City of Central Falls

City Council Meeting

Board of License Commissioners Meeting

Central Falls City Hall

580 Broad St., Central Falls, RI 02863

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

6:00 p.m.

 

Meeting Minutes

 

Council President Pro Tempore Gus Silva called the meeting to order at 6:03pm

 

I.       Roll Call

Sonia Grace, City Clerk, conducted the roll call. Present were Councilman Jonathon Acosta, Councilman Robert Ferri, Councilman Hugo Figueroa, Councilman Gus Silva, Councilman Franklin Solano, and Councilwoman Jessica Vega. Council President Maria Rivera was absent. Quorum was present.

 

II.     Pledge of Allegiance

Council President Pro Tempore Silva led the reciting of the pledge of allegiance.

 

III.    Public Comment

No one signed up for public comment

 

IV.    Approval of Records- meeting minutes of October 16, 2019

Motion to approve meeting minutes was made by Councilman Ferri, seconded by Councilman Solano. Motion was withdrawn.

Motion to approve the meeting minutes, with amendment to vote on Page 2, Item B to reflect that vote was 5-0, was made by Councilman Acosta, seconded by Councilman Solano. Motion carried unanimously. Councilman Acosta voted present.

 

V.      Executive Communications

A.   Department Financial Reports- City Clerk, Fire Department: October 2019; Police: September 2019

Received

 

B.   Mayoral Proclamation declaring November 30, 2019 Small Business Day

Received

 

VI.    New Business

A.   City Council Sitting as Board of License Commissioners

1.    Consideration of petition of license

Class of License	Business Information
Class C- Variety New	Island Boys, LLC d/b/a Island Boys 518 Broad St.
Mr. Christian Ge and Mr. Christina GG were present to answer questions from the Council about their application and their business. Motion to approve the application was made by Councilman Ferri, seconded by Councilman Figueroa. Motion carried 6-0.
Auto Repair New	Bernardo M Bautista d/b/a Alaska Auto Repair 19 Cross St.
Mr. Bernardo Bautista was present to speak on his application and answered questions from the Council. Motion to approve the application was made by Councilman Solano, seconded by Councilman Acosta. Motion carried 6-0.
Entertainment New	JD’s Bar, LLC d/b/a JD’s Bar 137 Central St.
Mr. Jose Santos was present to speak on his application and answered questions from the Council. Motion to approve the application was made by Councilman Acosta, seconded by Councilman Solano. Motion carried 6-0.
Private Detective Renewal (tabled July 29, 2019)	Augusto Mantilla 194 Sayles St. Apt 215, Woonsocket, RI 02895
Mr. Mantilla was present to answered questions from the Council Motion to approve the license renewal was made by Councilwoman Vega, seconded by Councilman Solano, Motion carried 6-0.

 

2.   Advertised hearing and consideration of petition for transfer of Alcoholic Beverage Class B (Victualling) license from Unik Inc d/b/a Tropical Restaurant to La 70 Bar and Grill, LLC d/b/a La Se7enta Bar & Grill, 855 Broad St., Central Falls, RI

Attorney John Bevilacqua, counsel for the applicant reviewed the application and answered questions from the Council

Motion to approve the transfer of license was made by Councilman Solano, seconded by Councilwoman Vega. Motion carried unanimously.

 

3.   Advertised hearing and consideration of 2019-2020 liquor license renewals

Public Hearing: no one signed up to speak

Motion to approve the renewal licenses of the businesses listed was made by Councilwoman Vega, seconded by Councilman Solano. Motion carried unanimously.

 

4.   Consideration of 2019-2020 business license renewals

Motion to approve the license renewals was made by Councilman Ferri, seconded by Councilwoman Vega. Motion carried unanimously.

 

B.   Consideration of Tax Abatement submitted by Tax Assessor

Property Owner	Tax Year	Property Information
Residences at Roosevelt LLC	2019	RE: 396 Roosevelt Avenue
Dimila, LLC	2019	RE: 300 Hunt Street
La Milonga Bar Inc	2019	PP: 672 Dexter Street
Ortiz, Alexis M	2019	MV: 2005 Ford Five Hundred
Almeida, Claudino & Maria	2019	RE: 172 Railroad Street
Agosto, Julio and Dora	2019	RE: 46 Perry Street
Cruzado Rivera, Jose L	2018	PP: J & P's Barbershop
Fajardo, Emanuel	2019	RE: 5 Washington Street
Combine Distributing Inc	2019	RE: 1114 Broad Street

Mr. Bob Battey, Tax Assessor was present and answered questions from the Council

Motion to approve the abatements was made by Councilman Solano, seconded by Councilman Figueroa. Motion carried unanimously.

 

C.   Consideration of Additions submitted by the Tax Assessor

Property Owner	Tax Year	Property Information
TIAA Commercial Finance Inc	2019	PP: Leasing company, No office

Motion to approve the additions was made by Councilman Figueroa, seconded by Councilwoman Vega. Motion carried unanimously.

 

D.  Presentation by Dr. Stephanie Downey Toledo, Interim Superintendent of the Central Falls School District

Presentation was postponed until a future date

 

E.   Presentation by the Department of Planning and Economic Development regarding Green and Complete Streets

Mr. Thomas Deller, Director of Planning and Economic Development reviewed the timeline of the road paving work being performed as part of the Green and Complete Streets bond funding

 

VII.   Schedule of Bills- Hearing and/or consideration

A.   Ordinance amending Chapter 22, "Law Enforcement," Article II "Police Division," Division 1 "Generally," by adding Sec. 22-30. - Community Policing and Immigration of the Revised Ordinances, City of Central Falls, Rhode Island (Vega)- First Reading

Public Hearing:

David Veliz, Progreso Latino- spoke in support of the ordinance can commended the City Council for continually supporting the rights of immigrants

Yanine Castedo, Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island- spoke in support of the ordinance and explained the affects of the proposed protections

Hanna Torrez, Immigrant Coalition- spoke in support of the ordinance and about the impact on the immigrant community in Central Falls

Carl Kruger, RI ACLU-spoke on behalf of the ACLU in support of the ordinance and of the work taking place in Rhode Island and in the nation

 

Motion to approve the ordinance was made by Councilman Acosta. Motion was withdrawn

Matthew Jerzyk, City Solicitor reviewed the changes submitted as part of the SubA

Motion to substitute the previous version with the SubA was made by Councilman Acosta, seconded by Councilman Solano. Roll call vote: Councilman Acosta: yes; Councilman Ferri: yes; Councilman Figueroa: yes; Councilman Silva: yes; Councilman Solano: yes; Councilwoman Vega: yes. Motion carried unanimously.

 

Colonel Dan Barzykowski spoke about the ordinance and the policies currently in place at the Central Falls Police Department that support community relations and are based on best practices. Colonel Barzykowski expressed his support for the ordinance.

 

Motion to approve the ordinance as amended was made by Councilman Acosta, seconded by Councilman Figueroa and Councilman Solano. Roll call vote: Councilman Acosta: yes; Councilman Ferri: yes; Councilman Figueroa: yes; Councilman Silva: yes; Councilman Solano: yes; Councilwoman Vega: yes. Motion carried unanimously.

 

B.   Ordinance amending Chapter 12, "Businesses," Article I "In General," by creating Sec. 12-10. - Retail Plastic Bag Reduction (Solano)- Introduction

Introduced

 

C.   Ordinance amending Chapter 22, “Law Enforcement,” by amending Sec. 22-125. “Payments by responsible party” (Solano)- Introduction

Introduced

 

VIII. Continued Business

None

 

IX.    Good & Welfare

Councilman Ferri: thanked the Council to attending the Veterans Day ceremony on November 10 and thanked the City of its contribution in the event.

Councilman Solano: also congratulated all those involved in the Veterans Day ceremony

Councilwoman Vega: announced a thanksgiving dinner at the Knights of Columbus on November 16, hosted by Progreso Latino. Ms. Vega also announced that Hydropunc is hosting a coat drive and will accept donations at its location

 

X.     Adjournment

Motion to adjourn was made by Councilman Figueroa, seconded by Councilwoman Vega. Meeting adjourned at 7:05pm.

 

Sonia Grace

City Clerk

 

Approved December 9, 2019