CITY OF EAST PROVIDENCE

RHODE ISLAND

JOURNAL OF SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING

WORK SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL

September 13, 2018

6:00 P.M.

Council Chambers, City Hall, 145 Taunton Avenue, East Providence, RI 02914

6:00 P.M. Council May Call An Executive Session, Room 101

7:00 P.M. Open Session

 

I.                   EXECUTIVE SESSION

 

The City Council of the City of East Providence may meet in Executive Session pursuant to RI General Laws § 42-46-5 (a)(2).

 

A.  Litigation

GeoNova Development Co., Inc. vs. City of East Providence

C.A. No. PB-09-5341

Discussion and Vote on Proposed Settlement

 

II.                CALL TO ORDER

 

Mayor Briden calls the meeting to order at 7:05PM.

 

III.             SALUTE TO THE FLAG

 

IV.             WORK SESSION

 

A.  Review and Discussion of the FY 2018-2019 Budget

 

Acting City Manager Parella gives brief opening remarks regarding the budget presented and notes that he is asking for a 2.9% tax increase and .8% of that would be put away for the cost of the school bond payments.  He adds that it is important to do this now to pay for the future.  He is available to discuss whatever the council needs and the entire finance team is present as well as most of the department heads.  Last year, the city realized there would be no additional funding from the state for the school department and this was discussed numerous times.  It was predicted that there would be a minimum of a 3% tax increase.  Adding the .8% for the bond a year later they are at a 2.9%.  He has have reviewed the school department’s budget and it found it very conservative he asked the Superintendent to take $100,000 off and this was done. He notes that many of the school department items are out of their control such as RIDE and Special Education.  He adds there was good cooperation from the school side and they met multiple times.

 

Mayor Briden calls Mr. Luba to the podium to discuss the $800,000 set aside for the school bond payment.  Mr. Luba states that choosing to put this money aside now is at the council’s discretion without this item the tax increase is 2.1%.   Last year he projected around a 3% tax rate increase and what is being proposed is 2.1% adding the .8% which was what was talked about a few months ago makes it 2.9%.  The council can do this two ways regarding the anticipated school bond.  They can choose to take the hit all at once or gradually build it into the tax rate and in the third year when they finally have to take out the bond they might have a 2% or 3% tax increase.  He adds that Finance Director Moore has prepared a rate analysis.  The 2.1% for the average home owner is $80 per year while the 2.9% is about $113 per year.

 

Director Moore notes the payments on the bond would start in 2020 so there is only one more budget before they have the first service payment.  Mr.  Luba adds the state could reimburse as construction occurs but that has not been decided yet.

 

Mayor Briden raises the concern that the city would be taxing the public based on something that has not yet been approved.  Mr. Luba states that he agrees with the Chief’s analogy which was that you know your child is going to go into college so do you put it away into a plan now or wait until they get there and try to raise it all at once.

 

Councilman Faria raises the concern that this will effect everyone's income.

Acting City Manager Parella states that they could be looking at a pretty substantial tax increase in the future and if they don't start putting away for it now and he feels they will be sorry but adds that it is entirely up to the council and they have to weigh it all.

Mr. Luba explains in those years these bond payments will be on top of other tax increases but that there is no right or wrong way of doing it.

 

Councilwoman Sousa asks about fire items not in capital and the Acting City Manager explains the capital items.

 

Councilman Botelho notes the council budget was reduced by $5,000 and points out that the interesting fact is the council budget in 1985 was $35,000 so it has actually decreased by 13% over 30 years and adds this is one reason why no one runs for office.  He doesn’t understand how we underfund the governing body and this is beyond reasonable comprehension.  He adds that unless there is a major adjustment he is not going to approve this when the city side increased in that time 43% and there is absolutely no reasonable explanation and he is looking to make that right as they are not compensating those making the decisions.

 

Councilman Faria adds that East Providence is one of the lowest paid councils.  It's not worth the aggravation to run a lot of it has to do with their salary where representatives and senators are only in session for half the year and they get $15,000-$20,000 plus benefits.

Councilman Botelho states that in this case he is not coming back and what's right is right.

 

Mayor Briden explains the difficulty in working on this budget is given what is forecasted over the next few years with the school.  His view is to try to cut as much as possible to keep the tax increase down.

 

Councilman Faria asks about the budget for the mayor's office.

 

Acting City Manager Parella states he budgeted for two more positions.  When they did the salary sheets they put in a mayor and a chief of staff.  The executive secretary is already there and he added a public relations person.  Basically, they budgeted $80,000 for a chief of staff and in some cases they make equal to or more than the mayor.  They looked at data the city clerk collected and the mayor’s salary was already set.  They budgeted $60,000 for a public relations person.

 

Discussion ensues regrading what if any items need to be budgeted for in a mayor’s office.

 

Acting City Manager Parella explains the already existing receptionist works in the receptionist area and floats around as needed and under the direction of the city manager depending on if a department needs assistance.  Adding that the mayor may not use the position in that way they may create a couple of part-timers.

 

Councilman Botelho discusses the differences in the form of government and he notes he feels what they have is underfunded for the responsibilities of a mayor’s office and they shouldn’t have any predefined jobs adding that the coach needs to create their own team and budget so his view is the amount has to go up and they shouldn't be defining the roles under the mayor.

 

Councilman Faria discusses there are a lot of other places to cut and that Councilman Botelho makes a good point as you can’t have someone dictate another's vision.

 

Assistant Mayor Britto notes the positions are set as a perspective and they can change the salaries around but the whole purpose is to set a budget and their job is to fund a budget.

 

Acting City Manager Parella states they could have just put the lump sum in there as the dollar amounts per salary and what the mayor does with them are up to the mayor this is just for perspective.

 

Mayor Briden discusses a different view than that of department heads and instead being the mayors team and he is not comfortable adding positions especially when they need to be as conservative as possible and it is difficult to justify a public relations position with real tax increases over the years and he would advocate for actually cutting out the funding for a public relations person and the team idea in favor of the mayor utilizing the department heads.

 

Councilman Botelho strongly disagrees with this assessment and adds the biggest problem has been communication.  The council has wrestled over Facebook, water quality letters and press releases and communication is the pinnacle of any corporation.   If members are looking to cut money they are hobbling any administration.  A government body needs to have the resources to control and look over the bureaucrats.

 

Acting City Manager Parella explains t their concern was branding and a lot of that comes from the city website.  They are currently missing positions and cuts in IT from taking the content developer from full time to part time.  This was money saving and this position would help offset for the additional position.  There really is no one else to keep up with the content and the part time position will be more IT nuts and bolts.

 

Assistant Mayor Britto asks how things will work with the mayor regarding a vehicle.

 

Acting City Manager Parella states they budgeted for it as zero cost for a vehicle because EPPD has very decent vehicles which can be used.   They may also consider leasing a car for the mayor so it can be upgraded every so many years.

 

Mayor Briden asks about the money in the mayor’s budget for economic development and Acting City Manager Parella states this has a lot to do with a mayor really having to have a business account for meetings and expenses.

Mr. Luba adds that for example in Woonsocket, there is a lot of opportunity for the mayors to encourage economic development by inviting certain leaders over and they do this in presentations as the mayor is directly responsible for a lot of initiation of economic development, encouraging business to come here and they are the point person for business development in the city.  He adds there is a national organization for mayors and to belong the payment depends on how big the city is and they factored in the cost for a city the size of East Providence.

 

Mayor Briden raises concerns about creating a more expensive department than that of the existing city manager.  He adds one school of thought is to keep this department the same cost as the city manager.

Mr. Luba adds they do have great department heads but writing and dealing with the media is different.

Mayor Briden suggests adding a public relations person next year and waiting until the mayor evaluates what they need and he doesn't like the idea of having to pay for a team and exceeding the cost of a city manager.  If they eliminated those items it would bring the total down to $382,000 and closer to the city manager’s existing budget.

 

Assistant Mayor Britto notes that if they continue to increase in some areas then they have to decrease in others.

 

Councilman Botelho expresses concern and notes he cannot believe they are having this discussion as the people voted by a 74% margin because they didn't like their form of government and this is crippling them and it's like disregarding their vote.  They need to give the people what they want.

 

Councilwoman Sousa expresses concern of top heavy management and starting positions on a higher scale which will only increase and it will cause an issue 5-10 years from now.   They can’t cut department heads now all they can control right now is the mayor’s office and the mayor can do that later.

 

Mayor Briden agrees adding they know they are going to get more expensive over time and positions will be added.  They are at a place historically where they are adding school bonds and are trying to offset those tax increases and contractual salary increases.  He feels they are making good points but feels it’s wise not to have a public relations position just yet.

 

Councilwoman Sousa asks if council has the right to create these later if mayor came to the council and Acting City Manager Parella states they do but if the money is not budgeted for it would be more difficult.

 

Councilman Botelho expresses concern there is no transition money in the budget and it is woefully underfunded.  If the council doesn't give them the resources it's going to fail and not everyone is a civil servant and it is so new they have to look at with a broad perspective.  When they got here it was a disaster with no communication and they couldn't get direction on an open meetings law.  Why do this to next administration.

 

Mayor Briden notes the mayor and chief of staff are not subject to open meetings law and who he can hire and fire was discussed by the charter commission and he is not sure they can come in and make changes with regards to department heads.

 

Acting City Manager Parella notes from his perspective they have to look at these increases for example, letter head, envelopes they have to take care of new stuff and the office which is not in good condition needs basic changes. Some of those aren’t going to be there every year but initial money has to be spent on some things as it's about branding.

 

The Council moves on to line items in the budget.

They discuss senior services.

 

Acting City Manager Parella explains the union contracts have all received a 2% increase by contract.  He adds there are no new positions.

 

Assistant Mayor Britto discusses the line item for water.

 

Acting City Manager Parella explains water and electricity used to be budgeted under buildings and now are going directly to that specific department and this is the same with heat and gas and oil.

 

Director Moore discusses why salaries will look a little higher than the increases because in the 2018 budget there is money set aside.

 

Councilman Faria states last year they held off on passing the budget due to the deconsolidation issue and yet they are keeping the same staff as well as the same salary and this is the most ever budgeted for that department which is higher than other municipalities and which is usually a division of finance or somewhere else.

 

Acting City Manager Parella explains the budget includes all the hardware and they took from department hardware and sent all departments into this budget including the wireless bills.  Not every city and town does this so when looking at budgets and comparing it’s not always apples to apples.  Also two staff were absorbed from school deconsolidation so the department went from 8 to 6.  Councilman Faria states he doesn't feel they need a staff of this size.

 

Councilman Botelho states this department doesn't seem to be heavy in terms of services, hardware and software it seems to him they are finally getting on the right path with this but will withhold until he has more information.

Councilman Faria discusses how they have to look at the 2.9% and if they don't make any adjustments they have to come up with something and this is the second highest paid IT director in the state and they are still getting the consolidation pay.

 

Acting City Manager Parella states they are paying the IT Director for her services and this is a competitive salary and a competitive profession and this reflects all raises as others on the DOR salary sheet may not.  From what they looked at, she is around the third highest and it is within the purview of the council regarding funding departments and with the new bills and contractual raises coming in less than last year, if they want to cut from it that is their prerogative.  He is not sure he would take it from there but they will need to look at all the previously consolidated departments.  He is pleased with the IT budget for what they get and if the council cuts he will see were they take it from and it may not be directly from her salary.

 

Councilwoman Sousa asks for confirmation that the city is creating a part time online developer not a full time and raises concerns regarding the past years’ issues with website and information being outdated and sites down and a lot of issues then having had a full time employee and notes this change is concerning.

 

Acting City Manager Parella explains that is why they put the public relations person in the mayor’s office and it doesn't necessarily have to be an IT person who does that but they need to be a public relations person as they can use the nuts and bolts person in the IT department.  The mayor can be included on how to promote the city.

 

Councilman Faria asks why IT has to be located at Sweetlanld House as they move around why not City Hall.

Acting City Manager Parella asks what the savings of moving them would be.

 

Director Moore discusses the maintenance line item under the IT Department and other departments.

 

Acting City Manager Parella notes that whether they pay here or there they are paying for it and the question is how they are funding it and he explains the process.

 

Councilman Botelho notes this is a department that actually could be funded even more and they can debate line items all they want but he feels it should be further funded to look towards the future.

 

Councilwoman Sousa asks if moving forward is this going to be how the budget is handled because it's hard for them to understand it and each year it's hard for them to follow it.

 

Acting City Manager Parella states each year they need to get better at it and it will be up to the mayor going forward on how they want to present the budget.

 

V.                ADJOURNMENT

 

A motion to Adjourn at 9:15PM is made by Councilman Botelho, seconded by Assistant Mayor Britto and on a roll call vote it is unanimous.

 

 

Approved By Council:  October 2, 2018

 

 

Attest:  _______________

City Clerk