Town Council - Regular Meeting

Sorry about the delay. Uh, welcome to the April 13th, 2026 Portsouth Town Council meeting. In the event of an emergency, if there is anything uh that we need to leave the building for, if you would please either exit out the door, you came through the emergency exit behind you on your left or the exit behind Mr. Reese here. We'll head outside, head to the uh school committee building, and we will wait um excuse me, the school administration building and wait for further instruction from our first responders. If you could now now please uh rise and join me in a pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence for our men and women in harm's way. Pledge

of 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. Thank you everyone.

Madam clerk, roll call, please. Mr. Gleason here. Miss Blank here. Miss McDow here. Miss Patton here. Mr. Pira here. Mr. Reese here. Mr. Hamilton

I am here. Thank you very much. Uh we had an executive session prior to this and we'll also be having an executive session to follow. We did not get through everything. Uh we also had an executive session at the end of the f previous meeting on March 23rd. On the March 23rd meeting, there were two votes taken. One was 4 to2 and one was 6 to zero. Uh Miss Blank had to go home early because she had an early uh wakeup call. And April 13th, our meeting tonight, we had two votes tonight. One was 6 to1 and one was 5-2. Obviously, I can't report out on what's going to happen after the meeting. So, first up tonight, we have our first trial of public comments. So, going forward during town council meetings, uh for the first 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how many people sign up, uh folks are allowed to come up and speak on any topic that may or may not be on the agenda. uh the council cannot comment or make any decisions based on those public comments, but we will listen and uh take notes and if there's something that has to be acted upon, we can bring it back at a future meeting future meeting to act on it. So, first up this evening we have Mr. Dave Fiorillo of 45 Hamilton Drive. If you want to come up, sir. Thank you. Hello. Hello. I just want to start off as a positive with this uh initiative. I just want to take a moment to say something that I think goes on unsaid is thank you. I want to thank the town administration and their staff for the hard work and dedication that they do to keep Fortune running day in day out. Whether it's the people in town hall, public works crew, public safety, or the many behind the scenes roles that we don't ever see, they play a vital part

at making sure that Portsouth runs timely and smoothly. Again, I want to say thank you for that. Um, we have some of the best staff here in Portsmith and I want to recognize just a hand handful. Uh, we have an amazing town planner with Hitch. I think she does an excellent job trying to navigate all the state regulations that come down. Paul Rodri's EPW director has done an amazing job with the um sorry I'm skeptical did an amazing job with the uh snowstorm that we had with Rishi crew worked tirelessly and I just want to say thank you. Um I also want to thank Wendy Bark up there. She's done an amazing job being the parks director with a very small budget, but she makes miracle happen. Uh Kayla Marston, you do a great job with finance.

I'm sorry. Do I need to start again?

We'll go from here. Kayla, you do an amazing job with the finance trying to keep everything on track. I thank you for that. I see Rich Tipsky here. I haven't seen Rich in a while, but Rich is amazing. Does an amazing job with our business development. Chief Peters does an amazing job with his staff keeping Portmith safe and also Paul Paul Ford with a with his response to all EMS emergencies. Um, sorry I wrote this down. Uh, working in government isn't a glorious as people think, but it does come with a lot of recognition and more often than not it comes with criticism, long hours and tough decisions which is not easy to make. You are asked to balance budgets, respond concerns, solve problems, and do it in a way that serves everybody fairly in this town. And that is not an easy task to do. But despite that, all your staff shows up each and every day. They put in the work. They put in the effort. And the care that they show keeps this town moving forward. And that deserves recognition from all of the residents in this town. As a resident, I see the results. responsive service from our fire and our police. Um, we have safe neighborhoods. The community continues to be a place that we're all proud to call home. Those things just don't happen and they're a result of the dedication of the staff that we have here at Town Hall and I want to thank you again. So tonight, as I just say thank you for all your hard work and professionalism and your commitment to Portsmith, the the residents owe you a debt of gratitude. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Furill. Appreciate that. Uh, next up, is it Bonnie Blake or break? Break. Thank you. 86 Summit. You want to speak about licensing? Uh, if you want to speak on specific licenses, we can do that also during the approval process. I don't know which is best. So, I signed up so I wouldn't lose an opportunity to speak, but about specific licensing. So, if you'd rather, I wait. Nope.

I'm happy to. Um, Bonnie Break, 86 Summit Road. Um, I'm speaking in reference to the fee waver requested by the Ports Portsmith Portuguese American Club. I am respectfully asking that you deny this request due to ongoing litigation and safety concerns. The town is currently not releasing building permits issued for this location, citing litigation for the reasoning withholding them for the public. While I understand we're here to specifically discuss the request for the fee waiver, I think it's important to bring attention to larger concerns regarding issues of licenses like this in our town. I'm requesting along with 1,200 petition signers in support of a safer community that the town hold off on issuing the license for this event until all of the work has been completed and safety inspections have been conducted. It is the intention of our family to work towards change in how the town handles safety inspections for buildings used for public events in light of the tragedy that occurred on June 7th 20 2025. Since Aaron sustained a lifealtering injury and we've lost our beautiful Kelly Nicole, we have learned that buildings permitted to host large events are not currently under any inspection schedule to ensure structural integrity. This is significant as many his as we have many historical buildings in our town that are hosting public events. Despite being a means of egress, the stairs that collapsed have no record of ever having been inspected, nor did permit laws exist at the time of their construction. Although a shift toward consistent building inspections is the next logical step, it creates significant concerns regarding current safety at these events. For over 50 years, two tons of elevated concrete was allowed to go uninspected for safety. It is a gross

oversight for our town to continue to allow this. Mr. Gleason, I would like to personally address some of your email comments to me. In answer to your question, will we ever get over it? Probably not. But where do we start? I suggest we start by putting protocol in place requiring safety inspections to ensure buildings and means of egress from buildings are safe for the public. You were correct with your comments when you said, "Who knew the stairs would fall then and there?" Mr. Gleason, without proper inspections, we would have no way of knowing. Due to this, I will continue to fight. Our family will continue to fight in memory of Kelly. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Bry. Right. Next up, we have our consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve as presented? Miss McDow is um Yes. Recusing. Okay. Do I have a motion to approve as presented? So moved. Second. All those in favor? I

motion passes 6 0 and one with Miss McDow recusing. Mr. President, um under the license commissioners, um the Portuguese American Club has asked to uh resend the waving of fees for both licenses. For both licenses. Yes. All right. What is the council's pleasure on items one and two? Make a motion if anybody wants I'd like to speak about

I'd like to make a motion and uh if anybody wants to speak, we we can't speak during the public comment uh section, but uh I would make a motion to approve the entertainment and the viter's license for the Portuguese uh portuguese American citizens club event on July 16th through 19th. second. Any discussion from council at this point? I I have a couple questions based on the the words that we just got. Um in terms of the construction that's currently happening, I don't know if there's a representative from there this here this evening on is their construction going to be completed by the time that this event takes place?

Is there anybody here from uh the Portuguese club who could speak to that? And do they have an alteration to their I'm assuming they don't have an alteration to their certificate of occupancy based on this construction. Good evening. Uh my name is James Dember. I'm an attorney for the Portuguese American Club. Um I'm happy to answer any questions I can. Um your question was is there a permit? Uh uh is the construction that's currently taking place on the going to be completed by the time

Oh yes, in fact the stairs were built. Uh I believe they're in the process of being inspected. We're happy to uh make any approval of licenses contingent upon uh the staircases being inspected by any member of the town to the town satisfaction. My understanding is that a the um actual stair construction will have um be inspected and uh of course it needs to be improved for the uh license to be approved. Uh I Rich, I don't know. You could pass this to whomever the appropriate person is. Do they have an alteration to their current certificate of occupancy based on this construction that's going on?

Well, the only construction I believe is just displacement of the staircase. Yes, but then that becomes an eress position place of the top floor and they use both floors for this event. I'd have to get back to on my understanding is the stairs were is a replacement of what was there. So, it's an a kind same type of there hasn't been any change other than a rebuilding of the stairs. I I I completely get that part. My my concern is that both floors are used for this event and during that weekend. Yes. And it also considered a fire egress. So that's why my first question was

would the construction be complete in time for this event and has there been any alteration to the certificate of occupancy based on the current construction? There's been to my knowledge no changes in certificate of occupancy and that's typically done by the fire marshall. Correct chief. I believe right now it's not Correct. But I think Councilman Pierro's question is, would we anticipate any changes to the occas levels after the construction? Construction is completed. Complete, but they're not doing anything for the inside. So, there really shouldn't be any square footage is the same on the inside.

There's nothing done in terms of modifications on the inside. It's a replacement of the stairs that were removed. Okay. And the the plan for the stairs have been engineered. It's been forwarded to the town for their review approval. It'll be in fully inspected. Um but that inspection has not happened yet. Right. Looking at our planner. Okay. I do have one question. So just to clarify, the steps have been completed and you've called for an inspection by the town. Yes. the back set of stairs that's not considered a means of egress.

I you know I not prepared to comment on that. Um to be honest, there's been no changes. Um the stairs of the stairs leading to the second floor that unfortunately collapsed have been rebuilt per our uh engineering plans. the were approved and will be inspected and we're happy to have any other inspections that the town deems necessary if there's any further concerns. Sure. There's any other questions? Thank you. Do you know will we know when the inspection is or

there there was one one inspection today. Um they came out they wanted some minor modifications. So I anticipate that'll be taken care of, you know, within a matter of weeks. What is Miss Hitchin? You want to speak to the inspection schedule if you could please? Thank you.

Leah Hitchen, town planner. I'm the supervisor to the building department. Um I was not prepared to talk about the building permit um for this facility tonight. So um I won't go into detail, but um there has been a building permit issued. They are ready to have the final inspection and that's where we're at right now. Um, so being that the club is okay with a potentially a two-e delay, which would be our next meeting, um, to get those inspections, um, which I believe would satisfy some of the concerns of the families. Um, and then also if we could request maybe, um, Chief Ford or the fire marshall go in and do a final a review of the facility. I'll check into that. May just be based on building inspector because the build change.

I'll check. All right. Um and then Mr. Gleon, your concern is was the back staircase being being inspected just to make sure it's safe as well or or a mean means of egress? It wasn't. I I just don't know if we need two means of egress uh to let this happen. But regardless of whether we in my opinion if we issued these licenses tonight if the work wasn't approved then these events events wouldn't be able to occur you know so we might as well resolve that issue or what I suggest is if you're inclined if you can you just come to the mic if you're inclined to go forward make the uh

make the um granting of the the licenses conditioned upon the uh approval from from the town in terms terms of the inspection of the stairs. Yeah, that's what I would recommend. That's fine, Chief. Both the front and rear staircase have required for means of regress for that floor to be utilized and we will go back and inspect it when they're all set. Thank you for clarification. There's no further questions. Any further questions in the council? No. So, I'd like to retract my motion and make a new one. Somebody wants to retract their second retract. That was Mr. Yes.

No. Do I have to retract my second? Yes, I retract my second. All right. So, there are no motions on the table at this point in time. Um, I will ask if anybody does want to get up and speak, please just raise your hand and let me know or or come up to the microphone. Mr. Gleason. Okay. So, the motion uh would be to approve the entertainment and the viter's license for the Portsmith Portuguese American Citizens Club. Uh they have St. Anony's feast July 16th to the 19th predicated on completion of the satisfactory completion and inspection of the front staircase that have been replaced. Can you also add the uh inspection by the fire marshall for the aggressors?

Yes. Yes. Sure. And and additional inspection by the fire excuse me fire marshall of of both means of egress. I if the motion would be that is that if the inspections are brought back to the clerk then she can issue those licenses. It would not come back to the council after that. Just saying that the motion should be that it passes not just that it is completed. Yes. Okay. That's better clarification. Thank you. Appreciate that. Any further questions from the council?

I don't think we had a second yet. No. I'll second that. Dave, again, Mr. G, any question? Yeah, I would just um I mean it's it's two weeks till our next meeting. I would just feel more comfortable if um all the permits, all the um everything was completed. Um, I I think it would just it makes more sense to do it then in case anything comes up or so I um I I would be voting against that.

Yeah, Mr. P, Mr. President to kind of uh piggyback on Councilwoman McDall's I I I think it may be more prudent for this council to receive everything back and then replace it back on our as on our licensing agenda for a future meeting once those things have been completed, approved and and presented to us. Okay. Any other comments from council? So that would mean that the inspection would have to be done by next Tuesday to be placed on the agenda for the 27th. It would be the 21st. Would that be

Mr. President? I think I think the the um gentleman the attorney for the club said that there were some additional modifications they were doing based on a preliminary inspection that might take three weeks. Yeah, that's I don't I don't know if which is fine. If they if they get their inspections and the modifications and everything is done, then they can come back. I just it's not till July. We have plenty of make sure we weren't we weren't in I I think that we should probably not worry so much about representing in two weeks. I think that once that information is presented to the

I'm just explaining the process for us to get it on the next agenda. So if it doesn't get to that agenda then would be the following first meeting in May which would be the 13thish. I'm assuming the date the 11th day after Mother's Day, I bet. Okay. So, the motion uh on the floor is to approve the licenses contingent upon completed inspections completed and past inspections. Um all those in favor

I opposed. So, the motion fails uh two to five with Mr. Gleason and Mr. Reese in the affirmative. I'm not doing the rest of the math for you there, Madam Clerk. Okay. Um so, the club will have to come back once your inspections are done. Just come back, let the clerk know. We'll put it on the agenda as soon as you have all the completed inspections and they've passed inspection. Any further questions on items one and two? If not, we'll move on to item three, which is a entertainment license for Port Soccer's annual Father's Day tournament on June 21st and 22nd. Motion to approve. Second.

Any comment? All those in favor?

I oppose. Motion passes 7 to zero. Then we have annual licenses for St. Barnabas Church for their festival coming up on June 19th through 21st. We have their entertainment license, the victual's license, and also a class F daily liquor license with a which so I guess we have to do one first. We have to do the entertainment license first because they've requested a fee waiver for that one. Mr. President, I where we've just um eliminated a fee waiver for the St. Anony's feast. I'd like to see this without a fee waiver as well. So I would I would like to approve the entertainment license for St. Barnabas annual festival without the fee waiver.

To to be clear, they eliminated the fee waiver. We didn't eliminate it on them. I I'm They dropped the request. Yes. Is there a second? Hearing none. Do I have a motion to approve entertainment license with the fee waiver request? Isn't it number five is the fee waver? Oh, sorry. Number five. Um, so yeah, entertainment license as presented. Okay. Wrong one there. Okay. You and I skipped one. Yep. Okay. So, the entertainment license, there's second from M. Second. Okay. All those in favor? I oppose. Motion passes seven to zero. Next is the Victral's license with the fee waiver request. Motion to approve as presented.

Second. All those in favor? I I oppose. Nay. I just I just like to say that I think a clarification. Um, we've had other councils that have said we shouldn't be supporting these fee wavers. It's it's $100 and uh for the amount of money that are made at these different festivals, that should be part of the cost of doing business. So, I I just imagine apples and apples with the two different feasts here. Okay. Thank you. Motion passes six to one with Mr. Gleason in the negative. And then we have their regular uh class F daily liquor license for the same event. Motion approve. Motion to approve. Second. All those in favor? I opposed.

Motion passes seven to zero. I have a motion to adjurnn as the board of licensed commissioners. So moved. Second. All those in favor? I I opposed. Motion passes 70 to zero. Yes, attorney.

Yes, sir. Sorry, I was trying to figure out where I was on my page. Didn't see you. Yes, sir. Ju just getting back to the inspection and I realize the council has already uh ruled there was a little delay like months getting the permit. I I just hope that when we call for the inspection that we'll be able to get the inspection and especially given the time frames and concerns u I wanted wanted to make sure that I put that on the record. We there there will be no delays on behalf of the staff. We will get there as soon as we can. Thank you. I'd be happy to talk with the attorney outside as to why there's delays. Yes.

Thank you, Miss. Okay. Next up, we have um approval or minutes from the 31626 meeting. Any corrections or updates? If not, a motion to approve. So moved. Second. Sean can take it. Okay. All those in favor? I opposed. Motion passes seven to zero. Next up, we have Mr. Rener, your town administrator report, sir.

Uh, good evening, Mr. President, town council. Ladies and gentlemen, um, the town has been awarded a DEM outdoor recreation grant of almost $156,000 for the Portsmith Senior Living Outdoor Fitness Facility. Uh this was a very competitive round with 50 applications totaling more than $16 million and our project was specifically identified as exceptional and it will support extended outdoor recreation opportunities for our senior community. I want to thank our planning department especially Leah Hitchin for their work on this successful application. We will be coordinating with DM on next steps including grant agreements and permitting before the project moves forward. I also want to share that FEMA has formally approved the 2025 Aquitic Island Regional Hazard Mitigation and Flood Management Plan, which includes Portsouth, Newport, and Middletown. This approval is effective through March 2031 and confirms that the plan meets all federal requirements. And more importantly, this keeps the town eligible to apply for FEMA mitigation funding to support projects that reduce risk from flooding and other natural hazards. I want to recognize the work of the emergency management team, the planning department, and our regional partners in developing this plan and seeing it through the approval process. And then lastly, with regard to the budget, the proposed town budget, school department budget, and civic support requests have all been submitted. Uh the budget meetings will start uh Monday, April 27th with the budget overview uh during the regular town council meeting and a review of revenues proposed expenditures that will commence on Tuesday, April 28th. Uh that concludes my report. Mr. President,

Mr. I'd like to address the town administrator. Um, I've been getting quite a few calls and um, many citizen and citizens have reached out to me about their recent revaluations and their economic situation and I have reviewed in detail the pre presented proposed budget and I'd like to request an alternate budget to reflect a tax levy of less than 3%. That's not on the agenda for this evening. That would be on the agenda for the 27th if you wanted to have to wait till then. I just wanted to give them a heads up. All right. No, it was a request. All right. I did make a request, but if it's just a comment, that's something to look at. Okay. Thanks.

All right. Next up, we have resignations and appointments. We have a reappoint for our tree warden for Mr. Fitzgerald. You skipped one. I skipped one. There's a there's too many pages here. Madam, Mr. And I move to uh re to appoint Susan Cook to the conservation commission. Second. All those in favor? I oppose. Motion passes seven to zero. Now we can do the tree warden. It's not listed on the page except one vacancy. Now we have the uh tree warden reapprove. Reapprove reappointment. Excuse me. Motion to reappoint Mr. John Fitzgerald to the tree warden position. Second.

All those in favor? I opposed. Mr. President, if I could just comment, I I just want to comment. Mr. Finish real quick. Sorry. Opposed. Motion passes. Senator Zero. Now you can comment. Okay. Sorry. Just Just want to comment about the services that John Fitzgerald donates to the town. He he is a licensed arborist and he's I can't tell you how many years he's been on that tree commission. So I I just want to send a little praise in his name. Thank you. Yes. He and Mr. Wheeler do a lot of work with the treatment. Absolutely. Right. Old business number one, request approval for the Porsche School Bond memorializing resolution. Mr. Rener.

Uh, thank you, Mr. President. This is a request for approval of a memorializing resolution related to a potential school bond. Uh, this is one step in a longer structured process. As the council will recall, we previously authorized submission of the stage two application to ride which is focused on identifying eligible products pro projects and positioning the town for state housing aid reimbursement. This resolution is the next step. It formally memorializes the general assembly to authorize the town with voter approval to issue bonds not to exceed $41 million for school facility improvements. Importantly, this action does not approve a bond and it does not commit the town to borrowing. It simply keeps the process moving forward so that if everything aligns, the question can be placed before the voters at the November general election. At the same time, it's important to understand that the amount referenced here does here does it does matter with regard from a reimbursement standpoint. So, while the council is not committing to borrow a specific amount tonight, any future borrowing above what is ultimately authorized through this process would not be eligible for ride housing aid reimbursement. So, in effect, this memorializing resolution establishes a ceiling uh for which reimburseed reimbursements can be made from the state. So, for instance, let's say you memorial memorialize $30 million and yet the final project comes in at $31 million. that $1 million would not be eligible for housing rate housing aid reimbursement. So, you're not authorizing any work on a $41 million bond. That's just a ceiling to give the leeway as the process moves forward. And you will ultimately uh approve the amount that goes before the voters. Ellen Corno, our bond council, is here this evening along with Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Viveros, the school finance officer Chrisierro, and our

architectural partner Phil Kante from Studio Jade. They are all available to answer any questions the council may have. Thank you, Mr. Rainer. Are there any questions on the memorialization resolution which doesn't bind us to anything? It just keeps the process going toward in terms of potential projects at our schools in terms of building. If not, is there Here's a question. If if we approve this, does it do we have to use it in that amount? I mean, do you or up to that's the limit up to up to that's the limit. So, what happens is last year when the roof needed to be replaced, that wasn't included in the last bond.

So, because it wasn't included in the last bond, we weren't eligible for the full amount of reimbursement. However, if we had put it in the last total package and not done it, it would have been eligible for a greater reimbursement. So, this is just to lay the cards on the table as what we might potentially do and then we can peel it back from there or the school department can pair it down if they need to and then any potential projects would go forward to the voters in November for res for a vote. Motion to move. Motion to approve as presented. Second. Any further discussion? Mr. Gleason,

I just have one question. If if this was approved by the voters in November, which is the f first part of triing this process, would there be any expenses that the 2627 budget for the town would have to absorb? There is in the budget monies to help pay for the interestonly payment that would come forward at the end of 2027. So 2028 28. This is what I briefed to the council back in January. Uh which is why the budget is submitted the way it is. We had talked about we need to build in the capacity.

There's no significant drop in debt service. So, if this bond goes forward and is passed by the voters in November, uh this debt service will be due June 30th, 2028, uh just rough numbers. We're look we're programming about a $1.5 million uh increase in our debt service. That would be due uh June 20 uh June 30th of fiscal year 28. So, not this budget, but the next budget, but we've got to build up our capacity to be able to pay that debt. So, this budget is difficult, but next budget will be worth 28.

No, I'm not saying that at all, but I'm saying if you do cut it, uh, which is what I'm hearing, and that's not on the agenda tonight, uh, this is one of those reasons. If the voters speak and pass a referendum, we'll go over the cap next year. Gotcha. All said. Yep. Okay. Mr. Fitz Morris. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Larry Fitz Morris, 50 Christristen Court. I understand that we're not committing to this bond tonight. Correct. Correct. What point will we be committing to this bond?

End of June, early July. I'm looking at Phil and Chris somewhere in that either the last meeting in June or the first meeting in July or second meeting in July. Okay. We have to have it to the canvasing in a state by August 1st sometime.

Okay. I think we'll pass on making too many comments about this, but we do want to see a complete um spreadsheet on yearbyear what this bond's going to cost. you last year that will be there and it'll also show you which projects cost what as well or are anticipated to cost.

Also, when we come to writing the verbiage that we're going to send to the assembly for approval to go on the bond uh proposal on the ballot. Um, I'd like to have that clearly differentiated in the uh in the agenda, but also I'd like to have a clear statement about the cost and a clear statement that it won't be exceeded whatever this bond um amount is going to be. And um we've had some recent decisions in the Superior Court as I understand them that towns are not obligated to what was put on the ballot for the voters to approve. And I think we need to have clear and strong verbiage wording on this proposal as it goes on the ballot so that it does hold uh this town to the stated agreements in the bond. Thank you.

Thank you, Fis Morris. I I will point out the last bond actually came in under budget. So, for the school department, I should have mentioned that we the first time in the in the history of this town that I'm aware of, um, somebody delivered a bond under budget and on time and that was a school department for the last bond. I should have mentioned that. Thank you.

That they actually got extra projects done as well within that as well. That was a a well done team effort. It's a motion to approve the resolution. All those in favor? I opposed. Motion passes 720. Next up, old business number two, Horsmouth Community Electricity Aggregation Program and a summer 2026 update. Good evening, Mr. President. Town councilors.

We're here to give you an update on our community electricity program. I'm Richard Tipsky, 79 Cromwell Drive. I'm the director of business development and I have with me Stefano Lorettto and Rachel Ferdinand from Good Energy. Next slide. Yeah, thank you. There's a slight typo in this. It should say new pricing begins in 2026. The program was launched instead of 206, huh? We're not going back in time. We're not going back in time. New pricing begins May of 2026. Yes, sir.

And we uh teamed with seven other communities to increase our buying power. New program pricing that starts in May 2026. There's been some interesting developments in the pricing. I'm going to turn the discussion over to our good energy consultants, Stephan.

Good evening, Stephano Lorettto. Thank you for having us. Uh yeah, so this is a little bit of background just around the broader impacts that we're seeing in New England surrounding energy prices and uh it's called Daisy. Oh, I'm sorry, next slide. Um the day ahead services initiative and it was first announced actually in February of 24 and it was uh it was um issued by FK for all of the grid for New England. So this applies to all of New England. It's not a Rhode Island specific and and it was implemented in March of 2025. When it was implemented that the grid ISO New England gave and published an expected cost for what this new initiative would cost on a monthly basis. Um and now we have about a year of data and uh the costs have roughly been about 650% higher than that proform that was provided on a monthly basis. Um January of 26 we had storm Fern and for the month of Fern they were about 1,800% higher. That was a very impactful storm. It was cold for a long time over a widespread area and daisies. It was really designed to create uh uh resiliency uh which it did. um it it served its purpose but at really a much higher cost than expected and um so what for the program the aggregation program we well the first of all the the the council had voted to approve an extension towards the end of 2025 for an additional five years for this this program. We saw some of these impacts of daisy towards the end of last year and had recommended that that extension be postponed until we had more

information. Most significantly, we wanted to wait for Rhode Island Energy's procurement in January. Then Fern happened, Storm Fern. And then in February, we recommended that that the contract ex the extension execution be postponed for a year until 2027. Why a year? Because the big reason that there's a disparity between the aggregation rates and the rates that are now active with Rhode Island Energy is because we are feeling the impacts of Daisy in somewhat real time. Whereas Rhode Island Energy has a mechanism where they kind of on an annual basis every spring will kind of reconcile the overage or underage from the previous year. It's called the last resort adjustment factor. And so because Daisy uh because Fern happened in 26, that will really be reflected in the April 27 last resort adjustment factor. So um it's a little bit of uh where where our our program is fully reflective of the Daisy impact where last resort service is a little bit uh delayed because of the timing of the storm. Um, yeah. Uh, I think next slide. Thank you. Uh, these are the rates. Just want to make sure we're very transparent with the actual rates. And as you can see, the last the Rhode Island energy rates are all the way on the left, just over 11 cents. And then you have the four program options through the program. Uh, the least expensive of which is the basic. And you can see it's considerably higher. It's a couple two cents a little over two cents above Rhode Island Energy and that is for this period which for Rhode Island Energy's rates will be effective through uh uh through September and they will change again in

October. Uh the aggregation rates lag a month behind and will change again in November. So for this period uh the basic will be higher. The standard that you see there, that's the option that most people are already participating in. It has additional renewable energy that's all sourced from Rhode Island resources. And then you have the opt-up options that are expected to be more expensive simply because they have a higher percentage of renewable energy. So, uh, we want to just be very transparent with the program rates, make it very clear that at this moment, for the first time since the program launched in essentially May of 2023, we're going to be above the last resort service rates from Rhode Island Energy. Um, and I think I'll I'll turn it over to Rachel. She's got a little bit she'll take through the process of uh what participants can do to opt out. There's several mechanisms to if people want to leave the program, they can leave at any time. there's no penalty. So, she'll go ahead and walk you through that.

Yeah. Um, next slide, please. Uh, thank you for having us this evening. So, before I get into exactly uh participants options, we just wanted to take a look at really the impact that the program has had over these past three years. So since launch, despite this first period being over last resort service, we have saved Portsmith's residents and businesses participating in the program almost $500,000. Um, and that's as noted there about $72 for the average residential customer. Additionally, this program does pair with a local nonprofit, Green Energy Consumers Alliance. And through that partnership, you have been able to also impact um the renewable market right here in Rhode Island. They specifically draw all of the extra renewable in the program from projects right here in Rhode Island. So again, you can see that figure there, uh nearly $400,000 to Rhode Island based renewable energy projects. Um and so you can see uh that has provided over 2,000 megawatt hours of voluntary renewable energy which is the equivalent to taking 200 gasoline powered cars off the road for a year. Okay. So as Stephano mentioned there are many options for residents to leave the program or join uh another option. So right now if nobody takes any action they will automatically begin receiving the new pricing in May come their May meter read. Um so all subscribers can opt out at any time. They can either do that by going online. There is a form that they can fill out there. They just have to confirm some account information that they can find on their Rhode Island energy bill. Uh they can also call the supplier Nexta. that phone number, that 888 number is specifically for

Portsmith. So, they will be able to connect with the supplier that way. Um, and additionally, there is a provision in the contract where the town could um opt to opt the entire customer base out, which would be effectively terminating the program. Um, that is something that you could take advantage of, but it wouldn't be able to be enacted until next spring. Um, additionally, we do have some other options for all electricity customers. Uh, we have more information about this on the program website as well, but any electricity customer could take advantage of the lowinccome discount uh, if they are eligible for that. There are also budget billing options available with Rhode Island Energy um, available on the Rhode Island Energy site. And additionally, like I mentioned, we do that have that on that electricity. smith.com the program website and then there at the bottom that 401 number is specifically for good energy so customers can call that number and they would connect directly with us

and they can call that number to opt out yes they can call that number to opt out so I'm going to ask the hard question we as a council voted to opt everybody in and it was done in one full swoop immediately starting whatever the date was July of 2023. Why is it so difficult and why can't it be done immediately to opt everybody out since it would save everybody 2 and a half cents a kilowatt hour for the summertime? I'll definitely take that.

Yeah, that's that's that's an understandable question. Um, energy contracts are notoriously difficult to unwind because there are procurements and hedges that need to be unwound, liquidated, marked tomarket penalties. Um, I would say I and I understand exactly why you're saying that, but terminating the the program um because of the timing, the the soonest that would be able to take effect would be May of 27. Um, but if I were to ask all of my residents to call that number and opt out, it would be effectively the same thing, which I'm going to let you know. I'm going to tell all of my residents to call that number and opt out because I can't in good conscience have them pay 2.5 cents more per kilowatt hour this summer.

And that's totally people can opt out at any time. So, they can absolutely do that. Um, I will just be honest with you and just say that uh we would expect that once Daisy is reflected equally in the last resort service rates that there would be value in the program once again. So, which I would say opt back in to those same folks. Okay. So, let me ask you a different question. This this you may or may not be able to answer this. Okay. How the hell do we get rid of daisy and what is the use of it? There's no daisy in any place else but New England.

It is it is 20 years I've been doing this, there's no never been anything that disruptive. Um there is a sign on letter that we have created that counselors can individually sign on. It's not something you need to vote on. It's just an individual sign on to to be sent to FK. The governor of New Hampshire has recently sent a letter to FK highlighting the disruption this has caused for for it's not just aggregations. It's it's every commercial and industrial entity that has a contract has probably had their lawyers been call calling the supply getting calls from the suppliers saying we need to we need to change the pricing because of this mechanism that's been introduced these change in law provisions. So, um, yeah, we're trying to be very, uh, active with with with with letting, um, FK and ISO New England know that the the the really negative impacts this is having specifically on our program now. Um, but it it's having widespread issues throughout all of New England. Uh, this is not a Rhode Island specific thing. So, if you have a boilerplate resolution and you can forward it to us, I'll put it on the next agenda and you'll have a resolution from this council saying, "Get us out of Daisy because it's costing our citizens more money in an already exorbitantly high electricity program in New England. We are the almost the worst in the country."

Yeah. Uh we we we do have something that we can we can to Mr. to let's get it sent to you. The easiest thing is just town council at Portouth unless you want to send it to K Hamilton at porsworth.gov. Okay. And I'll get on the next agenda. All right. Thank you for that. Thank you. Could you include the the New Hampshire governor's resolution as well just for reference? Yes. Any other questions or comments, concerns from the council? Mr. Fitz Morris. Oh go.

Thank you, Mr. President. Larry Fitz Morris, 50 Christristen Horton. Fully support the comments made by Mr. Hamilton. I have one question. Are we opted? Do we all have to opt out again to get out of this program or are we opted out if we were originally? If if you originally opted out, you're not in the program. Okay. you would have you would have had to opted back in at some point to be in the program. Okay? So, you had five options, right? You could have left it alone and stayed at the standard rate. You could have opted to the basic rate. You could have opted to one of the two higher rates. Or you could have opted out. Thank you.

If you have opted out, you are out of the program right now. We don't we don't opt anybody back in each year. Well, as I said, I fully support your remarks. I think we're long past the point in Rhode Island where we need to start finding ways to reduce the electric bills, which are brutal in this state, and driving off all the businesses might want to come here and making it harder to do business for those people who are here, which means our jobs are going away. Um I think what what has happened is we've destroyed and shut down conventional energy uh generation without replacement for it and that's what's driving it up. So the whole plan is falling apart. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. President. Uh Mr. Loro, if I could have your attention for just half a second and I'm sorry, Rich. Uh yes, please. um to kind of go on the programmatic in and outs of the organiza of the program. If let's say for instance you're anticipating your comments you're anticipating things to regulate themselves come this time next year or even when we get winter numbers how easy is it for someone to get back into the program and what's the delay time in that because I I will I agree with Mr. Mr. president, I will chase where the cheapest is, but if let's say for instance the LRS is more beneficial or is not as beneficial as what you're offering for winter numbers, how do people get back in?

Yeah, go ahead.

Yeah, so it's actually just as easy. The same options that are available to leave the program are also available to opt back into the program. Um, and so on this slide here, you can see we've highlighted some areas of the website. Um we have two buttons prominently displayed on the homepage that leave the program in the um red box is the the easiest way just fill out that form uh to opt out and then next to that you can actually see change your program option and that has an enroll form that residents can also use to enroll in the program or change the option that they have in the program if they wish to remain. Um, and then actually if we go to the next slide, we do also have a sample bill available on the website and that is also highlighted on the main page as well as on the enroll page and the opt out page. And so you can see just a clip here from the markedup bill that prominently displays exactly what account information residents would need to opt out or opt in. Um, and so all of that information will be needed regardless of whether or not you're going to do it online or over the phone. Oh, and sorry, in terms of the delay, um, you can change your supplier once a month on your meter read. So, typically it's seen within one to two billing cycles. Uh, for example, if your meter read is on May 15th and you fill out the form or call on May 8th, um, it would take effect on that May 15th.

Okay. Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate that. I'd like to point out that the development of this program was not drafting up a single sheet of paper. It had numerous meetings with the PUC and to essentially turn off the program and try to start it up in six months would be a lot of work.

It it was a beneficial program for folks who opted to the basic. Um it was good for the folks who stated in the standard, but I can't good with good conscience as I said before ask people to be paying 2 and a half cents more a kilowatt hour uh coming off the winter we had. Um and my only guess would be that the winter rates next year are going to be in the 16 to 17 kilowatt hour which is going to be even more expensive and our folks at the state house should be doing something to help us out. Uh Mr. Bronson, if you could unmute yourself, we'll unmute you. Mr. Bronson, are you there? No. All right. So there's no action that really needs by by the council other than to educate our residents that they should be opting out to save some money and to pay attention come September when well when do their rates come out? Usually they they opt in in October 1st. So their rates will be out in August. The LSR LRS

there should be an announcement in September for the Rhode Island energy rates. We would make our announcement in October. Okay, Mel. So, all this information is currently on our website. The backup is currently on our website. We'll put it uh you'll transfer I mean you'll give all this on the regular um and Okay. We'll put a headline under headliner. Yes. Thank you. Yes.

Thank you folks. Appreciate you coming in. Hopefully uh we can get some traction and get rid of Daisy and then hopefully find some less expensive rates for all of our residents. Thank you very much. Appreciate you guys coming in. Thank you. Next up, we have old business number three, which is a request of the adoption of our signed ordinance as amended. We've had um our public hearing. So, we're just here to uh up and down vote approve of the new ordinance that has been corrected by um our town planner and also everybody has seen any questions for the planner since there was just corrections and updates made based on comments from the last or two meetings ago, excuse me. Hearing none. Is there a motion to approve the new sign or owners? I

I didn't know if Did you want to speak or you just want to answer questions? I was going to go through the modifications and changes, but if everybody read my memo, then I don't need to.

Okay. So, at the end of the last uh public hearing, the motion, I believe, was made to institute the changes and bring them back to us. Okay. So, it appears you've done that. Um myself I've had further thoughts about this. I did send to you some I did have a conversation with Mr. Rainer and uh yourself and Gio has weighed in on on it as well. Sometimes things of this nature have unintended consequences. Um, so in theory, well, first off, I want to say the general public with this sign ordinance, we may or may not be be able to correct certain situations in town. And I think the anticipation is that this is a slam dunk and I don't feel that it is a slam dunk for

it's definitely not a slam dunk. Right. So that being said, if if the ordinance went into effect, are we proactive or reactive in what we do next for potential violations of new sign ordinance? I could ask that question. For starters, are we proactive or reactive? Yes. Do we have people that that are we want to send a letter to that they're in violation now or do we wait for somebody to call it in or do you go out and look for violations I guess is the way I look at it.

Well, we're pretty busy with our dayto-day tasks to be just gallivanting driving around. Um, when we're out and about doing inspections or I'm driving to and from work or out on an inspection, if I see something, I'll I'll grab it. I I consider that being to be proactive. And it's not just me, it's the entire staff within the planning building department, whether it's the zoning enforcement officer slash assistant planner, planning technician, even our um building clerk. if she sees something when she's out on the road, she'll she'll grab it. It's it's a concerted effort amongst us all. So, I I find that to be proactive.

Yeah. But with just the five of us in the office, we're not going to see every sign. Correct. So, the the situation I see is that it's been a long time since I had a yard sale, but there is no such thing as a yard sale anymore. There's no such thing as a political sign. They're all lumped into temporary signs and they are not allowed on public property. They haven't been allowed on public property based on our previous ordinance. Correct.

But people still put them on public property. They put them on state property, things of that nature. Will your workload increase due to that type of situation? It it will a lot of yard sales are on a a Saturday, Sunday. Do you want me to go out there on a on a Saturday morning to collect signs? I'm I'm just I I don't want you to. My only dilemma is once we enact a law, we need to enforce it. Mhm. Um, so maybe it's better communication with educating people

that these these types of signs are really not allowed on utility poles are not allowed on public property. Um, when you when you put a yard sale sign up at 7:00 in the morning and ended up taking it down at 1:00 after the yard sale is over, it's hard to hard to enforce those yard sale signs. I I do agree with you that enforcement can be problematic when people when people put a yard sale sign on a utility pole and there's evidence of that probably on every utility pole in town with old staples and tax. Um it's hard to enforce.

Yeah. But those have always been the rules. And if you give me a standard and you tell me how you want to see it, I'd be more than happy to I just don't roll out a new plan. I just thought it would be something that we could incorporate, but obviously it's what's the operative content neutral, content positive. It has content in it. It says yard sale on it. So, it's use the ACLU won't approve of that is my I'm just in this bewilderment of what the right thing to do is with this ordinance and that's a small thing, but it's still something that needs to be enforced, you know,

and I just look at the additional burden on you folks. I look at the ways that we can where am I going to put my political signs in the fall? Somebody has to drive by my house to see. Well, you can ask you can ask Mr. Pierro if I can ask my comrades. You can ask private homeowners to put your sign on hard pass. I was going to go down the line.

There's one previous councilman. He has a he has a nice piece of land down near uh Island Park, but I I doubt if he'd invite me to put his sign my sign on his property. But I just see these as limitations. Um, and they were apparently limitations before, but we didn't do anything about them. So, but here we are. We're at the point where we were actually enact potentially enacting a new ordinance. And to start fresh, we should enforce that. I mean, I think part of what got us into trouble was maybe we did we weren't enforcing things in the past. I I I don't know. My I can only speak for what I do.

I know. I know. Well, I'm going to speak for what I do and even though I think it's a good thing and I hope you get four votes, I I'm just not going to support it at this point. I I would like to see some changes, but that's where I stand. Okay. I'd rather be upfront about it. What would you change? A way to fit this into the into the ordinance. you know that instead of eliminating the different types of signs or calling them all temporary right right now the temporary yard sale under this ordinance I can put a temporary yard sale in my yard and I can have a yard sale for six months at least in theory I have a sign that says I'm having a yard sale every day for the next six months I mean some of the stuff doesn't

up to six months so up to six months yeah but that doesn't make sense to me you know so throwing that curveball at a temporary science rather than individual signs that have a purpose to them. I don't know how you fix that, Leah. And and obviously Gio has he has opined that it doesn't fit this ordinance, you know. Um I Yeah, I was pretty clear with you when when you asked about yard signs. I I I think we could become legally vulnerable if we were to call out every type of sign. Um, we're trying to stay content neutral. Sure.

The former the the existing ordinance does call out various types of signs and we Yes. cross that off.

Basically, just so the public can hear this, it's um this ordinance, the yard seal signs now fall under temporary yard signs, residential and non-residential. specifically remove terms such as yard sale signs, political signs, real estate signs, event signs to make the new ordinance content neutral. Any type temporary yard sign will continue to be allowed without a permit on your own property. Essentially, yard sale signs have always been prohibited on public property and off premises locations like townowned parks, utility poles, street islands. Um, you did suggest where the term def term definitionfinition yard sign was. Let me take this back. While we have added the new term definition yard sign to the revised ordinance, I could I yourself could bulk up the definition of freestanding sign. I don't know whether that would satisfy what I'm asking for and I don't know if there is a way to do that. So, but I appreciate you hearing me.

I I hear you. If there's anybody else that agrees with Mr. Gleason, I' I'd love to hear that. Miss Blake,

I appreciate the amount of time yourself and the team has put into this and and the many hours and months that that has gone forward. And we've looked through this. We had amendments. They've been updated for us. And I don't think it's fair to make a statement of I don't support this. the wording should be different without a statement of what that red line should be. Um, just to help support those working on it. Um, I I feel like you've addressed all of our concerns and added them into this final copy.

I did get a couple of comments back and uh one a couple of them are from homeowners and they were said it was too restrictive for homeowners. It's very confusing. And two that I really got interested in, they said it was basically too complicated for any type of enforcement. And I'm hearing what that you're going to be doing it. I mean, it's, you know, it's almost like self- enforcing. So, but that's the job of the inspector's office. It currently is the job of the inspector's office because we're not going to hire somebody to inspect signs. I mean, this is, you know, town wide. We don't have a fence viewer anymore either.

Yeah, I know. Mr. If anybody, if anybody in the public realm or resident is interested in getting a extensive deep dive into the sign ordinance, I'd be more than happy to explain it to them. You may want to put that out because people are just starting to see it now. They It wasn't really front and center. And when it starts coming up and it's going for a vote, people might started looking at it. That's all I'm saying. We've been talking about this for years now. Well, it's finally come to a head where we're going to do something. And that's what people started looking at. So, it's not me.

I'm looking at the two of you. You're both going for a button. So, Miss Mcdal first. So Leah, if you if you are under temporary signs, what would happen if you just took out yard signs and litical just omitted it? Wouldn't it be easier to do that because remove temporary signs? No, no, no. The the um the categories like political and we did do that. We removed um real estate signs, political signs, yard sales signs, which were originally allowed to be up for like three or four days,

right? Um event signs. We struck them out and just called them all um temporary signs. Yeah. And that was for to be content neutral. Yeah. Just trying to think of something that could uh respond to Mr. Gleason, but it's it's going to be one heck of a thing to enforce. I mean, I can't even imagine that you can enforce it, but

I'm sure I'll hear about the signs. I I do on a daily basis. Um, but I can only gather the ones that are in the rightway on on a street island. Uh, I'm not going to go on somebody's private property. If if Mr. Gleason's selling a set of tires in his in his yard that say for sale, I I can't do anything about that. That's legitimate though. That's a That's a legitimate sign. Unless That's a legitimate sign. Unless it's been up for six months in a day.

Or you can put a for sale sign up saying I'm having a yard sale in three weeks from now. I signs on on state property we're not going to touch. Correct. Like they're in the they're in Portsouth, but they're on state property. We don't do anything about them. I'm not touching any signs on state property or private property. The state normally takes them down. Yeah. Eventually. Yeah. So, that was a question I had. So, um so events, you know, like say the Rotary has the car show and we have signs out all over town,

those will be okay as long as they're not or they won't be okay unless they're in private property. As long as they're on private property. They're not supposed to be in rightaways. I think they've always they've always been. I think everyone that does events um you know, as long on somebody's private property out of the town or state right away, they can be allowed, right? So, yeah, I think it's going to be um So, so for the Rotary Mhm. The abbey owns the top of the court. So you just have to set it back onto their property, not at the state level.

We do that, but we also put them, you know, elsewhere throughout the town just like other events or save the transfer station signs, things like that are if they're on private property in somebody's front lawn. If you want to put a rotary sign in Mr. Gleason's front yard, you could do that. I understand. Or I'm talking West Main, East Main Road. There are private pieces of property on West Main East Road that you could put them on, but you'd have to get the obviously the owner's permission. Okay. And um just another thing, we have there's a hand up on the uh Zoom. I see the hand up there. Okay. So, I'd like to I think we should allow every person. Okay. I just wanted to make sure. But this is supposed to be an up and down vote. It wasn't supposed to be a long discussion, but

Well, I understand. But anything else, Mr. Per? No. Mr. Dpiola? Can you hear me? Yes, sir. Hi. Uh, this is uh Mike Deol. I am the property owner of the corporation that owns 1074 East Main Road. I'm also the person that this sign ordinance is directed at. Whether you guys blatantly say it or not, that's another story. Basically, I am here to address a pattern of government conduct that has moved beyond simple

Mr. I'm going to stop you. If you're not going to talk specifically about the sign ordinance, you will be disconnected. I'm going to try and I have the right to talk and you guys shouldn't shut me off because you let everybody else if you will not talk about the sign ordinance directed towards the sign ordinance and not st as soon as I get to that point I will. But you keep cutting me off. So please let me speak and then you can say whatever you want if that's okay. Let me start over here to corruption. I'm going to cut you off. There is no corruption in town. So if you want I didn't even say the sign ordinance specifically and the changes.

What word did I say that said corruption? The word corruption. I didn't say it. Okay. I read my statement. It doesn't say corruption. Go ahead.

Can I am here to address a pattern of government conduct that has moved beyond simple regulation into a coordinated bat faith crusade against my property and my constitutional rights. I am Sugar Ray Leonard the counter puncher in this battle and not the aggressor which is the bully. Portsouth town hall. Prime example. Recently a member of town council suggested starting a petition 500 signatures to force the town to remove my signs. We all know who that is. This is a stunning admission of complete legal ignorance. No clue whatsoever. You cannot petition away the First Amendment. YOU CANNOT VOTE to violate the a federal consent judgment. That is a sitting official that a sitting official believes a popularity contest can override a citizen's rights proves this council IS OPERATING WITH ZERO understanding of the law. 100% clueless. And that's being very generous. Even more disturbing is the town plan suggestion to rubber stamp approvals for existing signs through zoning appeals, but the building and zoning violations reported by me. The council, the town has gone above and beyond to I'm going to stop you again specifically to the side. That's it. You have a proposed system where preferred neighbors get a free pass.

Mr. DPola, you've been cut off because you are not speaking to the signed ordinance. Either control yourself and speak to the sign ordinance or you will be disconnected again. Mr. Dpio, if you would like to speak to the signed ordinance, you can. Otherwise, we are going to move on. Okay. Any further questions or comments from the council on specifically the sign ordinance? We had a public hearing. We've made multiple changes. We need to start somewhere.

Mr. President, motion to approve as presented. What a bunch of jerks. Excuse that.

Sure. Second. Any further discussion from the council? All those in favor? I opposed. Motion passes four to three with Miss Patton, Mr. Reese, and Mr. Gleason in descent. Thank you, Miss Hitchin, for all your help in this. Next up, we'll move on to new business number four. Excuse me, old business number four. Update on the LMI resolution by Mr. Gleason. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Traveling road show, I guess, more likely

something like that. Um so, uh in January there was a unanimous vote to proceed with uh working together trying to get other towns on board with us to push back, if you will. I'll keep it simple. the ordinances that resolutions, excuse me, ordinances and rules, regulations that have come out of the state house regarding low to moderate income housing in particular. Uh, ADUs is another one that affects us, but they have, you know, these are things that are going to affect our density. Uh, they've taken control away from our planning and zoning boards to a big degree. And uh we have garnered some support from other uh similar communities uh specifically Tiveran, Hopkinington, Buroughville, Smithfield, West Greenwich, Bristol, East Greenwich, Situit. Recently Middletown uh supported us and passed the resolution. Uh Westerly I believe as well. I think there's 11 and potentially Charlestone I think was voting on it tonight. So we have some towns that think the same way uh same way we do that uh we need to try and reverse this situation. Uh it was something that we discussed earlier uh in executive session. We are moving forward with a plan for how to implement this with other other uh communities. Uh, so unless there's any questions, I'm I'm going to make a motion here that we proceed with our, you know, our next step with to our resolution. It's going to cost the c the town and other communities some some

amount of money. We don't think it's a lot of money, but in our case, we're going to start this off with a uh a budget not to exceed $20,000 for the town of Portsmouth if we can gather a minimum of six other communities and the minimum expenses would be $35,000 garnered to proceed forward. Move. Yes. All right. Mr. Re seconded pay question. I have a ton of questions. Uh first and foremost, uh where do we plan on taking this $20,000 out of contingency?

We don't know for certain, but you do have a contingency account. Uh we could expend it from there that that we've unnecessarily already tapped into when we made motion to take out a couple hundred,000 last go around. Um there there's about $128,000 in that account. Okay. What would So, here's my problem. As someone that was not here the evening that the resolution passed because of a funeral. Um, excuse me. That was a seven and nothing vote. You were here when we passed it. I sure as hell no I was not here. Unless you Was that six or nothing? Okay. I'm sorry. Excuse me. Six. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry.

Um, I I I have issues. One, when we pass out these resolutions, these things come out with no teeth. as someone that worked for the general assembly that received these. Sometimes we'll read them, sometimes we won't. People will sign on. There is no political capital to expense on this. It doesn't hurt anyone. There's no harm. There's no foul. But when we're going to put a resolution and now ask for municipalities during budget season when we're all kind of tapped out at this point to now get involved into a lawsuit that will yield Yes. there there are rights that we're trying to to advocate for, but what is it going to truly yield at the end of the day for the town other than being able to make modifications on your home? Now, there is also a ton of legal questions that I'm kind of kind of I I'm kind of concerned with, but that is besides the point. But I don't think that at this time it is prudent for us to take $20,000 when the fire chief can use $20,000 by four new radios. the school can use money in order to be able to buy more textbooks. At this time, I don't think this is the prudent thing to do for the town. And I think that the amount of resolutions that you have back from municipalities is not indicative of towns that are going to be able to sign on to your action and whatever pending litigation is going to come out of it.

Any other comments from counselors? Mr. Carcell, you are standing first, sir. Al Careller, 63 Leaps Road. As you know, I not a big fan of overriding our zoning. The reason I'm here is two weeks ago I was approached at a church event by one of our senators who said, "What is my problem is free money." I decided to put my thoughts down in writing rather than just ramble on. So, respectfully, we need to stop calling state subsidies free money. There is much no such thing as a free development when the town inherits the long-term bill. When the state incentivizes highdensity, low tax yield housing, they are effectively shifting the cost of the growth onto the current residents. Every time, every new unit requires town services, schools for children, police and fire protection, and public works maintenance. But these developments often do not generate the property tax revenue necessary to cover these costs. By bypassing our local zoning, the state is giving us the state isn't giving us a gift. They are creating a permanent structural deficit that rests that that the rest of the Portsouth taxpayers will be forced to subsidize for decades. We aren't just fighting for land control. We are fighting for the phys fiscal health of our town. I have three bullet points. First one is the myth of the subsidy. State money covers the construction, but local taxpayers cover the consumption. The state builds the roof, but Portsmith

pays for the police, the teachers, and the snowplow every year thereafter. Infrastructure strain. Our roads and emergency services were designed for our current zoning. Forcing high density growth without local oversight creates an unfunded mandate. Where we have to upgrade infrastructure on our own dime, the state won't be here to help us. Local accountability. Zoning is how we ensure that the growth is sustainable. When the state removes that control, they remove the community's ability to balance its own budget and protect the character of the neighborhoods. So, I ask this of the state. Has the state provided a 10-year fiscal impact study showing how much the increased costs of the town services will exceed the tax revenue from these specific projects. If not, we're flying blind into a huge tax hike. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Garcel. Mr. Fitz Morris.

Thank you, Mr. President. Larry Fitz Morris, 50 Christian Court. Um, I'm the one that's been going around talking along with some others to some of these councils. And by my fast count, there's about six of them that I've talked to. Um, would like to ensure the council and Mr. Pierro that those councils are very concerned about cost structure as well. Nobody gets into a a lawsuit without taking a reasonable look at the cost structure. In other words, how much is this going to cost? What is the potential of it getting out of control? So I'm answering some of those questions for them in a sense that I'm telling them what what the thought was. They are in fact going to make the decision collectively along with our council. But I assure you that those other councils are taking a very close look at the costs here. And that's that's their business, not ours. if they if they feel that they can afford it and they'll get involved in it. Our course, our council of course is going to make the decision about whether or not we can afford it. And apparently we have sufficient reserves in the contingency fund for the council to do so. But speaking in the broader sense, the assembly has challenged us in many regards on the LMI housing and they've changed our zoning codes and they've changed the ability of the council to change the zoning code in the residential areas. They didn't do any effort to come down here and consult with us. They didn't talk to anybody in the in the public about it. They just forced this on us. Now, whether or not we've got sufficient

funds to fight this out or whether or not we're going to be successful in a lawsuit is really not the point. The point is, are we going to take this kind of action, arbitrary action by an exe executive group at the at the assembly that have made this decision without consultation with anybody in this town? we're going to take that kind of governments from them or not because this establishes a precedent where we're all going to be ruled in every regard by arbitrary laws passed by the assembly who doesn't have to pay for them or implement any of this stuff. They just directing us to do this. So this is this is a challenge that has come down from our state government and their lack of concern about whether or not we want to do what they want us to do is of note. They don't care. They're telling us to do this whether we want to or not. That's why they didn't bother to consult with us. So we either fight it out or we become sheep. Thank you. Any comments or questions from the council?

Just want to make one other comment that um this effort that we're going to undertake here is not just confined to um other councils from different communities, but it is something that people could private groups could contribute to. Um whether that would happen, I would hope so. I know there are different groups uh because that have um you know citizens groups in towns that don't believe in this resolution that are fighting things in town but their council doesn't believe in it. So we are hoping that other that groups like that that want to join our efforts will do so. Just want to add that.

Okay. So, the motion is to not exceed $20,000 and to be and I don't think you put it in there, but to to be taken out of the contingency um to add that to be out of contingency fund to begin this process within um the courts. I'm paraphrasing the motion here, but and to not if we don't get affirmative response from six other communities with at least $35,000, then we will reassess our actions going forward. Correct. I'm getting the highlights of the motion. That's not the exact motion, but the the clerk has the motion. I'm just trying to highlight that. I don't want to put words in

trying to clean it up for me. All those in favor I I oppose. Motion passes 5 to two with M Mr. Pio and Miss Blank in the negative. Thanks for your support. Thank you. We're on to new business number one which request to advertise a public hearing for sound variance for some live music at the Car Fence Point Trum Association block party on July 11th. Uh we would hear this next meeting May 11th. May 11th. Okay. Mr. President, just because I'm a trustee, I'm going to air on the side of caution and step out for this one. Yeah, you don't have to step out. You're fine right there. Have a motion to to approve the public hearing. So moved.

Second. All those in favor? I oppose. Motion passes 70 to zero. To be heard on May 11th. 6. Sorry again, Mr. Gleason not participating. New business number two, Butts Hill Fort Restoration Committee 2026 annual plans, which is probably going to be mowing a lot of lawns and still cutting some bittersweet and chopping down some trees and continuing to clean up. Mr. Dury, how are you?

That was it. That's it. Right. Sto you read ahead. Uh Paul Murphy 16 in Prospect Lane, chairman of the Butill Ford Commission uh committee, sorry. Um just have a few slides. This is an update for just um what we plan on doing for 2026. Nothing nothing too cosmic. Uh no surprises really. Uh there's a team pitcher underneath Gloria Schmidt. You can see Jim Garmin. We did lose Jim Garmin this year. He was one of the founders of the uh Butel Ford committee as you know. Uh and our strongest proponent. So we we miss him a lot. Um passed away during Blizzard which is just like him. Uh next slide. Just recapping because we I haven't been here in a couple of years, but when we first pitched this about two and a half years ago, it was to get outside of the bowl of the of Butel Ford and work to the paths and work in uh which which we accomplished uh between 22 23 and 24 as a before and after shot uh if you're standing at the turban looking towards the high school. Uh just as one example, but we affected this plan uh with the help of DPW. Next slide. Um, that's a kind of a before and after. The idea was to get to the earth works themselves so that we could analyze and then manipulate and do pricing on how much it's going to take and what it's going to take to uh restore and uh stabilize and maintain the earthwork. So the lower right corner picture is actually a isolated earthwork. Next slide. Um because we we've been talking in phases, what we did was we chopped up the uh Ford uh in basically straightaways so that we could actually price things and look at them and analyze them and do it in a scalable way. So this left-hand slide that's colorful the um is 14 segments of earthwork and ditch. Uh we did get a generous grant from uh Van Beern charitable foundation uh which we were able to do in 2024. We thought

we'd only be able to do the gold section, but um we actually uh came through with um a combination of volunteer effort and uh a really good bid by uh Whipple Tree in Portsouth, who's also a stakeholder. And uh we were able to do the entire southern half, which we call phase one. So the lower on the right hand side there, the lower the lower lighter green band is around the southern half of the fort. We accomplished that. um or we proposed that that was done with the tree and speaking of Fitzgerald that was done with the tree uh tree warden through the tree commission with the help of DPW um yourselves we had to go through the state Rhode Island historic preservation commission and get uh them lined up because so we could work on the earthworks themselves. So that that was a successful process and we appreciate the entire town um support admin all the way around. Uh, next slide. We, uh, this is a current picture 2025. So, if you look at the before and afters, if you haven't been up there lately, I know most of you have. This is the southern earthwork that faces the high school. Uh, I think it came out pretty good. Uh, it's all been hydro seated. Uh, we take care of that. Next slide. This is a kind of a plan view, but this is actually reality of what's on the ground right now. There's a pathway system. The lower the lower part is the Portsouth High School parking lots. The white P is the turbine lot, the wind turbine lot. And the rest of it is the path system that covers over to Dyer and Butts Street. The uh brown box is wealth management or wealthare which used to be the Legion building is a major proponent of what we've been doing. Uh in front of that is the is the uh Butel Fort Green lot 72 uh which I'll get to in a minute, but that shows uh essentially what we have in our hands right now. Um, what we take care of is more like in dark green, DPW, all those guys do uh it's in their job

jar to do the parade field. So, we keep it up to date. We're working on the we're still working on the earthworks, the ditches, keeping the place litter free, uh, you know, ready to go with tours and things. This year, what we'd like to do is we have we have to focus on fundraising to do the north half of the fort, which is going to be a sizable project just like the south. Uh but we'd like to we think the we think the site is ready for historical markers for science standard 24 24 by 36 canal levered uh class act looking slides which we are working on. Uh we got a $5,000 grant from Americana Corner, which is a uh philanthropist uh to underwrite some of that. And we think we can make that up with private funding to u you knowffectuate that. And we're talking, you know, so when people go up there, they can see here's where the barracks was. Here's here's the British period, here's the battle, that kind of stuff. So we'd like to pursue that. Um again, this is all this is 100% town owned land. Uh we're just, you know, trying to be good stewards of it and try to turn it and keep transforming it into a heritage site. Uh I'll stop there if you have any questions for now. Just stop on this just while we have a slide up that has a map. Any questions?

Go forward. No, you guys are doing a great job. It's it's it's very nice to walk through now. Appreciate that. I I hope you guys didn't get too much Poison Ivy.

You'll never know. Um so so permanent slide. So, so, uh, signage. Um, so we're also working with American Battlefield Trust, uh, to, um, use what they call a Liberty Trail Rhode Island, which is a virtual trail, which something that can be QR code and done on an app where you go visit sites. Um, they have one in New Jersey, they got one in South Carolina. There's one up in Massachusetts on Battlefield um, Battle Road up there. They want to make a Rhode Island version and it would be on them. So, we're going to take them up on that. We think it's a great value. You know, we just have to provide some of the content with our historians. Next slide. Uh to the left is a brand new battle map of the Battle of Rhode Island that American Battlefield Trust is in the middle of. It's this is a beta version, but it's going to be about that elaborate. That's only the top half of the map, but um you know, they're doing that gratus. We're working with them. We we've been back and forth with them on the uh actual content with our historians. Uh right now it's up to Christian McBurnernney who's the top historian in the state for the Battle of Rhode Island or uh campaign. So before we lock anything like that into a sign, we want to make sure it's as good as it gets. But that's that's kind of what we're about on the sign project. So I don't think there's any controversy there. Um next slide. Uh we also would like to we think we're ready that cops of dirt there behind that's Stan Forier, one of our disabled veterans and volunteers. uh is to put a uh a board marker sign like a classic wooden sign just like we have out here at Legion Park or uh or at the fire station. U guilt sign, wooden with a town logo in the middle of it. So you can see it from the high school when you no matter where you are in the high school, you can see it up on the hill. It's not but it wouldn't be on the earthworks. It' be on a mound before that. So we think that's doable this year with the permission. Again, it's a it' be I guess we'd pay for it, but it' go on Ton property so that it looks like a good entrance sign. Uh if there's any question on that, happy to talk about

it, but we'd like to do that this year as well. Uh we need to expend the $5,000 grant that Americana Corny gave in 26. So signs are our main priority, the historical signage, but this is also as an entry sign. We think it's a good idea. Okay, next slide. on the other side, the uh smaller green, but Ford green. We're going to have a an Eagle Scout project on this to replace the wooden rails, uh which has been long and coming, but we think we can pull that off this year. Eagle Scouts, they make their own project. It's the kind of outreach project we we like to see in the town. Uh hopefully, uh the Eagle Scout can manage his budget and troops and everything and get this thing done in this year so that he can earn his uh Eagle badge. And um so we'll be helping with that. Um it says Butel Fort Green on it, but that is that little square right there that's right in front of the entrance. Um other other minor projects won't go into uh they're not really projects, but like the stone walls that are really aesthetic and not part of the historical features of the fort, we we're going to be tinkering with those as well. Um next slide. So retake the hill. We're just we're aiming for 100,000. We'll take 75. We'll take 30. We'll take whatever we can get. But um this again is for the phase 2 north project cuz it's going to be it's going to be pricey. Um we can do it. It's a scalable project. So we're just going to keep going with sections of earthwork in worst to first and uh we think we can pull that off. But we're going to try to do this since it's the semiscantennial year is to take advantage of that at every chance we get to include a lot of the uh Portsouth 250 events and other things that are happening. But that's what we're embarking on. Next slide. And if we do get phase two, this is what it would look like. It's no really different than the one I just showed you except that the north is done. Uh the the brown road up on the top is just

Dana Dana Street and Butt Street and it would connect down. Uh you could do a figure eight right now. The girls high school track team works through there that you know there's dog walkers every day. There's uh plenty of neighborhoods pretty thrilled about all this. So we think it's it's just a good news story. It's like the Artemis 2 project. Um there is one traffic flow item up at the top where sorry the streets aren't um I think you can see where Dire Street is and where Buts is. There's a P and a P. Right now there's a town dirt mound uh that's on the top of Dyer Street that's just it's there for a block because in the old days they didn't want anyone parking at the fort. Now that seniors have parking at the fort that's really it really has not been a problem in the last three or four years. We don't we don't feel so we like to do is work with the town to have that dirt pile removed and then allow traffic around Dyer onto that parallel street which is with the brown it's got a pee on it but that's Earl Street that that entire area was cleared by us in the last four years that the street existed but it was just covered now it's drivable but instead of having people drive up there and do three-point turns and unnatural ax and vehicles it would be just better to just have a flow through and it really wouldn't impact there's no there's no residential area there until you get much further down the street. Um so that's a thing we'd like to do and again because it involves town streets um I don't know if chief or fire if you guys want to come up and take a look at it happy to show you guys up there any I don't know if you had a chance to read through the uh the letter. So, you'd be looking to take away the big pile of dirt that was stopping, you know, those awful seniors from punching on poor but putts that may or may not have happened by members of this council.

That's right. Back in the day. Um, but then placing maybe some of the some stones or something to block access, which would be those two green little

Right. That's what that shows is the two boxes would be like some, you know, planters, you know, like post 911, we put up all kinds of things to block vehicles, right? something something like that to to block vehicles from going down the path which I know used to be a road uh but that that's it. I mean once you get that it'd be aesthetically it look aesthetically better but it also makes sense for the limited amount of visitors you do get up there that they can just park and walk their dogs and like I said they don't have to back down the street and do other things. Um a straw pulled the neighborhood I there's really no there's really no push back to that either. Um the only thing we ever heard was don't park on butts but you can't park on butts now anyway. Buns is Buns is the next parallel over but it's very narrow. Uh nor would you want to park there if you had a place to park up further at the fort. So there's that. Any questions on that? Okay. That's a these are aspirational goals as we'd like to do this. Um we're going to press forth um with with that in mind.

Questions, comments, concerns? Best what we could do is ask DPW, the police, and also to work with the school department just to make sure it's okay up there and if you have some sort of a plan that's going to lock it off to keep it safe. I mean, that would be my only concern up there. Um, other than that, it connects the path connects down to the uh to the to the parking lot at the high school. So, kids actually transit that today going back and forth from school, which is great. Um, but yes, and hopefully by the end of summer, they'll have a sidewalk to walk on on Spring Street. The sidewalks are great, too. Mel,

yeah. I I just want to say that I I think the commitment of your group, the enthusiasm that you bring to the work that you do there, your ability to get volunteers to support you is truly inspirational. I've been to a couple of functions there and it's it's just a great feeling to Thanks, Mr. You have to be commended. your whole group has to be commended on the work that they've done on behalf of the town. Thank you.

Thank you. Last slide is just an event slide, but I won't go into it. There you go. Uh we have a park days two weeks from now. Speaking of events, uh and then at the end of the year, we do a Bertquist, who is one of our founders, uh uh Marine Corps and Daughters of the American Revolution is kind of the two bookend events we do with clearings in the middle. And then on the 29th, we're going to have our musket our sunset musket salute like we do every year this year with special tribute to uh Jim Carman. So that'll be on the 29th. That's all I have and appreciate the work. Any other questions? Thank you very much for all you guys do up there. It's it's looking fantastic. Thank you.

And stay safe with the poison ivy and the ticks. New business number three, our annual amendment to ordinance 99628 for tax exemptions. Matt, how are you? I am well. How are you? I am well, thank you sir. uh this is just every uh 3 years to update the uh amount that people's exemptions will be the basically the same monetary value increase in values if we kept the same assessed values the exemption would go down so this it's the same percentages but the dollar amounts go up

the yeah we have a motion to approve so moved second all those in favor I opposed. Motion passes 720. Thank you, Matt. Next up, we have a review of process timeline for the discovery of uh the $86,000 in the transfer station fund uh of the completed audit. Miss McDall,

thank you. I just have a um a few comments and concerns regarding this. And I feel that the failure to promptly inform the town council of the audit report and revisions, particularly given that we had to vote to approve the hiring of the auditor, did not allow us to do our jobs properly. I understand it is not practical that everything the administration does makes it through to the council, but I would like to propose that going forward, perhaps by ordinance change, that we require that any correspondence from our auditors or from the general officers or courts of the state be included either in correspondence or the town administrators report and be presented to the town council at the next regularly scheduled town council meeting. This would not only solve an issue of transparency relative to audits, but would also address issues related to operative decisions or similar matters that have in the past not always been communicated to the council. Have I do have one question regarding this? Have we signed the contract for the auditor yet? So the award letter does serve as the contract and that was awarded right after the council meeting.

So the council vote technically as the contract. Um that is correct. Okay. Um, so I I would like to make a motion that any correspondence from our auditors or from the general offices or the courts of the state be included in either correspondence or the town administrator's report and be presented to the count town council at the next regularly scheduled town council meeting. That is my second your motion for discussion. you say general

sorry when you say general officers um as you get and I get every day um press releases from the governor do you want those included in there or you talking about official official I'm talking about official um works from or correspondence from the state regarding any issue that we have that's what I'm responding Mr. Gre Tom Greb 110 The Drive. Mhm.

I I remember a few other uh times the audits been changed um either during the the process um after it was uh delivered to the to folks um or afterwards. Um like with the budget, I think there should be a record of any changes to an audit. Uh date, reason for the change, uh who who approved it. Um undisclosed changes create um the potential to have uh decisions made on outdated or inaccurate information. Um, I will give you a a a brief uh story. Uh, and way back when Mr. Kessen was on the council, uh, the audit was changed. Um, I had a paper copy. I'm sorry, he had a paper copy. I had I was looking at the um the online copy and we were on the phone and both of us thought the other was crazy uh because we couldn't understand what the other was was saying. Um, now there's people up here that would say we're both right, but um

perhaps the the uh the fact was the original paper copy um had one number and it had been changed and not noted online. That's the sort of thing that can happen um when things are changed and not noticed. We do an excellent job on the budget uh with all of the the changes. Um and there are more a lot more changes on budgets. Um but uh I think adopting the same methodology for any change to an audit um would would also be helpful. Thank you.

Noted. Thank you, sir. There's a motion and a second to provide either correspondence or town administrator report for official communications. I'll leave it at that, but you covered more than that. Um, all those in favor? I opposed. Motion passes 7 to zero. Next up, we have a lengthy list of list of correspondents. There is there anything anybody wants to pull off? Hearing none. Do I have a motion to receive and place on file? So moved. Second. All those in favor?

I opposed. Motion passes seven to zero. Next, we have our future meetings. On April 27th, we'll have our regularly scheduled hearing, which will also cover the revenue portion of the town council budget. And then on April 28th, 29th, and potentially on the 30th, we will have hearings for the expenditure sides, which will begin with the school department, fire department, police department, and DPW, I believe, on the 28th, and then all other departments and sections of the budget on the 29th. Hopefully, we do need to go back into executive session under Rhode Island general Law. Got to make sure we got the right ones here. 42465A2.

That's it. And that's it. So sessions pertaining to collective bargaining. Are they both the same? So I have a motion to return into executive session. So moved. Second. All those in favor? I oppose. Ocean passes 7 to