1.  CONSENT CALENDAR

1.      Approval of Council Journals

December 21, 2004 – Regular Meeting

On motion of Councilman Caine, seconded by Councilwoman Perry, and on a roll call vote, it is unanimously voted to approve the Consent Calendar as amended.

2.  APPOINTMENTS

Harbormaster (by Councilman Midgley)

S. Bruce Dufresne, 70 Plum Road (02915)

On motion of Councilman Miranda, seconded by Councilman Midgley, it is unanimously voted to approve.

Personnel Hearing Board (by Councilman Midgley)

Robert Dodd, 34 Griffith Drive (02915)

On motion of Councilman Miranda, seconded by Councilwoman Perry, it is unanimously voted to approve.

3.  LICENSES NOT REQUIRING A PUBLIC HEARING

Kennel (Transfer)

From: Ashlee Cabral, Metropet Dog Center, Inc. To: Michael B. Mac Cannell, Metropet Dog Center, Inc., 310 Bourne Avenue

Ashlee Cabral and Michael B. Mac Cannell are present and sworn.

On motion of Councilman Caine, seconded by Councilman Midgley, and on a roll-call vote, it is unanimously voted to approve, subject to approvals from the Chief of Police, Building Inspector, Health Inspector and Fire Marshall.

Sunday/Holiday Sales

M.G. Midwest, Inc., D/B/A Movie Gallery #3600, 84 Narragansett Park Drive.

Rosa Maria Perez is present and sworn.

On motion of Councilman Caine, seconded by Councilman Midgley, and on a roll-call vote, it is unanimously voted to approve, subject to approvals from the Chief of Police, Building Inspector, Health Inspector and Fire Marshall.

4.  NEW BUSINESS

     CITY MANAGER

Rose Larisa Memorial Park

Mr. Fazioli discusses the ADA access issue at Rose Larisa Memorial Park.  The issue when it opened last spring is handicap access to the beach from within the park.  We do have proposal that has preliminary approval from Deputy State Director Harvey Salvas from the ADA.  Now need approval from RI CRMC and hope to have a bid soon to begin construction in the spring and have completion sometime in late spring. 

Zac Gordon from Planning states that Planning is working on the issue that the State has identified as a problem at the park.  Gates Leighton & Associates, Design Consultants, have been working on this all summer on a scheme that will address ADA requirements and will be cost-effective as well as being esthetic with what we have at the park now.  Planning and Gates Leighton met with the CRMC staff to discuss proposal for access to the beach.  Have chosen three designs and all three would require construction of some sort of a ramp.  The proposal that is favorable with CRMC & ADA would have a shortened ramp and would drop the elevation of the park by Beach Road to approximately 9 feet.  This proposal would envision taking the top part of that wall off and alleviate two other problems.  It would reduce the height and cost of the ramp and also gets rid of another problem with the wall beginning to lean a little bit.  Gates Leighton is looking at submission to CRMC by the end of January.   Turnaround may be approximately four to six weeks, hopefully sooner.  Planning is preparing bids to solicit construction and prices for the ramp so that when we have the approval sometime in February, we can then bid immediately and have the prices back sometime in early March to submit them to the Council at one of the Council Meetings in March.  Will Gates anticipates that the project will take approximately 2 – 2 ½ months.  This time frame is dependent on weather.

Councilman Miranda states that he hopes this moves fast because we’re still waiting on Warren Avenue.  He asks for an update at the next council meeting as to what is going on with the Warren Avenue project.  Mayor Larisa states that a meeting is being set-up with the Chief of Dept. of Transportation to discuss this issue and welcomes his participation at the meeting.  The Council will be keeping on top of everything to move them along. 

Mayor Larisa states that the opening will occur Memorial Day Weekend.  The handicap accessibility problem is being handled right now and this amenity is not going to be just for the handicapped.  We’re going to have another path in the park, a path that swerves right down to the beach almost directly abutting Beach Road.  A portion of the cement retaining wall will be taken down so that path doesn’t have to go up, it will gradually slope down for wheelchair access right to the beach.  At the end of the path will be a beautiful, pressure treated platform where wheelchairs can enter and be on or for anyone else to use as well.  This will service the handicap accessibility problem as well as be an additional amenity to the park.  This will be paid for without any property tax money and will be paid for largely with existing funds.  A large portion of the funds are for the concession stand.  Will be meeting with the Rose Larisa Memorial Park Commission and the Carousel Park Commission to figure out how to get the concession stand done.  Details are to be determined, but there will not be any property tax money used to resolve this issue.  Hopefully, the bids will come in where they need to be and we’ll get this done, have the opening for the public, everyone will have access to beach. We will also be forming a beach commission at some point to analyze the area from Sabin’s Point through Crescent Beach to open up the beach to the public.

Broadway Water Main Break

Mr. Fazioli states that a series of water main breaks occurred in the city.  Many employees spent the holidays working with no rest and in freezing temperatures.  Eight employees from the Water Dept. were brought in and worked in excess of 40 hours on Christmas Day through Dec. 27^th.  Some employees worked 32 hours consecutively with no rest when combining their work at the water main breaks and snowplowing.  The first break occurred at Centre Street on December 25^th  at 11:30 A.M. on Christmas morning and the crew completed their work at 1:15 A.M. on December 26^th.   The next break occurred at Village Green North on December 26^th at 8:00 P.M.  They began work at 9:00 P.M., and with the snowstorm, completed work at 6:00 A. M. on December 27^th.  Most of the crew then took up their snowplowing assignments.  A third break was reported at North Broadway on December 27^th.  The crew was pulled off of their snow plowing assignments in order to repair this break.  Mr. Fazioli wants to commend them for their service during these difficult times.  Their names are Joseph Almeida, Anthony Cole, David Maxwell, George Oliver, Kenneth Pouliot, Stephen Shanley, Michael Sousa, and Christopher Weeden.  Will be giving these 8 employees a letter of commendation for their efforts and just wanted to make sure the Council was aware of their efforts. 

Mayor Larisa asks if this is normal for these water main breaks to happen.  Mr. Fazioli states due to the sudden onset of cold weather and age of the valves, this can cause these pipes to break.  Public Works Director Steve Coutu also states that in the winter time, with freezing and thawing going on, some ground shifting, and the age of the pipes, these things can happened.  This time they just happened one right after another and during the holiday.  Mayor Larisa asked the age of the pipes, and Mr. Coutu says that some are from the 1950’s.  How long they should last is usually about 50 years.

Unanimous Consent – Councilman Miranda

Councilman Miranda would like to take a moment to congratulate the Legislators from our city that were sworn in today.  Very proud of them and looks forward to working with them and the council to getting things accomplished.  Mentioned Legislative Breakfast being held on Wednesday, January 12 at 8 A.M.

COUNCIL MEMBERS

Snowplowing (by Councilman Midgley)

Councilman Midgley states that he received many calls regarding snowplowing with the last storm.  He doesn’t mind people calling him, but many people were rude and obnoxious to him and his wife.  People were upset that they couldn’t reach anyone in Public Works. He said we should have some kind of plan in place to have a live person to answer the phone in these circumstances. 

City Hot Line for Street Plowing on Snow Days (by Mayor Larisa)

Mayor Larisa segues in regarding snowplowing and that a new hot line is being established for the public to get information on when their street will be plowed, to find out where the truck is, and if their street gets missed.  The number is 435-7751.  The City Manager assures that there will be someone at this number at all times to answer calls.  Also, in the future, GPS (Global Positioning System) for the plow trucks.  All trucks at some point will have GPS on them in conjunction with Public Works having a map and being able to locate where the trucks are. Hopefully someday will be able to go to the Cities website and track where the plows are.  All new trucks will be equipped with GPS as part of the bid spec. 

Councilman Caine states that this was just one storm and it was a holiday and that the hotline is a good idea so people have someone to contact during weekends and holiday.  He had a few constituents complain about parking bans and ticket & fines.  Should look at enforcing towing on streets during a parking ban.  Plows have to go around cars and then have to come back and re-plow the street again.  City Manager states parking ban was announced on radio and a lot of people may not have known one was in effect.  Also, had equipment breakdowns with trucks and manpower is also an issue now.  Have 6 people out injured on duty now.  A person is usually there to answer phone at Public Works, but she had no daycare and wasn’t able to make it in.

Public Works Director Coutu states he understands the Councils concerns and that during operations, they utilize all CDL drivers. However, due to water main breaks, it took away 7 drivers.  Also are down at least 10 drivers throughout the City as well.  Equipment issues are also a problem.  These trucks are the backbone of the operation.  Some of these vehicles are from 1988 with over 300,000 miles on them and 4 of them broke down during operation.  In dire need of some updated and upgraded equipment. 

Councilman Miranda asks Mr. Coutu if they have considered having more people take the CDL test.  He said that it is already a requirement for people coming in, they have up to a year to take test.  Mayor Larisa asks if we have an opportunity for drivers with CDL’s to come in and work for us on snow days.  Mr. Coutu said they did put out an advertisement out this year, but have not had a lot on interest in this.  For this operation, they didn’t have extra trucks for them to use anyway.  They do also offer outside drivers with trucks, but don’t have a lot on interest in this either.  A lot of them would rather plow the state routes than the smaller city streets.

Glenlyon Park Design Review Committee (by Councilman Caine)

Councilman Caine would like to propose setting up a design review committee.  There would be five members whose function would be meeting with Planning to look at different ideas, such as parking, lighting, etc.  Money has already been set aside, including $300,000 in grants obtained from the State by the Planning Dept. in order to build a regulation soccer field with proper drainage for use in tournaments.  Number of neighbors of this area have called and want to make sure park is designed to take in the concerns of neighbors.  Councilman Caine moves to create a Glenlyon park Design Review Committee and will submit a formal resolution in the next two weeks.  Would like to put this in the form of a motion.

On motion of Councilman Caine, seconded by Councilman Miranda, it is unanimously voted to form the Glenlyon Park Design Review Committee with 5 members, to be put forth in the next two weeks with a resolution.

Unanimous Consent – Mayor Larisa

Councilman Caine reminds the Mayor that we would like to take a moment to offer our sympathy to everyone out there that has been affected by the Tsunami’s.  Mayor Larisa states that people have asked if there is anything we can do as a city.  Money is needed for supplies, help, and assistance getting things out there.  The Catholic Church is holding a collection next week.  Also donating through the Red Cross.  President Bush, along with former Presidents Bush and Clinton have put their own organization together.  The best thing to do is donate money.  The most effective way to get relief out there is to donate to these groups that have a proven track record and experience and can put the money to the best use to help these people.  Our thoughts and prayers are with them.

Unanimous Consent – Councilman Caine

Councilman Caine asks for unanimous consent to go into Closed Session to discuss litigation.

On motion of Councilman Miranda, seconded by Councilwoman Perry, and on a roll-call vote, it is unanimously voted to go into Executive Session in accordance with Section 42-46-5 of the “Exceptions” of Chapter 46 of the General Laws, pursuant to Section 42-46-5-(a)(2) [Collective Bargaining/Litigation], to discuss proposed litigation.  The open meeting adjourns at 8:25 P.M.

Attest:

____________________________

Dana L. Toy

City Clerk

Approved:_________________________________