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CITY OF EAST PROVIDENCE
RHODE ISLAND
JOURNAL OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
January 19, 2016
Council Chambers, City Hall, 145 Taunton Avenue, East Providence, RI 02914
7:00 P.M. Executive Session, Room 101
7:30 P.M. Open Session
The City Council of the City of East Providence will meet in Executive Session pursuant to RI General Laws § 42-46-5 (a)(2).
A. New Claims:
1. Patricia D’Almeida Averill
2. Dennis Harrop
B. Sewer Charge Abatements
1. Paul Correia
2. Kevin DeBritto
3. Roberto Gonzalez
The Mayor calls the meeting to order at 7:39PM.
All items under “CONSENT CALENDAR” are considered to be of a routine and noncontroversial nature by the City Council and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion on these items unless a Council member so requests, in which event, the item will be removed from the “CONSENT CALENDAR” and will be considered in its normal sequence on the docket.
A. Letters
1. CRMC Management Procedures Amendment – Public Notice.
B. Council Journals
1. Council Journal Regular Meeting January 5, 2015
2. Council Journal Executive Session September 9, 2015
3. Council Journal Executive Session September 1, 2015
4. Council Journal Executive Session August 18, 2015
5. Council Journal Executive Session July 22, 2015
6. Council Journal Executive Session July 21, 2015
A motion to approve the Consent Calendar is made by Councilman Britto, seconded by Assistant Mayor Cunha and on a roll call the vote it is unanimous.
Scott Scienzo 58 Woodbine Street
Candy Seel - City Council Benefits
Tom Riley – speaking as the Canvassing board Chair –The City and Title 17
Tom Riley - $75,000-$125,000 "evaluation" – noted not speaking on this one tonight
The City Manager addresses Scott Scienzo and Tim Conley speaks regarding the budget and 1.3% tax increase.
The City Manager addresses Candy Seel on why he did not get back to her fast enough.
A. Christine Perreira, Chair of the Beautification Commission requesting to address the Council regarding the Commission, the new sign and new members.
Beautification Commission Chair Christine Perreira speaks regarding the need to appoint new members to the board. She discussed the new sign and the funding they received for it. She notes the board meets once a month on the second Monday.
B. Rick Lawson, 19 Plum Road (02915) requesting to address the Council regarding a Rhode Island Foundation Grant for a public art display.
Rick Lawson and Courtney Rook Raposa speak. The Arts Council formed in June of 2014. Prior to their 5 year comprehensive plan there were no theaters and no galleries. Councilwoman Capobianco had mentioned to him that he should start an arts council and he did. Now 35 people show up at The Legion for meetings and in a year in a half they have their 501(c)(3) status and a board of directors. He is the Chair, Courtney is the Vice Chair and Bill Hurley is the Treasurer. They have new signs at Sabin’s Point and a new weathervane; they have painted the Bucket’s building and held a holiday art fair. The first year there were 9-10 vendors participating now there are 35 vendors with live music. This year they held a fundraiser at East Providence Yacht Club and they held The Looff Arts Festival and over 1000 people attended, they had 75 artists and live music. This year they are looking for more events and looking to start an arts center similar to Jamestown. They are looking at Union primary School. They going to expand The Looff Arts Festival and they want it to be a brand, a regional thing. They would also like to work on more public art.
Courtney speaks about why art is important. The arts in East Providence are an untapped resource. The arts council would like to support and foster that. In 2010 arts brought $61.1 billion into the economy.
Rick spoke regarding the next project. The Rhode Island Foundation is celebrating its centennial with a grant program. They would like to install a public art display in the area where the Comedy Club and The 133 Club are located, across Valley Street where there is currently an EDC sign on a City parcel, this parcel is not buildable because of traffic and can't be used for parking. The area is up and coming and they are looking at it as a possible arts and entertainment area. Linear Park looks right down onto that land and they are asking permission tonight to utilize a grant to place a public art display there. They are considering partnering with The Steel Works Company and also with the City for the use of the land and then they would go after this grant. They want to put something nice there and it would be better than the empty space with over grown weeds. They are asking for permission tonight to use the parcel and note that this would help with their grant chances.
Councilman Cunha asked if they can take a walk down to that property first.
Rick said yes and noted that Jeanne Boyle was on board.
Councilman Conley asked if this was something that needed to go to the Planning Board.
Councilwoman Capobianco stated the Arts Council is applying for the grant and want permission to use the land.
The City Manager stated that right now what they are asking for is to make a recommendation in the grant that City is amendable.
Rick stated that he would let the Council know when they get the grant and will come back and would like to have one or two members of the Council to be part of the Committee for the public art project.
C. Jason Desrosiers, 67 Dorr Avenue (02915) requesting to address the Council regarding the legality of the City Council’s benefits package.
Mr. Desrosiers asked questions regarding the City Manager applying the health benefits and if this was done before then why were the health benefits in first draft. Asking how the City Manager can give benefits to his boss and how does the City Manager justify putting it in during the middle of the budget season. Adding, they chose to cut the public out of the process.
Assistant Mayor Cunha made statements regarding the photo shop and nasty comments Mr. Desrosier’s puts on line about the Council members. He questioned his tax status in not owning a home or paying taxes.
Mr. Desrosier’s stated that he would like to see the Council remove the benefits and use it for infrastructure repairs. Just because the City is in recovery does not mean we can spend extravagantly.
Assistant Mayor Cunha stated that he wishes more people would come up with positive stuff and not negative stuff.
Mayor Rose stated he will show them a lot of positive stuff, the $250 million worth of private construction and people coming to do business in East Providence such as Fox Toyota. All the Council members work hard and each member has expertise in their area. Turn around and look in the Providence Journal and see what was bought, if you move out believe me someone is buying this property. People will soon be impressed with the good things happening in the City.
Mr. Desrosier’s stated yes but it doesn't negate what he has presented regarding the benefits.
D. Alex Arteaga, 55 Bacon Street, Pawtucket for Palagi’s requesting to address the Council regarding Peddlers License Fees.
Mr. Arteaga stated that he would like to see the City adopt the license changes that other cities have so that he doesn't need to license each driver.
Mayor Rose stated there have been problems with Palagi and not with the others. He cited a problem at the City’s summer camp program.
Mr. Arteaga noted that he did apologize and that he was aware of it and it was an accusation and he doesn’t believe it happened but it was an accusation and that was bad and he felt horrible. It has nothing to do with the fee structure. It is a business friendly request. This same person came back in 2015 and there were no issues and he is pretty sure he is not going to be working this year. He noted those issues as bad as they may seem and are horrible if true have nothing to do with the licensing fees. In this case he drove over there and felt horrible about the accusations and they gave free lemonade to all the children that day and did it again this year.
Councilman Conley stated that the last time this was proposed as an amendment to the ordinance it was subsequently pulled.
Mr. Arteaga stated that he would like the fee to be per vehicle and to add a paragraph upon approval of the license the City would commence a background check on the drivers and they would provide 2 passport size photographs for ID badges issued by the City.
Chief Parella stated that the only concern they have is that anyone operating the trucks do not have a past with a chance to harm to child.
Councilman Conley clarified Mr. Arteaga’s position in that if a person can only work 2 days a week and if they need 3 more people to fill in the week they have to pay $150 for each of those people. He noted that does seem excessive.
Councilman Conley suggested that they table the item for further discussion and with respect the Mayor’s feelings but the license holder weighs some legitimate concerns. Councilman Conley makes motion to table for further discussion.
Councilwoman Capobianco requests that the City Clerk check other vendors to see how many drivers they have on file.
Mr. Arteaga stated that he can license a truck with as many as three different drivers.
Councilman Conley requested that the Solicitor circulate to the Council the revised ordinance from the last time this was proposed.
E. Donald T. Cunard and Sherry A. Clarke, 3040 Pawtucket Avenue (02915) requesting to address the Council regarding traffic concerns – dangerous intersection in front of Cedarhurst Apartments.
Mr. Cunard and Ms. Clarke state that they had in the past contacted Mayor Rose and the State. There are many accidents at this location and they have asked the State legislators in the area to do an analysis.
Chief Parella stated he spoke with both of them about this a year ago. In addition to the traffic issue there is also a flooding issue during storms which can exacerbate the situation. The State worked on it a bit, there is a stop sign at the location but drivers look at it and use it as a merge sign not a stop sign. The police can make sure they are stopping at the stop sign by adding that into their routine traffic detail list and make it a primary and a secondary action and see if it will have any effect. If we see these issues happening mostly in the Bradley Hospital area we can distribute information to them and approach Bradley Hospital directly.
Mr. Cunard stated the police can only be there so long. It's the way the people drive.
Mayor Rose stated the State had been redoing the sidewalks and the money is not there yet to redo the intersection.
A. Proclamation (posthumously) for Mary McManus (by Councilman Britto)
B. East Providence Police Department Community Evaluation – Salve Regina University (by Chief of Police Christopher Parella)
A motion to extend past curfew is made by Assistant Mayor Cunha, seconded by Councilman Britto and on a roll call vote it is unanimous.
Italian Gourmet Inc., DBA Italian Gourmet, 1235 Wampanoag Trail, Unit #1, (02915), Jenny Chacon, 208 Narragansett Avenue (02915)
A motion to approve the License is made by Councilwoman Capobianco, seconded by Councilman Conley and on a roll call vote it is unanimous.
Italian Gourmet Inc., DBA Italian Gourmet, 1235 Wampanoag Trail, Unit #1, (02915), Jenny Chacon, 208 Narragansett Avenue (02915)
A motion to approve the License is made by Assistant Mayor Cunha, seconded by Councilman Britto and on a roll call vote it is unanimous.
A. City Manager’s Report (by City Manager, Richard Kirby)
1. Request for Approval of Purchase of 4
2. Marked, Fully Equipped EPPD Frontline SUVs.
Chief Parella came to podium and stated this approval is for 4 SUVs which require City Council approval. These are interceptor SUVs and they replace 4 of the current detail cars which range in age from 2005-2008. They are not on the road right now but these 4 will replace 4 frontline vehicles and those become the old ones which will become spares and those older ones will be passed to other departments such as highway. Police cars are not shift cars, they are assigned to an area such as Post 1 2 3 up to Post 9 and they run 24 hours a day 7 days a week except for during roll call. They weren’t budgeted for because they were asked to be extremely fiscally responsible but the time has come to budget for police vehicles. It's been 6 years since police cars were budgeted for and these four cars are coming out of asset forfeiture funds. Recently Congress passed the Bipartisan Balanced Budget Act of 2015 and in order to balance the budget took millions and froze us all out. We have a couple of hundred thousand available right now though there is operating money worth $8 million with Google money and then $900,000. It’s handled on a case by case situation and they have to itemize everything they want. If these funds aren’t given back it would be devastating they have invested a lot of time and money to get the funds and worked with those at the highest levels of DEA etc… Prior to 9/11 one of the issues was regarding intelligence, the federal agencies have the best people but no boots on the ground and these partnerships started to grow and that is when people saw how much safer the Country is. Every car stop, every arrest, everything we get our people in the DEA are already on it and DEA supplies support including aircraft and surveillance. The $900,000 all started with a car stop which led to Canada and Hisbola. East Providence and North Providence were the only ones on that team. The head of FDA has assured us it will come back as they cannot survive without the local help. Today they are looking for permission to purchase these vehicles per our purchasing requirements. They cost a little over $40,000 a piece and have mobile data terminals which do not need to be replaced.
Mayor Rose stated we have to realize going into our next budget with the situation with the asset forfeiture funds we need to budget for police vehicles. Paul Luba has told us this and we will have to start to pay for vehicles again. Previously an entire fleet was replaced in one year using the Google money.
Chief Parella thanked the Council for doing what they do. Noting the initial purchase was $1.7 million with the Google funds and even those that didn’t need it were replaced so that they could farm vehicles out to the fire department and the highway department.
The City Manager stated that he has already spoken about starting a plan to replace police vehicles on a budgetary basis Google was a big help but its good practice to plan.
A motion to approve is made by Assistant Mayor Cunha, seconded by Councilwoman Capobianco and on a roll call vote it is unanimous.
B. Council Members
1. Contracts (by Mayor Rose)
Mayor Rose stated that he placed contracts on the docket for a few different reasons. At the last meeting with the School Committee it was stated that we will continue to do our due diligence but after hearing about the last School Committee meeting and the contracts they approved and following some research and hearing they have a surplus of $5.4 million on the school side which they are saving for teacher negotiations he is requesting that Director Moore look into this as the Council was never told about it. Also, we are told that they covered the co share for retirements totaling over $200,000 while the Council gets picked apart. He notes that he doesn’t mind coming to the table but let's put all our cards on the table. How many of those contracts were given out while we are on the 5 year plan when the Council is attacked for not following the budget they also need to. The Council added an additional $550,000 totaling $806,000 additional for projects that were used for the school department and he would like to see if those projects are being completed and being followed up on and that the funds are being used for those projects. Let’s all step up to the plate together.
Councilman Conley stated that he was aware some contracts to Senior Management are on the record. The School Committee never voted for those in the past and it’s not a good practice.
Mayor Rose asked Director Moore if he could confirm the numbers for the Council.
2. Carousel Emergency Repairs (by Mayor Rose)
The Mayor stated that the Carousel has already budgeted for this. March comes up quickly and soon it will be opening day. He would like to update the Council on some of the items being dealt with. The reinforcement of the deck as it is separating under the weight of people and the planks are soft under foot. The step off the ride while moving is what is not being done yet. On the outside of the Carousel there is a constant flow of water infiltration in the sections that have not been done. So far only one is being done and this is causing the others to rot and it's going to become a structural issue. Each section costs $5,000 and there are 19 sections. He added that he just wanted to make sure the Council knows where the money is being spent.
A motion to extend the meeting beyond the curfew is made by Councilman Conley, seconded by Councilwoman Capobianco and on a roll call vote it is unanimous.
C. Reports of Other City Officials
1. Claims Committee Report (by City Solicitor Timothy Chapman)
Pursuant to R.I.G.L. § 42-46-5(a)(2), a motion is made by Councilwoman Capobianco and seconded by Councilman Britto to convene in closed session for the purposes of discussing claims & litigation. Upon a roll call vote: Mayor Rose – Aye, Councilman Britto – Aye, Councilwoman Capobianco – Aye, Councilman Conley – Aye, Councilman Cunha - Aye, the motion is approved 5-0.
EAST PROVIDENCE CLAIMS COMMITTEE
CLAIMS & LITIGATION REPORT
TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2016; 7:00 P.M.; ROOM 101
====================================================================
NEW CLAIMS
PATRICIA D’ALMEIDA AVERILL $1067.88
RM No. 15-116, Claim No. 16-001
Claim for property damage to vehicle sustained as a result of striking a pothole on Bishop Avenue. See recommendation of the Director of Public Works.
Motion by: Councilman Britto Seconded by: Councilwoman Capobianco
Motion: Approve the claim in the amount of $232.00 (tire).
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VOTE | MAYOR ROSE | COUNCILMAN BRITTO | COUNCILWOMAN CAPOBIANCO | COUNCILMAN CONLEY | COUNCILMAN CUNHA |
| Aye | √ | √ | √ |
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| Nay |
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| √ | √ |
| Abstain |
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| Absent |
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DENNIS HARROP $183.64
RM No. 15-113, Claim No. 15-084
Claim for property damage to vehicle sustained as a result of striking a pothole on Massasoit Avenue. See recommendation of the Director of Public Works.
Motion by: Councilwoman Capobianco Seconded by: Councilman Britto
Motion: Approve the claim in the amount of $183.64.
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VOTE | MAYOR ROSE | COUNCILMAN BRITTO | COUNCILWOMAN CAPOBIANCO | COUNCILMAN CONLEY | COUNCILMAN CUNHA |
| Aye | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ |
| Nay |
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| Abstain |
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| Absent |
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SEWER CHARGE ABATEMENTS
PAUL CORREIA $117.87
Request for a sewer charge abatement for the property located at 14 Lyon Avenue in accordance with City Ordinance Sec. 17-183(g).
Motion by: Councilwoman Capobianco Seconded by: Councilman Britto
Motion: Approve the sewer charge abatement in the amount of $117.87.
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VOTE | MAYOR ROSE | COUNCILMAN BRITTO | COUNCILWOMAN CAPOBIANCO | COUNCILMAN CONLEY | COUNCILMAN CUNHA |
| Aye | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ |
| Nay |
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| Abstain |
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| Absent |
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KEVIN DeBRITTO $134.25
Request for a sewer charge abatement for the property located at 20 Delway Road in accordance with City Ordinance Sec. 17-183(g).
Motion by: Councilwoman Capobianco Seconded by: Councilman Cunha
Motion: Approve the sewer charge abatement in the amount of $134.25.
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VOTE | MAYOR ROSE | COUNCILMAN BRITTO | COUNCILWOMAN CAPOBIANCO | COUNCILMAN CONLEY | COUNCILMAN CUNHA |
| Aye | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ |
| Nay |
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| Abstain |
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| Absent |
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ROBERTO GONZALEZ $1,031.04
Request for a sewer charge abatement for the property located at 193 Terrace Avenue in accordance with City Ordinance Sec. 17-183(g).
Motion by: Councilwoman Capobianco Seconded by: Councilman Britto
Motion: Approve the sewer charge abatement in the amount of $1,031.04.
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VOTE | MAYOR ROSE | COUNCILMAN BRITTO | COUNCILWOMAN CAPOBIANCO | COUNCILMAN CONLEY | COUNCILMAN CUNHA |
| Aye | √ | √ | √ |
| √ |
| Nay |
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| Abstain |
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| Recuse |
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| Absent |
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A motion to approve the Claims Committee Report is made by Councilwoman Capobianco, seconded by Assistant Mayor Cunha and on a roll call vote it is unanimous.
2. Handicap Parking Signs: 3595 Pawtucket Avenue (by Director of Public Works, Steve Coutu)
A motion to approve is made by Councilman Conley, seconded by Assistant Mayor Cunha and on a roll call vote it is unanimous.
D. Report of School Committee Liaison
There is no report this meeting.
A motion to Adjourn is made at 10:34PM by Councilman Britto, seconded by Assistant Mayor Cunha and on a roll call vote it is unanimous.
Approved By Council: February 2, 2016
Attest: _______________
City Clerk