Town Council - Special Meeting

I'm going to just start the meeting. So, everybody, good evening. Welcome to the legislative workshop. It's uh an open agenda. We have a couple of town issues that we do have on the agenda, but we're going to start with the pledge of allegiance. All rise. Pledge allegiance to the flag of America to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty, justice for all.

Uh, okay. Hi, Jim. Uh, we're going to have uh new business. We have a new business one discussion and action regarding energy conservation proposals from Vision Energy Solutions. This is the replacement of the old T12 fluorescent lights in the valve pits at the wastewater treatment facility and it also has to do with using the remainder of the Rhode Island Office of Energy grant funds for weatherization of town hall. Mr. Manager, good evening.

Thank good evening uh Mr. President, members of the council. Um the uh the first opportunity we have to take advantage of an incentive from the uh uh National Grid and and Vision Energy Solutions is for replacement of some lights at the wastewater treatment plant. Um those lights are in the the valve pits were out which are on the property. Um they're pretty old. I understand that the they're it's very dark when you use those lights. The old T uh fluorescent light. Oh yeah. anytime we can like get rid of these and put in the new

um so the the incentive the uh the total cost is $345383. Um we have an incentive of $160054. So uh the town would be paying uh $1,800 uh to to upgrade these lights. Okay. Is there a motion to accept? Where are we getting the 1,800 from? It would come out from the plant operations fund. I'll make a motion we approve uh replacement of the old E12 Alexa light. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? I. Okay. Moving right along.

The second item is uh if you recall several months ago, there was a grant that we had from uh the office Rhode Island Office of Energy. uh we weren't able to um execute that grant uh for it was $55,000, but uh there were some concerns about uh the the equipment and whether that equipment was uh under warranty and what the warranty would be later on. Um what has happened is they've come up with an alternative proposal and that is the weatherization of this building. Great. Um, and the grant and the incentives will cover the full amount of this project and there'll be no out-of- pocket expense for the town and no computers.

No computers. Correct. Is there a motion to accept? I'll make a motion we use the remainder of the Rhode Island Energy Grant for weatheration for non autonomous weatherization in stereo. I'll second that. All in favor? I. And next we have a request from the Department of Transportation for permission to conduct road paving activity during overnight now hours on Market Street. And uh before you start on that I want to add that we met we had a very quick meeting uh last week.

It's okay. Hopefully we're going to get I don't know if uh you know this chief hopefully I asked uh DOT to just pave the whole road and when the day comes that they solve the water problem they can cut up whatever section but their uh newest uh approach is now from schoolhouse to uh Mal the intersection and they would be leaving out from Crossroad Pub to Mallex. So, uh, you guys can hear this now for us and maybe put some pressure. I asked them, you know, take a look at your budget and just give it a skim coat to for that one remaining section that they pulled out for the engineering aspect and the underwater because they I don't know if you know this, they pulled that section out. Rulie evidently was uh pushing Prit to be pulled out because I don't know why, but that one section got pulled out. So, what we're hoping is they will hear us and maybe not even give it a great skim coat, but just grind it and give us something other than what we have now. And then when the day comes for, I'm sure a multi-million dollar project, we can, you know, cry over the asphalt they're cutting up. Uh, but you can continue with your request for the overnight hours.

Sorry, just for clarification, Mr. President. So the current scope of the project is from Schoolhouse Road to to end at Malix basically. Correct. But the the area from Malix to the traffic light on Market Street. All that would not be in the package. Correct. They pulled it out because they want to do engineering and water remediation and utility and all of that. But the surface aspect of it makes no sense to me because when you do look at where they're going to be working on the drains and all of that, it's a very small area compared to the to the amount of bumps that we're living with and and it's it's horrible. I can tell Senator Fel's got to push this help us he's got that look

on the plan that I saw. Councilman, it was part of the resiliency effort. H uh it it looks like it's a really small area now, but one of the solutions is basically to elevate that. Oh, you mean the whole water? Yeah, the whole go out much further so you don't have too much of a slope as you come bumping over the river. But with my discussion with them is that's years down the road and for now to leave that section all potholes like it is uh to me doesn't make sense. It's unacceptable.

So you're asking for overnight permission? Yes, D is asking for overnight permission to do the work from Malik to Schoolhouse Road. Um, this is the maintenance division that is doing this work. Um, uh, as we all know that it's a very busy road during the daytime. Um, I think that it would be a traffic nightmare during the daytime and, uh, so they're requesting to do this overnight and this is, uh, this pavement is a result of, uh, Senator Felak, um, reaching out to maintenance division and asking them to do something. Tell us. Thank you, sir. Senator, thank you. They didn't tell us that we had the request for this on Main Street. We granted it a for two reasons. One, it would ease traffic during the day and two, it would make the project go faster and get them out of here quicker.

So, I'll make a motion we approve uh night work on Market Street. So, my fun, Mr. Mr. Hanley, I'll second that motion. All in favor? I uh So, thank you, Senator Felag, for that. And uh that is all of our town business. So hopefully Senator Felag will be uh as successful with maybe our hope of getting that other area done instead of just cutting it off because of a future project. All we can do is hope. Anything else, Mr. Manager? No, I was just going to introduce Randy Rossi, but please.

Uh yeah, Mr. uh president and members of the council. I'd like to introduce Randy Rossi from the League of Cities and Towns who's uh here to discuss some of the uh uh agenda of the the league for this legislative session. U good evening.

Good evening. Thank you so much for having me here tonight and uh it's great to see you all again and uh be here down in Warren. Unfortunately, the lights weren't on for me down the road tonight. Uh which the last time for your swearing in got to appreciate the uh the holiday lights, which was uh really delightful. Um so before you tonight, we're talking about our priorities that were put together for this uh legislative session that were based on the responses from 34 out of the 39 cities and towns. And and the way that we handle that is that we send out a survey of all the top priorities that could possibly be affecting our cities and towns. And the responses come in, we tally them up, and we go with the the highest count, you know, based on the majority of all of those members, which was definitely definitely spoton showing which priorities were important to our cities and towns. Uh, and I'm going to briefly go through those, but it's really to reflect that we all have the same problems. No matter what city or town we're in, we're facing financial issues, we're facing zoning issues, we're facing infrastructure issues, whatever it might be, it's really pretty much the same. Um, so our top priority of course always is educational funding. Um, you know, we we've worked very closely with the Rhode Island Foundation and the Blue Ribbon Commission, which I know the manager has briefed the council on. How are you, sir? Um the it's all about bringing transparency to how education aid is figured out. We need to make sure that they figure out what the true cost of education for a child is and make sure that the city and town and the school district are receiving the necessary dollars to fund that child and at the same time making sure those dollars travel with the child no matter where they are. So that that's a big part of of of building the base of what education aid needs to be and ensuring that a necessary dollars go into the communities. From that we broke it out into adding

transparency to the school districts as well. They need to be able to say where the dollars are going and to make sure that when you guys pass your budgets that the dollars are going in the right places so that the district is producing the best for our children. So that that's that's really the the cliffnotee version of what the report had to deal with. Um, so what's coming forward? There'll be there's draft legislation that the Rhode Island Foundation is bringing forward uh in the next week or so uh to the general assembly and they have hired a lobbyist as well to to lobby on behalf of that. They just recently met uh with the executive board to go over it so that we can help push that message forward. Might not be funded this year, the next year is we have to find a way to fund. you know, there's just unfortunately there's not bottomless pit of money as we all know and the money tree doesn't grow fast enough. Um, but we need to start somewhere and start building a system that's sustainable and is able to to plan for the future of our children. So, that's that's a big piece of the education funding and always it comes down to we need to make sure more dollars go into the communities. There's only so much we can tax our residents and we have to find other ways to get revenue in order to offset that. The number two and three items really come out with land use and zoning and housing. We all know that there's a housing crisis in the state of Rhode Island and we have to find a way to get necessary housing for the next generation, our kids, our grandkids and so forth and find a way to make it affordable for them to live in this state in our in our cities and towns. I know you right now I know my daughters would never be able to buy a house in we live in the town of Smithfield. They would never be able to afford to buy a house in Smithfield right now. it's just not possible. So, we have to find a way to balance growth and have responsible growth around the state in which the infrastructure is able to handle it and we're able to make sure that whether or not it's roads, schools, drainage, sewage, whatever it is that it's all can accommodate what could potentially be

there. So, we're working very close with the general assembly on this. Uh and we're working on the possibility of specific legislation to help potentially pause the comp permit aspect of uh legislation that was passed last year where if your community has enough units that are approved of affordable units to get you to that 10% threshold that you have the possibility to play catch-up so that your departments, your planning, your building, your zoning can catch up on those highdensity projects and make sure that they're done properly and planned properly. So that's something that we're working with them on um to address that as well. [clears throat] Our next item, which of course goes across the board, is the transportation infrastructure and resiliency. You guys are waterfront community. Your resiliency is key. Also too, as I was talking with the manager earlier tonight about the storm water and necessary drainage to make sure that all your residents are safe. We never know when those storms are coming again. Fortunately, we know that there's rain coming in the next day or two. Snow's out there. We can't have that amount of water on the roadways deteriorate, you know, that the the structure itself as well as just keeping the flow, you know, as as everyone knows. So, you know, we're asking as well uh to the, you know, through the governor's budget, which unfortunately there's not a ton in there. uh but potentially, you know, once once everything gets reconciled in the end, uh to see about additional uh infrastructure dollars to go back into the communities and that kind of feeds too into what we were talking about about the housing. So, it it's difficult to have high density projects if there's not necessary infrastructure to be able to make them grow and and be put in the necessary spots where you have growth areas. I know it's difficult in some communities to have actual growth areas, but they do exist and we just have to find a way to make it work. Unfunded mandates, which is always a big

topic for us, is is finding what gets passed in legislation to make sure that we can afford it and and pay for it. So, it it's been great the relationship over the last year with the general assembly making sure to work with the cities, league of cities and towns on what legislation's going forward and how it would affect uh all of our cities and towns and definitely your representation is fantastic at that. Uh, you know, the lines of communication are always open and we're very blessed about that. Um, so it's that's that's definitely one of our our hot topic items as always. [clears throat] And then definitely uh local budgeting and discipline is our our last pillar uh in this legislative package and really finding the ways for the communities to be sound with their financial aspects, but as well as to make sure we get the necessary dollars into the communities. So, you know, we're working with the governor's office on his budget. There's a couple things that are crucial to protecting our cities and towns. one being the net metering credits that they're trying to change as one of the budget articles uh which has right now been slowed for the time being but could have a huge financial impact to our cities and towns that have net metering credits in the you know the area of a couple hundred,000 each. So uh it's substantial dollars where I think the the concept was there to help lower energy bills but we can't take it on the backs of the cities and towns. So, that's something that we're working with the governor's office on now. So, know I'm throwing a lot of things at you. There's a lot lot of activity going on even though it's a nice break week. Uh, but we got a lot ahead. Um,

but what we can do now is allow the council to have questions. Trust Ross from uh League of City and Town. But first, I forgot to introduce our representative Speakman, Senator Felag, and Representative Knight had a conflict with tonight. Uh so he gives us his um regrets that he he couldn't be here but we'll get word to him on whatever issues we send your way. Uh Mr. Hannah.

Yeah. My my main focus is that the housing issue. I've been saying this for years and I constantly keep getting the same answer but no reasoning behind it. I'm I'm a building official for the city of Pucket in Central Falls. So I see the housing market. I see the mills coming online. I see this happen. I see these units going to people from Quincy who are willing to pay $1,000 more a month than anyone from Rhode Island can pay. And my solution, which is base it on residency. If they get a zoning uh relief or zoning lessening, base it on Rhode Island residency. And I always hear, "Well, you can't do that." Then please explain to me why we do it for senior housing. And please explain to me why we do it for section. It's not called section 8 anymore, but for low-income housing. Why are those vouchers tied to residency, but we can't use residency for the for the affordable housing? There's I've never heard a good answer. And if we need our federal delegation to help us change the law to do it, that's what they're there for. Okay. And the other concern I have is they're gutting our building and zoning code. They're literally gutting them. There's one bill that's been presented which absolutely amazes me [snorts] that someone would even come up with this one. It's H7563. It's called the develop the development review efficiency act. What that does is that allows the developers and the contractors to hire their own inspectors to have their own plans reviewed by someone they are hiring to have their building permit issued by someone that they are hiring. It's like putting the inmates in charge of the asylum. Uh, and that's I haven't had a chance to review them review them all. I just try to focus on the ones that affect what I that I have my expertise in.

Gotcha.

So, that's that's what I'm Stop gutting our building codes. Stop gutting stop gutting safety for uh feel-good let's make more houses because they're cheaper. The only people that are making money on these changes are the developers and the contractors. It's not help. It's not cutting down on on the the number of people that need houses because when they do come online, they're going to the highest bid bidder from Quincy. We're solving Quincy's problem. We're solving Brain Trainy's problem. They're taking that extra hour ride but paying $2,000 less a month than they would pay there. That's whose problem we're solving with all of these laws that have been created. Creating all of these units are not solving Rhode Island's problems. there's there's got to be a much better effort made at that and there's going to be a lot more thinking instead of just passing things that make you feel good.

Any response? Well, definitely on the on the preference side, it's something we have to review. Um, you know, I I don't know the exact reason off the top of my head. Uh, you know, because a lot Oh, no. I didn't I didn't not putting you on the spot, just giving you opportunity to respond. No, no, no, no. I appreciate it. No, I I was taking note and and and definitely we need to, you know, uh CJ and I have been looking at that uh development review. I we need to dig into that a little bit more. Uh and I haven't seen that there's the um the Senate side of that as well. So, I haven't I haven't seen a companion. So, um you know, we we will be on that and keep an eye on it. Mr. Rego, do you have any

I hope healthare I was looking over the budget yesterday for the school committee's 15% increase. I'm sure that sounds probably same increase. I don't know how that's sustainable. I I don't know how we continue to go on and we have to p and then you know just increasing it at will and I and I did read uh I'm sorry I was late but you're trying to together something with all the communities as far as trying to pull the insuranceances that something that

so so we do currently uh the majority of our members are part of the Rhode Island interlocal trust Um so that pulled aspect does help save um you know it's it's made substantial impact on on where those you might see 15% and you know in certain pools where with the trust they actually have the buying power at a larger level um the way that they've got their agreement. So is the more people that get under that pool that they'll be able to reap that benefit. Unfortunately, as we know with certain things with the Affordable Care Act, there's certain aspects of that not giving credits that gets passed down to our membership, you know, of that pool as well. So, there's different pieces that fluctuate everything. Um, but it's it's the best buying power and the best opportunity for schools and uh the the towns.

It seems like the more we put into the health system, the more they take. And I was telling him the other day that I went to the doctors and got this thing now facilities use. I paid $200 for the doctor 15 minutes cost 200 to use the facility. Seems like it's they're getting away with it. Don't meet you in the car. I had my appendix out and I got the bill. Again, I have insurance but they built the insurance $5,000. Now I'm paying for myself. If I would have known going in, I would have said I'm not going in to pay $5,000. And I think that's part of the problem. There's no disclosures to let people know that there's going to be a facility use. And I have no problem. People can make whatever they want. I always look at the menu before I order. And you know, if that menu is too high, I leave. But with healthcare, that's not even enough.

Miss Cronin, do you have anything you'd like to ask, say, or declare? I

I have a bunch of notes of things that, you know, I'd like to see happen as far as priorities go. And you talked at the beginning about um education and the cost of it and and uh you know how we can do better as a state to educate our students. I wonder if anybody ever considers the idea of reducing the number of school districts in the smallest state that we have 36 I think out of the 39 cities and towns is just it blows my mind every time I remember it which is often. And now that we're going into budget season, um, municipal and education, uh, I I just don't know why. So, does anybody ever say, "Hey, let's have three. Let's break it into to to three sections. Let's share the wealth. Let's partner. Let's collaborate. Let's reduce the cost across the board." I'm I just don't understand why that's never had any uh nobody's ever suggested it. So, so it does come up uh and it was definitely part of the commission as well to to see about expanding regionalization. Um, you know, it's something that we always talk about, we do talk about it on the town, city and town level. Um, a lot of times it it it comes down to the decision makers from those communities deciding not to go forward. There's been some talks down in Newport, uh, Middletown and everything about them merging, and it's one vote goes one way, the other vote goes the other way, and then they never they never become a region. Um, but it's also bringing back the incentives to help kick it over that, you know, over the hump uh to become a a regional district. So, those conversations are going. Uh, cities and towns are continuing to try to collaborate on different things. And, you know, one of the the projects I worked on before I left uh when I was in the town of Smithfield was a regional animal shelter. You know, we we partnered with uh Johnson and North Providence, built a new shelter. there's no reason for us to have three shelters

in that small amount of area where all of the officers help one another uh you know when the other one's not working. So it's it's just having the conversations and making things work. So I I think people are finally starting to realize we have to have more of those conversations. Um we are pushing to from the league working with the school districts to try to find ways to work together. So the conversations are starting more and more. Um there's no direct initiative right now. I know there's some legislation in there bumping those uh additional uh percentages on education aid if you regionalize. Um so I think if the incentives are there, people will start to do it. So well then the incentives go away because we regionalized and we don't get any bonuses any longer and

it phases out. Yeah, it phases out. So you know still and we're still topheavy. We didn't reduce the a lot of the old upper echelon positions when we regionalized. Yeah. you [clears throat] just ended up with almost two of everything.

Yeah. The other thing is just it I think you touched on it a little bit is the transportation cost for education. And I don't know exactly what you were referring to, but the fact that we pay for the transportation of students who choose not to be educated within our district to go out of district. The cost of that is just uh it just rises every every year and it's it's it's crazy. And then the cost of educating the money follows the student. And I don't know what the numbers are on this. I don't know if anybody in the room does, the money follows the student. But if the student gets to a a program in another district, CTE program, whatever it is, and they say, "Hey, it's not for me." The money stays there. So we're we're out, you know, double now. And I don't know if that's happened. I just know that that is um that exists and it doesn't make any sense. But the the cost of transporting all of these students out of the district, I it just that that feels like something that's so out of control that um we're just looking the other way and letting it letting it balloon. So, so there was a joint commission uh that that reported out last at the end of last session. Uh and they made a lot of headway um with with numerous recommendations and and a bunch you know some of the the starting points were approved um last session um really changing uh the smaller bus sizes uh allowing for more competition amongst the the bus companies so that you had temporary licensing of bus drivers from other states from Mass and Connecticut. Rhode Island is one of the most stringent um uh regulators of bus driving licenses. Um so to allow those other companies to bid. So it's helping reduce that. But the big the big dollar value really has to do with the regions. Um, and a perfect example is actually a superintendent from the Bristol Warren School District was was at presenting at

the commission one night that I was there where they're actually busing a child from Bristol all the way to Smithfield for a for a private school that there's one right near the person's house. That was the example that was given. And the amount of money and and I just feel bad for that child taking a bus from Bristol all the way to Smithfield every day and back. So your district, your regional district is paying for that child to go back and forth where those districts have not been touched in I want to say 35 years. So that has to be fine-tuned. And that was something that they tried to get in at the end of last session. Unfortunately, a lot of the private schools came out opposing that because it would take away from the private schools being able to get free busing. So it it's being looked at and I know legislation is forthcoming to try to fix those districts to be where the surrounding communities actually are. So it makes sense to where you're busing and that you're paying for versus halfway across the state. So it is it and that that is one of the big things that we pushed last year unfortunately um you know is kind of time was up uh towards the end of the session and didn't get passed. So it is on the radar. Uh that's somewhere between four and $5 million that would be able to go back into the coffers to be for other statewide transportation where the ones that you're required by federal law to transport the children, those dollars could go towards that instead of paying for private school students to get transported from one side of the state to the other. So it it's definitely it's a big dollar value and and definitely could be there to help offset some of the other costs.

We could hire a limousine cheaper. Yeah, Mr. Trombley lift.

Thank you. Just to follow up on that, I was going to bring up um last year there was uh bill H6236 by Rep. Cordrin, which came out of her study commission on student transportation, which changed really reformed the regionalization of uh where we where we fit in that which was I believe um I forget if it was Miss Riley herself who served on the commission, but I do know there was a representative from the Bristol Warren School District on there. And um I hope I I would ask the I I know that Rep. Snite and Spiegman were co-sponsors of the House one. I don't know if there was a Senate companion, but um yes,

for for that bill in particular, I'm hoping that it comes out again this year and that uh our reps will our our delegation will push that through. Our costs for transportation alone, I think, are going up nearly 13% in this year's school budget, 13%. So I I have no problem with people going to private school, sending their kids to private school, but that that cost of sending them that far to from Bristol Smithfield cannot fall on the taxpayers. Just cannot. Um I have two uh pieces of legislation I've drafted. I I've sent a copy to our our fellow council people. We're not we're not getting there. Yeah. All right. That's all I'll bring up for now.

Okay. And one other thing I thought of when you said that, Councilman, was that there is there is also the conversation about finding a way for that statewide transportation to drop children off in the district as they're passing by the schools that they're going by. So to find a way to intertwine the local transportation mall with the statewide transportation. So, that's another thing that I know they were studying and I think that's coming out uh in the next month or so as well from ride um to see about ways to do that because you're you're you're driving by facilities, driving by children with another bus where you could just pick them up on the way. So, there's a lot of things being looked at with that as well. I have one more that good to to suggest when you're here and it's one that I've brought up in the past and it kind of didn't go very far, but being that you are, you know, the League of Cities and Towns, maybe you could um give me some feedback on whether anybody else would be interested in doing this. Currently, when you purchase at a a local liquor store, you pay 7% tax on beer and wine. Spirits, there's no additional tax. I think I've got my facts straight. So all of that 7% goes straight into the state's coffers. But we here in the town where we have three liquor stores, you know, the impact to our cost as far as police and fire and social emotional health, all of those issues that surround the consumption of of alcohol. We get none of that 7%. I think the cities and towns should get at least 1% if not 2% of that 7%. I had the local um liquor store owners push back hard when it was discussed publicly because they thought I was suggesting making 7% into eight or 9%. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that the state should generously and very um appropriately kick back at least a percent or two to the city and town where that alcohol is

purchased. The meals tax is perfect example. Exactly. That's added. Well, I'm I'm not suggesting that meals tax added a tax 8%. No, what I'm saying is the 1% that comes back to the towns. So added on was added on, right? The meals tax, right? So it's he's talking about something different and but no we're talking about when liquor when you buy a bottle of wine the tax goes to the state and then 1% should come back to the town. That's what Miss Cronin right out of that 7% without increasing it to 8%.

Right. No that's a that's great and I always I always try to find the pieces to come back to the community. So it's something we will definitely look at and I think it's a very good idea. I know the state is, you know, desperately looking for revenue, too, but we all are as well and there has to be some some give and take. So, it would be good to get some uh traction on that. Thank you. Thank you. I just had one more. Sure. Go ahead.

Yesterday I was looking at the budget schools and just found out that the bus monitors alone half million dollars today with today's technology, you would think that they'd be able to come up with something or you can eliminate those decisions. I know if I back up my car, it stops automatic. So, okay. Thank you. No, no problem. I'll be over here if anything else.

All right. Uh, so now we have the opportunity to directly speak to our representative and senator. And Mr. Trombly, I'll let you start off because you're the only one with anything that I know prepared. Uh, go right ahead.

Uh, thank you, Mr. President. So, um, I I hope that there are copies in front and I've also emailed them to all my council members, to the representatives and senator, as well as to the uh to the town. Um, I had two ideas that came out of discussions with constituents. Uh the first was um we have a number of nursing homes and other facilities in our community and I've learned from my time in public policy that crimes against committed against victims who have developmental or intellectual disabilities as well as those that suffer from the diseases of old age such as Alzheimer's, dementia so on. They tend to be very difficult to prosecute because uh the victims sometimes lack the capacity to swear the oath to tell the truth and to testify as to what was done to them creating a catch22 situation where because the victim cannot testify they cannot get justice. So to alleviate that um I composed a draft legislation. I've been working on it for a few years now. Um I'm a little nervous to put it forward because it's not perfect of course but uh ultimately what it would do is it would create a hearsay exception so that when this person outcries to a staff member at a nursing facility to a family member to could be a teacher or a doctor um whomever it may be that they can testify as to what that person said. Um, I think that it falls I think that it is constitutional. Um, and I would encourage our representatives to pursue this. Uh, we have a number of facilities in our town. We have a number of vulnerable populations in our town. We want to make sure that we can get them the justice that they deserve. This would help in that endeavor. The second one I have is more practical. We have a volunteer fire department as we are very proud of in our town. Um, and it's been difficult and there's been many

challenges over the years to recruit. Bless you.

Uh, for our fire department and for many fire departments across our state and um, there's a program called the Wavemaker Fellowship which currently applies to teachers and health care professionals where they get us some extra money to go towards paying down student loans. I know I would wager to guess that about 90% of the young people that we do have in our communities are saddled with some degree of student loans. Perhaps less. I I may exaggerate. My goal in this is to make it a little bit more financially motivating to become a volunteer or paid fire department uh firefighter in our in our communities. Um, and I think that this would essentially just expand uh the eligibility so that it applied also to firefighters as well as the teachers and to um nursing uh excuse me, not nursing, healthcare professionals. Um, so those are two bills that I've just been working on um from suggestions I've seen in the community from feedback I've gotten from constituents. So I send them on to the delegation, hope that they will pursue uh enactment of this legislation. will actually process this evening since we didn't have an agenda. We will be sending this on to you at a future council meeting.

Uh and if you want to maybe uh have a look at these, give us your feedback before we do a resolution, that would always be helpful. Or if not, we will put these on an agenda and send them uh up in a resolution. Thank you, Mr. President. Obviously the history of the wave maker fellowship was originally just for STEM projects or STEM disciplines maybe science, math, technology and then over the years expanded teachers and professions. Yes.

Now if we start adding on fire departments and police departments and whatever uh how much funds do we have available? what is going to be the uh recipient. So that's on the other side of the coin.

I leave the fine tuning up to uh your committees and the people with a sharper pencil than I uh I do think Mr. Charlie uh did create a few things here that are worth looking at. And if as Mr. Felag states there is the money well then maybe we can do something about it. But if not, another issue dies due to funding. So, I've been told that someone, Mr. Core, you'd like to address the council. Yeah.

Yes. I'm the president calling on you. Come on up. Okay. Okay. Hi. All right. Ahead.

Yeah. Uh, good evening. Um I could thank you for the opportunity to say a few words. Um bring two things to the council. One as a representative of the budget committee and another in a personal capacity. Uh the first uh for council consideration and perhaps consideration by the legislative delegation if you decide it's a priority. Uh the budget committee uh is very concerned about um the state rules. um that are applied uh by the Department of Education that are resulting in our community taking a hit of uh $261,000 uh towards the state funding, the contribution towards our uh town's education. Uh to the gentleman from the League of Cities, um I think use the term transparency. You know, we looked at the formula and it's it's really confusing. It is not transparent at all. Uh our town is not $260,000 wealthier than it was last year. You know, we're in a better position, but certainly um it's not a great time to take that kind of hit. So, we would uh pause it to the council if you think it's a priority to communicate to our legislative delegation, you know, to ask if the department of education has any administrative flexibility uh to mitigate or eliminate uh that reduction of $261,000 that is part of the governor's budget.

We'll be speaking directly to Ride. What? We will be speaking directly to Ride. Yes. Um, and I was simply suggesting, you know, we will all do those things and, you know, if it's something that uh that our legislative delegation can help with that, well, they they can be aware of what we're doing, but we communicate directly to ride. Okay, great. If I may add, Mr. I do believe there is some legislation at the state house based off of a a Providence Foundation or Rhode Island Foundation um work group or focus group about redoing the financial um I think Randy might know more than I do, but it has to do with redoing the financial formula for our schools. Is that accurate?

Correct. Yeah. So perhaps

is that correct? But you need about 300 million balance. I don't have that but I I don't know if that might be passed in a amended version which might be help address Mr. I mean, basically what they're trying to do with that is to put the burden more on the state in terms of teacher pensions, transportation, things of that. And so obviously the question now becomes where's the state been funding? Especially right now where 45% of our budget is human services and 25% of our budget is towards education. Uh the reason why maybe And then Brian would probably give you an explanation of why Bristol war probably lost 266,000 maybe because decreased population would be the first

increased or decreased decreased school lunch too I think

um then in a personal capacity uh would like to suggest uh members of the council uh press uh or as a priority for the Department of Environmental Management and the economic development agency in the state uh for funding for the connection of the newly reconstructed bridge uh to our East Bay bike path or at least connect it over to Franklin. I know this is a matter that's been before the council before. Perhaps this is an opportunity. I would add the department our discuss it as an economic development priority as well. Um because um that section of what is called the east coast greenway uh not the non-spine route but the alternate route that connects up to the routes that go up to Province Town. Uh our section along um child street is considered a high stress route. If you look at the East Coast greenway maps and you talk to cyclists, if we were able to uh um complete that path uh and from the bridge and get it connected over to the East Bay bike path, uh that certainly would be a marketing opportunity uh for the town because that would place us squarely at the nexus of where the East Coast Greenway comes in to go north to connect up to uh the spine route of the East Coast Greenway. So it becomes a tourism opportunity and then it also puts you closer to uh the adventure cycling association's route uh that runs from Callus down to uh callus Main down to Key West. So I would do it both not uh just for physical fitness but also for economic development as well. Uh and that's

we are echoing your words in our actions. We're meeting with DOT probably in the next two weeks. We had a meeting that had to be rescheduled and we will be uh of course sending on uh additional legislation if the opportunity is there uh to our delegation. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Cronin. You have more.

Oh, yeah. And again, I I've I've brought this up before. I know what the answer is. You're going to have to get Bristol to buy into the idea and agree to do it. But again, there is no mechanism in the enabling legislation that created our school district with our regionalized school district that that would uh require uh annual every five years review of that legislation. That legislation exists exactly the way it did when it was created, which is really stupid and really shortsighted by those who created it. Sorry if anybody or of them are in the room. Um we need to review that legislation because it is not adequately serving the entire district, especially not the town of Warren. Um once that once Bristol and Warren agree to a joint resolution apparently saying that yes, we should review this document and make any necessary changes. Of course, you know, it's all going to rely on Bristol saying, "We agree to it." I think we need to start pursuing the idea of creating a tax district for the school budget because every single year we get to budget time and our municipal budget is just hamstrung, beat down, and blown by our education budget. And I believe that we owe our students the best possible education, but It's always just this like shocker of what ride is doing and whatnot. And I think it would be better handled, managed, and dealt with in a separate tax district. Let us manage what we're elected to to manage as the town council, the municipal budget, the policy, and the ordinances, and let the

school school district and the school committees deal with their own budget. So that's I I would love to see that that happen and whatever steps need to be taken to uh bring our our comrades and neighbors and partners in education in Bristol to some agreement. Mr. President, ask question. Go right ahead. Councilwoman, what would need to happen in order for does Bristol Town Council have to vote and then Warren Town has to need a joint resolution. same exact language to a resolution to us and stigma to take a look at revising that.

Yes. So there's a history here, right? You have approached town has approached town of Bristol. We've done it. They tabled it or or voted not to do it. I don't remember the exact language. I was the uh messenger. Uh Warren created it. We sent it off and they again I don't remember the exact either an action was taken that stopped action or no action was taken which stopped uh action. How long ago was the last 12 years maybe? I think we tried it a little more recently. More recently you and I were both it's been within the past 10 years. Yeah.

Three times that I know of. Twice official. uh the first time was conversationally when they they we used to have oh you remember we had the tri town uh meetings. So without it being a a council action, it was discussion. That was the first. Then uh we did send a a joint resolution that didn't get accepted. I understand the implications for Tom Warren taking a relook at legislation. There must be some advantages. First, no all disadvantages. They have you look at it. No, they have the they got six to three on the JFC. It doesn't mean that whatever they

committee understand that huh understand that but but might an argument I I don't know the details of the enabling legislation so I don't know if there are arguments inside that legislation if certain elements were changed money would come that's what I mean so to me wouldn't just necessarily the reaction be oh it would be all against Bristol I don't believe that to be true I believe if Warren and Bristol did work on something number one agreeing on what issues they wanted to resolve then potentially you could have a a positive on both ends Mr. Rego.

So Jim what has to happen is uh we've been at disadvantage the past couple of years this year we're going to go up 5.8 they're going to go up 1.2 no incentive for them to do anything. Uh until the there's a the ratio of they get higher percentage number of students and ours lowers and then that shifts our percentages then that'll give them the incentive. Up till now they had no incentive because it's 1.2. They wrote the standard. We're at 5.8. We have to make all the arguments. Now there is one thing that we probably should be pushing. The state caps us at 4% as far as what we go for taxes. If they implemented the same thing to the school district where it would have to be a cap of 4% whoever the highest is that might be a solution but they're only coming up 2.4 this year from their budget of last year. So they're under the 4% that wouldn't save anything. Well, they mean I think he means the impact to warrant

the impact of town

but miss speak actually was fun under the old formula like 14 years where you received the pot of money and then based on that money you did the whole expenditure of the uh district minus that funding and then by then you get your amount of money and And then from there they dispersed it. Well, when I was in the legislature, we ended up changing that recommendation to the town council who ended up saying with the new funding formula, you know, exactly what the town war should be receiving at state aid and went to town crisis was receiving state aid. And that's when we went to court and we ended up putting $2 million differential between that because now rather than do it that way you take the total expenditure then you divide it by the students then you take whatever the town of Bristol's getting for educational aid subtracted what Warren's did and so it's a $2 million different

but the problem is that number which was by her son that was just repeated like three and that was just

see you guys are speaking about a specific issue. What Miss Cronin is bringing up is not something directly to solve that problem. What she's bringing up is the fact that you have enabling legislation that has never been revisited when you use for comparative argument's sake the town charter. Every five years it's built in. So instead of looking at this as a living uh entity, it's been fixed set in stone and that's just how it is. So, I think that there would be a number of issues that could come up. Funding may be one of them, I'm sure, but there could also be a number of other uh issues that could come up if the towns uh were to agree on this. Miss Cronin said she wanted to talk about this. I said go right ahead. I know there's nothing you can do about it. It has to happen at the local level first. Uh so, she's bringing up a point that she wanted to address. And

may I ask another question? Go right ahead. Make a suggestion to council Cronin's u suggestion about taking 1% from 7%. Uh if the council sent us a resolution, we would put that under consideration. The finance committee would Right. I we we did we do that last? No, it was it was just it was a discussion that didn't go on that night

and our [clears throat] speak to the Senate side, but on House Finance, they would run an analysis to show how much would go to each town and how much would be subtracted from the state general. So, I I I don't want to get your hopes up, but at least it would get conversation started about the concept of how to redistribute some money down. I feel senator looking. Yeah, they had no problem with it. They gave us a resolution. So that's just a suggestion.

What I uh expected after we were done discuss when we were done with discussion this evening because I didn't have a an agenda identifying the specific issues, we then would have the submittal to the council meeting of agenda items. So that can be uh one of them. Miss Cronin can introduce it as along with Mr. Tromblies if he so feels at the time. Uh anything Mr. Corre anything anybody's bringing up if if somebody wants it to be an agenda item for further discussion and action, send it to me or any council member and Miss Baron and we will uh put that on the future agenda. One more suggestion in that there I have this in mind just to support the leaves uh I don't know if you something about changing the zones the transportation zones uh that requires municipal support there is a significant uh I call a lobby but the voice of the private schools and the families is very strong and if the municipalities don't come and say but we can't afford this then that voice is

I think in the past the league has sent us uh issues that they would like us supporting and you heard that and if not we will do it. Mr. Rego, just a a quick question. Is there any any legislation that going to be uh here to save and I know you're always looking for funds, but there is there anything that that's going to help the taxpayer? I know it's a tough one. Do you know where I'm It's a very specific question. Very specific. We got we're always revenue

and I'm asking is there any where areas that we can look forward to savings? I mean I just opened up my electric bill $25 for something that I don't even know what it is and something that was legislated to help solar stuff those type of things. So the governor's budget has a billion dollars in savings he claims over the next five years um on on energy. Um that that uh controversial part of the governor's budget and it will be worked on but we can expect some savings on your energy bill I think somehow or other right yeah

yes but there's uh an issue on the other side with the net metering part that we're working with the governor's office so that will hit the taxpayers on one side but save on the energy bill perfect thank you change correct the all the time by a number of different parties. There will be some savings. Probably not a billion dollars.

And I bring it up like my bill was 300. It was $25. The sewer plants $30,000. Can you imagine what that is? So those little things add up to a lot of money. Well, a couple quick things I can just say quick if you guys if you guys don't mind is uh we we do have something I I can't tell you exactly what the legislation is yet, but it will be coming out and have a substantial savings uh to cities and towns on all projects going forward. Uh between 10 and 18% on all your future projects. Um so we have one piece there that that everyone will be very excited about. I I'm sorry. What kind of projects?

Public works projects. any any any project from changing your doors to road work to roofing to anything. Removing the replacing the carpets, it'll be something that's that's very beneficial to all 39 cities and towns. Uh the maintenance of sidewalks is another big one that we're working on with the governor's office that needs to be transferred back to the state to maintain the sidewalks on state roadways. That's something that's going to help the municipalities on both the operating as well as your liabilities. So that's two at least off the top that that that will help substantially check that resolution last uh exact session. We'll be ready again.

And again, I do look forward I look to you forwarding us your items uh requesting support on versus us having to go through your list. Mr. Hanley, one more which mainly be for council consideration before we submitted it. Wonder if the council has any uh inclaim to possibly do what Bristol has done with their homestead tax. Bristol passed it. It gives the uh owner occupied uh a lesser tax rate than than a uh That's a nightmare, John. That's a nightmare. I'm just throwing it out there.

Well, we could ask you open up a can of worms. Well, since the league and our delegation is here, do you have any information that you could uh share with us on that procon or no about the homestead tax? Mr. Rego said it happened in Bristol and No, I believe Bristol did it. They did it. So maybe you know about it

with with taxes. I'll tell you the issue that I think that we're going to have is I look down my road, half the people retired. Everyone's getting these retirements. Eventually, somebody has to pay. I mean, I'm going to benefit this year from it. Do I need it? I don't need it, but I'm gonna take it and it's just going to grow and grow and grow and eventually, like you said, your daughter's not going to be able to pay for her house because she's subsidized. Uh, again, my question is to anyone who has a rebuttal or information that they have on that issue

specifically on the homestead. There's a couple different ways that it works and and it's it varies by community. Just so everyone's aware, it it also makes a difference on whether or not you have your commercial tax base. So, some communities have um tax tiers, you know, so that you actually have tax classification so that it it kind of breaks it out whether or not it's, you know, uh owner occupied, not owner occupied, commercial, and so forth, where you can do the spread and keep it, you know, one and a half times what the the other rate is, and it spreads it out, and you can still get your tax levy. The other way is with the with the homestead. it is also a burden on the on the staff to maintain that homestead where people have to file every year to maintain that. So it does work. Um if you look across the board there there's each community kind of has something different. Um so it is something that I know the general assembly and and and your leg your legislators here would support with a resolution to change your structure and I'm not sure exactly off the top of my head if you guys have a

we have a residential and a commercial. Yeah. Okay. So you you have two ways to do it is whether or not you change the classification to make a larger spread or you add for the the owner occupied with the homestead. So it does work. It does does keep your residents that live in the home, you know, there. But if you're given for one, you're taking from the others. Correct. Our advice to date is make it more compressive. Correct. It it just dep it just depends on what you what you're try what you're trying to do in your community, you know, and it and it varies. There's no one the same. Okay. Priorities have been obviously education.

Uh every year we put in 30 million 60 million into the educational bucket. We're up to like $1.3 billion now. Uh I thinking educational aid on a yearly basis. Uh also uh the meal t the uh we got rid of the property tax over the last years on cars. Uh that's the two 240 million that we paid. Last couple of years we've done the tangible tax and that's another 19 maybe $20 million no $26 million for that particular item. And so there's other aspects that the town of Warren's losing a little bit money in their I guess their indirect uh their direct uh taxes reimbursement but then receiving another 26,000 and so you've had a very successful meal stats program where that 1% is generating the town probably over 600,000 a year

about that. Yeah, 600,000. It's been a really good nut for the [clears throat] Tom Warren. So know maybe idea of the 1% you know add a little bit more direct direct it would add up. Um can I just ask do you have does the league have um resolution language in place that you can just share out for the transportation? Um yes. Okay. So y no we'll make sure you guys get everything. So there's just a few just a few pieces on the transportation that's still being worked out because of the other groups that are in

send us your whole agenda package beginning of the session. We can just do our resolutions on the ones we agree with off of that. Exactly. Y not another topic that councilman Cronin talked about was the uh regionalization aspect and obviously I was big on regionalization because we ended up the council president would regionalize with Bristol and uh one of the aspects was the money that followed us and under the old formula uh if you noticed or knew about it we end up getting $8 million more than we should receive. for all those years. So, it's a really great incentive that the regionalization bonus

should be. Yeah. To be uh regionalized and every year I put in legislation to say if you're a regionalized school district, why not put in that extra 2% for those as an incentive. But unfortunately, that legislation hasn't going anywhere. And with the Red Island Foundation, I asked the same question at their presentation. Did they look at regalization? and they said they didn't get to because it was a too much of a a potential hostile topic to take. But you know there are towns within this state like situated in uh situated in narans that only have 1100 students and Warren reason why we had to regionalize a voucher on students was that we got below 100 per student in a high school.

You had 400. Yeah. Like 380. forced us to either regionalize uh those high high school or to vouchure out our students. So with this CTE program which is very good but very scary some ways uh you're going to have students moving from one community to the next for those traditional programs and it might jeopardize some school districts to be under that pressure. There is a bill in this year, Representative Carter from Exer that encourages regionalization and also restores the bonus for already regionalized systems. Expensive, but it is back on the agenda.

The problem, the regional problem is the argument they make for regionalization doesn't hold true unless you regionalize. Yesterday, I was going through the budget and you know that thing, oh, you only need one superendent. That's not true. We still have two. It's called an assistant. We have some schools that have three assistant principles. So the the argument that you're going to save here, here, and here once it happens, it doesn't hold true. Come talk that way.

I think we could easily introduce the discussion on uh not funding schools through residential property tax. uh that's come up uh in the past. The mayor used to be a big uh proponent of that. Um there there are many ways to cut a cake. Uh it all depends on if everybody at the table is going to have a knife, but you still only got so much cake. So somebody's got to pay for it. Property taxes, then we'll get hit on higher income taxes and we'll get whacked on other they'll create some new ones out of the sky. There are those who

sunshine tax. There are those who I've read and listened to the discussions that it could be uh more favorable uh than having a residential tax that uh you constantly get people saying I don't even have children in the school system. Uh my house is taxed so high now. Um it it you're correct. It would change. It wouldn't solve every problem, but it would change how the burden where the burden is placed and how the money is raised. What really matters is if the people at the table are willing to have the discussion. I think that if the same amount of effort had gone into the affordable housing uh discussion as they put into job creation and trying to bring companies here, you would have people with jobs. Uh to me, uh the affordable housing still doesn't solve how you're going to pay for the mortgage or the rent,

but the education piece of it and the housing piece of it and the attracting business piece of it, they're all interconnected because if you have a high-erforming school district, which costs money, then people are going to want to move their businesses here and buy homes here and be willing to pay the a property tax that includes includes, you know, education and people making the argument that they're either their children are all out of the home or they don't have kids. It's like, well, your your home is worth more if you've got a better, higher performing school district. It's all it's all connected. No one's having kids. And I mean, you look at percentage. I'm pregnant.

Um, okay. So since uh brought this to fertility, I just wanted to make one last comment. Um just wanted to say um uh like what Councilwoman Cronin said, we have a lot of interconnected problems. Housing's interconnected with employment and and so on and so forth. But um just one one last thing. We uh I think it's okay to see. Yes, that is.

So, we have we we just hired a planner, but we were without a planner for about a year and a half, so to speak. And there's obviously a a shortage of that profession. There's been suggestions. There was a study commission by the House. I believe CJ served on in fact. Uh and um to restart the planning program at URI and that will obviously cost some money. Um but uh it might not help us now but might help us if we need to look for planners in the future and help solve the shortage that we're facing and even with building inspectors as well. So um thank you. I saw I saw you looking to the plan is nobody cares if there's only

I care. So to end on a more light-hearted note, so just to end on a more light-hearted note, if the league or if our local delegation would like to support uh making that investment, um I think that would be a wise choice. Just one thing to add, Councilman. So the the program actually did get green lit uh through CCRI on the planners uh thanks to that commission as well. Um so uh there's a lot to come on that as well. So we right now we got programs for finance, we got programs for planning, we're looking at building, DPW is right down on the hopper. Um so there's there's a lot more to come and uh partnerships between URI and CCR.

There was a recent change which made it somewhat easier for building officials to get certified which has helped quite a bit. Good. Good. It was so stringent and and ownorous that no one wanted to pay for the the testing and the time you had to put in. So this way here there's a there's an alternate path where you can become certified and then and then you know get get more of that stuff out of the way as you go. Good. Good. Now we got to incentivize it more and more. We we need more of every single get something. Teachers get something. Uh fire department get something. Building officials. What do we get? We get more work. Thank you, Mr. President. But this gentleman here uh would you like to say anything?

Sure. Thank you. No, thanks so much. from cities to towns. Randy went over quite a bit of the priorities. Um obviously this time of year legislative matters uh quite a bit. So if there is any type of resolutions or any type of issues that you want us to go up and ask on your behalf, please don't be shy. I know it's on an issue, but that's what we're here for. So do okay. He did all right. All right. Passing great. He said we go. Anything else anyone would like to bring up before we close?

I would like to add one thing please on a yearly basis I recess that uh and you have fin heads whether it be fire assessor police and whatever but whatever legislation you feel is detrimental to the top or conversely can assist the top. Please let us know those particular bills because as you know on a yearly basis there's 2400 bills that are submitted and people think that we review every single bill but we're on various committees. So we study the bills that are within our particular committee. So there may be bills with the fire department or in fact the tax assessor's office that are designated to another committee that we're not on. So we're not there for that particular hearing or to know what the ramifications should be to the McDonald's. So it would be for you to assist us. Let us know that this is the bill that you need to pay close attention to.

Absolutely. We have Mr. Dramley studying all legislation live. I'm watching the housing and the zoning aspect. So all right. Um Mr. Chief, please.

Thank you, Mr. Crossy. Thank you. I wanted to uh echo what Councilman Traby brought up about the retention uh side of the volunteer firefighter. It's a national issue. Uh you know, not just in Warren, Rhode Island. It's an issue. There's many volunteers still in Rhode Island. Uh you know, I don't have any formal presentation of what, but there's been many options over the years, tax incentives. They've been tried by different communities. Doesn't benefit everybody because not every firefighter owns property in that community. Uh you know, Mr. trauma is on another track for uh uh waving uh uh student loans etc. So just want it to be on your radar for what else can be done whether that gets some traction or in the future is there a uh retirement that could be put together when somebody reaches their retirement age they can get their credit years from how many years of service in the volunteer uh fire department. Um you know how is it funded always comes up. I think we missed the boat on two opportunities with the opera funds and the opioid. you know, those would have been nice to um pots to dive into to fund these accounts. You know, we locally we have or every community has the third party billing accounts if they over achieve for the annual goal. Maybe there's an opportunity to fund this type of an account or, you know, right now the state uh fire academy is going after uh not going after but looking to get funds for fire alarm stickers to go towards the academy. You know, there's little avenues out there that mean we got to think out of the box, try to find something that can benefit the volunteer at the end of their career. You know, retirement age for their job. They can look back and get some credits for volunteering. Just to add on the importance that Councilman Traveling brought up and uh just want others to think about it as well, come up with something in the future.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. I'll just say I'm happy to work with you in the off cycle on on some language we can we can annoy these folks with. Perfect. Thank you. Absolutely. All right. Motion to adjourn. I'll take it. Second. All in favor? I. Thank you everybody. Thank you.