Town Council - Regular Meeting

All right. No Smith. No Smith failed town council meeting July 20th, 2026. Madam Clerk, can you start us with the prayer and pledge please?

Thank you for bringing us together today in a spirit of generosity. May we honor one another by keeping an open mind. May we voice our truth and listen with an open heart. May we discern your will to unite in a fruitful outcome. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Roll call, please.

Mr. Berrigan? He's absent. Mr. Cristoforo? She'll be coming in after executive session. Right. Mrs. O'Hara? Present. Mr. Punchak? Here. Ms. House?

Here. Open forum pursuant to 42-46-6D, maximum three minutes per person. Thank you. Would anyone like to sign up for open forum?

What's that? Yes, it's on the agenda.

Yeah, to this one or the one at the end? Okay, yeah, that one we don't sign up for. Anyone else like to sign up for open forum? All right, Paul, you signed up.

I did, but I would prefer to speak to the full council. and I'm disappointed that John and Rebecca are not here to hear what I have to say. I think I'll wait for the next one.

Okay. Sandy, did you want to speak now? You're going to wait also?

Okay. So ask one more time, because I think he's going to want to speak.

Did anyone want to sign up for open forum?

Oh, yeah.

Okay. Can I just have you sign this, please?

and then just your address, okay?

Thank you.

You can go right up.

Good evening, I've never done this, I don't know the proper way to do this.

So you're just going to state your name and your address and then you're going to tell us what you want to speak about. Okay. You have three minutes.

My name's Joel Rashaun, I'm at 24 Green Street. I just wanted to bring up an issue that's kind of been happening since I've been there with semi trucks coming up School Street. And I feel like it's a GPS issue, but they all turn into the church parking lot to then take a left on Green Street to just go down Main Street. And they do that and they get on the sidewalk, they hit the stop sign, they've taken my mailbox out a couple times. So I don't know if there's a way we could put a sign up there. Because they come up school street, they could just keep going straight, rather than coming into the parking lot. They do it the opposite way too sometimes, which is odd. I don't know why it does that, but it seems to always be like big semi trucks. Okay.

So, that was it. Is there something we can look into on that?

Okay. Okay.

Yeah, there's been numerous times where they go up on the sidewalk, they take it really wide, they get stuck. So it seems like an issue that's known, but I feel like if a sign could go up or something just saying no trucking or something like that would kind of take care of that.

The administration will look into that. Perfect. Thank you so much. That was it, thank you. Thank you. so one more time is that it for open forum anyone else want to sign up all right we have a presentation of a citation to Eagle Scout I'll just put it read it out loud Riley Mullen

Yeah, I'll just, if you don't mind, I'll just say something about him. I'm Ann Walbillick. Good evening, everyone. I'm the assistant scoutmaster for Troop 1139 Slatersville. And Riley here has been with scouts in North Smithfield since he was a little tiny guy. And now he's made Eagle. His Eagle project was painting some of the fire hydrants in the town, particularly ones that were sorely in need of some fresh red paint. So we did, I think he did 52? 55. 55 of our fire hydrants out of I don't know how many. So this is Riley Mullin.

All right, Riley, I just want to read the citation we're going to present you to tonight. It's from the town of Nussmafield. Be it known to all, on behalf of the people of Nussmafield, the town council, and the town administrator, sincerely congratulate you on earning the rank of Eagle Scout of Troop 1139 Slatersville. This distinguished achievement, the highest rank of Eagle Scout, leading planning and organizing a town-wide fire hydrant painting and restoration. The entire community extends its very best wishes on this momentous occasion and expresses the hope for continued success. Bill, did you want to say something?

Good evening, members of the Council. Bill Decoto, 143 Black Plain Road, Superintendent of Water and Sewer. Yeah, I just really want to speak about how impressed I was with this job. I mean, he organized, he got the troops together, he trained them, fundraising, supply, right through the whole process. This is my first encounter with this kind of process, and I mean, I was completely impressed. He did a fantastic job. And then even when he was out in the field, when you have a bunch of people converging on a project like that, I mean, I was a little bit nervous, I would say, in the beginning, but while he held all the troops together, he kept everybody running smooth, did a fantastic job. I'm really, really impressed and really want to thank you. I mean, we have a small staff, so a project like this is very helpful to the town. And the public safety aspect of being able to see the hydrants really brought him out. He just did a very good job, and I really just want to thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Good job.

Riley, what made you decide to do that for your project? If you want to go to the podium.

I was going around driving through the town, and I saw that there were a lot of fire hydrants that really looked like they needed new paint. So I thought that that would be a good project to work on for Eagle and one that would definitely help out the community.

How long did it take you to get the whole thing going, all the planning?

Planning took... around, I think, six months to do, and we got it all done over the course of one work day.

Did you do fundraising for it, or how did you get the supplies?

We did a fundraiser outside of Brigido's where we held a bake sale for a few hours, and that raised all the funds needed for supplies and paint.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Executive session, closed session, discussion by council vote.

What? What?

I only have one. Were we doing another one? Okay. That's okay. Discussion by council vote, other action pursuant to Rhode Island general law is 42-46-582, sessions pertaining to collective bargaining or litigation or work sessions pertaining to collective bargaining or litigation. One discussion by council vote, other action to approve a memorandum of understanding and settlement agreement that relates to and resolves the litigation captioned Pound Hill Realty LLC versus Town of Nell Smithfield case number PC-1999-1811. which litigation relates to and was the subject of mediation together with the issues raised in the petition slash application for amendment to the zoning ordinance filed by Poundhill Realty, LLC, 618 Greenville Road, North Smithfield, Rhode Island, 02896, owner of certain real property located off Old Oxford Road, Poundhill Road, and Pine Hill Road, more particularly identified as town of North Smithfield, tax assessor's plot 7, lot 38, consisting of approximately 89.44 acres.

Motion to enter executive session.

We have some motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Mrs. O'Hara? Yes. Mr. Punchak? Yes. Ms. House? Yes.

All set? Tammy, all set?

I would like to make a motion to exit executive session, re-enter open session, indicate that no votes were taken, and request that the minutes are sealed.

That's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Any further discussion? Roll call.

Mrs. O'Hara?

Yes.

Mr. Punchak? Yes.

Ms. Alts? Yes.

Two, acceptance of withdrawal of petition slash application. Discussion by council vote or other action to accept the withdrawal of the petition slash application for amendment to the zoning ordinance filed by Pound Hill Realty, LLC, 618 Greenville Road, North Smithfield, Rhode Island, 02896. Owner of certain real property located off Oxford Road, Pound Hill Road, and Pine Hill Road, more particularly identified as Town of North Smithfield Tax Assessor's Platz 7, Lot 38, consisting of approximately 89.44 acres. The applicant having agreed that the withdrawal is not without prejudice to the provisions of 340-5.27.

I would like to make a motion to accept the withdrawal of the petition slash application subject to Town of North Smithfield zoning ordinance section 340-5.27 with the understanding that This same specific amendment for the same property may not be considered by the town council until 12 months have elapsed from the date of withdrawal except A, we are ordered to do so by a court of competent. B, where the application is accompanied by an affidavit setting forth facts showing a substantial change of circumstances justifying a rehearing to the satisfaction of the town council.

That's a motion. That's a motion. That's a motion. Is there a second? Second. Any further discussion? Rocco? Mrs. O'Hara? Yes. Mr. Punchak?

Yes. Ms. Alves?

Yes. Three, approval of Memorandum of Understanding and Settlement Agreement. Discussion by council vote or other action to approve and to authorize execution of the Memorandum of Understanding and Settlement Agreement resolving the litigation captioned Pound Hill Realty, LLC versus Town of North Smithfield, case number PC-1999-1811. which litigation was the subject of mediation together with the issues raised in the above reference petition slash application. Comments were made to be considered and we are going to continue this item to the next meeting.

Which is August 3rd.

And that's a motion.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call.

Mrs. O'Hara? Yes. Mr. Punchak?

Yes.

Ms. Alves? Yes. Rebecca, you want to come back? All right, discussion by council vote or other action on consent agenda. All items listed in this section are considered in one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless the council requests in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda. A, town council minutes of June 8th, June 15th. June 15th, June 22nd, June 23rd, and June 25th of 2026. Communications from the Animal Control, Nussbaumfield Fire and Rescue, Nussbaumfield Municipal Court, and Nussbaumfield Police Department monthly report of June 2026. Would anyone like to remove anything?

Minutes from June 8th and both June 15th minutes, please.

Anything else? Anyone else?

Okay, so June 8th minutes in open session item one after, actually the first paragraph, talks about the chair. So Kim wasn't here, Rebecca wasn't here, and nowhere prior to that does it indicate that someone was nominated or identified as a chair. So I think that that just needs to be clarified. ONE OTHER THING, AND THIS MIGHT BE KIND OF A GENERAL COMMENT, IT WOULD BE GOOD IF, AND I DON'T KNOW HOW DIFFICULT THIS WOULD BE, BUT IF THE ITEM NUMBERS ALIGNED WITH THE AGENDA, AND WHEN I WAS READING THROUGH THIS, THERE WAS TALK ABOUT, I DIDN'T HIGHLIGHT IT. All right there. Would not be present because she was required to recuse herself from items three, four, and item five. So it would be nice to have had some sort of reference of what items three, four, and five were, as opposed to having to go back to the agenda. Maybe, you know. some sort of coordination between the two would be good. That was it for the 8th, the 15th. Again, I highlighted Mr. Punchak moved to enter executive session for items 3A and 3B. There should be something that says what those items were. Just take it off of the agenda for that meeting so that when someone's reviewing it, they know what they're talking about. Okay, the second one, June 15th, 7.30 PM. The Farmhouse and Wellness Center indicates Mr. Puncak explained that the application options did not clearly account for equine boarding. I don't think I explained that. I think I questioned that. It was, I don't know if it. So I think that should just be clarified old business North Smithfield police station renovations update He stated that the remaining balance currently do a sixty six thousand plus payable to park operation I Don't think par is involved in that project in any manner. So I think that should be checked. It's probably parasault I'm not a hundred percent. Sure and Again, Councilor DeCristofaro moved to approve payment to PAR Corporation. Unless it was two things, two items got mixed up, I don't remember. But we shouldn't be talking about PAR in regards to the police station or public safety complex, aka. I'll check into that, thank you. I also had in the same minutes. Oh, that one doesn't apply anymore. And the town board commission appointment for planning board, I think his name was Gasparro, not Gasparro. That's all I got. That's it.

Anyone like to make a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended?

So moved.

Is there a second? Second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Mr. Cristofaro? Yes. Mrs. O'Hara? Yes. Mr. Punchak? Yes. Ms. Alves?

Yes. Discussion by council about other action on payment of bills. Anyone have any questions for the payment of bills?

Tony, my only question on payment of bills, if the prison street lights, it's still $3,400 a month. Yeah, that hasn't changed, yeah. So it's not yours. Right, but based on the budget, I thought that that amount, the contractual amount changed. So is that not going to be reflected in the monthly payment?

The contractual amount for the upcoming budget? We haven't set a new contract with them.

But I think the budget was reduced for that line item by like $120,000.

So how does that- Because we were channeling a lot of the other requests that we have for them through a committed account. It's like reserves. Okay. And then we're also doing some of the Rhode Island Energy Marie's been doing a lot of work regarding that as well, so that counts towards why.

Okay, so it will continue to be the $3,400. Correct. Okay.

Until we get a contract set with them and get things figured out, correct?

Okay.

And if we could have two separate motions on these, the prior fiscal year and the current fiscal year, please.

Anyone have any other questions? Anyone like to make a motion?

I will make a motion to approve payment of bills for July 20th, 2026, specifically for the 2025-2026 payment of bills in the amount of $663,439.52. That's a motion. Is there a second?

Second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Mr. Cristofaro? Yes. Mrs. O'Hara? Yes. Mr. Punchak? Yes. Ms. Alves?

Yes. I will make a motion to approve payment of bills for July 20th, 2026 for payment of bills specifically for 2026, 2027 in the amount of $3,262,768.51. Second. Do we have a motion and a second? Any further discussion? Roll call, please. Mr. Cristofaro? Yes. Mrs. O'Hara? Yes. Mr. Punchak?

Yes. Ms. Alves?

Yes. Old business discussion by council vote of other action. The ballot questions to be included for the 2026 election regarding amendments to the NOSPA field home rule charter. One discussion by council vote of other action. A, reconsideration of proposed ballot question three, Department of Facilities and Capital Assets, article 15, subsection 12, discussion vote or other action on a proposed amendment to establish a Department of Facilities and Capital Assets. headed by Director of Facilities and to renumber existing Section 12 as Section 13, Council O'Hara?

Yes. I'm sorry. Could you repeat that, please?

Did you put something on the agenda you wanted to talk about?

Oh yes, I'm sorry. Can I speak from here instead of over there?

Yeah, no, it's on the agenda. Wait a minute.

This is an open forum. This is your agenda item.

Based on correspondence with Jeff Porter, you had agreed to put this item back on the agenda for reconsideration. This is specific to the ballot question for the facilities manager. The last meeting, we discussed the ballot questions. question for the ballot was not approved to move forward. So I believe you spoke with Jeff and you wanted to reconsider this.

I feel that it's necessary. I said I feel that it's necessary. I think today we have to be on top of our nickels, dimes, quarters, whatever we can do and make the most of it. You know, I don't know if things are going to change. but our needs will not change. So I think we should have, as he wrote to me and as he spoke in front of us, a committee that would closely follow the financial spending and needs of this town. The days of extra money are not there. And if we don't encourage businesses to come in and maybe give them a break, it'll bring more money in. We have expenses that have to be met. Our police, our fire, our road maintenance. And those are pure necessity. To me, it scares me. when we have to live with cones for almost two years because we can't afford to cut down trees. And it's dangerous. And who mandated these because of our sidewalks where I live is our insurance people. And then people look and say, why? Who did it? It wasn't me. It was our insurance people. And I think you can agree with me. Mandate certain things. and we have no choice. And if you think you can beat them, I've got a park near the Blackstone River that I'll give you real cheap. We're gonna have problems if we're gonna support this town and we have to set up committees that will closely follow our funds and i'm sorry i'm like this but it's been a long day i need knee and hip surgery and unless she dental fell through a sinkhole in my yard we don't know how it got there and i lived there for 50 years no one did it

Yeah, from the council.

Just that that should constitute a motion and we need to be seconded.

So I think I just want some clarification because I just want to level set here since as the town council liaison with the charter review committee, I'd like to just ensure that we have an understanding of what this was. We, the Charter Review Committee, completed an assessment of the charter. We presented our proposed ballot questions. This question specifically was for the Department of Facilities and Capital Assets. It was determined that the dissenting vote won and the town council, obviously majority didn't feel as though we at this time needed this department of facilities or really just at least one person within this department to manage our assets. Now with that being said, And David Punchak, you made this comment when we spoke about this. I personally feel like we should leave this up to the residents, the constituents to vote on. Regardless of how we personally feel, I think that the residents should be able to vote on this. So it's my understanding that that's why, based on conversations with Jeff Porter, I know that he also spoke with John Beauregard, that this was up for reconsideration.

My opinion hasn't changed.

Mine hasn't either. So do we know how, so Ms. O'Hara, do you know how you voted that night? She had the dissenting vote.

Yes.

Okay.

On the record, I checked with the clerk, under Rule 10, this could only be put on the council agenda again at the very next meeting with somebody who voted in the majority. It failed, so it has to be somebody who voted against it. So the clerk indicated to me that this was put on by Council O'Hara. It can get on the agenda that way, but now somebody needs to make a motion that voted against it. to approve it and needs to be seconded, then anybody can vote any way they want. So it's on the agenda properly. Councilman O'Hara had every right to put it on the agenda again under Rule 10.

But someone has to make a motion.

Claire would have to make the motion, right? Or somebody who had the dissenting vote.

Right. It's me.

It's you, Claire.

Or Kim. I mean-

claire if you want to make the motion see no no i'll tell you right now with the pain i'm in if you could do it i i appreciate it i don't want to yeah you don't want him so claire the motion would have to be that you would approve the

No, it's a motion to reconsider. You have to reconsider it. That has to pass.

Okay.

And then there would have to be a motion to approve. It's on the agenda as a item for reconsideration.

So it's as simple as a motion to reconsider proposed ballot question three. But I don't think you and I can do this. No, no, no, no. Okay.

You could make it. Thank you very much.

I voted for.

So it would have to be- It's got a camera right there. Okay.

So, yeah, I don't want to remake that motion. So if Claire wants to make it, she put it on the agenda.

So it would be a motion for reconsideration.

So I would suggest that just for clarity of the record, you make the motion for reconsideration, see if it is seconded, and then a vote on whether it's going to be reconsidered or not will be taken. You just need to say I move to reconsider.

So that's all you have to say is I move to reconsider?

I move to reconsider.

Second.

So now it's a non debatable motion.

We have a second, so any further discussion?

Just so I'm clear. Yeah, so what are we voting on? To reconsider, so if we reconsider.

It's up again. Technically speaking, Councilman, a motion to reconsider, we had a lot of discussion here, is non-debatable. You're not supposed to be talking about it. Somebody makes a motion to reconsider, it gets seconded. It's not another opportunity to have a debate.

I just want to know, how am I voting? If I'm in favor of it being on the ballot, then you vote yes. It's out there again.

Yes, the question is represented to us. Okay. whether or not we want to vote in favor of the Department of Facilities and Capital Assets. Okay. So given that we've just made a motion, well we have to actually do a roll call now.

Mr. Cristofaro? Yes. Mrs. O'Hara? Yes. Mr. Punchak? Yes. Ms. House?

No. Okay, I am going to make a motion to approve the proposed ballot question three, Department of Facilities and Capital Assets, Article 15, Section 12, and to renumber existing Section 12 as Section 13. Second.

Second.

So we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call.

Mr. Cristofaro? Yes. Mrs. O'Hara? Yes. Mr. Ponchak? Yes. Ms. Alice? No.

Thank you, Claire. So discussion by council vote on other action on status slash progress report items and also the field police station renovations update in the next.

Hi everyone, good evening. So today I'm just here to do a quick update on the progress of the police station and the construction. Not a lot of slides, it's really quick, I just have two. Really? So phase one, we started construction on phase one. It's mostly right now abatement and demolition. And also moving the operating police department from their permanent spaces into their temporary spaces within the police department so it can remain functional. So that is something that we've been working on so far. So this is a phased project, so that kind of movement will happen through the project, and this was our first movement. In terms of budget, the GMP, we are working on completing the buyout. For those who don't know, buyout is the construction manager at risk buys out trades, sub-trades for the sub-contractors, like mechanical, electrical, and all the other divisions within the construction needs. We are about 50 to 60% complete. All the main trades are bought out. There are still some remaining. And so far the project is within the GMP, so the estimated values that were presented at the GMP are remaining within those line items. We're actually a little bit under at the moment. And also, we do have to comply with state regulations for MBE and WBE, so that's women owned businesses and minority owned businesses. The state law requires us to meet 7.5% for each. We are on target right now to meet those goals, that's just an update. Also, we did have a groundbreaking event, just some pictures from that. That was a really good morning and some good speeches and pictures were taken. Also, if you scan the QR code or follow the link, there is a project website where we will post updates about any pending work, also construction updates and post progress pictures. I don't know if anyone else has questions. I do plan to be here with a monthly update on the project progress, first meeting of the month. However, we will be back on a bi-weekly basis, probably will be here soon enough on almost every meeting if we need new contract approvals or any change order reviews presented to the council.

Can you just give a little more information on what phase one entailed and some of the dates associated with phase one?

I don't have the dates in my head. I apologize.

From what I recall, phase one was set to be complete by the end of this week. And that entailed having the operations moved to- Yes. And as of today, they were about 80% moved.

Yes, they are fully moved. They moved today. So the abatement is complete on phase one, and they are working on phase one, and they're now also doing some things on phase two, but I don't have the dates. I will have more dates with me next time.

So what I'm getting at is, can we put a sign out front from RIDOT that says on time, on schedule?

Yes, on time and on schedule. At the moment, we're still tracking. We didn't have our first monthly schedule update from the construction manager yet, so they will give us a new one in the coming weeks. But I do know that we are tracking to be completed for the next summer.

This might be more of a question for the administration, but on our town's website, do we reflect the police station project? And now that the website has gone live, will we provide residents access to this website through ours?

We will be including that URL link in this week's newsletter, and it will be accessible from the town's website as well.

Okay, do we currently have a landing page on the town's website for this project?

It will be. We're using the website that they've developed specifically on this project. And we also have under town projects, we have all pertinent other data and reports that have been prepared for this project. Those are also on our website under town projects.

Okay, thank you. Does anyone have any other questions for Inga?

Do you want me to stay while you're doing the financial? Sure. Okay, just in case.

I just want to build on what Inga has presented. In your package is a memorandum that I prepared along with some financial information. Long and short of it is, it gives you the original budget. There have been no change orders. However, we do have pending requisitions right now. Right now, we have a pending requisition from our in the amount of $248,111.52. And we also have soft cost outstanding for this, and those are also part of the total budget presented that council approved. totaling $48,750. So there are $296,861.52 that are being presented for authorization for payment. And after we get that, I'll also give you an update on our capital raising.

Can I request one change to this document? So in the project construction requisitions, when I looked at this first, I was under the impression we weren't holding retainage because payment due is equal to payment made. Well, there should be 5% retainage, so the payments should be less.

No, these requisitions are the net of the retainage.

So can you just change the headings maybe to be reflective of that?

Sure. But in the end, it's still the same that you have to authorize payment. But what we're being invoiced for is actually there's a higher number than they take retainage out of it than they give us the balance that we have to pay at this time. We have to pay back retainage at a certain point in the project future. But we can make that adjustment.

Okay, appreciate it.

Yes, the retainage is held. So what you see is due is already accounting for the retainage.

So just to confirm, we are on track right now?

Yep.

On track. Inga, do you anticipate any change order requests?

Yes. Okay. As a natural process, there will be change order requests. We actually have one that will be pending that's a small credit. So there will be items that will come. as an addition possibly to the GMP. But at the moment, we are looking into applying all of the savings within each line item in the GMP from the buyout. And also contingencies. So whether I come in in two weeks with those, I don't think so. But at some point we may be coming in with change order requests. I just don't know exactly when and what there will be for because at the moment I don't have any that's pending that I'm preparing a package for you. Except for the small deduct that was something for permit fee.

Okay, is it safe to assume then with every change order request there will be an increase to the GMP?

No. Okay. Some items that we'll bring in, because we do want to be transparent, will be more of movements, like if we have savings somewhere and we have a change, we will just say, okay, this is, we call it like a zero value transfer, meaning the bottom line stays, but then the monies are moving, right? So because we're tracking that, and that is why we went with the CM at risk approach. There is also a possibility with the increase to GMP, but again, like I said, I don't know if and when that is coming. That's not something that I am tracking to be on the horizon at the moment.

No, I just appreciate the clarification, because when I hear change order, I always just assume there's going to be an increase. So I appreciate that not every change order will require an increase.

I think we might call them, sometimes we call them budget transfers. Okay. So maybe we'll have a differentiation where change order is really a change to the GMP. Because at some point, whatever happens to the contract between the CM and the subcontractors, that's not something that we care here. We just care about the monies and how it goes up and down. Something we will be coming in with is furniture contract awards, so the FFNE, furniture fixtures and equipment at some point. We have a line item allocation that has been set in the budget, so we're tracking to be way under that. So that is not a change order to the construction manager. It's a separate contract. We're in process of procurement for that. So that is also coming.

Okay, thank you, Ingo. All right, thank you. And then just one clarifying point, and this is more so for the administration, but I did just in real time look at town projects on the website. And I selected town projects, but actually the landing page is a town administrator landing page. So I think maybe we can look into ensuring that that's just ease of effort for those going on the website. So it should probably drop you right into town projects and not to the town administrator page.

If you go to the town administrator page, are you to look at the one on the left side that says projects?

There's town projects as a button on the main page. When I open that, it brings you to town administrator. The town project is on the left hand side as a link, but it should be the landing page.

Landing page of what?

Are you talking about the new- You should see it right here when you open up town projects.

I said we just got the website for the project, we'll take a look at that. What I wanted to point out is that we've been collecting reports and data on this project. If you select town project and you see the two projects we're tracking right now, the one on the public safety project, reports we have down on that project right now. So if you click on those links, you get those reports back. The URL for the new website we just got, so we're working that out.

Yeah, it looks like there is a lot of information for the town projects, but it just doesn't bring you to that page.

You're just trying to cut one step. She's just trying to cut one step back. It's easy.

We need to make this website as simple as possible. So it should drop us right into town projects when we select town projects.

We'll take a look at it, Councilwoman. Okay, thank you.

Do we need to do anything with this requisition?

Yes, we do. I need a vote from the council to authorize the payment of $296,861.52, which includes $48,750 of AE, OPM, and miscellaneous charges. Those are soft costs. And $248,111.52 for construction. That's parasol invoice.

I will make a motion to approve the payment of $296,861.52, 48,000. Where are you looking? Right here. North Smith, this. What am I looking at then? This memorandum, I have 287,761. That is. I have the digital packet.

Is it? No. I have memorandum, North Smithfield Public Safety Complex, Scott, Framinga, July 10th, summary invoice package. So I don't think that I.

July 10th.

Okay. But that's not the memorandum. This is a new memorandum.

Should be dated July 20th.

I think because you're further down in it.

Okay. Okay, did we finish the motion?

But that number's not on an actual memorandum. So we're going to approve the memorandum, but it doesn't reflect that number.

No, the memorandum does reflect that number.

Yeah, it does. It's 19,350 for the architect, 17,300 for OPM, 4440 for data and phone relocate, 4480. Move Jim, three grand, Apex.

This just says financial report, so this is not the memorandum. Yeah, I get that, but it's not the memorandum.

How is it not?

Because that's just the financial report. The memorandum below, if we're approving the memorandum, it specifically has four line items and the package total is 287,76152.

Okay, then I'll approve the financial report.

He said that we're approving the memorandum.

Whatever. It's the memo that I presented, and it has all the documentation.

It just doesn't say memo. It says financial report. Can you repeat that?

I'll read all the items, yes. Okay, so the $296,861.52 consists of $248,111.52 for Parasalt, $19,350 for Signal Works, $17,300 for ECC, $4,440 for NSFAS slash data and phone relocate, $4,480 for J&S move gym equipment, and $3,000 for Apex computer moves. That's my motion. Is there a second?

I'll second. Any further discussion?

Roll call. Mr. Cristofaro? Yes. Mrs. O'Hara? Yes. Mr. Punchak? Yes. Ms. Alice? Yes.

Discussion by council, vote of other action. Sorry.

If I could just finish on this memo. We, the dispatch grant, 500 was confirmed, but we are still doing the final documentation through the Department of Justice on that. We should be pushing the send button on that tomorrow. There's a timing issue on this, and we want to make sure this is a critical path issue in the project, so we have to be sure how long it's going to take for the DOJ to give us Because until we have the green light, we can't sign the contract for the dispatch console. We signed it before we get the green light, then we're going to lose the grant. So we're still working on that. We also have an additional $500,000 outstanding that we have been approved by the Joint House and Senate Appropriations Committee. We're hoping to get the final green light on that. And we're going to be submitting sometime between now and the end of next week a request to REMA for $125,000 relating to the backup power generator. I don't expect us to get that, but we may get like $25,000 of it. So we still are trying to raise money. And if we were able to, notwithstanding the EMA, because we didn't include the generator as part of the original budget, we would be down to about 9,162,000 on the project. So we're very close to what we originally said. That's all I have on that.

Okay, thank you. Discussion by council about other action on communications from town administrator, update on grants.

Yeah, I'm going to defer to Lisa and Doja to make a presentation to you. There was a document handed out to everybody. I hope you have it.

Good evening, and thank you so much for the invitation to join you this evening. I want to commend Town Administrator Gibbs, President Alves, Vice President DeChristoforo, and well respected members of the Town Council for your investment and decision to hire and retain a grant writer. It was a strategic commitment to generate new revenue to reduce the burden to the taxpayers. It has been my honor and my pleasure to represent my hometown, and let me just share with you some of our successes in 11 months. Secured to date has been $1,072,000. We do have currently in appropriations that has advanced $4,903,000. It's noted in the grant secured. One appropriation is one jointly with the City of One Socket. It's for the new school. It's for public safety infrastructure improvements and water infrastructure for $3 million. Additionally, submitted waiting for notification from the funding sources has been a Safe Streets Grant, Rhode Island Commerce for Main Street improvements. And a climate resiliency one. Additional priorities that have been established by the town administrator to seek grant funding. The police station renovations and equipment, Pacheco Park, Scouters Hall, Main Street enhancements, and Hollowell for passive recreation.

I'd also like to clarify on what Lisa said. The $3 million that's shown on that breakout, that wasn't applied for by the town. That was applied for by the city of Woonsocket. We met with the city of Woonsocket and encouraged them to apply for an appropriation to deal with the infrastructure on Smithfield Street. And they, in fact, did that. It's been advanced to Washington. We did write a letter of support to their appropriation request, but that's not our request.

But Mr. Gibbs said they think it was extremely important in terms of public safety because of the joint municipal boundary of the new school. Any questions?

So amount So we have 2.975 million. That's what I'm seeing that we have secured, and I assume, does advanced appropriations means that that money has been secured as well, or are those pending?

It will be secured once the President of the United States signs it in a final bill, which will probably be in November.

Okay, so then we can't make the assumption then that we actually have the money where it says advanced appropriations. I mean, hopefully we do. So right now, the one that I'm seeing that has been definitively secured is the police communication system in the amount of $500,000.

Along with Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank, 50,000, the 250th, 5,000, Rhode Island Health and Education Building Corporation, the ventilation and fire suppression system for the senior center, which is 17,000, and Rhode Island DEM for Pacheco Park, a half a million dollars, which comes out to 1,072,000.

So it's not 2.9, it's 1 million.

Correct, it's saying advanced appropriations.

Okay. The Pacheco, the commercial ventilation hood for the Ryback?

Yes.

Grant? What is informed that that is what it's going to be used for?

For the ventilation hood for the kitchen for the senior center.

Is that once the renovations have been completed or is that pre-renovation?

That's part of the renovations.

Okay, so that's part of the renovations.

That money's in the bank. We've already been given the cash for that.

Okay. Are there any, and I don't see it listed here, but are there any that were applied for that we did not receive?

We've not been rejected for anything yet.

We haven't been rejected for anything yet. Nope.

And people have to understand that the, for lack of a better term, the gestation period. on these grants is relatively long, and there's a lot of work that has to go in keeping them active. But we do expect to hear fairly soon from Rhode Island Commerce on the main streetscape program and the DEM climate resilience program. The state's process is a little quicker than Fed's.

So those would be considered then advanced appropriations or?

Well, no, there are actual grants that we've applied for and they're being under consideration. When you talk about advanced appropriations, what it says is that they have been approved by the Senate and House Joint Appropriations Committee. They are just waiting for presidential signature.

Okay. All right, so that was going to be my question. What's the difference between advanced appropriations and the ones we're waiting for notifications on?

Very thoughtful question. So appropriations is congressional. The ones below, DEM, Rhode Island Commerce, state agencies, as well as DOT. So that's all on the state level. So they're state funding agencies, so they're state agencies. And under Ryback for the ventilation hood, that is Rhode Island Health and Education Building Corporation. They do bonding for schools and for healthcare. And I do expect another round in late fall. Okay.

The only other grant that we are keeping a very close eye on is the CDBG funding round. And we are planning to submit for that for the senior project.

And then Lisa, what informs the grants that we pursue? Do you just have a knowledge of which grants are in the pipeline that may be applicable for our town? Or is our administration reaching out to you with an understanding of the grants that are most appropriate for our town that we would like you to shepherd?

It's a partnership. Sometimes the municipality, it might be the planning department, it might be the town administrator will get the grant notice before I do. Sometimes I get it from the state agency, quasi public, could be a private foundation or a federal grant. So I share it with the town administrator and I ask what is the priority.

Now do you get notifications for All grants at the congressional or state level? Absolutely, and all my congressional appropriations have been funded.

Okay. Not one has been denied.

So I guess my question is then, are we potentially missing any opportunity for grants because we don't necessarily have a long term plan or an understanding of the grants that we may need?

No, there's not any grants that I'm aware of that we've taken a pass, and I think all the grants that we've applied for have all demonstrated they were shovel-ready projects, right, where we build confidence. What I will do is, so for the congressional appropriations, it always comes out in early spring. But the dates go anywhere from February to March. With the state agencies, I'll keep in contact with them and ask them, for example, DEM, I know there's going to be recreation grants. What is their schedule? What is their timeline to release it so I can actually notify? Mr. Gibbs on the time, he'll inquire to me like with CDBG. We know that that's going to be released late August, early September. So it's just continuing to have relationships with the state agencies, the quasi public like Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank on the next grant round and what it might be for. And what it does, it allows us to step back and say, okay, what's the priorities we can prepare for the submission?

Okay, I guess I'm just wondering if we potentially don't take the opportunity to pursue grants because we don't necessarily see the need at this time. But if we had more of a plan or an understanding long term of some of the things that we would like to get done in the town, could we be pursuing those grants because we had a better understanding of-

Absolutely not, absolutely not. We go after anything and everything. It could be a small grant for $5,000, it could be one for half a million dollars. In fact, I think it was wonderful at the groundbreaking ceremony for the police station. Congressman Amo was here, and he was so proud to be able to have delivered a half a million dollars in communication equipment. And he was even prouder that he's got a second round of a half a million dollars. That's a million dollars in police equipment. That reduces the tax burden for the residents and the businesses that are here. So we go after everything very tenaciously. Okay. There's nothing we've taken a pass on.

In all due fairness to, we do have a plan. We have some very clear long term projects this town's been working on for a very long time. Those projects are priorities right now. We need to bring those projects to fruition. That pipeline of grants is huge. The amount of work the administration and Lisa put in to have and tee up all of these grants. I can tell you right now, this town has never had that pipeline. Are they in the bank yet? No, that's just the nature of the grant writing. But that is an impressive list and it's all consistent with the projects that the town has always said were priorities. We need to make sure that those projects happen. We very seldom turn away from a grant opportunity unless there is a fundamental disconnect between that grant opportunity and what we're trying to achieve. But I can say we have not yet turned away from any grant opportunity. The only thing that we haven't really chased at this point We really haven't chased private foundation money, although we did go after private foundation money for a couple senior service programs. But other than that, it's state and federal money, and we've been very aggressive in pursuing it. In fact, my planner constantly tells me we have too many oars in the water right now.

Yeah, I don't want to monopolize this discussion, but I guess my logic is, now that we've pivoted from Hallowell, could we be pursuing grants that may be specific to Hallowell? Could we maybe be pursuing grants specific to open space?

Yeah, we have a million dollars already earmarked to this town, and we're going to be going out hopefully within the next 30 days for an RFP for that. And that's repurposing the Hollowell project now that the senior center is not there. We do have our eyes open on potential open space acquisition money that's going to be coming out of DEM. There are a couple potential opportunities in town that we may want to take a look at, but we're trying to get a harder focus on when is the state going to go out for open space acquisition money. Other than that, I don't think there's any state funding programs out there right now that we aren't chasing.

Lisa, going forward, so you're going to start coming monthly or quarterly? Quarterly, right, to update?

I think quarterly is- Quarterly, okay. For most clients, they come once a year because the return on investment is there to be, I could give you a report.

Yeah.

Quarterly, I'm happy to, but the return on investment is there.

Can you just add a column, just if there's any matches that we have to- It'll be my pleasure, yes, absolutely. Just so we can kind of see that and know going forward.

I'll update this and you'll have it before the next meeting.

Yeah, just going- On those matches too, we've actually put together a source and use of funds statement for all the programs we're working on right now. Some of them have matches. What's really hard though is that when you see a federal match, We can use a state grant to match that. So we'll get, if we got a congressional request through, I think that's through Reed's office for Pacheco. the chico slash colors infrastructure we have the state that we received already plus the other three that we teed up we can use those as matches for that because we've already those are all focused on the pacheco project so it gets a little bit complicated but i can share maybe at the next meeting sort of that source and use the fund statement in terms of how we can look at the matches and what we can use on what projects yeah that'd be great

Additionally, for Scouters Hall, when CDBG is released, there is a match for the $4 million appropriation, and it's 20%, and we can apply up to a half a million dollars. And the intent was to apply for funding with the hopes that that would be part of the match for Scouters Hall. Thank you.

And then one request of the administration. I did have some folks reach out to me with questions, actually, but I think the document that you provided answered a lot of the questions. It's just unfortunate that the public can't see this in real time. Can we post this grant information on our website so the public has access to it? Sure. Okay.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Have a nice evening.

Thank you, Lisa.

New business discussion by council about other action on fire and rescue IT support and services renewal contract. Ms. Chief Schottier.

Good evening, I'm here this evening for your approval to sign a renewal three year contract this year for our computer IT services with Apex. We've been with them for the last three years. Typically, it's been a yearly renewal. This year, in discussions with Tony, we talked about trying to get a three year contract into place with them. And we managed to be able to do that. So this, in year one, the contract would be for 15,829.08 with a 3% increase in year two and a 3% increase in year three. So we're looking for approval to go ahead and sign that contract with them.

And this is already approved in the budget?

Correct.

Anyone like to make a motion or any questions?

I will make a motion to approve the North Smithfield Fire and Rescue Service Inc. IT support and services renewal contract with Apex, right?

Yes.

With Apex in the amount of $15,829.08 and authorize, do you sign this or does the administrator sign this?

Typically, I have.

Authorize the administrator to sign it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We have a motion, is there a second? Second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Mr. Cristofaro? Yes. Mrs. O'Hara? Yes. Mr. Punchak? Yes. Ms. Ells?

Yes. Thank you.

Thank you.

Discussion by council about other action on bids for town-wide road improvements. Mr. Pentecost?

Good evening, Ray Pendergast, Director of Public Works. I'm here this evening with regard to the town wide road improvement program. We just went out to bid. We received seven seal bids for the project which takes in Tanglewood and Winchester and two add alternates, which would be Martha and Sorrell. The bids came in. At a total of $898,975.76, that's the total bid for those four roads. We had Crossman Engineering, our engineering firm, review these bids and they recommend Vinagro materials as the qualified and lowest responsive bidder.

Will Crossman be providing construction oversight on this project?

Yes, they will.

Is Venagro currently doing the work on the highways? Excuse me? The state roads. Are they currently doing the work on the highways? Venagro? Some. I've seen them around North Smithfield somewhere there.

North Smithfield.

I didn't hear the first part of it.

Is Vinagro currently doing work on the major roadways in Rhode Island? I've seen their names in some places around here.

Yeah, Vinagro's a good sized company.

Okay. I mean, I'm obviously happy to approve this bid, given that it's the lowest bid and it's been the recommendation. But my request would be that when Vinagro does do work around here, that they ensure that their work sites are orderly.

They usually are.

146 down at the end looks pretty bad. But my request would just be that they keep their sites orderly.

I'll see what I can do for that.

Any other questions? Anyone like to make a motion?

Yeah. So are you accepting the alternates? Yes.

We were budgeted for 1.1 million. So obviously with this first phase, we'll have some extra. So we're already having Crossman look at some other roads, which I'm not going to get into tonight. But this is for the initial part of it.

So just so I'm clear, add all two, is that for, what did you say, Martha and Sorrell?

So you're doing four roads. So I'm going to do the four roads. Okay. And they're all right together. Yep.

Okay, I will make a motion to approve the award of contract to Vinagro Materials in the amount of $898,975.76. and authorize the town administrator to sign the subcontract.

Second. That's a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Roll call.

Mr. Cristofaro? Yes. Mrs. O'Hara? Yes.

Mr. Punchak?

Yes.

Ms. Elst? Yes. Discussion by council vote. Other action on repairs to the culvert at 819 Pound Hill Road? Mr. Pena? Yes.

The Department of Public Works is respectfully requesting to enter into an agreement with Diggers Landscaping from Cumberland, Rhode Island to reconstruct an existing outdated infrastructure culvert in the area of 819 Pound Hill Road. Joe Caselli Engineering has already developed the plans for replacing the small outdated pipe to a larger 24 inch which conveys into a 100 year storm. This scenario required Rhode Island DEM wetlands permit. which has been granted from Rhode Island DEM to us. The estimated cost is $135,000. The funds are coming out of the 2627 capital project budget. We are also piggybacking off of the competitive bid from the city of Woonsocket Public Works for miscellaneous construction services.

My only question was, comparatively speaking, the work that was done on Woonsocket Hill Road versus this scope of work. And the reason I ask that is his email, Diggers is pleased to offer to carry the same contract used on the Woonsocket Hill Road culvert. So I would say that Woonsocket Hill, I don't know with or anything, but there was an emergency response to go there and spend that day and a half or two days or whatever with it closed down. Are we really getting a good deal by having him say, I'm going to do it for the same amount when he has the ability to plan for this. He doesn't have the emergency response.

It's the same price. It's working off the same price of the bid.

I get that, but I don't know the scope of work from Woonsocket Hill to this culvert.

It's two different scopes.

Okay, so is the scope from One Socket Hill more than the scope for this one?

I would say that it's similar. Okay. Bigger culvert for Pound Hill, obviously, because of the traffic that is generated in that area.

But at some point, I'm sure there was a premium paid to get diggers there immediately on Woonsocket Hill.

No, we're working off the bid that Woonsocket has with them. The price is the price. Very different from all the contractors who do and did want to give me a premium for Woonsocket Hill. And Woonsocket Hill is not completed.

No, I know that. So in your opinion is that the $135,000 is a fair price for whatever the scope is since it's relatively similar to Woonsocket Hill?

Yes, and Casale with his plans has reviewed that and that's what his opinion, his engineering opinion is for the project on Pound Hill Road. That's where the $135,000 came from.

Ray, where is this on Pound Hill?

So if you're on Providence Pike and you turn onto Pound Hill Road going towards Industrial Drive, it's right there. There's a culvert that's like 50 feet in.

So is there going to be a road closure? Yes. Okay. And like the residents, how will they be made aware?

When we have a road closure, we notify all the residents. Okay. Unfortunately, there will be no issues on that road at all because you have industrial drive, you have Providence Pike 2 industrial drive to get around.

Yeah.

Will it be a little inconvenience for everybody cutting through on Pound Hill Road? Yes.

Well, that might mean that they don't cut through, which would be nice.

Well, and as I always say, you know- Temporary inconvenience is a permanent solution.

You could also put a speed hump in the patch when you do it.

It seems to be a lot of people asking for those.

Thank you, Ray. Any more questions or anyone like to make a motion?

I will make a motion to approve the award of the repairs to the culvert at 819 Pound Hill Road to Diggers Landscaping from Cumberland in the amount of $135,000 and authorize the administrator to sign the contract.

Second. That's a motion to second. Any further discussion? Roll call, please.

Mr. Cristofaro? Yes. Mrs. O'Hara? Yes. Mr. Punchak? Yes. Ms. Alves? Yes.

Thank you.

I did want to take an opportunity while Ray's still standing there to congratulate him and his department on how they managed the Woonsocket Hill Road issue. They did an exemplary job in mitigating as best as possible the impact that had on the local residents and business up there. I know we still are going to go through a short period where we're going to have to close that road down. But I think their performance was really, really good.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Discussion by council vote, other action on appointments to town board's commissions. One appointment to the personnel board for a three year term from 12-1-2024 to 11-30-2027. It's appointed by the town administrator. Yes, I'm appointing . And we have a resignation from the Public Safety Commission. Can we just send a letter like we normally do? Yes.

Can we also point out that the reason for the resignation is that this person is relocating to North Carolina?

And the last item is open forum pursuant to 42-46-6D, maximum three minutes per person. Would anyone like to get up and speak during open forum?

I don't see why not. I don't see why not.

Can we disclose the name of the person who- It does say confidential on it for some reason. It does. Can we give out the name of the person who resigned from- It says confidential, though.

Yeah, the confidential is probably the statement of his name. I didn't see that. The name of the person who resigned, they were according to the board. Okay. It's public information who resigned.

So is Richard Savaria? And he's relocating.

This town is critical for a lot of our training for stop the bleeds, AED, all CPR work. He's exemplary.

I'm sorry, Mr. Gray, if you want to get up, thank you.

Richard Grub Follett Street, I know you don't mean it this way, but it just seems to me when someone resigns, there may or may not be some passionate reason behind it. But when we just say, send them the letter of thank you, it doesn't really sound like we're listening to what they wanted to say. So in this case, fine, the person moved. I think they should be recognized for their good service. And I definitely would promote their name for that reason.

Well, I think I've always been under the assumption that it's confidential because we always get them in email as confidential, so I never felt comfortable sharing the name of the person resigning because it's always in a confidential document. So if it's not confidential, and now we know that, that we can...

I think you're confusing something that... I've got to look at the document. Something that may be confidential to the document is the fact that if Joe Smith was appointed to a board and Joe Smith resigned, those two... transactions are public. Does that make sense? This person may have said something in the letter, and I'm not gonna read it now while we're sitting here, giving some confidential, what about if the person was talking about health reasons? That would be HIPAA. It would be a confidential reason. So you would say nothing more, that's not the case here. You would say nothing more than the person resigned. You would not disclose the medical reason why they resigned if they couldn't bail out. But you still could say their name. Absolutely.

I just always assumed that we couldn't share it because it came in confidential. So I thank you for that clarification.

I'd also like to share with the council that Peter Prancone, his wife, passed away. So we should reach out and we'll find something to send to him. That's unfortunate.

And, Kevin, my condolences because I noticed that you mentioned that she's your aunt. So I'm sorry to hear about that.

Can I just add something? I'm looking at the letter now, so just so the record is clear, communication to or from an elected body is a confidential document that may, may be withheld. And there are times when it's withheld. So that's a decision the council makes or the clerk in consultation with the council or myself. In this particular case, I don't see anything confidential about this letter that would, under the Open Records Act, would prevent its disclosure in your discretion.

Okay.

Is that helpful? Thank you. But there will be times when there might be something in here that what's said in the letter should not and maybe shall not be disclosed. Okay.

Thank you.

Okay, again, anyone like to speak in open forum? I'll ask one more time, anyone like to speak? Just to make on the record, there's two people in the audience and neither one has asked to speak, so. Three. Three. Sorry. Ray doesn't count. Ray doesn't count. He's a fixture.

He's a fixture.

No, but you're in direct line with him and I couldn't see him. I'm sorry. There's three. Okay, I'll take a motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn.

All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye.