| | CITY OF EAST PROVIDENCE RHODE ISLAND JOURNAL OF CITY COUNCIL JOINT WORKSHOP WITH EAST PROVIDENCE SCHOOL COMMITTEE APRIL 7, 2008 | |
The City Council with the School Committee meets in Room 306 on Monday, April 7, 2008 Mayor Isadore S. Ramos calls the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M.
| Present: | Mayor Isadore S. Ramos | | |
| | Robert E. Cusack | ) | Council Members |
| | Bruce DiTraglia | ) | |
| | Valerie A. Perry | ) | |
| | Bryan P. Silva | ) | |
| | | | |
| | Richard M. Brown | ) | City Manager |
| | William J. Conley, Jr. | ) | City Solicitor |
| | Virginia B. Nunes | ) | City Clerk |
| | | | |
| | Dr. Jacqueline Forbes | ) | Superintendent |
| | | | |
| | Chairperson Mildred Morris | ) | School Committee |
| | Vice Chairperson Robert Faria | ) | |
| | Anthony A. Carcieri | ) | |
| | Steven E. Santos | ) | |
| | Stephen A. DeCastro | ) | |
The invocation is read by Councilman Silva and the Salute to the Flag is led by Stephen A. DeCastro.
Mayor Ramos turns the meeting over to Mr. Brown to introduce Dr. Lee H. Arnold, Robert P. Palumbo and Dr. Hall from Roger Williams University.
Dr. Arnold and Mr. Palumbo from RWU do a power point presentation explaining the report, which is on the City website.
One of the suggestions is to change our fiscal year to July 1 – June 30.
Mr. DeCastro asks if they would rank the areas of recommendations by order of importance.
Dr. Arnold says their recommendation would be first to get authorization for a facilitator. He states this report is not a deficit reduction for this year, rather for two or three years down the line, but it needs to be started now.
Discussion on hiring a facilitator is held, with Ms. Morris asking how much it will cost. Dr. Arnold replies that the position could possibly be filled by a retired citizen from East Providence.
Dr. Arnold mentions that the City of Warwick changed their fiscal year some time ago after talking about it for many years. He says that Pawtucket did it about fifteen years ago and had a $40 million bond to fund the change. He estimates that our City will have to spend $25 to $40 million and eight to eighteen months to change the fiscal year.
Councilman DiTraglia asks if it was known that there was a $3.1 million dollars deficit before the report was started, and Mr. Palumbo replies that they knew about it, and the report was not intended to make up the deficit. He says that massive layoffs do not work, and that this is for the future.
Mr. Faria suggests that the parties continue going forward.
On motion of Councilman Silva, seconded by Councilman DiTraglia it is voted to adjourn.
Mayor Ramos adjourns the meeting at 8:50 p.m.
Attest:
_________________________________
Virginia B. Nunes
City Clerk
Approved: May 6, 2008