Cranston City Council Finance and Regular Meeting - January 20, 2026
Cranston City Council Finance and Regular Meeting Summary - January 20, 2026
The Cranston City Council held a Special Finance Meeting followed by a Regular Council Meeting on January 20, 2026. The meetings covered a new revolving loan fund for school capital improvements, budget amendments for fire rescue services, zoning updates, property sales, appointments, and a contentious discussion regarding a charter school's lack of local authorization.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Marsha Fowler (35 Melton Avenue) thanked council members for addressing health and finance concerns, but voiced strong concerns about the lack of a stated cost for the proposed Housing Court. She urged the council to thoroughly research the budget impact, consider alternative solutions, and evaluate whether current inspection resources are adequate before creating a new court.
Consent Calendar (Unanimous Actions)
- Minutes: Approved the minutes from previous meetings as a block.
- Tax Abatements: Passed resolutions authorizing real estate and tangible tax abatements.
- Liquor License: Approved a Class B liquor license for Broad Awakening (Oakland Ave, LLC) subject to standard documentation.
- Reappointments: Noted the reappointments of Anthony Mastantuono and Brian Moretti to the Board of Contracts and Purchases.
- Personnel: Approved a one-year continuation of service for Assistant Fire Chief Richard Mancini.
- Appointments: Approved Jessica Marcel as Alternate #3 to the Juvenile Hearing Board (Term ending Dec 1, 2026).
Discussion Items
- Revolving Loan Fund for School Improvements (Finance Committee): The committee debated and approved a substitute ordinance creating a revolving loan fund for capital school projects. The fund allows upfront payment for RIDE-approved projects, with reimbursements replenishing the fund. A $50,000 threshold was set, requiring City Council approval for expenditures over that amount. The final ordinance will be advertised for two weeks and voted on at the February full council meeting.
- Budget Amendment for Rescue 5 (Finance Committee): An ordinance amending the 2025-2026 budget to fund new full-time rescue positions was discussed. The Fire Director confirmed recruitment has begun administratively, but council approval is needed before hiring. The item was approved.
- Sale of Cardinal Road Property (Ordinance Committee): An amendment was added to exempt the proceeds from a general capital fund requirement, earmarking the funds for firefighter salaries. The amended ordinance will be advertised for 14 days before a final vote.
- Zoning Amendments (Ordinance Committee): An amendment to the city's zoning code was approved. Council members praised the changes and added themselves as co-sponsors.
- De La Comunidad Charter School (Council Communication): Council President Wall reported sending a letter to RIDE asserting the charter school failed to obtain the required City Council resolution (RIGL 16-77.7-5.1). RIDE's legal counsel argued the law does not apply. Council President Wall stated the law's author, Senator Hannah Gallo, agrees the school is circumventing the law. Council members unanimously opposed the bypassing of local elected officials, highlighting the estimated $2 million annual financial impact and $9,000 per student loss to the district, while expressing full support for Cranston Public Schools.
- Legal Expense Report: A council member questioned a $32,000 line item given the Housing Court is reportedly slow. The City Solicitor clarified the budget has flexibility and the attorney handles multiple areas (housing, municipal, zoning), making the bills intermixed.
Key Outcomes
- Finance Committee: Ordinance 12-25-02 (Revolving Loan Fund) advanced to the full council. Ordinance 12-25-06 (Rescue 5 budget) passed. Tax abatement resolutions passed. (All votes unanimous).
- Safety Services Committee: Liquor license approved. (Unanimous).
- Ordinance Committee: Ordinance 12-25-01 (Zoning) approved. Amended Ordinance 12-25-03 (Cardinal Road sale) advanced to the full council. (Unanimous).
- Ordinance Withdrawals: Ordinances 12-25-04 (Senior Tax Exemption Authority) and 12-25-05 (Veterans Tax Exemption Authority) were withdrawn from consideration by their sponsor.
- Charter School Direction: Council President Wall directed to continue communications with RIDE and state legislators. The council unanimously supported this stance.
- Executive Session: The council held an executive session to discuss litigation and legal bills. No votes were taken. Minutes were sealed by a unanimous vote.
Meeting Transcript
To call a special finance meeting to order on Tuesday, January twentieth at six oh seven p.m. Clerk, can you please take a roll? Pastor Ritz. Present. Pastor Trafficante. Councilman Baziri. Present. Council Vice President Haroyan. Present. That's President Wall. Here. At this time I am I am opening up public comment. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak on docketed items only? Seeing none. Technical clerk, is there anyone online that would like to speak on items? There is no public comment online. At this time, I'd like to close public comment. We're moving on to committee business matters carried over. Uh moving on to ordinance twelve dash twenty-five dash oh two s ordinance authorizing the established the establishment of a revolving loan fund for school building improvements, sponsored by Mayor Hopkins. I believe there are some amendments. But due to that fact, we're going to substitute this uh ordinance in place of what was uh posted. We're asking the committee to vote this audit committee, we're going to uh advertise it for two weeks, and then we can probably vote on it at a full council meeting uh in February. Thank you. So I'm pretty sure everybody has us. So may entertain a motion to approve the amended um document that's in front of us. Second. Is there any discussion? Just to be clear, we're gonna um table the original and we're gonna substitute this ordinance for the one that was on the docket tonight. Yes, correct. So we're voting on the amended one. Correct. Okay. No discussion. Any any further discussion? So since we're in the discussion, my understanding is we are voting on the amended version, and it will be posted online, and we'll be voting on it at our council meeting in February. So they'll give the public enough time to view. We clarified some issues about bonded interest. We added the mayor uh to the administrator of the fund. We also gave uh uh the the city council authority to approve any expenditure above 50,000. So there's a check that's already you know built into this that the the uh the city council will have a 50,000 dollar uh threshold in which they would have to approve these projects, and we make sure that these projects are that are eligible for reimbursement, are all approved by Ride. Well, the purpose of this fund is that the and just so purpose of this is in a lot of cities and towns have done this. You submit a uh of there's a school building committee that's established by state statute. They go out and they uh they come up with a uh a schedule of things that they want their schools to be approved with. Right, then has to approve those projects. If Ryan approves the approves those projects and they're eligible for reimbursement, um say for instance it gets uh a new roof needs a hundred thousand dollars, right? Will approve that hundred thousand dollars. Now, I don't know what Cranston's reimbursement rate is, but I'm assuming it's like sixty-six percent, maybe less 35%, maybe all right. So we'll let's take a round number. I'm not good at math. Say your reimbursement rate is 50 percent.
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