go through those restrooms, bring the furnishings up to 21st century furnishings. I think we could make the concession stand something that could be attractive enough that girls softball may want to use that during home games. And I do think that we could probably improve some of the storage solutions that we have inside of the garage right now so that the users between Little League and flag football and Donnie Bowen's basketball can have some defined spaces to kind of organize the gear that they need to use to operate there weekly. But we're not there yet. Thank you.

Other questions for Mr. Wade? Thank you for elaborating on those items. So I'll look for a motion to approve items 5H and 5I on our consent calendar.

I'll move.

Motion to second, all those in favor?

Aye.

Motion carries, 4-2-0. The next item on our agenda is reports and presentations, items, I'm sorry.

All the rest of the consent calendar? We did.

So reports and presentations, we are starting with an update on the EG350 Heritage Festival on October 24th, and we have joining us tonight is noted filmmaker, historian, and Man About Town, Matt Carceri, who is the chair of the EG350 Steering Committee. So welcome, Mr. Carceri.

Thank you very much. Good evening, everybody. Thank you. We can skip to the next slide. I'm here representing the EG350 Steering Committee. Lots of good-looking faces on that slide. You may recognize some of them. And unfortunately, our star of the program, Rachel Arbige, who is our program manager, couldn't be here tonight. So I'm here representing the effort. So I'm the stand-in. uh next slide please i want to start always by reminding us that we are just one year and one month away from our 350th birthday as a town so next month we will start that process of starting to celebrate our 350th year birth year anniversary year so uh i want to remind us all october 31st of next year is the anniversary On the next slide, Lee. Yes, I want to remind you also, I shared once before that our mission is to create a year-long series of events. We're not just going to do a one-time week-long thing. We're going to have a year-long series of events that honors our town's rich history. And as a guy who has been into this stuff for a few years now, it is an incredible history here in this town. We want to strengthen our shared sense of identity as East Greenwich people and foster our pride of place. And we all know what an amazing town we're a part of. So on the next slide of that year long celebration, this is our framework down the footnote. I've captured the fact that there'll be a number of activities happening throughout the year sponsored by different organizations, whether it's the preservation study doing electro series or walking tour, they're talking about bringing back the holiday home tour here around Christmas time, lots of activities that are gonna be happening throughout the year, but the four major ones that the steering committee is responsible for and that is working closely with the town led by Rachel Arbaj, are the following. First of all, starting next month, our first major event is a heritage festival. That'll be held on October 24th. I'm here to talk to you tonight about that event. But to remind you, we'll have three other major events coming. There's going to be a gala ball in the spring. We're going to have a, that's kind of adult-oriented kind of party. Think of it that way. A summer bash for the whole family, kind of like the old summer's end will be coming September 11th and 12th of next year. And because our birthday is on Halloween, we're embracing it. That's not been embraced in the past, but we're really going to embrace the fact that our birthday is Halloween and we're going to end our 350th with a celebration on October 30th. taking advantage of the fun Halloween stuff we do here in town and bringing that to the next level with a big Halloween extravaganza to end the year. So those are the four major events, just to remind you. But tonight I'm here to talk about the first one, the Heritage Festival. And so, as I said, that's happening just a little over a month from now. on October 24th it'll be going on from noon to four on Academy Field and at the Swift Community Center and our purpose is to inaugurate the celebration so this is where you know we recognize most people are not even aware that this is the 350th coming up well they're going to know after October 24th because we're going to have a big celebration to kick it all off and the focus of this first event really is honoring the rich history of the town that's going to be the big focus we have a great team who's been working on this event you can read some of the names there I won't read the list but we're very fortunate to have a number of active community members who are supporting this effort to put together a great event on the 24th. The two main features for your awareness, we're really excited about how this is coming together. It's really kind of two major planks. First of all, we are turning Swift Community Center into a heritage center for that day. There'll be a couple of major activities happening there. There'll be a Papa Museum with five exhibits that are being developed by the Preservation Society and the library. The library just approved funding to build these five exhibits. We're also getting help from the town. to put this together. So there'll be a mini museum, a pop-up museum happening inside Swift. And every hour on the hour, you'll be able to view something I'm really excited about, which is a new documentary film, a 20 minute documentary about the history of the town, It's narrated by my father, Governor Kachiri, sponsored by the Preservation Society. It's been developed by a team at New England Institute of Technology. I saw the final draft on screen the other day, and I'm pretty excited about it. I think it's going to be a really cool asset for the town that people are really going to get excited about. So think of that kind of Swift becoming almost like a national park visitor center. You're going to come in and you're going to learn all about the history of this great town, experience one of those great movies that they have at those visitor centers. So that's a key part of the day. And then meanwhile, on the academy field, we're going to have all kinds of great activities. There's going to be cool colonial vibes. We're really embracing the Revolutionary War spirit of this great town. We'll have a town crier announcing the events going on throughout the day. We'll have all the reenactors, the militias, the country's guards will be there, of course. So we're really excited by that. And then for children, families, we're going to have hay rides and a petting zoo. There'll be crafts and demonstrations going on. And then at the far end of the field on Church Street, more of an adult-oriented area, we're going to have the sliding capos performing. Amazingly, the sliding capos performed as young bucks for the tercentenary of the town. So they'll be back again for the 350th celebration. We're really excited about that. Along Church Street, we'll have a number of food trucks, as well as a beer tent that I'll talk to you about in just a moment. So those are the key features. We're also really going to be kind of going crazy with merchandise for the 350. If you want people to start wearing the kind of badge that I have going on right now, So we're going to be selling a number of swag items, blankets, calendars, posters, Frisbees, all kinds of stuff. There's also going to be a system there where you can begin to order online EG350 swag. So within a month after that, hopefully we're going to see all of us starting to wear some cool quarter zips and polo shirts with the EG350 logo on them. So we'll be activating all of that that day. We're also going to be really pushing hard to move a number of EG350 flags. So we're really hoping every house in town is going to be flying one of these a month after this Heritage Festival. We also have large flags that will be flying in front of Town Hall and other government buildings. But we're excited to start pushing flags around town. So that's part of the sales effort as well. Two books I happen to be really excited about because I was involved in both. One is an art book by Don Mung. Maybe you know Don Mung here, a former police officer in town who is an amazing illustrator. I've worked with him to produce a 70-page softcover book with 127 of his illustrations featuring scenes from around town. I think people are going to get really excited to see some of the great nostalgic places like the old Jolly John's, for example, for people who have been around town for a while. So that's gonna be a fundraising book that's gonna raise funds for our EG350 effort. The same day, I'm gonna be launching and releasing a book I've been working on for five years, which is the first chronological fully illustrated history of the town. So it's a 350 page volume on purpose. And I'm really excited to be able to share it with all of you beginning on that day. So we'll have those two books for sale as well a day. So a lot of cool merchandise, we think, for sale as well. Next up, I want to talk about the beer sales. This is going to be on the consent agenda, I think, in two weeks, Lee, we decided. I'm going to be applying for a Class F application for us to sell beer at this event. We're going to have a beer that's produced by the Apodog Brewing Company. You can see it rendered here. It's going to be a special edition can for the EG350. And Apodog Brewing is very, very kind to donate the first 10 cases. On site that day, the beer is going to be vended by the Greenwich Odium, who's kind of sponsoring that tent for their own publicity. And just a few things on the logistics, because I know they'll be of concern when that reaches the consent agenda. We're going to have a dedicated area sectioned off with fencing, located away from the family activities. The hours are going to be 1 to 4. The Odium, as you know, from what they do there in their work, they have TIP certified vendors. So all the bartenders will be TIP certified. Of course, no one under 21. We'll have two police officers on duty dedicated to the beer tent and beer tickets will be sold by the Odium. So doing all the right things we know that need to be done to have that happen that day. So I'm excited for that part of the event as well. But down there, people can enjoy their new EG350 beer while listening to the sliding cables. So last slide is I just want to highlight for you personally, so that you can be part of the day with us, how it's going to go. So this day, October 24th, is the normal day we do our Halloween parade here in town, which already has several hundred participants. So we're building on that. So the normal parade is going to happen from 10 to 11. We are, though, going to encourage colonial costuming this time. There's going to be an award for the best colonial costume to get kids into the theme of the day. So that'll go on from 10 to 11, followed by the normal trick-or-treating on Main Street, sponsored by the Chamber. And then all the families will then move up to Academy Field, as they always do. And at noon, we're going to begin with an opening ceremony, inaugurating our 350th year. We're going to raise the EG350 flag. We're going to have our local Kentish guards give us a cannon salute. And then we're going to have a speaking program with both the state and congressional delegation. So we know Senator Reid is confirmed, along with several other secretaries, state treasurers. So we're We're getting in the responses now, but we expect to have a full delegation there for our opening ceremony. We hope you'll, of course, all be part of that. An interesting commitment. We'll see if he follows through. The British Council General has offered to come down for Boston to give greetings from Greenwich, England on our behalf. So that could be a special moment as part of that ceremony as well. So that'll go on from about noon to 1230. I want to let you know we've updated this agenda since I sent the set slides to Lee. We're guessing now we probably need to premiere the film at 1, just knowing how people can speak at these kind of ceremonies. So we'll probably show the first premiere of the movie at 1 o'clock, then 1, 2, 3. And then throughout the day on the field, all that food, music, and fun that I described. So that's what's going on. That's what's going on on October 24th. We just want to make you fully aware of what we're working on and we look forward to your participation and support. Any questions? I'm happy to answer.

Well done.

Thank you, Mike. Great.

Is there a rain date by any chance?

No, we have made the conscious decision not to offer a rain date just because there's so many pieces of things. Food trucks can't be available both days. They can't hold the day, all those kinds of things. So we are just going to have, we're going to have tents on the field. So we were ordering a couple of big major tents. We'll have Swift. We're going to maybe make use of the Academy Science Center, any indoor locations we can. We're going to go to a plan B that way, but it will be held that day.

It looks great, Matt.

Yeah, thanks, Mark. Thanks for your work on it.

We really appreciate your time, effort, energy.

This wouldn't be possible without Mr. Karcheri.

And a team. I'm just here representing a team, for sure. It's a great team.

And the book, I haven't seen your book yet, but Don Mong's book is fantastic. People really enjoy that.

Excited to share it all with you guys very soon. Next month. Very good. Great. Thank you all.

Our next report tonight is from our town manager on town-wide projects and initiatives.

Matt, you set me up here tonight. So this is, you know, my reports don't carry that same vibrancy that Matt carried there in talking about the 350th. But personally, let me take advantage of the opportunity to thank Matt and the full committee for the effort. I think it's really coming together. It started with kind of a blank slate, but I think that structure is now coming together in a really nice way. And clearly the town is a major supporter of that with all of the various officials and other local residents and volunteers that are affiliated with the event. And we're really looking forward to some great things over the next year. So my report, just a couple things. So I've been providing the council with a little different structure to reports that I've put out in the past. I think I had gotten into a structure that we used for several years, which was used periodically just to report on various things. And so trying out a different structure this evening, which I'd like to stick with for a while. And I think... The structure of this report starts off with ongoing two major categories. One's kind of an executive summary about what the report is really for, major contents broken out by category. The other is ongoing municipal initiatives. The council has a number of things, as well as some that are not even listed here that you've been working on or talking about for the past, you know, months or years that have been slowly evolving. You know, some of those may involve the parking and traffic ordinance. It's a study, but it's going to facilitate changes to that particular ordinance or ordinances that affect parking and traffic. One is the demolition by neglect discussion that is ongoing that our legal counsel is working on. One is our town park system, which really hasn't come before the council, but Andy Wade, Director of Community Services, has been working on a modernization of all those various elements that are scattered throughout our existing code. The other one that all departments are working on right now is our fee schedule, which is approved by ordinance. And so that's being worked on now by various departments. Our impact fee study, which will materialize into an ordinance and be memorialized by the council. A comprehensive plan, which we are in major strides at this point over this year to update our plan, which is well-documented here and through other various departments. events and sessions in terms of engaging and providing for public input. Our land trust ordinance was something the council has talked about on and off. So as to how the land trust functions as an advisory committee, how that's memorialized in our code and the various updates that need to be included. Harbor management plan and a number of other things. So I'm going to continue to carry this list. And I think by including them in the report, it'll give the council the ability to ask questions we'll bring in committees from time to time to provide reports some of them that are related to these initiatives that can also provide information to keep the dialogue alive while while we work up towards a draft for council consideration the second piece of that is just local projects and initiatives you know there are usually so many things happening that that I and members of our professional team take for granted because we're working on things behind the scenes for several years sometimes before they materialize and are presented to the public. The council is usually aware of it, but it comes and goes from our conversation. So I'm going to start to carry a more vibrant and active list of things that are ongoing. You've got a good bite out of that list right here, including the 350th celebration. But there are a lot of other things that I think I'm going to add to this list. And they'll, again, also putting those before the council so there can be an opportunity for questions and answers. Members of the public can also ask questions and really put us in a better position to engage the public and provide more up-to-date information on some things, again, that we may take for granted that we've been working on for several years, but it may have gone quiet in the public's eye. And so we want to make sure that they understand some of the major projects and initiatives that are underway. quick update just again to reiterate our school construction committee meeting this past thursday good meeting overall the committee had not met formally since last january reason being is that they took all of the actions and provided the council and others with recommendations in their advisory capacity and then we started construction and so up until this point nothing has occurred with the project to require us to go back to the committee. But I think that's going to start to change in the coming months as we start to make additional awards, which with FF&E and other project aspects, we're going to start to bring our SEC back together for a more formal review of those matters and making recommendations to the council, who is the ultimate facilitating group that will award those contracts for that project. In addition to that, this past meeting, our consultant team, which has stayed steadfast and I think is still doing a terrific job, provided us with really the most in-depth information kind of public update on really, in terms of status on the high school project, on Hannaford and Frenchtown, the two elementaries. We didn't really talk a lot about Meadowbrook, but that's gonna be up and coming in the coming months. They provided a snapshot in terms of budget perspective, other major impacts to the project, the tariff impact on the steel, which did affect all three projects, the high school and the two elementaries, as well as a number of other budget-related impacts that we've seen, which we think we can manage. The thing they talked about at length was really our contingencies, owner contingencies, contractor contingencies, allowances, holds, and what those things mean, and how much money that we have kind of harbored in those accounts right now, as we start to slowly lessen our risk and our liability, now that we're out of the ground, now that things are happening, now that we're past the tariff impact. And so as that continues, we would start to be able to kind of approach a point in time where the contractor and the owner, us, are gonna be able to start to release funding as we start to develop the overall budget for the three plus million dollars that are needed to do the work at Meadowbrook. And then as on top of that, it's a number of other adult and it's another things that the project team, as well as the council school committee and others might want to see happen as long as there is room within the existing overall project budget. So we covered a lot of ground the other night. I thought it was a good meeting. I think we'll see more of those coming up and then the school construction team, as well as our consultants will be back before the council, most likely at the next meeting. If not, it'll be the first meeting in October, but it should be most likely the September 28th meeting where they're going to come back with a number of awards, as well as other updates to engage the council on that are more financial related, which is something that is appropriately seated before the council. I can pause there if there are any questions.

I was just going to add, Andy, from the at the SEC, there was the short take home from this is that the project is going on budget and on time with the expanded scope, right? Because we have add-ons that have already been incorporated and Meadowbrook is another one. And when Andy's talking about, you know, as we perform the work and the bad contingency doesn't happen, that money is freed up, right? The contingencies that are there. And so it's all green lights right now and we're very well along, which is great. There was also a very robust discussion again about the HVAC system. that's going to be employed. And it was, you know, we know there was some buzz around that. And I get it, because if you've sent kids to, you know, to the junior high, you know, that you don't want that to happen again, which none of us did. And we all, that was a major priority for the school construction committee, the school committee and the town council. None of that's, it's obviously very different. And we talked about design days. We had a lot of data. There were only, I want to say, two people in the audience and they didn't ask any questions after this presentation. We had a really good presentation by sort of the nuts and bolts engineer who does the HVA systems and talked about the tempered air system and his kids go to a school with one and where he does them all over. So it was really great and there were no questions asked by the two audience members or guess uh residents there and then there was at one point 11 people online and nobody asked questions about any of that which i'm hoping means that the large amount of data that was provided you know helped help it's also important to point out it's 15 almost 20 years now since the last school was built and the technology has changed so i think And I think the fact that there isn't much technology in coal, it's they're recirculating outside air is what happens. So if it's hotter outside, that's just, and also they talked a lot about the, we understood coal, the actual geometry of coal and the amount of glass, while very beautiful, you have a lot of solar gain from that. And so anyway, it's quite dissimilar, not much in common at all. And this system is used everywhere in Rhode Island. In fact, Tom, the superintendent, had called around to a bunch of grammar schools Who have this because this has been with this kind of standard across the board for years and he said he got universal hundred percent feedback is all positive and all good so anyway, so I just wanted to relay that information.

Yeah, Mike, you make a lot of great points. And I think because there was so much information and there is a lot, I think, again, we get accustomed to it because we've bantered it around at several meetings. But general public really to step into that conversation could be challenging. So I know the consultants following that meeting are taking some advice and working on a fact sheet. to be able to provide some clarity to a lot of the points you made.

Right. So it'll just be, you know, if they have questions, we can put it out there and people can look at it and say, oh, what does a design day look like? Okay, if it's 79 degrees, it'll be 74 to 78 under these conditions, you know, and you can just look and the humidity reduction will have the feels like at much below that. And then even things like meteorological data, like, okay, we use an 89 degree extreme design day. How many of those have occurred during a school year in the last five years that exceeded that. Oh, okay, two. So we want that information to be all available. That's all from the weather station at Quonset. So there's a whole bunch we can put out there just to reassure people. And if they have other questions, they can focus on the data as to why we universally, the school construction committee, which by the way includes facilities director, Bob Wilmarth, at the schools, right? And we all voted unanimously for that. That was then brought before the school committee and they had all revisited that, brought in front of us. We had a robust discussion about not making it cold. You may recall that Kate Turner told us it will feel air conditioned. If we didn't call it this, that's how it would feel. And it's gonna be a comfortable learning environment. The presentation also, it's hard when, in our own homes, right, with air conditioning, don't we have different people in our homes who are like turn it up turn it down of course you know what's comfortable so the there's a national standard that's used and it goes to an 80 percent positive uh response so that's the standard and we're going to be well below that under those days any any of those days so anyway i think it'll be helpful in the uh uh and he's working on with the the consultants to put that together so we can just push it out and put this to bed

Yeah, I would just comment that as Mike and the manager have mentioned, there's a lot of material that was presented. But I think for me, the most reassuring piece was that for the percentage of the job that is completed are... reserves are quite healthy. Our contingency reserves are quite healthy. And as we go forward, our risk declines. So that was very reassuring and the details we got supported that. The other thing I would mention, Andy, is I appreciate you looking at your reports and kind of trying something new. And I think the report you put out was very, very helpful to me in setting a structure for the next really six to 12 months. So I appreciate the way this was laid out. I think it is also a very useful document for the public. Because people, you know, unless it's, as you say, unless it's front and center, but they don't realize how many different projects are going on. And so this really shows that there is a lot of moving parts here. And I appreciate the work you put into this.

We try to stay open-minded about that and clearly if people have ideas or they, you know, everybody reads and takes in information and learns differently. So, you know, we're happy to tailor make and we also get programmed, right, to generate documents a particular way. So, very happy to make those changes and with technology help assistance that we have today to make it look and feel a little easier and be a little clearer. I think we can all learn from that and be helpful. So, Yeah, this is just a very first attempt. I think this list will grow, but I think providing people with a status on projects and where they are, I think would be very important as we move forward.

Status is a big question. People ask all the time. They'll hear about it. So I really appreciate this as well.

Other questions for the manager? If not, we'll close the report section and move on to unfinished business. This is item 7. 7A is review and possible action on the renewal of class BB alcoholic beverage license with whittling and entertainment for low key cafe doing business. as Lowkey on Main Street. Lowkey was before us most recently on May 11th, 2026. I'll give a little perspective and then I'll ask for our town clerk to update us on the status of this application. The owner of Lowkey's Alcoholic Beverage License, Mr. Zach Flanders, came to us in February of 25 after his business experienced a significant leak from the roof, which forced a closure. Repairs were delayed due to pending approval of insurance claims. And during the businesses closure, the town council has granted, but not issued his class BB alcohol beverage license with whittling and entertainment pending his reopening. Mr. Flanders was before us in November 24th, 2025, He returned again March 9th, 2026 and most recently May 11th, 2026 for extension of his granted but not issued license, which is good through today, September 14th, 2026. Our intent was to have the applicant return tonight to give us an update. Mr. Flanders has been in communication with our town clerk related to this application. So I'll ask our clerk Lee Carney to bring us up to date on the status of the application.

Okay, thank you. So I did have a brief communication with Mr. Flanders. He regrets not being able to be here this evening, but he has confirmed that he was not able to reach a mutually agreeable lease with his landlord and ultimately has decided that closing the business was in his best financial interest. That right now.

So in that situation, Lee, if we take no action, essentially the license will return to the town, is that correct? Correct. So we will have one BB license?

That is correct.

Mark, just procedurally, is that what it is, that it's up for renewal now?

Well, it was granted but not issued through today. But his grant of the license will expire today, at least when I spoke with Lee. I don't know if our solicitor, Mr. Squires, would like to comment on that. Do we have to vote affirmatively, or if we just take no action?

Take no action, it will expire.

And do you recommend that's the clearest course? Other questions for our clerk solicitor?

I mean, that's unfortunate that this is happening, but, you know, at least clarity on this.

Yeah, I agree with Councillor Englehart. It is always unfortunate when a business is not able to continue. But again, they've been closed now for about 18 months, still cannot reach a lease agreement. And this seems like Mr. Flanders has decided his best course is to move on from this enterprise. So I think we don't have to take a vote and we will just move to the next agenda item, taking no action on item 7A. Brings us to item eight, which is new business. This is appointment of a regular member to the board of assessment review to fill a vacancy and a remainder of a three-year term to expire July 1st, 2029. We interviewed David Sullivan on August 17th. Mr. Sullivan had relocated to East Greenwich from Vermont, where he worked in the tax assessor's office as a volunteer lister. That's just to assist the tax assessor with the property assessments. He also was a planning board member in Panton, Vermont. And he interviewed well, and I would propose having him fill his position. So I'd ask for a vote to approve David Sullivan to the Board of Assessment Review.

So moved. I'll second.

Motion to second. All those in favor? Aye. Motion carries four to zero. We have another opportunity for public comment. Anybody online or in person who would like to make a comment? We have one person coming forward. Good evening.

Good evening, Peter Rogers, 15 David Court. Appreciate the comments about the new format for the town manager's report. I'd be interested in seeing that if it's such a great resource for the public, if it could get attached to the agendas or posted, that would be awesome so that we could review it.

I reposted it this mid-afternoon.

I just opened it and it wasn't there.

Yes, thank you for your recommendation and we do try to attach those as soon as they are available. Thank you.

I can see it. I also am logging in through that so I can watch it. I see it.

Are there any questions online that you see? We will close out the public comment, and this moves on to council announcements and comments. Any councillors have any events? Councillor Corenthal or Councillor Englehart?

I'd like to add an item to the agenda to discuss, I'm sorry, I'd like to add an item to the agenda and discuss e-bikes or scooters or whatever you want to call them.

Well, we can add it for discussion purposes only. Second. So we have a motion and a second. Anyone who would like to add this item as Council Corenthal has requested, we'll take a vote on that. Do we have a motion and a second? All those in favor? Aye. Okay, motion carries four to zero. Council Corenthal, why don't you introduce your questions and comments.

In the course of canvassing over the past couple of weeks, one of the items that people are saying is the most, frankly, the most important to them is e-bikes and what's going on in town with the lack of safety. And I have to say that I think we shouldn't wait for something horrible to happen here before we do something. I know the police are aware of the problem, but we can do a few things. And I happened to have done sort of a deep dive into this, naturally, over yesterday. And all across the country, the laws are pretty much very, very similar. But what we could do here is insist that kids have, they are required to wear a helmet. The helmet that they're wearing, according to at least three or four reports that I read, is not sufficient. They wear a helmet that is helpful in a crash of 14 miles an hour, whereas the e-bikes or scooters go more than that. So kids should be wearing, and this is according to medical professionals, should require a heavier helmet like an ATV or a motorcycle helmet for kids under 16 years of age. Um, the other thing is I think that perhaps if the police see a kid not wearing a helmet, you need to stop them. So that's something we can sort of do immediately. I think we need to, I've talked to Andy and I've talked to Tom Kenworthy. The school has recently passed rules. You're not allowed to e-bike to school. But I think we need, I mean, there were some people that stopped me that this is the most important thing. And there were several people that told me we need to ban them in town. They should be absolutely banned. I don't know that you want to go there. I'm certainly open to discussion, but there is, I think it is just, we are just waiting for a tragedy to occur. The people are saying these kids bike too fast. It's dangerous. For example, in Hasbro ER 2025, there were 85 visits to the Hasbro ER for e-scooters and bikes the whole year. This year, from January to July, there were 143 visits. In Massachusetts, they're seeing 170% increase in the ERs just from e-bikes and scooters. So I think we need to do something. I don't know that the police can handle all this. So I think we need to really take some kind of proactive measures. One would be the helmets. I'm certainly open to suggestions. I'm sure other people have good ideas, too. But I think we need to do it. The other thing is we talked a little bit about golf carts. I'm correct. There are no golf carts allowed, right? You can't go on the road. Right?

On public roads, they're not allowed. That's correct.

So people in several neighborhoods tell me. I have not seen one myself. I have one in mind. But people have told me that the kids are on golf carts.

Yeah, they are. Actually, I've seen them. Yeah, in Signal Ridge, I have seen them.

We're sure they're not low-speed vehicles, which means they need to be registered.

Yeah.

They can be on municipal and state roads under 30, 25 or 30 miles an hour.

30 miles an hour. The one in my neighborhood looks very suspiciously like the one I ride around Quintessence.

Yeah, they're not allowed on highways, so they need to be registered. They have to have pretty much all the working components of a vehicle, but it's a specific. So I'm wondering if they are truly golf carts, electric golf carts like we all know them to be, or they're a low-speed vehicle. Do they have to have license plates? Yeah, they have to be registered.

If they're electric, too, do they have to have license plates?

Yeah. Low-speed vehicle. To be classified as low-speed vehicle, they need to be completely registered through the DMV.

That's interesting.

To be used on public roads. You'll know them by seeing the license plate off. That's correct, yes.

Karen, can I ask you a question? Yeah.

So, I'm not, you were mentioning the kids. So, I don't, I just don't, I'm not familiar enough with what... the range of these vehicles so i i know that people of a certain age are sold uh bikes that are basically power assist you know and you can ride them around a little bit i don't know how fast they go here for example and this is and then i've seen i've seen the look the kids on the ones that almost look like little dirt like scooters

It's fairly standard. I did several New England states, and I always compare us to Westport, Connecticut, and California. So in Rhode Island, there's three classes, which is very typical all across the country. Under 20 miles an hour with a pedal. Then class two is a maximum of 20 without pedaling. Then class three is a maximum of 28 only over 16 can use that but again the helmet is is according to the medical professionals that helmet that they are wearing is not sufficient to prevent a head injury they should be wearing a more a heavier helmet karen do you know is is a moped has to be licensed with a

License plate?

Yeah, kids can't ride mopeds.

But I mean, if you can go 28 and 20 miles an hour, that's a pretty good clip, too.

I know, like, I mean, to Karen's point, Burrillville just banned them for anybody under the age of 16. I couldn't hear that. Burrillville just banned them for anybody under the age of 16.

I think they banned the class three.

It just says, I mean, in their thing, they just are no longer allowed to ride electric bikes in Burrillville following

What's the law on, you know, those lime scooters and those kinds of things? You know, I don't really know.

Unregulated. Unregulated.

And they can go that fast, right? They look like they are.

Now, Barrington, for example, banned them in their shopping centers.

On the inside or in the parking lot?

I assume the parking lot. So like you could ban them in days. You could ban them. I've seen them driving through Swift parking lot. I don't know. how much we want to get into it. But I can tell you out there that parents are really concerned about this. We brought it up a couple of weeks ago. We brought it up because it was all over Facebook. But when I go to knock on somebody's door and they're telling me this is the number one problem, we have a lot of things going on in town. I didn't expect to hear that.

I know, Karen, you had mentioned the concept, and I think it's a great one. Let's have a public informational forum, workshop. It doesn't have to be here before the council, but I can have all the appropriate parties in the room. It can be enforcement. It can be recreation. We can have resources come in with the different types of equipment. Because basically, the helmet issue, and doing some quick research, it's CPSC certified helmets. They said after 1999, that's what they have to be. So I think you know, whether based on those speeds, they don't regulate them by speed, but it's just a CPSC certification. I think most bike helmets are certified so that they're going to be approved for that. I think the key is I'd love to vet more with the general public. Is it scooters? Is it just bikes in general? I mean, going 20 miles an hour on a bike, it's where they ride the bike, right? So if you're biking, you're not supposed to be on a sidewalk, right? Some parents with young kids probably want their children on the sidewalk, but they're not supposed to be on the sidewalk, right? They're biking, whether they're motorized or a pedal, um, There's pedal movement. You need to be in the roadway. You need to adhere to the rules of the road as if you're a vehicle, right? You're stopping at stop signs. You're moving over appropriately. You're taking turns, signals, which most of that, I think, at a young age, you're probably not seeing any of that. Probably riding the wrong way. I know when I come out of a road that I normally take, I'm always looking left. I don't look right because I don't expect the bicycle to be on the same side of the road. It's supposed to be on the other side, but Every once in a while I get caught and I look quickly and there's a bicyclist coming down the same side. So I think it's a little bit of all those things. And I think there is dramatic concern. We've heard it throughout a number of different areas, but we want to make sure it's an illegal concern. It's not just the scooters or, and we've talked about this before, or if there's additional legislation that's probably going to happen either locally or at the state level to help regulate scooters. And then it comes down, as we all know, the challenge is enforcement. So we need on this particular type of issue, we'll need help on enforcement. It can't just be a police matter because the kids are everywhere. They're off road, they're on road, they're on sidewalks, on the street. So we'll need help from the community to work with us. But maybe the good place to start is that forum that you recommended. And I'd be happy to plan that for this fall. with the appropriate resources to be able to get good information out.

I think that is a, I mean, to Karen's point, that is the number, that is something that people are concerned that they're going to hit a child. I mean, these kids are, like, not capable of, you know, using it in good judgment. I mean, I've seen the kids sometimes go in the middle of the road, and that is actually...

you know i mean nobody you're not to your point you're not expecting to see a kid whip out of the corner i mean i came down out of our development and i went east on frenchtown just before bear swamp and hit on i assume it's called a scooter a lower looks like more like a dirt bike right just He was getting chased, so he was just, they were having fun, right? And he just ran right out into my lane, oncoming, almost head-on, and then turned off. And the other kid came out and would have done the same. He just happened to be like 20 feet behind him.

And, you know, people are already distracted driving, you know, so you have two bad situations.

It's creepy seeing a small kid. Yeah. It just feels wrong.

I think you need medical professionals. I mean, I have the person's name who's from Brown. Maybe she would be willing to come. But you also want to make it so you're not preaching to the choir. No, I think you have to sort of get I did talk to Tom about this, and I know he's open to suggestions about having you know, an assembly for the kids worse to be there to listen. Otherwise, you know, they're going to tune you right out. And, and, and I think for the for Tom as well, you need medical professionals there to have to talk to the kids about potential brain damage.

think it's Karen having a workshop like I'd like to hear from the parents whose kids own them yeah on them I'd like to know what they think it's fine no I don't know and maybe they'll tell you that driving a bicycle you can hit 20 miles an hour just as easily and how's that so different you know I don't know but I you know we live kind of out of it so we only had that one incident so I don't know but when I've been downtown I've seen them on the sidewalks with them We'll just have a have a forum and maybe start to gather information.

Yeah, right. Still is early on, you know, in regulating these kind of vehicles. And even the terminology is very confusing. I was talking to Peter Squares a little bit about this and the different classes are hard to discern. And also the scooters that has a footboard that you ride on. Did you see, Peter, that that had an age restriction of 16? If you have like the scooter with a footboard on it, you're standing up and using the... the steering, as opposed to a scooter where you have a seat and you're sitting on it?

Motorized bikes, motorized bikes, e-bikes, then there's the difference of the scooters with the footboards and without the footboards. So scooters have the age, 16-year-old age cap. Bikes... which the difference between an e-bike and other motorized forms of bikes. Help the assist motor as opposed to, you know, you just turn. Those don't have the age restriction. It is confusing.

And the state, I know the state had kind of worked on this last session. There was a pretty comprehensive bill that made it through the house, but it was held for further study in the Senate. So it looks like they're going to be working on things as well, but certainly a workshop is a great start. And I think a definition of terms is really important because the helmets, you know, you're probably not going to see 13 year olds on a pedal assist electric bike wearing a motorcycle helmet. Cause that's not all that different than a bicycle.

There on Karen, maybe before as we do this, I don't know if you want to reach out to Bridget and see where it would sit Senate because I'm a little reluctant on some of the things we see that we think are good ideas. If the Senate, if the, if the state law is about to pass and we pass one locally, that's wildly different, you know, if we're that close, I just don't know.

That's a good point. Well, Justine Caldwell was one of the co-sponsors of the house bill that passed. So I put a call into Justine and our legislators may be interested in coming to our workshop as well to see what's going on in the Hill. Cause I think many communities are concerned about this as well.

Did Bridget take that up in the house? Did you sponsor it?

I didn't see the actual Senate bill. I read the house bill, but I didn't see the Senate bill. Yes. If you have a comment, please come forward. I think you are a motorcycle rider, is that correct?

Yes, I am. So I have a little bit of a helmet certified. Yes, yes, I am. So as I'm walking around, just introduce yourself. Yes, Deepak Vishnu, resident at 2 Sally Ann Drive in East Greenwich. So I just wish to add some comments regarding an important issue that Karen brought up this evening. So in some of my travels as well, I have heard the same. And I was talking to one resident and she gave me a horrific example of something that happened in California, where a 14 year old person was riding an e bike and the person was going 30 miles an hour and they hit an 80 year old man and the 80 year old man unfortunately died. So this kind of brings to light some of the safety issues and dangers associated with unregulated e-bikes. So I agree with Andy when he talked about regulation, right? So for example, if you wanted to get a motorcycle license, even a hundred CC motorbike, you have to do two things. You have to take an online course, 25 hours mandatory. After you complete the online safety course, which is administered by the Safety Association for Motorcycles in the United States, you are then given a certificate for you to take the actual training, which is the hands-on training for two days. That's typically done at CCRI. After two days of hands-on motorcycle training, a person can actually apply for a motorcycle license. The training includes safety, following traffic laws, and ensuring the safety of the rider and the safety of the public. So very similar to that, some regulation, some orientation, some form of an educational training module needs to be presented to the youth that's riding the e-bikes, whether it be a simple module on safety, a simple module on how to prevent accidents, obeying traffic laws, right? These are all the basics that need to happen before somebody can get on an e-bike and ride it at 30 miles an hour with no regulation at all. So that would be my suggestion is to have some form of regulation around this.

I would say, Deepak, I appreciate your comments. Technically, if the bike can go 30 miles an hour, it's then a motorcycle under state regulation. I think 30 miles an hour, Peter, was the cutoff.

Yeah, that's not something that we would be able to do here. That would be a state issue.

Right. So if someone was traveling at 30 miles an hour, that's not really what we're calling an e-bike. But, I mean, you can go 28 miles an hour. I'm sure you can...

Yeah, even 20 miles an hour, the impact on an 80-year-old person can be pretty severe.

I think all that is very important and probably not locally done.

No, I don't believe that is.

something that I think we should engage with our state reps and then try to, if they're, if they already got out of the house and it went to the Senate, like it, usually those laws kind of take a couple of times. Right. So, you know, we can, Karen, maybe we could engage with them and update us and then we can decide whether, you know, they can come and tell us, right. If Justine put it in, maybe she can tell us what it's about. And if she asked for our support, we can consider that.

Definitely.

Thank you for looking into that. The second is the lithium ion batteries which are in these e-bikes. So lithium ion batteries could be a source of fire. So we need some type of study done on the safety of the lithium ion batteries which are housed within these units. and need to make sure that these are not a secondary source of fire or a primary source of fire in the person's home.

If you go online, there's legislation about that too.

I would assume that they come with all the same warnings that every other device with a lithium ion battery has. But if there is ever such a program, I'm sure they'll, hopefully they'll include that. Very good. Thank you. Thank you for your time.

Thanks, D-Beck. Just a quick Google search here on the Senate bill that was introduced. It was Dawn Oyer in the Senate introduced that bill. And the discussion really centered around further tweak definitions, retail compliance, and age limits with local cycling advocates like Bank Newport weighing in on specific classifications and age provisions. So it was active, held for further discussion, and I'm sure that Senator Oyer will probably pursue this next year as well. Other, we're finished with the e-bikes. Other council comments?

I just wanted to say once again, thank you to the police department. The amount of DUIs that they are pulling over at night is nothing short of amazing, especially when we're talking about this issue. There are a lot of DUIs. I would love to hear more about the program that the Police department is doing, particularly the two or three officers at nighttime who are pulling over, mostly people who are our age, which is a little scary. And also, I think you had mentioned as well, people have been talking about speeding. It's a big issue right now, especially now that school is in session. And I have a neighbor who has a little kid, and I saw a car literally almost hit the bus this morning. So anyways, so if we could have maybe a discussion about that, I would appreciate it.

Or the only other thing I want to say is that, having been at the polls for the primary i'd really like to thank our staff everybody who did all you know the board of cameras or is a lane and Lee and all the volunteers. You know, because it's all fine until it gets nutty and it did. And so, you know, and then, and everybody feels pretty passionately about whatever the issues are. And there's very little, the public doesn't take the training that the board of campuses do and the staff do. So everybody thinks they have a constitutional right to do whatever, and they don't. And it's regulated. And when you, it's hard to talk to somebody who's charged up if they think that, right? Because you understand why. and they feel like they have autonomy around all of this. And I thought our staff did a wonderful job interacting, deescalating and making things go smoothly across the board. So I'd like to thank them for that. Lee, thank you. Thank you.

I'll second that sentiment.

Yeah, I was there all day. They worked hard that day.

Not I wasn't there. I did leave for lunch. That's odd because I didn't see you from 7 to 8.

Oh, yeah, that's funny. I did have to go home eventually.

Other council announcements? If not, we do have an executive session scheduled for this evening, and I'll ask our town clerk to read us into executive session.

Thank you. It's a motion to convene into executive session for Rhode Island General Law 42465A. two and five for the approval of executive session minutes from June 17 and June 22. And for the purpose of discussing the lease with happy hearts learning center located at 2608 South county trail, as well as for sessions pertaining to potential litigation specifically Rhode island energy streetlight transfer.

I look for a motion to go into executive session.

Second.

Second. All those in favor? Aye. Motion carries four to zero. We'll reconvene across the hall. And once we finish executive session, we'll come back to town hall to report out our results. Okay, the council is now back in open session. We finished the executive session and I'll report out the results. Items 11A and 11B were approval of the executive session minutes from prior meetings. Those both passed 4-0. Items 11C and 11D, no action was taken. I'll ask for a motion to seal the minutes of the executive session.

So moved.

Motion to second. All those in favor? Aye. Motion carries 4-0. Motion to adjourn.

So moved.

All those in favor? Aye. Motion carries four to zero. Thank you for your attention tonight.