Okay, I'm going to call the public works committee meeting to order on Wednesday, March Fourth at six oh eight PM.

Um, Clerk, may I please get the role?

Councilman Yanduhar.

Councilman Viziri present.

Councilman Campo Piano.

Present.

Councilman Banano.

Council Vice President Heroyan.

Councilwoman Graziano.

Present.

Council President Wall.

Thank you.

Um, approval of meeting minutes uh dated February fourth, twenty twenty-six.

Can I get a motion to approve as drafted?

Motion to approve.

Second.

Any discussion.

Seeing none, may I please get the role?

Councilwoman Vizier.

Yes.

Councilman Campbell Piano.

Yes.

Council Councilwoman Graziano.

Yes.

Council President Wall.

Yes.

I am going to open up the floor to public comment for docketed matters only.

If anyone in the audience would like to come comment on documented matters, please state your name, address, and you will have four minutes.

You can step up to the podium.

Could we please see if there is any public comment online?

There's no public comment online.

Okay.

This evening we have a pretty late agenda.

So there are no new matters before the committee this evening.

Um, but we have added council communications.

Um I was looking for an update on the blizzard of 2026 from the administration, DPW on storm progress and cleanup.

Um, I will let the committee members know that I thought it would be appropriate to get an update on what's been happening, where we're at.

Um, and then I was hoping that we could go around the room um this evening on the committee and allow for one question and one comment for the administration if anyone has any comments or concerns.

Um, my my reason for doing this is kind of you know, we've been working really hard.

I think the administration worked really hard.

I know Director Renzuli, um, Chris Paplauskis and um our DPW staff worked extremely hard on this blizzard.

And I just want to bring to light highs, lows.

And if anyone has a buffalo, which is like a funny thing, I'd be happy to hear that too.

Um, but um I offer seems like in the audience I'd offer up um anyone from the administration, Director Correo, Director Renzuli.

If you want to step up and give us a progress report, that would be great.

It's on all right, good evening, everyone.

As you know, we had an epic storm, record breaking, however you want to term it.

And I just want to add that John Carso and his crew was amazing out there.

I sat there the entire time that they were there, and it is amazing how they're able to field calls, get trucks out where they need to be dispatched, receive calls in.

It was really an amazing operation that they do, and they they should all be congratulated for the work that they put out there for that evening.

As you know, the storm started on Sunday evening.

It was pretty light.

It went through Monday morning early, and then it got really heavy through most of Monday.

We had vendors out there.

We had 40 of our own trucks starting out there on Sunday evening, and we had approximately 65 vendors also out there during that time.

When the snow got the heaviest, which is during Monday, later in the day, we pretty much had to stop the operation because the blizzard was coming down.

The snow is coming down anywhere from two to four inches an hour.

We had several whiteout conditions.

It was just unsafe to keep the trucks out there, as well as the smaller pickup trucks that we had out there, we're just having trouble.

So not only did the pickup trucks get stuck, we also had the heavy vehicles, which are the six wheels trucks, dump trucks.

They were getting stuck.

We spent a significant amount of time digging people out, pulling them out.

So that's when John decided it was just unsafe to keep everybody out there, and we needed to wait till the storm lessens.

Once it let up, we were able to secure some additional forces that came in as a result of the declaration of an emergency.

As a result of that, you know, we had vendors come in with uh John again, had a lot of contacts.

We were able to get 15 additional payloaders out there, which is a large excavating pieces of equipment.

We were able to get them.

We got several 10-wheel trucks, and what we ultimately started doing was pretty much start hauling snow from the areas where it was filling in.

On Wednesday, I believe Rema was also contacted, and they were ones that were starting to generate and gather people from out of state to come in to give and provide us some assistance.

So several of the vehicles came to this state.

Cranston was one of the states that were the one of the cities, rather, that we were able to get some people from Pennsylvania who came in.

We had three crews come in.

They had three loaders and four dump trucks.

They started on Thursday morning and they started digging everyone out on the both what we consider to be district one, the way we set up our snow plow operations.

There are 16 different districts.

So we had district one, which is down in Edgewood, just three, which I believe is towards the middle area of the city, towards uh believe just before stadium, and then it was district 10.

So from Thursday morning to yesterday afternoon, those crews were there from six in the morning till six at night, removing the snow.

And as you can see, we had to generate and create some hauling locations.

Stadium was one of the major ones that we were able to dump at.

It was kind of the most centrally located area.

We also had some areas on some of the uh ball field parks, which was on Beachmont.

There was a drive up parking lot.

So we were able to use Beachmont.

And we also had some property at the end of Perkins Street, which is a an area that is off of the park park view boulevard behind the school.

There are areas along up at Tuxit that were ultimately condemned because of the fact of the flooding.

So we had some land over there that we ultimately removed the snow, and we were able to have some of the people dumping their snow and hauling to that location.

In addition to what we had coming in from Pennsylvania over the weekend, we were also contacted by Rima asking if we had any additional services needed.

And we said yes, we did.

So they sent a crew from Connecticut, came in with one loader and one truck.

So they were assisting us over in the uh Beachmont roadway area.

They were out there taking and hauling snow from all those side streets.

Because primarily what happened was we were able to open the main roads pretty much the entire storm.

They were all passable because one of the things we needed to focus on was being able to make sure emergency vehicles could respond, which there were a significant number of calls coming in, and we were getting fire trucks stuck, we were getting rescues stuck.

So the primary goal was to get people on the main roads clear so that they can get those vehicles there.

In fact, I guess some of our vehicles were actually plowing in front of rescues to try to get them to their calls.

Same thing with some of the fire trucks.

When they were doing all that work with REMA, they asked when they asked us about the additional resources.

We were able to say yes, we did.

So they gave us the Connecticut resources.

And then again on Monday, they also supplied us with additional resources from uh Maine National Guard was down here.

So they were able to supplement the trucks that we had hauling snow from those three districts that we had with additional trucks, and we did the best we could to open up all the streets.

Everything was open to at least one lane by Wednesday or Thursday.

And then from Thursday on is when we started opening up those streets that were only one lane wide.

They opened them up to as much as we can to the two lanes, and we didn't get to curb the curb, but it wasn't necessary.

The primary goal was to at least make them passable and be able to get one lane of travel in each direction.

As of right now, all crews have left.

Um, we did spend the day working with the school busing company to try to get buses to see where the troubled areas would be once they were going to open up school.

So they ended up having the buses go out.

They were able to take their routes, and then they were able to give a list to Director Enzooli, and then John and his crews were going out there and going out there to widen the intersections and to make sure that the buses did not get hung up, as well as make sure there were areas for where they had the bus stops to pick up students.

So that was part of the operation as well.

And then after all of that was done, we pretty much have everything open to two lanes throughout the city.

And John Carso right now, the crews are pretty much focusing on just being able to address any concerns that get raised a result of what was done for the snow because there are some intersections that haven't been totally widened.

If those become problems, John's been responding to those.

And right now we've got some good weather came in.

So we've had rain, we've got warm weather.

Uh, we don't want to go crazy trying to remove the snow.

It will ultimately melt in by this weekend.

I think the majority of whatever is out there will go other than the piles.

The piles over in stadium.

I think we're going to be skiing there until probably July, if anybody wants to, because they're pretty deep, they're pretty dense, and they're pretty large.

Okay, thank you.

I appreciate that update.

Um, I am going to take some time and like I hope we can be brief and try to finish by 6:30.

Um, I'm gonna offer council members um to provide uh high and lower comment.

Um, so I'm gonna start with Frank and I'm gonna go clockwise and we'll come back around to me since I'm the chair.

Thank you.

I'm not on this committee, but but thank you.

I did have some some comments that I that I love to make and share some feedback they got.

I think uh communication-wise, uh A plus really from from everyone.

Um, you know, feedback I've gone through social media email.

People love the videos, they love the videos of the mayor giving updates, not only, you know, they get sick of reading things, but to hear him explain the things.

Um, I think it was fantastic.

Um, I know uh director Renzuli helped put it together, sharing the phases of plowing, which is something that I get asked about a lot.

And to have that document was great.

And I did share that.

And two people like, you know, I read that document, it makes so much sense of how you do it in phases too.

So thank you for doing that.

Um, you know, a lot of a lot of praise, Director Renzulli, uh, Director Paplovskis, you know, they've been named on Facebook and called out for this.

So they've done a fantastic job being so new in the roles.

Um, even with the trash, um, you know, I haven't really had any complaints, which I was prepared for with the trash.

I think people understand it why we held the trash and they appreciate uh the trash bags being handed out.

I think that was a nice touch.

They didn't expect that.

Um, so just really fantastic around with the communication.

Um, and I I think just the planning of this storm was fantastic.

Uh the mayor's leadership down.

Uh, I think it really starts at the top.

And you know, I can almost see like a think tank going on with you guys at planning this, and I think it works when people can actually think and do practical things in there too.

Um, you know, I wasn't alive for them.

I was a year later than the blizzard of 78, but it took two weeks to open the road of the blizzard of 1978, and it took two days to open them.

So uh fantastic accomplishment.

Uh, again, just well planned out, the partnership with the state with the mutual aid, just all around.

You guys did a fantastic job.

Um, and and the buses too, doing the dry run with the buses, um, you know, sharing that with the residents, they they were really happy with that idea, and then you know, just practical, well thought out things all the way around.

Um, but I did have just just two questions because I'm starting to get asked now about it, is the potholes.

Um you know that's gonna come.

Um, and I'm starting to put together some some lists there too.

Do you know when we can start doing that?

I don't think we can do asphalt yet, right?

No, actually, we have been doing potholes.

They had two crews on since the beginning of the week to actually go out there and try to catch up with where they are.

A lot of them are the utility patches for some reason that that asphalt did not hold out, whether they were the temporary patches that they normally do first.

But John does have two crews out there right now with the asphalt, and they're out there addressing any potholes.

So if you do have any concerns that you find, you know, bring them to the attention of John, give us a call, and I'm sure he'll try to respond to them as quickly as we can.

Yeah, perfect.

And then just one other thing.

I know, you know, uh, you know, with the budget coming up, I just didn't know if we had enough six wheelers.

I mean, this is an epic storm that we had there too, but just something to consider.

I don't know how many we have, if we have enough, but maybe when it comes to budget time, if that's something we need, maybe we should consider talking about that.

Yeah, I mean, with with the amount of snow that we had there, uh we don't know when we'll ever get it again.

Um, it's difficult to say, hey, we need them more.

Obviously, we could have used more, but again, if you get more and then we don't see a storm like this for again, they may be sitting more idle than they are useful.

So it's kind of a balancing act that we would need to do to come up with that.

Yeah, definitely I think it's a balance.

I think this one kind of aside if you think of the other storms too.

If there's a need, you know, maybe that's for discussion.

Yes, but thank you.

Okay, thank you, Councilman Rantz.

Council President Wall.

Thank you, madam chair.

I'll keep my comments uh brief.

First, I you know, I don't want to say what everybody else said.

You did a great job.

The monumental storm, what 37 inches?

I was around.

I was around in 1978, so I can recall it.

And I was I was out a considerable time in school and uh old enough to remember it.

Um, so anything I say after this is just going to be pretty much what are some of the things I heard, some of the concerns, and uh I'll ask you if this is possible, if there's something we have to look at.

Um, one of the concerns I got, and I got calls from around the city, somehow, not just in my wood, around the city.

Um, and I didn't see it, and this is more hearsay because people call you, and I tried to stay off the road, I'll tell you the truth.

Um, if that need be, I was recommended stay off the road.

It'll make things things easier for the people who have to plow.

But I got calls from some people saying that, well, there were some parts of the city, maybe some districts.

I know you separated your the city into districts, that they were curb to curb.

And the other parts hadn't been touched yet.

Is it a priority to make sure every every part of the city is done pro and and this is a bigger storm than we've seen, and I hope a bigger storm that you and I will see again, right?

Is it a priority to make sure that every area of the city is at least gotten one path?

And this is something I spoke to the mayor about before we worry about curb to curb.

Is the constituent misinformed, uh saying something?

I just like to hear your feedback.

I know you're still in the middle of it.

Yes, some of what people have to understand is the primary goal is to get the mains open.

And when I say mains, we're looking at the Pontiac Avenue, Narragansett Boulevards, the Budlong Roads.

Those are roads that the neighborhood streets feed in order to get from point A to point B.

So if they did see anything that was curved to curb, I have to believe they're talking about some of those main roads.

And again, the goal was to make sure we could get fire and rescue, which most of them are located on those main roads, was to get them the room they needed in order to pass to get to and respond to calls.

I'm not aware of any neighborhood that got curbed to curb.

Okay.

To this day, we still don't have neighborhoods curb to curb.

And again, that wasn't the priority.

The priority was to at least open it up to one lane first, and then you go to the opening them up again and widen them to get at least two lanes, but not curb to curb.

We unfortunately do not have the resources nor the equipment to be able to keep up with a storm like we had and be able to get curb to curb.

It just was not possible.

So just to so I'm hearing you correctly, Director Crail.

So it was the so pretty much going back to my original question.

It is the policy of the Department of Public Works to make sure we get at least one pass through the city before we widen the rest.

Aside from those main arteries that are necessary for so many things.

Yeah, I understand that.

And you know, maybe they're seeing some of the state roads, which were obviously the those are main arteries as well.

Correct.

So that is the policy.

Yes.

So I had to check it because when you hear of constituents, I had ladies who they couldn't get out.

And when I say they couldn't get out, in a more small storm, snowstorm about two or three inches, it's inconvenient.

You get your shoes wet.

When I say they they were they they couldn't get out, they couldn't get out.

And if they got out, they'd be stranded out there.

And they you know how heavy that snow is because you dealt with it.

So it took on a much more serious tone when they said it to me.

So that's why I figured I'd ask it in public.

Yes.

Thank you, Director.

Thank you, President Wall.

Councilman Traficante.

Frank, of the city owned vehicles, you say you had 40 city owned vehicles.

There's approximately 40 of different rates, both pickup trucks, six wheels, and landscape.

How many are 10 wheelers?

I don't recall the exact number, but there's probably six, four to six 10-wheelers.

And the rest are all what?

The rest of them would be the larger six-wheel dumps.

Uh-huh.

And then they have a couple of the what they call a landscape dump, which would be more like a Ford Five 50s.

And then the rest of them are pickup trucks.

I believe you said you had 60 privates.

65.

How many of those were 10 wheelers?

I don't have a breakdown for that.

At this time, we could get you that number if you'd like, but we did not have them break down that way.

The majority of them were the pickup trucks and the smaller vehicles to the pickup trucks, we're not going to do it.

You know that.

Not with this type of a storm.

I I noticed some of the pickup trucks did not have sand on the back to weigh them down.

Is it mandatory to have sand in the back?

No, it's not.

It's very difficult once you put the sand in there to get them out after the storm, because I have a pickup truck, and I was thinking about putting sand in the back, but then I realized what it takes to actually get that sand out after because you have to manually dig it out.

There's no way to dump a pickup truck to get that sand out of there, unfortunately.

Well, maybe it would behoove us probably to uh try to get more 10-wheeler privates on the list, just in case we have another stormlight that's coming forth.

Yeah, we we do have the list.

Unfortunately, sometimes you have to wait before we get to get those resources on board, and then they go to other communities and then they're not available.

I I I mean, I I receive the complaints like anybody else, but for the most part, um, I thought you did a decent job.

I really had no complaints.

Uh, I I what I do appreciate is the fact that there was a uh one individual that took all the calls that we could call into rather than trying to call John Cawso or call a private works, public works.

Uh we call into Mrs.

Renzoli, and um, it was good that we handle it that way because uh I think I think things got accomplished uh in a really uh quick fashion.

Yes, I do appreciate that.

She was at headquarters with us, so she was able to give direct access.

She did a great job.

Um, and uh as a result, I sent the flowers.

Uh I got myself in trouble by doing that because uh there were several other people that were answering phones, and I ended up having to send them flowers as well.

So it was a very costly night for me.

Yes, I I didn't receive flowers, I just want you to.

I was just gonna say, did you send Frank flowers?

We did get a grinder, I believe it was a six-foot grinder that came in.

I got myself in trouble.

Thank you.

Councilman Capapiano, would you like to offer a comment?

Thank you very much.

Um, well, first of all, the team Cranston was fabulous.

Uh with a monumental storm like this, you did a great job all the way down in uh hours, the countless hours that you were there was amazing.

Um I I do have a question that would one of us council people call in and say this street isn't done.

That's is that a hindrance or is that a help?

I mean, is it pull somebody?

If someone's doing I'm picturing that you have a district and they're gonna go street by street by street, and then someone calls in, they say, hey, this street down here is not done, and they run to do that one.

Is the guy calling me saying they did my neighbor street and they didn't do mine?

Is it because of that?

Or is that is that a whole different thing?

No, some of that is part of that.

It comes very inefficient if you start bouncing around the community because you're spending more time traveling than you are plowing.

So the goal is to get them into an area and then just continue to do something.

And just to go back with something the president wallet said, if there's I mean, council president, if you have one pass, a lot of times you do go down the street, you do turn around and come back.

So it's not always just a single pass.

You may get two passes, but they're never gonna be curb to curb.

Um, yeah, bouncing around did not help.

One of the issues we did have this past storm was because of the intensity of the storm and the size of the vehicles that we had there is best we could have, trucks were getting stuck.

We had to be able to tow them out.

So you either had to send another truck to help them get out, or the loader that we have, which is the one that actually loads the trucks with the sand at the highway garage, that had to stop what it was doing for loading sand.

They would have to get the chains, have the mechanics go with them, and then they would have to go out to wherever these were.

And this could have been anywhere from Hope Road all the way down to Edgewood or Narragansett Boulevard area, and they would have to tow someone out, then they go back to the maintenance, and then we would get another call, and then they would go out.

So again, it was just this epic storm that really created some real issues with us logistically to be able to make sure we could keep things moving efficiently through those neighborhoods.

Bouncing around did not help.

The calls did come in.

People just had to be a little patient with this storm to be able to make sure we could get to everybody we can, not to mention we also prioritize the calls that came in from individuals who were doctors, lawyers, emergency people trying to get to their work in the morning or in the afternoon, or whose chip was at seven o'clock.

So we got several of those calls.

We tried to address them, and I did kudos to the police department because they were willing and available that if we got those calls, they would literally meet the people at the first point they could get to so that they could get to a street that's drivable, and the police were driving people to the hospitals to get them to work, whether they were doctors or nurses, they were able to do that.

So that was something that really helped out with us relatives of calls where people were saying they could not get out, they could not get to work.

We had several calls and people again asking, Well, I'm a doctor, I need to get to work, and they wanted their street plowed, but it was not where we had the plows at that instant.

So we did the best we could to kind of shift it and keep a pattern, but yet try to address those emergency situations as we could.

Yeah, because I guarantee every one of us got that call where you know they did my neighbor street and they didn't do mine.

And I'm my mind goes into problem solving mold, and that's what I came up with.

Uh, my next thing is when we know how much the storm cost us.

Um, right now we're in the process of generating that.

Uh Chief Marcinko is our EMA representative for the city of Cranston, and the EMA has asked for those costs because we're seeking reimbursement for most of that.

So we need to provide him with the resources we had with the money spent, with the salt that was utilized.

And uh, he's in the process of putting that together, and I believe they're gonna have that completed by Friday of this week.

Oh, that's excellent.

I and I do remember early before I think it was in September, I heard well, Mr.

Carsall bought extra sand and salt this year.

He did.

And he must have known something at the time.

I says, Can we use this next year?

But he knew and more than I did.

So uh kudos to uh Mr.

Castle are getting that done.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Councilman Traffic.

Frank, just one suggestion.

I mean, I think you speak for Western Cranston.

It would be probably wise to get some of your heavier trucks to uh push back some of the snow at the intersections of these very streets because it's very difficult to see around the corner uh when you come out of a street onto a main road.

So I would probably appreciate that.

Okay.

Do you have specific locations or just in general?

Because I mean most of that's a steep road.

I snowpiled up six to eight feet, and it's very difficult when you come in intersection to see what's coming around the corner.

Okay, yep.

Okay, thank you.

Um, Councilman Anderhari, you're up next.

Thank you.

Director, who is in charge of this whole operation?

Who was in charge?

Because I'm gonna be honest with you.

This was a horrible, horrible, uncoordinated bias operation.

And the reason why I'm gonna say that is because for the first 48, 72 hours, you basically left my ward to die.

Why am I saying that?

Because Sumner Avenue, Arlington, Gladstone, Wales, Hillwood, you guys left eight foot mountains of snow in the middle of the street that God forbid it, and and I knock on wood, pray to God that we didn't have to get an emergency truck down that street because there was no way in in hell that a fire trucker and a rescue were gonna get to any of those senior citizens.

And for the first 48 to 72 hours, it was hell.

And I didn't believe it.

And I said, you know what?

The mayor called me.

He said, hey, we're just doing main roads.

And you know what I did?

I went out and I went down and hit all those little side streets off of Atwood Avenue, went down Randall, hit all those little side streets, and they were curb to curb.

So I understand that if someone comes or if let's say City of Cranston gets new garbage bins, and you guys want to take care of District 15, Ward 5, Ward 5, whatever, do it.

I understand it's politics.

And that's what we're in.

But you do not play with public safety.

And you're a great director.

And I'm I'm pretty sure you had nothing to do with this.

But whoever the hell was in charge of this no storm should be fired because you guys put my senior citizens at risk.

And that was totally uncalled for.

And that's something you do not do, play with people's lives.

So I hope there's repercussions for this store.

And I have pictures, and I and I put it on social media, and I have my whole entire ward backing me on this.

This was totally uncalled for.

And I hope for the next snowstorms, you guys don't put eight foot mountains of snow in the middle of the street.

And you know what probably happened?

The plow came in, you guys send a little plow over.

The little plow said, you know what?

I'm not messing on my truck.

Came in, left it there.

But where the where the damn inspectors, you don't do that to my people.

So I'm gonna stop there because I could sit here all night complaining.

But director, I hope somebody gets fired because you do not play with public safety.

Thank you, councilman.

Councilman Pizzeri.

So I just wanted to say um there was I got a lot of phone calls.

There was some trouble with streets and all that, as Councilman Anduhar just um mentioned.

But I want to say that there was a good system put into place with the Google Sheet.

So whenever we would get a phone call, we would just put in the address and the name.

And then shortly after it would get taken care of.

Uh, but for Director Correo, how many plow drivers did we have out at once?

At once, close to 110.

Thank you.

Thank you, um, council members.

Um I would just like to say uh that I did have open communication with Director Renzuli and Director Paplauskis um during most of the storm.

Um, I am the DPW um contact as the council, um, as the DPW committee.

Um, so I I felt like I did have constant communication.

Um, one of the things that we did speak about um is this form that um councilwoman Vizier just brought up.

Um, and I I think that was super helpful to council members because you could input any um any of the um incoming calls.

I mean, I myself received um I don't know, hundreds of calls and text messages.

Um, and that continued over a week, weeks time, um, well, you know, well into the week.

So um I am looking forward to um implementing that system and working with the administration and implementing a system um that assists the residents in inputting um some of these streets and roads, because I agree with Director Correo.

Um, while they were excellent with helping out doctors and nurses and the police, I I agree.

I got that call, like they were gonna pick up my neighbor and bring her to Rhode Island Hospital because she had to be at a surgery at 5 a.m.

So I agree with that.

And but at the same time, we do have to understand that this isn't a concierge service.

So um, you know, implementing a way for the residents to input their comments and their concerns in their streets would be super helpful because it would alleviate um a lot of the burden, I think.

And if I I just looking, I don't know if it worked for you, Director Renzuli, if you want to let us know if that worked for you and was helpful, we would love to hear from you on the um these uh Google Doc.

Um, I found it super helpful because getting different text messages and getting messages on Facebook and then getting emails, it was really difficult to balance them all.

Um, I don't know that they would have done that if there was not an extra person there.

Um, but I have spoken to Director Correo, and at the request of the mayor, we are looking into some kind of software um that would make all of this much easier.

Um, because I could use a spreadsheet and categorize where the addresses were to help prevent some of the going from district to district.

So if you there were four complaints in district four, then that one person they would get those.

Um without a spreadsheet or software, it is difficult to do that.

Um so we will be looking into that and try to find the most economic one.

Obviously, when you get any kind of software or devices, there's licenses and there's costs associated with this, but I think it's definitely uh worth the investment.

And I think it would be helpful for residents to be able to see a map on our website of what has been done, what is going to be done next, you know, different colors on the road.

So you know if your road, you know, if you live on a dead end, but you might not know if you live on a connecting artery.

And you everyone thinks that their road, everyone's road is just as important, you know.

We all we all live on a road, even if you live in a cul-de-sac, you want to get out at the same time as everyone else.

Um that's not exactly how it works.

And the system that we use here, I can say they use almost everything, they use everywhere in New England.

So this is we're not doing anything different in that regard.

Um, but if we can be innovative and kind of just think out of the box before we even get the software, hopefully we get no more snow this year.

I think that we have to do that.

I will say something that we did was I utilized um the drone with the police, and I was able to see roads to see what needed to be done before someone even called, and also be able to confirm that no, this is actually passable.

Someone wants it better, but it's not really actually necessary.

And that was really helpful.

Um, the police were very helpful in this storm in that regard.

And all across the board, I did receive their stats if you want that.

Um for the week from 221 to 228, they received uh 1,583 calls for service.

There were 19 weather-related accidents.

They had 124 motorist assists and 58 transports.

So if someone needed to get so a doctor had surgery and we couldn't get that road, someone would take them, or even you know, people that needed to get to a warming shelter that was available.

As far as um snow ban tickets, they issued 31.

There were 19 toes, but I can say that from the beginning, they were communicating that they were getting hundreds of cars off the road simply by starting early enough with the parking ban and asking people to get their car off to off the road.

Um so that was super helpful.

We were in constant communication with other municipal leaders and with the governor's team.

There were several calls that I attended and a press conference.

So we did have that.

We were fortunate to be able to get the mutual aid.

Um, I think that was really helpful in some of the wards that just have narrow streets.

And I think that wards are going to look different depending on how they're how the streets are in the first place.

They're they're harder to go down.

Um, but I'm glad that eventually we were able to haul some of the snow out of those areas and working with the school department, I think was maybe the best that it's been in a while, getting those roads done for the buses.

They Janine said the superintendent said they received virtually no complaints about that.

So we're happy with that.

And if you have any more questions, I'm happy to answer if I can.

Okay, thank you.

Um, I don't have any more questions, but it looks like council president Wall has another question.

And I I do know we have another meeting that we're late to, so I'll keep it very brief.

First, I know uh I'd be remiss because I know uh some of the other council members did mention your Google form is is is as funny as it sounds.

It was it was a real game changer.

It did change things.

Things things started to turn a different direction when the communication was going through that form.

Um that aspect, and I guess this is this software I couldn't agree more.

I know when we talked almost an accountability of what was done.

I need Smith Street done.

Yeah.

And then some other side, now I know Smith Street's done because sometimes we'd have to re-enter it because it was supposedly done, but it wasn't done.

And we're not talking about five minutes of people being impatient a day and a half later.

So that kind of thing, that communication.

Yeah, I think stepping it up even a little bit more will help, especially in a significant storm like this.

Yes.

Perhaps in the one, two, three inches, we can be a more a little bit more cavalier and get through them and cover up, but an assistant storm like this.

Yes.

It's got to be systematic.

I think uh the software will do that where drivers in their truck can click, click on an iPad or their own cell phone and a road is done.

So someone is account is accountable to that.

And you know, and then you can some of you can even get an alert that the road was done.

We'd have to see how fancy we're gonna get, but uh I was unable to necessarily get the information that something was done.

Um, just based on how busy it was, how it was going, and that I don't exactly work there.

So I was just trying, they were already moving on to other they were doing roads and then moving on to the next one.

And just if I didn't say it, thank you.

I know everybody I talked to on the city council was very thankful for the effort you had doing that because that did change a lot, and the temperature went down.

I'm not saying immediately, but you could see it a gradual change.

So I know we have another meeting, so I won't speak longer.

Thank you.

Thank you, man.

Thank you.

Um, thank you, Director Anzuli.

Thank you, Director Crayo, for attending tonight's meeting and and fielding um questions and comments about the blizzard.

Um, with that being completed, um, may I get a motion to adjourn?

Motion to adjourn.

Second, any discussion?

All those in favor?

Aye.

All those opposed motion passes.

We are adjourned 646.

60 seconds, 60 seconds ordinance.

Like to call the ordinance committee meeting to order.

Today is Wednesday, March 4th at 6 46 p.m.

Clerk, welcome back.

Could you please take the roll?

Thank you, Councilman.

Council Vice President Heroyan, Councilwoman Vaziri, present.

Councilman Campo Piano, present.

Councilman Banano, Councilwoman Graziano, present.

Councilman Duhar.

Present.

Council President Wall.

Yes, here.

May I entertain a motion to approve the minutes from the February 4th regular meeting?

Motion to approve as drafted.

Second.

Any discussion?

Clerk, please take a roll.

Councilwoman Vazier, yes.

Councilman Campo Piano.

Yes.

Councilwoman Graziano, yes.

Councilman Duhar?

Yes.

Council President Wall.

Yes.

Thank you.

Moving on to public uh comment.

Is there anyone in the ordinance that would like to speak on docketed items only?

Seeing none clerk, is anyone on the line?

There is no public comment online.

At this time, I would like to close public comment.

Moving on to new matters before the committee.

Ordinance 2-2601 ordinance and amendment of Title 10, chapter 32, Section 30 of the City of Crancity Court of Ordinance 2005, entitled Multiway Stop at Intersections.

Um sponsored by Councilman Mayor Trappicante.

The floor is yours, sir.

Mr.

Chairman, um I remitted the request to the engineering um, I received back a rather elaborate uh uh discussion and uh drawing of what they're proposing.

They propose roundabouts throughout Lake Garden Drive, which is about a mile long.

I fully realize that um uh after some serious discussion on that subject and debate, uh, and of course, if they were serious about it, entering uh drawings, engineering drawings, and of course, pre-construction bids as well as dedicating money to that particular project or uh suggested project, I should say.

Uh there's no doubt in my mind by the time that would take place, I would be at St.

Cemetery and join the flowers above me.

So I immediately put a response in and asking for a three-way stop sign at the intersection, and hopefully it's going to get approved.

So at this time, councilman, you are continuing it, or do you want to withdraw it?

I wasn't reporting.

We're gonna go forward.

Okay, okay.

Sorry about that.

Motion to approve.

Is there a motion to approve?

Second.

Any discussion?

Seeing none, Clerk, please take a roll.

Councilwoman Viziri.

Councilman Campobiano.

Yes, Councilwoman Graziano, yes, Councilman Anduhar.

Yes, Council President Wall.

Yes, motion Congress.

Thank you.

Um, moving on to ordinance two-2602 ordinance and amendment of title 10, chapter 12, section 100, the city of Cranston Court of Ordinances entitled Right Turns Prohibited.

Sponsored by our great Councilwoman Graziano.

The floor is yours.

Thank you, Chairman Andrew Har.

Um so if the um Council members remember, um, this was in response to Chiswick Road.

Um, so essentially um at our um previous meetings for ordinance in city council, we passed an ordinance for local access only on Chiswick Road due to the high velocity of traffic.

Um, at the time, there were some other ordinances that were already in place that were recommended by our traffic engineer to be removed.

Um, specifically, this ordinance was recommended to be removed.

It was a right turn only from four to six PM on to Chiswick from Narragansett Boulevard.

Um, so I am looking for the committee to approve it this evening.

Motion to approve.

Is there a second?

Any discussion.

Clerk, please take a roll.

Yes.

Councilman Campbiano.

Yes.

Councilwoman Graziano, yes.

Councilman Duhar.

Yes.

Council President Wall.

Yes.

Um, I believe two twenty six oh three ordinance and amendment of title ten, chapter twelve, section two ten of the City of Cranston Court of Ordnance, two thousand five, entitled through trucking prohibited on certain streets, sponsored by Councilwoman Graziano.

The floor is yours.

I'm making a motion to withdraw the ordinance.

Second that motion.

Any discussion.

Clerk, please take a roll on the motion to withdraw.

Councilwoman Viziri.

Yes.

Councilman Camp Opiano.

Yes.

Councilwoman Graziano, yes.

Councilman Andujar.

Yes.

Council President Wall.

Yes.

Moving on.

There are no council of communications may I intertain a motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn.

Is there a second?

Second.

Any discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any nays?

I have it.

We are adjourned at six fifty-one.

Good job, Councilman.

If you guys can take your seats, please.

We're going to start the meeting.

It is now seven oh four.

March the fourth, two thousand and twenty-six.

I'd like to call this special city council school committee joint meeting to order.

And I asked the clerk to please call a role for the city council.

Present.

Councilman Ritz.

Present.

Councilman Campbell Piano.

Present.

Here.

Let me just state for the record.

Unfortunately, Council Vice President Haroyan, she's on her way, but she was detained at work, so she may be a little bit late.

I know as a former school committee member, how important this meeting is to her.

Mrs.

Falcon, we please call the role present.

Present.

Present.

Present present.

At this time, I'll turn it back over to Council President.

Well, thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Um, we're gonna move on to the first and only order of business this evening would be uh the city council, Cranston School Committee joint uh meeting presentation by Superintendent Janine Notamasi and Christian Jetson, Chief of Facilities of Capital Projects.

Um, and they're going to discuss the state of the Cranston Public Schools, buildings and facilities.

Uh, superintendent, thank you for coming, and the floor is yours.

And I know everything's all queued up for you, I believe.

Thank you.

Um, to the city council, thank you for being here tonight.

Members of the city council, thank you for being here tonight.

Uh, Council President Wall, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you this evening.

Um school forgot who you are, school committee chair, uh, Mr.

Fusco and members of the school committee.

Thank you as well.

Um, I I understand it's another long night for both of the bodies here, but um this is extremely important, and I appreciate your attention.

And I also want to thank all the administrators of Cranston Public Schools who are here.

They are all in the audience, so I appreciate all of you being here to support our schools.

This past winter, a few weeks ago, a teacher at one of our schools arrived to find her classroom experiencing frigid temperatures.

The boiler in the building had failed yet again.

She taught her students that day, and all her students, all her classes with their coats on.

That's not just a story about one singular classroom in one singular building.

That happens on a daily basis.

In others, it might be 85 degrees in a classroom.

This morning I was coming down uh Roll Street and I looked in the Briggs building and the windows were open.

And I called the principal and I said, How come the windows are open?

He said, Because it's 85 degrees in the classroom.

So we have the two extremes, and that is just an example of some of the problems we are having.

Tonight I am asking both bodies to help me change that.

In fact, I am pleading with you to help me change that.

We need a repair and renovation bond, and it cannot wait till 2028.

I know we have spoken about this in the past for several years that we need money to fix our buildings.

I know there has been some discussion among the members of the building committee about having a large-scale bond for 2028, but quite frankly, we cannot wait that long.

The buildings are in dire need of your help.

In 2017, a comprehensive facilities report identified dire conditions across our district.

So for those of you who have been around a while, you remember it.

It was the Jacobs report was done in 2015.

It was completed and given to all school districts in 2017.

That identified millions, hundreds of millions of dollars in need.

We have made some improvements.

We've opened up a brand new Guidance City Elementary.

We are almost done with Gladstone Elementary.

We have completed almost all of the renovations to Eden Park Elementary.

We completed a new entryway at Cranston High School West.

We fixed things here at Cranston High School East, but unfortunately, that is not the end of our work.

And as the years have gone on, almost 10 years since that report was revealed to all of us.

The problems remain and they have gotten worse.

And they have gotten more expensive.

Roofs are patched instead of replaced.

Boilers are repaired instead of modernized.

Aging mechanical and electrical systems struggle to meet basic daily needs of our staff and students.

Across our district, deferred maintenance has grown into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

These are not speculative numbers.

These are figures documented by professional facility assessments and communicated to this body.

And it may not be the exact same members, but these two bodies over the past almost 10 years.

And when I say that, that doesn't mean the inconvenience of needing to wear a coat or having to move a classroom.

I mean the entire building becomes unusable, and we need to immediately find space for anywhere from 200 to potentially over a thousand students.

If something were to happen to Cranston High School East or West, I would have to find a place for 16 or 1700 students.

We don't have that, we don't have that space.

We don't have that capacity.

These are facts.

And again, I there's no one person or one elected official or body to blame.

This is a collective problem, but we need to get together to fix it.

A few years ago, I stood before you and we talked about the fact that at that time, Governor Ramondo had a quarter of a billion dollars in money set aside for bonds.

At that time, we were identified as a district that had a 74% reimbursement for every dollar we spent.

It was a 74% sale, and everyone thought that was great.

And we did take advantage of that.

For example, Garden City Elementary, and we've all most of you, I'm sure have been there, you've seen it, we love it.

It's a beautiful building.

The final cost was just over 60 million dollars.

The cost to the city was about 15 million.

15 million dollars for that building.

Now I'm using numbers that are quite frankly, astronomical 40 million, 15 million, 187 million.

Those are huge numbers.

But when it comes to school buildings, those are not astronomical numbers.

That is the cost of doing business in Rhode Island in construction for schools now.

However, that 74% sale is over.

Still not bad.

A 54% sale, we'd all take advantage of.

The roof has been repaired several times, but it is in such poor condition that we have to consider moving kids, closing that building.

We had hoped that we would get through this year.

I don't know if we can with all of the snow and all of the horrible weather we've had.

That building is in dire shape.

That needs to be fixed tomorrow.

Again, I will keep stressing.

Of boilers, of roofs, of windows, of walls.

I'm not talking about the aesthetics.

I'm not talking about the pretty things that everyone gets excited about.

Nobody really gets excited about a boiler.

I understand that.

But if you're in the building and it's 40 degrees in your classroom, that's a concern.

And if your children are in those classrooms, I am sure you are concerned.

It doesn't look for a splashy headline that the boiler is fixed or the boiler is broken.

But that's our reality.

Now again, the reason the way to resolve that is to build new schools.

And I'm not asking you to build 12 new elementary schools.

That's just not realistic.

But we are at the point where we need to fix the ones we have.

And it is not glorious.

It is not quite frankly exciting.

But again, if you're the teacher and the student in that classroom, it's very exciting if you know that you can go in there and not be dripped on, rained on, or frozen.

Or conversely, wearing a t-shirt in January because it's 85 degrees in your classroom.

We have an elevator at the um Bain Middle School.

It was built in 1924, 28, something like that.

We can't fix it anymore.

The elevator company probably went out of business in the 50s.

We can't get parts.

We can't get people.

We can't fix that building.

Which means any student who has ADA issues or any staff member who has ADA issues cannot be in that building.

When an elevator goes down, and I don't think I need to tell members of the city council, you're you're you're here frequently because of an elevator that just can't seem to turn the corner and be fixed.

Well, multiply that by 24 buildings.

I think all of you know me by now.

I'm a reasonable person.

I'm fair.

So Mr.

Judson will come up and he will show you some pictures.

He will explain in depth our concerns.

The amount, frankly, is up to you, but um immediate needs in the tens of millions of dollars.

And I know some of the questions that you're going to ask.

Well, what have we done with all of the money we've already gotten?

And we can show you exactly what we've done.

Unfortunately, the plans that we laid out in 2018 and 2020 took a bit of a diversion with COVID.

It threw off our budgets, it threw off our supply chains.

Quite frankly, our plans went out the window.

We had to reprioritize and fix things that had significant impact and also qualified us for the ride reimbursement of 74%.

So if you ask me, well, why didn't you just fix all this stuff then?

We didn't have enough money then.

We did what we could.

We opened three brand new elementaries or Eden Park is set to be renovated completely.

And while 147 million, 187 million dollars is a considerable amount of money.

At this point, it is a um a drop in the bucket, especially if you're under the roof of Arlington of what we need.

So I need you to very closely watch the um presentation, Mr.

Judson has it is not meant to scare people, but it is the facts.

So at the conclusion of this, I am hopeful we can have a dialogue and find solutions for these problems so that our community has buildings that we are proud of because I know what goes on every day in those buildings.

I'm extremely proud of, but I'm getting nervous about the conditions that we expect our children and our staff to be in every day.

So thank you.

Good evening, everybody.

Thank you for your time tonight.

Um, just to start off with uh is a timeline of our schools.

There's some graphs have a lot of uh information on them.

This is nothing more than showing that uh under a uh ride program, they typically, when you're rebuilding schools, um, they tell you to build a new school to last for 50 years.

This graph is showing that uh out of the 27 schools on this list, 21 of them uh greater than 50 years old.

About 80% of our buildings that we operate in today are beyond the 50-year threshold.

As many of you know, uh, in many of the wards, we have 16 elementary, four middle, three high, and four support schools.

So, what it what does this represent in terms of square feet?

So there's 1.8 million square feet.

To put this in reality, every uh house on average in the city of Cranston is about 1,800 square feet.

So we are tasked every day to manage over a thousand houses.

When you add in the student uh load for the house, you have about 11 people as a density per house.

So think about the wear and tear just from your own house.

Um and understand the implications of what happens, you know, with HVAC, doors, lighting, flooring, the wear and tear that this takes.

On the right is the ride reimbursement current rates.

If you're going to rebuild uh schools at this point, an elementary school, they would reimburse at $580 a square foot, which is the bottom right.

Middle school 610, high school 650, which really tells you that all the schools that run the previous graph for those that are 50 years old, it would cost you close to a billion dollars to rebuild these schools today.

We're looking for um capital funds for immediate needs.

These aren't pretty, they're not seen as you drive up to the buildings, these are roofs.

The second part you'll see would be boilers.

So there's seven schools here that are in critical need of roofs.

The first is Dew Temple.

These are these are primarily uh EPDM roofs, which are rubber roofs, but you know, we've um I've tried to offer to take people on tours to come out and look.

Um, I know I've had a couple of people from the uh council to go out on tours and look at different things, but you can't get up on the roofs to see the conditions.

So this roof is in immediate need of replacement, the seams are worn, you can see the patching, you can see the uh the flashing is completely torn away.

So this is about a 13,000 square foot roof.

Uh, the cost is about a million dollars, 935,000.

The second is you know, Janine just spoke about is Arlington.

You could just look at the pictures.

We can't patch the roof anymore.

We can't stop the water coming in.

So we can spend money every day calling a roofing company or sending tradesmen up to try and fix leaks that would just never suffice to keep the building watertight.

Once again, this is about 19,000 square feet.

The cost is 1.3 million dollars.

Next is Peters.

This is a built-up roof.

Uh, we've looked at this on one of the tours.

We know that the water is penetrating the deck in the roof.

The entire perimeter is compromised.

39,000 square feet.

As the square footage goes up, obviously the price goes up.

This is at 2.75 million.

You're missing shingles.

The granules are gone.

It's leaking into the HVAC.

Um that's controlling the temperature gradients of that area.

The roof is about 14,000 square feet.

Cheaper at 225, only because it's a shingled roof.

What you see in the bottom left are all the um penetrations of the roof coming up through the membrane of the roof, creating holes uh that need to be repaired consistently.

Top right is the roof that's actually just ripped away from the flashing.

These are existing conditions.

Um we try to fix them, but every day there's something new.

This roof is delaminated also, which means that the roofing membrane has become um disattached uh from the insulation that's beneath it.

So any large windstorm, the wind will get underneath this roof, and the potential is this entire roof just blows off the building.

Park view, similar conditions.

This is just on the uh ballasted EPDM part of the roof, it's not the entire roof.

It's 27,000 square feet of the roof.

From the pictures, you see the seams.

Uh, you see, it's all delaminated, you see it's all pulled away from the the flashing of the roof.

It's it's it's failed.

About 28,000 square feet, close to 2 million dollars.

Edgewood Highlands.

So it's a single ply.

The top right picture kind of shows a delamination, the same thing's happening there.

But you also see in the bottom right picture that the water is penetrating through the flashing, getting into the building, coming through the stucco, and damaging the structure of the building.

So this is about 1.8 million dollars.

Simple summary, the exploded view.

All that represents about 192,000 square feet of roof.

It's about 25% of the roofing of the district.

To do that 25%, it's about 12.2 million dollars.

The second thing we don't see are all the HVAC components of the building.

They're hidden, they're in basements.

Some of the AC is uh up on the roof, but nobody looks at this except for the tradesmen that we have two of at this point that go around and keep all of these buildings operating, especially in a winter condition that we had this year.

The first is Cranston West.

Uh I'm an engineer by trade, so I talk horsepower.

It may mean nothing to you.

Um, but this boiler room represents about 225 horsepower.

Back in uh 2024, um, prior to my time, uh, we had semens come in to do a report on the unit ventilators.

It was about 17% of the ventilators were in semi-optimal condition, that there was nothing wrong with them.

Um, the dampers worked, the controls worked, the blowers worked, the coils were fine.

In 2025, we were down to 9%.

If we lose Cranston West, as Janine says, you're talking 2,000 people.

Uh AC is one thing, heat is another.

If you lose the heat in a school, you have to displace children for eight to nine months of the year.

This project is just to replace the unit ventilators at Cranston West.

The cost is six and a half million dollars.

Parkview Middle School.

There's a little detail on the right, it's kind of a life expectancy meter.

If you're in the red, all of this equipment is beyond its useful life.

This these are from 1972, they're 54 years old.

Typically, you you potentially could get 30 years.

When you get beyond 30 years, you really want to start looking for replacements.

Unit on the left in the picture, you obviously see water uh coming out.

The unit is leaking.

At this point, it already has R stamps on it.

What that means is that the unit has already been taken apart, welded, and is uh on record at the state of Rhode Island that there the unit has been basically compromised because you've operated on and you welded a pressure device.

Just to repair or replace uh these two units is about two million dollars.

Cubein, same thing.

Three boilers.

The one on the left is obviously leaking.

It's down, it's out of service, 55 years old.

You have to replace these because you can't repair them anymore.

There are no pots available for this type of uh unit, it's just too old.

This is a two and a half million dollar project.

Whole pylons.

This is the boy of Roman Hope Islands.

They're called hydrotherms.

Um, they're about 35 years old, although the company went out of business 15 years ago.

There are units that are down, they're damaged, they cannot be used.

Uh, we're looking to replace these with two single units as a project.

You could get an increase in efficiency here.

Probably save about $15,000, $20,000 a year just in the gas that goes up the chimney, uh, converting that to BTUs, the heat goes right up the chimney for a loss.

This is a um lower project in terms of $775,000.

Because it is forced hot water, you're heating water versus steam.

Same at Hope Islands.

Uh, this is the AC part of this.

So these are air handles with uh DX coils.

They control the office library and auditorium.

Like I said before, um, heat to me is number one.

Uh AC is second.

This is the only AC we're looking to uh replace.

There's a ton more in the district, as I'll go through later, but this is a 1.61 million dollar project.

Stadium, 1965, 61 years old.

I think everyone understands ACM is a species containing material.

Just look at the boilers.

Um, it's everywhere in the schools, it's everywhere in the flooring.

This is a 1.7 million dollar project.

The left boiler is leaking.

Um at 61 years old, you may not be able to repair.

Really, the picture tells it all.

Uh, this is we're going to replace this with a hot water boiler, $800,000 project.

This is the building you're in today.

This is Cranston East.

Uh last year we kind of did a semi-expensive band-aid to retube the boilers.

We had a project on the books.

Uh, you can only imagine what this is.

These this is just a rusted out uh hunk of steel that's sitting in the basement at this point.

The project included everything on the right, which is basically taking the uh steam loop out of this building, converting it to all hot water, replacing all of the uh worn out equipment.

This is a four million dollar project.

It was on the bond for a 48 million dollar MOA.

The bond was reduced to 40 million dollars.

There's just not enough money to get this project done.

So, summary-wise, HVAC is sitting at 19.6 million dollars.

These are immediate needs.

One for roofing, one for HVAC.

If you look at the schools and you look around you, what else happens at schools?

From outside to from the parking lots to the walkways, we have ceilings, we have flooring, we have doors, the plumbing and electrical in the walls, finishes.

We have program support.

This is your pool, the circle on the top left, the two structural um deficiencies.

There's two leaks, it's eating through the concrete, needs to be repaired, or basically shut down.

Vehicle pavement.

These are just pictures as you drive around.

I have hundreds of pictures.

There's a lot of talk about Cranston West because it was on the bond, and I appreciate that.

But if you look at the million and a half square feet that needs to be replaced, if you're one of the parents driving over the potholes every day, the phone calls that we get.

I can't imagine my office phone in the next two or three weeks.

Once this starts defrosting and throwing, the ground and the upheavals and the potholes that are going to repair.

These are student walkways to get the school.

You have sidewalks that are lifted.

You have ADA spaces that are crumbling and are upheaved.

They do not meet the ADA code.

They need to be replaced.

Ceilings.

They need to be replaced.

There are holes in the ceiling.

There are leaks in the ceiling.

There are stains in the ceiling.

Janine mentioned this.

These are our elevators.

We have 12 elevators.

The average age is about 33 years old.

They range from 1977, vintage to 2000.

Flooring.

With a typical flooring.

You have tiles that are lifted.

You have tiles that pop.

You have degradation of the wooden floors.

You go to auditoriums where you have plays and performances.

There's about 2500 doors in the facility.

Exterior doors, interior doors, metal doors, emergency egress doors, firearms.

You have rotting doors, you have doors that don't match.

You have doors that we're spending money on that do not latch appropriately.

Fire suppression.

There's a picture of POCVIO because POCVIO is the only school you have in your district that does not have fire suppression.

We're spending money on alarms due to the new fire code.

Module classrooms.

What's in this report is the four at Arlington, one at Stadium, three at Woodridge.

Typical cost is about 295 to just replace.

It'd be cheaper to replace than to try and repair these.

To be honest, the one project of the building skin that scares me is the west envelope.

It is delimitating from the building.

But there's all kinds of issues with the skin of the buildings.

You have pointing issues on chimneys.

You have pointing issues on brick walls.

You have facade damage.

Top right, you look through those windows if you can.

Kids are going to school with holes in the walls.

You're using bathroom facilities such as the bottom right.

That's the main auditorium.

Feel embarrassing when you're having a event and you offer people to have seats that are coming in to see these events, and you don't even have seats for them.

Plumbing fixtures and assemblies, just look at the pictures.

The restrooms uh in these schools need attention, they need to get refinished, they need to get renovated.

Electrical.

On the left is a federal Pacific panel.

These panels are notorious for not tripping.

So all that means is if you have these in your facility and they heat up, they will not trip, and you have a fire hazard in the middle.

I think everyone knows what that is.

It's a fused panel, you still have them in your facilities.

The right is lighting.

Uh, we we went around in the summer when we were evaluating the roofs where a lot of that came from.

We looked at lighting for the district.

There's about 1.7 million dollars that needs to be spent on lighting, but you do get $370,000 savings, and it gives you a 3.3 year payback through the electrical uh kilowatt hours that you use.

The issue that we have is that we don't have that 1.7 million dollars to put up front.

Schools that really are tapped for power, meaning we can't put anything else in.

Janine mentioned you can't plug something in.

There's about eight schools right now that need to be upgraded in terms of power because they're out of power, they're tapped for power, there's no more power left.

You can't put an AC unit in, you can't plug things in, you can't get new infrastructure into the buildings.

So, for a summary, it's maybe very hard to see, and I apologize for that, but this is broken down by category of what you just saw.

So, ceilings is an example is 13 million dollars, HVAC is 48 for a total of 265 million dollars.

If you remember the first number, the greater than 50-year-old buildings.

This is by school.

The first column is the 941 million on the bottom.

Second column is an assessment based on everything we just talked about for school, which comes out to the 265 million.

We're not asking for 265 million at this point.

We're asking for the immediate need on the right.

This is nothing more than the HVAC and the roof needs that are imminent, that are leaking now that have failed already.

That number is 31.9 million dollars.

That does not include the West Envelope.

Are there any questions?

First, let me say uh thank you, uh, Mr.

Jetson, and thank you, superintendent.

It's very informative, if if not somewhat disturbing presentation.

Um let me go back to your last figure.

You gave us a great deal uh to look at to think about.

Um for years.

I sat on the school committee alongside uh Mr.

Trafficanti and years ago and Mr.

Triquetta, we went out for the original uh bond, and that time people asked what schools were having problems, what schools uh needed work.

And at that time, I think Traff, I think we used to say probably every one of them need work, and now it looks like every one of them not only we're some 10-15 years that they're close to being unusable.

So that's that's the disturbing part.

They were bad 10 years ago, exponentially worse now.

Um, when you bring out the 31 million dollar figure, are you telling me that's a 31 million dollar figure that's essentially a short-term band-aid?

No, what I'm what I'm telling you is I can you put the slide back up, please.

So, where are we where are we putting money?

I mentioned rebuilding uh schools at a billion dollars.

You're not gonna spend a billion dollars, and I'm very cognizant of that.

We're trying to put money into the middle schools and the high schools, the chunk the chunk of money, say from the 2.3 million dollars at Hope Islands down to the 6.7 at Criston West.

I don't see those schools getting rebuilt anytime soon, and I don't think they're band-aids, they're gonna keep you in operation.

They're gonna keep you in operation.

If we lose one of those schools, the boilers right now are already bad.

They've failed.

We got lucky at East this year.

You know, and I'll give you something else about East.

So we we uh retube the boilers.

Mr.

Jetson, will you do me a big favor?

Sure.

Could you speak a little closer to the microphone?

I'm losing you a little bit.

All right.

I think you all right.

So we we retro the boilers at Cranston East, but you know, two months into the heating season, we blew the uh condensate return tank, right?

Why?

Because all of the equipment around the boilers is failed, and that's why we need this projects in this short-term maintenance bond to get the school back to operating condition.

If you lose the boilers in the school and you lose the heat in the school, where do you put the children?

There's 2,000 students.

I can't stress it enough.

We're trying to put the money into schools that we are not going to rebuild immediately.

Do roofs need to be replaced, such as the Allington that that was the example.

I tried to show you the pictures.

Janine gave you the dissertation on that in the beginning of the meeting.

Absolutely.

There's nothing you can do with that roof.

Okay, gotcha.

Thank you, Mr.

Jets.

Um, one more question.

I'm asked the superintendent.

This one.

Um, for those of you, and please refresh my memory on the maybe the timeline in the process of the bond in this respect.

Um, what are we looking at?

It would have to go on the ballot in this November.

What are the steps that would get us there?

We would have to expedite the process because it would have to be legislatively approved for us to have it on the bond.

We have to put um paperwork together for the department of ed.

We would have to identify which projects we would do, the cost.

Um is it possible?

It is.

Okay, it would have to be done expeditiously.

We um in anticipation of this meeting, we submitted paperwork to the department of ed just to be proactive, saying to them that um we have health and safety needs, and if this all works out and we have a bond, ride is already aware of our intentions with a um phase one uh paperwork.

So we've already kind of put ride on notice that we may potentially have this coming.

If we don't, it needs to happen.

But if we don't, then there's no harm, no foul with ride.

But the opposite could not be true.

If we did not do the paperwork already, then we couldn't have this process happening.

So we we have already um submitted paperwork to ride, put them on notice that potentially we will have certain projects for a bond uh in the 2026 election.

Um, for a referendum and the oh yeah, 2026 election.

And so you the that initial paperwork is completed, yes, and that would eventually I assume have to go before the school committee.

I believe it's really all on the city side.

So it doesn't ever go before the school committee, but eventually when that paperwork is approved, it would go before this body, yes, and have to be signed by the mayor, so it's sent to the general assembly.

Yes, okay, probably simultaneously at this point, because the general assembly is only here till you know in session till June, it has to be um very yeah, moving along and then given to bond council.

It has to be there are several steps in the in the way, but um, I do believe it is possible, and we we stand ready to make it possible.

And the amount is the yellow number, the 31.9 million.

Okay.

That would be great.

Yes, okay.

That's where you're looking.

Okay.

Um, I'm gonna here's where I'm gonna do it.

I'm gonna open up the floor to just comments and questions.

I'm gonna go to the city council first.

I'm gonna go right down the line, and after that, I'm gonna go across uh to the other side and take any questions or comments from uh the school committee.

So I can't see uh councilman camp who way down there.

Oh, councilman Ritz.

So please, uh I apologize.

The straight line is hard to see people.

So councilman Ritz, the floor is yours.

So I just a couple couple questions.

So with the 31 million, do we have slack in there if some of the projects go over?

So the the 31 million, I went out to get uh budgetary quotes from suppliers.

Um I'm sorry.

I sorry.

Um the 31 million, all that is uh quoted with budgetary quotes at this point.

Um is there room to move plus or minus a little bit there?

Uh yes, it's not a hard stop, but to go through a ride, you have to go through the process anyway.

Um to get it estimated and to go through like an OPM and and follow that process.

Okay, but it's a um it's a number that is fairly tight.

Yeah, okay.

Um couple couple other things I don't know there.

We with schools like like Dew Temple came up in there on a lot, like is it like how far off are we from saying that just needs to be a whole new school there?

Like we put in a band-aid on a gunshot wound here, or you are like I said, this this does not include any new buildings, yeah.

Uh this is just purely uh maintenance and repair at this point, right?

It um do we need a plan going forward?

Is there an appetite uh from the city to build new buildings?

Um, do you go with the newer and fewer approach that you have?

It just seems like we uh have a very short timeline and not enough capital reserve to make that happen.

Okay.

And I and I assume within it, it's they're kind of sub-prioritized.

So we saw some sidewalk stuff like that, but I assume you know the roofs heating system, then we're going down.

It's to me, it's it's nice to have, or it's critical.

Uh heating and roofs are critical.

They are your heartbeat, your lungs of the buildings.

Um, you lose those, you lose the building.

Um, yeah, you know, do you need to put in a window at per se or a ceiling?

No, you do not.

You have to remain operational though.

Is there any work like again with the sidewalks, like the construction school, those folks could help us with with those type of we've we've approached all that.

They they have the labor, they just don't have the equipment.

So we we've talked to you know, Frank at uh, you know, uh director of public works um to try and get something put together that potentially we can get uh groups of people that were already paying resources that we already have um to make some of this work.

Okay, and then my last question was only uh because in my ward, I have orchard farms and I constantly hear about the roof there.

Is that a that's a repair that one versus a replace that one?

Orchard farms didn't even make the list.

Yeah, I know that's why I asked.

So I did so it all the time.

Uh obviously, you know what's happening with Orchard Farms, yeah.

Um is it is it on the list when I showed the pie chart of you know 25% of the roofs?

Sure, that's on the list of the next round.

Okay.

That's all my thank you, thank you, uh Councilman Ritz.

Councilman Campavino.

Thank you, Council President.

Um, quite notably the last time we sat this way, I asked for personal emails, and I received uh at least a hundred of them, which I read each one and I try to respond to all of them.

So I'm pretty well adverse at what is going on here and what the problem was.

Immediately after um Mr.

Jensen gave me a tour along with uh school committee member Ms.

Crowley, we both took a tour and um we took almost the whole day, and I'm gonna thank you for that.

So I had first hand knowledge of what's going on, so I understand the problems we have.

Um, I got a couple of technical questions.

This building right here is steam heat.

If we got close to four, you said close to four million to replace, would it be steam heat again?

No, it's it's uh it's a mix.

You have pre predominantly it's hot water, um, but there's there is steam that goes through uh you know a condensing process.

You have um just portions of steam.

So what was on the project was taking that steam equipment out and putting it the hot water, which is predominantly what the school is.

All right, because I um I would just went to a province like this at St.

Mary's, and there was steam traps, it was condensate pumps and all these things that add to the problem.

So I'm assuming that all that old stuff will go away and it'll be all modernized.

Um do you have a cost per square foot that uh new buildings cost right now?

It with today's 850, 850 to 900.

859, 850 to 900, all in per square foot.

Okay.

Um that's all I got.

Thank you for your hog.

You're welcome.

Thank you, councilman.

Uh councilman Traffic Candy.

Uh uh, Madam Superintendent and Mr.

Jensen, thank you for making this presentation this evening.

Uh in your presentation, uh, Chris, you identified some 17 categories of projects that that should be done in the next X amount of years.

Uh you to the tune of 265 million dollars.

Then you came back with a figure of 31 million dollars.

Are the those your priority projects?

Those are the critical projects.

Critical projects.

And the reason why I say that if things go well and we were to oppose a repair and renovation bond come November, not a new construction bond, repair renovation body construction.

You would want to come forth with a bond to cover that $31 million with the projects.

That plus the West envelope.

Plus what?

That plus the West envelope, the building facade.

I'm gonna ask your question now.

And before I ask the question, you know, in fact, everyone knows that the 40 million dollar bond that we passed two years ago was not sufficient to cover the projects that were identified that we want to accomplish.

In fact, three major projects are never going to get done until a new bond is established.

Am I correct?

Correct.

So here's my question.

How accurate is that $31 million figure?

Like I said, I've that it's all covered by um budgetary quotes within the past five weeks from very reputable companies that perform this type of work.

Okay.

As you know, uh can I can I just jump in on that?

We ran into this problem several times.

We've run into this problem several several times.

So we're getting estimates now in spring, almost spring of 2026.

Often by the time the projects are bid designed, completed, those numbers do escalate.

So I don't know if there's escalations put in there for potential um increases in cost.

The world right now is pretty volatile.

We're looking at gas prices, all those things.

So even our best estimate, and that's one thing I do caution because again, we've run into this problem where a project is identified at X number of dollars.

When the time comes and the money is there for us to do it, it is often much higher than our estimate.

These are estimates.

But if we were to say yes, those are the exact numbers of every project in a year and a half.

So again, we're showing you we don't want to overstate our ask.

We don't want to say, oh no, we need 100 million when we really only need 40.

We're showing you exact numbers at this moment in time.

Okay.

So just keep that in mind going forward with construction costs.

As you know, Mr.

Councilman Ander and I sat on sit on the uh school buildings committee.

And even though no formal presentation has been made, no more foot no formal vote has been taken.

Uh the figure of 100,000 has been put out there, so to speak, to hire a consultant by the city of Cranston.

Is it necessary for us to spend 100,000 and hiring a consultant to confirm some of the figures you you you identified tonight?

Or would you rather spend 100,000 on projects that are absolutely necessary to do immediately?

I think at this point every penny and every dime that can go into uh Christian, I'm sorry, I can't hear that word.

Mr.

Jetson, yeah, please.

I was just gonna say the same thing.

Uh I'm trying, I'm trying, guys.

Um to answer the question, I think that every dime that you can put into fixing a building project is necessary.

Okay.

Um this does not the the immediate need, right?

Does not include the ride soft cost that go with it.

The uh ride will require you to hire an OPM when you go into this process.

So that there will be fees associated with this, there will be architectural fees, there will be OPM fees, there'll be estimating fees, it's just part of the ride process.

So you feel it's necessary to hire a consultant or not?

Yes, yes or no.

It's not a yes or no question.

It's an important question because I think it is an important question, but it's not a yes or no question.

Um in order to go through the uh phase one, phase two um preparation for ride, you do need to have uh an external source to uh provide that information.

You do need to have uh an external source to uh provide that information.

Is it 100,000?

I we we have gone out to get an RFQ for bid, and we are in the process of reviewing that at the moment.

The reason why I asked because it's been talked about at the at the board level, no one's come forth and identifying 100,000 or where it's coming from.

Uh and hoping that we could finally finalize that that situation in the forthcoming meetings.

You know, maybe I've been around too long, but you know, in the past, uh, we used to have a report repair renovation bond every two years, proposed to the general public.

And I don't know why the city ever got away from that because it's absolutely necessary that we we address these issues on a on a yearly basis.

Uh a repair renovation bond has not come forth in the city grants in for the last 20 years.

Last 20 years, and that's unfortunate.

It's been a new construction bond, but not a repair renovation bond.

Totally different.

Uh I'm surely hopeful that we can do this in the immediate future, come forth every two years for repair renovation bond.

And I actually support you and the superintendent in terms of coming forth with a repair renovation bond this November to address the priority issues.

How did you how did you come up with your priority list?

What was the uh the criteria for it?

It it's immediate needs.

The the the column of the 2026 building assessment is nothing more than walkthroughs.

Uh Rye did a uh plenary assessment uh with their company, but just walking through the the immediate needs are phone calls and headaches that we have every day.

Um when the when the boiler is down and we can't produce and we're you know running on uh 50% capacity, especially through this winter, uh that becomes an immediate need in my eyes.

So that's where the that's where this is generated from.

Well, I for one will certainly support a repair renovation bond come November, and hopefully we can uh sit down with the school committee and with the mayor and uh formalize that uh procedure.

I appreciate that.

Thank you, Councilman Trafficante, Councilman Anduha.

Thank you, thank you.

Um I have a few questions.

If we were to float this bond and this money comes in, why do you or the school department have to supervise it?

Why can't we do it as the city instead of the schools?

I just I'm new here, so please explain that to me first.

So while the city owns the buildings, technically, we have care and control of those buildings, so it's our responsibility to execute the programs.

What okay?

Um and I also have an answer to Mr.

Trafficante's um, not to derail your uh thought process, but for years the state had a moratorium on state aid reimbursement of school construction, so that prevented any kind of reimbursement from the state on repairs and renovation.

So districts or cities and towns that could do it, pay cash and and pay for the full um tab, so to speak, that could be done, but any reimbursement from the state was not happening for several years.

So that's why there was a lull in the in the construction stuff.

All right.

Um next, uh, I want to acknowledge Marcus Stepensons that's here.

He's the chairman of the board that I sit on with um Councilman Traffic Cante or Mayor Trafficante and our good friend Anthony Melillo.

I can't support that 312 seven 927.

I can't support it because in September, October, and uh my chairman's here, I floated this idea that we should float a bigger bond.

And this was back in September, so we lost seven months.

I don't know what happened, and that's the next question I'm gonna ask you.

So start preparing that.

Because one thing I could tell you, and I'm new to Cranston.

No matter where I go, whether it's the Boulogan on Webster or golf courses in Cranston, Cranstonians love their schools.

And I can't support a 31 million dollar bond because it's not going to do anything, even though you're taking care of some of my schools in my ward in Ward 3.

I can't support it.

I'm more in support of that middle number.

That's what we need to do because we need to take care of all of our schools, and the chairman's right there.

And I said we should float this bond now, even though it's an election year.

And I might lose my seat because of it because taxes are going to go up.

Well, we need to take care of our schools now.

So that way by 2028, 2030, our schools are all set.

And we don't have to worry about it for another 30 years.

So don't count on me for a 31 million dollar bond.

Count me in for a 265 million dollar bond because I think that's what we need to take care of our schools and our kids.

I remember when you said we should float a 500 million dollar bond, and I almost 800.

I almost fell out of my chair because it's an astronomical number.

And it's very you're right.

It needs to happen.

These are numbers, again, these aren't fantastic ideas.

These are we need to fix our schools.

Districts across the state, Providence is close to 800 million dollars in school construction bonds.

Middletown is doing over 200 million dollars.

We're the second largest district in the state.

We don't even touch districts such as Warwick, Middletown, Patucket, Providence.

So you're right, Cranstonians love their buildings, they love their neighborhood schools.

There's an incredible amount of pride.

How many of you sitting in these seats graduated from Cranston schools?

Yeah.

But the reality is it costs a lot of money.

And it also takes a lot of political courage and fortitude to go forward with what you just asked for.

So believe me, at this point, we're asking for the minimum because that's what we absolutely need.

But that middle number would certainly uh make an impactful difference on our schools.

And I just want to end by saying, you know, as growing up in Providence and talking to another a lot of new people that move into the into Cranston, especially Ward 3, they move into Cranston because of the school system.

So that's why I need to be an advocate for that 265 million dollars.

And you could always count on me for that.

So I hope my colleagues would um support me on that.

Um, but that's what we really need to basically take care of the future of our of our city, and that's the kids.

So thank you very much for this presentation.

Thank you.

Our schools are our biggest economic engine in the in this city.

So absolutely.

Um thank you, councilman.

I'm gonna go to councilwoman Graziano.

Thank you, President Wool.

Um, so I'll play a little bit off of what Councilman Anduhar said and um ask you.

Um, so this is this is let's say year one, right?

So say you ask for the 319.

What's year two?

What's year five, what's year 10?

And how do we have you projected out how we even catch up into a happy place?

So in 2018, when we first started our plans uh for um building Gladstone, building Garden City, we had a five-year master plan.

That's what needs to happen again.

The genesis of that was the fact that the state had a quarter of a billion dollars in grant money or bond money available to us, and that really kickstarted a lot of the school construction in the state.

That five-year plan laid out all of our needs, our priorities, and our wants.

Again, it that plan, it was a great plan for those of you who are around them.

We we we took a lot of people and a lot of time to develop it.

It was kind of blown up by COVID, but we still were able to do some of that work.

We need to have another five-year plan to identify priorities, needs again.

We're putting very expensive band-aids on things.

And uh Mr.

Ritz was talking about why would you spend 20 million dollars on a building when you could rebuild one in and really get a better return on your investment?

So if as a city and as a group, we decide that yes, the next step would be a bigger bond or bigger plans, then we would have to sit and do a five-year master plan looking at everything across the city.

So that would be the next step.

And three years, um I think the just for discussion's sake, if we were to uh bond for 32 plus six for West, say 50 million just for conversation's sake.

That gets us through that three years, but we really need to in that time develop a five-year plan because a five-year plan is the duration of time that Ride will accept um our our master plan.

And then after five years, you have to re-kind of redesign it.

So essentially right now we'd be like chipping away at the 265.

Am I correct in saying that for like the next five years?

Yes.

Okay.

Um and that's not anticipating any other major catastrophes happening between today and three years.

Right.

So that's kind of what I'm saying.

So like next year we could come back and um we spent the 32 million.

So now, you know, we're down on the to uh 230.

But then it could go back up to 250.

I guess that's my concern.

Um, that if we don't get it all done, we're just gonna keep having problems one after the next.

And then my next comment is um, because these are I get their immediate, and I like obviously am willing to work hard to assist you guys in getting what you need.

But I guess my concern is so if we put a new roof um on one of these schools, and then we realize well, that's the oldest school we have, we should really be tearing it down.

I don't know if have you looked into that because my next I'll say one more question before you answer.

My thought is like if we're putting new roofs on, why are we not putting metal roofs on to last longer?

Um, I'm sure I'm not a structural engineer, so it could be based on how the school is designed, but that's just a thought.

They're flat roofs, so you really can't put a metal roof on it.

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Okay.

Um okay, so that sort of tidies up my next question.

Um, okay, and then um like I see that Hope Highlands is slated for like air conditioning.

Um, my one number one question is is that a necessity?

And should that be part of this, or you should pull something else to not be part, or is it because it's a combined unit and you're gonna do heat and AC.

And then my next question is I know one of my schools, Edward Highlands has AC, and that's like great because that school is 20 years older than or 20 or 30 years older than Hope Islands.

How did they see take precedent to an older school?

So I can answer the Edgewood Highlands one.

Um, we were afforded a $2 million loan from the infrastructure bank with the help of um now Congressman Seth Magaziner.

Okay.

So it was a $2 million investment in a building that was well poised for that HVAC system.

Hope islands is a relatively new building.

And don't get me wrong, the newer buildings are no better than a building that's almost a hundred years old.

In fact, some of them are far worse.

Um but the the HVAC system uh system question I will defer to Mr.

Jetson.

So the the HVAC project is on there because it is the uh worst of um the HVAC.

To answer your first question when you saw when you said the 32, you chip away and you're gonna get more and more expensive.

The 265 is an all-win number, it obviously includes the 31.

Um, but there are um projects in LIC you're at 19 million dollars for HVAC, the HVAC total for this is about 48.

So there are projects um to answer the question about cost and escalation.

Uh I did provide this to uh Mr.

Zidellas and the finance group um with escalation costs as they go as they go forward.

I was using 11% a year.

Um if you get two, just so we're all clear.

If you get the 265 million, that's not a one-year uh adventure to get all of this done.

This is this is going to take several years to perform.

Okay, thank you.

And then um, I you know, I don't even know the answer to this question, but is there a partner like RISE that will give you in like 20 back 20% or 50% back incentives for replacing your heating and AC system?

It'd be a reimbursement at 54% right now.

Okay.

This is Ryze and sorry, I not ride.

Yeah.

Um that was the um, for example, the lighting conversation that we had about um there is certain reimbursements and grants for energy efficient lighting, but you have to front the money.

Yeah, I know.

Yeah, I do know that.

Yeah, we um we don't have that.

But oh okay, yeah.

Yeah, because someone like RISE engineering, sorry, not Ride.

Yes, um, they I don't know any more, but they provide incentives.

They do.

That's what the lighting project was.

Okay.

Um, when you're putting in HVAC or insulation or windows or anything that's on the energy efficient port, you go through custom measures with them to try and get any money you possibly can.

Yeah, I know I thought that too.

Um, okay, thank you.

And then um, sorry, guys.

Um so just just as a couple ending things.

Um, you know, um, there's if we do do new roofs, there's solar companies that will come in and put solar on some of these roofs.

I know they're old structures, so maybe structural not structurally sound, but they'll come do it for free, and that could help and assist with energy costs.

Um, I always put a 20% contingency on everything, so I'd add 20% contingency here because you're going to get change orders too.

Um, don't forget that.

And then just for like a couple future things is um net zero buildings.

If we do build new buildings, they should be net zero.

Um, I I can't see why we would even entertain anything other than that.

Um, and then um like managing roof run.

I know this is like way out of the, but I feel like if I don't get it out, I'll never say it.

But like managing roof runoff is another huge thing.

Um, and that'll play into the city's assets for stormwater management.

And I know I had one other thing, but I don't want to hold everyone up, so I will yield.

No, councilwoman, I want to hear the one other thing.

I want to hear the one other thing.

I'm gonna give you, yeah, why not?

You came here.

Oh, um what's the one other thing?

Okay, and then um, I guess you know, I wasn't around for um COVID funding and ARPRA money, but I I mean, it seems like a no-brainer that we should have put it towards the schools.

We did.

Okay.

We use six million dollars of our own um COVID money to assist in the payments for Garden City Elementary because of the escalation in costs.

We we had a delta, we use six million dollars of money that came to us to complete Garden City Elementary.

So some of the um energy efficient and also um environmental things that you mentioned, those are requirements in all new school buildings.

Right.

So they're called chips requirements.

Don't ask me what the acronym is for, but they're chips.

So Garden City, for example, does use rainwater.

Um I saw that it has an infiltration system.

I can see it when I go to it.

Yeah, it has subsurface infiltrations.

Um, great.

And then I guess the last thing that I'll mention environmentally is like I know that you're gonna go replace the pavement at Cranston West, and that's great, but like maybe you don't need all that pavement.

I mean, maybe we don't need to pave paradise and put up a parking lot.

So, like maybe we could reduce some cost there because I know in like the 70s, 80s, and 90s, everyone loved to pave everything, but um, it's not so nice to look at, and maybe there's some leeway there with cost.

Um, okay, thanks.

Thank you, councilwoman.

You have one more thing.

Um councilwoman Missari.

So um unfortunately, we can't give you the money tomorrow.

And hopefully this doesn't happen.

But what happens if we have to shut a school down?

Where do the kids go?

That's a very good question.

It frankly depends on the school.

So um, I don't know how many years ago it was before COVID.

In front of Edgewood Highland, a um what do you call it?

A fire hydrant.

Just let go.

The school was flooded with violent flow of water.

Doors came off hinges, the entire bottom level was destroyed.

Within five days, we picked up the students at Edgewood Highlands.

We moved them into Norwood Elementary.

The students who are at Norwood School, which is one of our alternate pro programs, they were shuffled to Cranston High School West.

So within five days, we were able to move the students from Edgewood Highlands into another building and resume education.

With a small school like that, it was possible.

If that were to happen to East, West or any of our middle schools, there would be no way or nowhere to put them.

There's no swing space.

We would we couldn't even rent space in an in a neighboring district because there are no school buildings available and there are very strict restrictions on where you can go.

And I don't know anybody in the world who would want our kids to go back to distance learning for a significant amount of time.

But that's that would be the only way we could continue with some continuity of education.

Which I think would be disastrous for our kids.

Thank you.

Thank you, as you can tell, we do crisis well in Cranston.

We've we've had a lot of crises in Cranston.

Thank you, Superintendent.

Councilwoman.

You want my microphone too?

Yes, I do.

Can I just say the week after the Edgewood Highland flood?

The um in this building, a window which couldn't lock, blew open during sub-freezing temperatures, pipes froze, burst, and then we had water um coming down the elevator shaft in what we call the new wing, which was built in 2006 in this building, which then destroyed um seven or eight classrooms in this building.

And that was the week after Edgewood.

I I had very bad nightmares that month.

Yes.

All right, thank you.

Um first of all, I hope we can all get a copy of this slideshow from tonight emailed to us.

So it's a very large file because of the picture.

So what we can do is make thumb drives of the presentation for you.

It may take a few days, but we can get them copied for you.

Okay.

I'm willing to supply my own thumb drive for that if you'd like.

Good.

We don't have the money, money to buy them.

Exactly.

I'm sorry, I don't mean to be, I'm not trying to be flippant, but was any of we'll take your use of drive.

Yes.

Was any of the SM money used for the HVAC systems?

We use six million dollars to complete the HVAC at Garden City.

That's what it was used for.

All right, thank you.

Um, I think tonight it's very alarming and frightening.

Uh, taxpayers send their kids to these schools, assuming they're safe all day to find out there's not a fire suppression system at a school that has boiler problems is very frightening to send a kindergartner to an elementary school with a rook leaking roof and no heat or no coal, you know, it's sickening actually.

Very, very um bad.

Um, I will be in support of money going out to Bonn.

That's a no-brainer.

We need the children safe, we need the teachers safe.

Um I really just don't know what else to say.

It's sickmen.

Thank you.

So I I want to be clear.

Um, the fire suppression are the sprinklers, but there are fire alarms.

It is um, we're not violating any of the fire code.

So I don't want parents taking away that we have students in buildings that violate fire code.

That is not the case.

Okay, thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you, councilwoman.

Um, the uh before I go to the uh school committee, I'm gonna start with you, Ms.

Crowley.

Um, I'm gonna go back very quickly.

Um to Councilman Traffic Canny, because he did have a follow-up question, and I kind of ignored him.

Uh Superintendent.

Uh like I said, whether whether the city goes up for 31 million dollar bond or 265.

I'm sure you have the support of the city council.

Uh we just keep in mind that the death service of the city depends on how much the city can incur in terms of how much it can delete as well.

So the the amount is is is not the problem.

It's of course how much you can spend in one single year.

But here's my next question, you and it the reason why I'm asking because we're talking about repair renovation bond.

Let's talk about new construction simultaneously with the repair renovation bond.

During the I noticed this past year, you had to split the population of Peters Elementary School.

Some going across the West, I'm sorry, some going to Western Hills and some going back to Bain.

Correct.

I assume that's based on the fact that you're reached you're reaching a max at Western Hills.

Correct.

So within the next two years, is there a possibility that a whole pilot is going to be converted back to an elementary school?

I don't see that happening in the next two years.

Um by moving some of the students to Bain, which had a had um more room, we are able to sustain the population at Western Hills and Hope Highlands.

The problem with Hope Highlands is it's very limited how many students we can put there because it was designed as an elementary school, so it's operating as a middle school, but there's significant um restrictions on how many kids we can put there.

So without building a new middle school on the western side of the city, we can't do anything.

If if we were to build, and I'm at this point, I am let's extend it out to four years.

Within the next four years, let's say this whole pilots could be maybe converted back.

I don't know.

The problem with the development in the western side of the city, and which is significant, and we all know.

Um I don't know if there are impact studies done when developments are in the folks in the on the planning side of things would know that.

Um it is my understanding that 20 something years ago, it it's referred to as the Melacaro properties, which are behind um like Cardinal Road uh to the west side of Phoenix Avenue.

So those building permits were granted two decades plus ago and were never built on.

Well, now they are being built on.

So even if an impact study was done 20 years ago, well, it's a completely different story now, and those of us who live near that property are seeing the impact of houses being built and families coming in.

Predicting all of that gets very tricky.

So a maybe is the best I could do on that.

Thank you.

And then I'm gonna go to the school committee because they've been waiting very patiently.

All right.

Um, councilman in what is the average cost for each for one student to attend Crancent Public Schools?

Our um per pupil cost is just under 20 20,000.

It's about 19 change.

Thank you.

And that's regular ed kind of your baseline student.

Thank you, Councilman.

Ms.

Crowley.

Questions or comments.

Thank you.

Um my concerns are the buildings.

Um, this is my first term here, but I'm very familiar coming from East Providence of deteriorating buildings.

That is a small bond.

I wish it could be a larger bond, like Andy said.

However, the issue is this the preparation for those stages is monumental.

And uh to get the approval for ride for stage one, stage two, stage three, there's an awful lot that goes into that, and you have to have a plan.

So that my understanding is like our immediate cost to take care of what we really need to take care of because of the situation of the buildings, and we don't had to have a cap catastrophic incident.

I am a big proponent for the large bond in 2028 to take care of the other serious issues you have in this district.

One of my major concerns is Bane and the elevator and the cafeteria being on the second floor, and you have not an elevator.

Where are the special education students?

So the students that are injured, they have to eat downstairs away from the population.

Park View doesn't even have an elevator in Park View.

What happens when a student is injured?

They have to have class on the first floor.

I mean, these are serious educational issues, and they really do have to be addressed in a larger bond because the cost would be so much larger, and the planning would be so much more intense to get it through the ride for phase one, phase two, phase three, phase four.

I did it with East Providence High School, so I'm very familiar with the amount of time and work that has to go into it.

The Cranston West parking lot, one of the teachers told me 17 years ago, nine months pregnant, she fell in a hole in the parking lot.

19 years ago, that parking lot hasn't gotten any better.

That's a serious situation there.

I mean, it's a lawsuit waiting to happen.

It's a lawsuit, and all of these things I think are important that the superintendent mentioned tonight, every single one of them.

But in order to do it right this time and to get it right, I think that small bond is doable through ride, and I think that we together work on that larger bond for 2028 that absolutely has to happen from my perspective.

Thank you, Ms.

Crown.

Can I tell a quick story about elevators?

Sure.

Go ahead, because I I believe the uh I know Mr.

Mr.

Cartone is up next, but um Western Hills is one of our ADA compliant buildings because it has elevators.

So that building is well over 50 years old.

And the elevator broke down and breaks down often.

I was in there one day, and uh Mr.

VZ, who is is here, was pushing a student in a wheelchair.

That student had to go outside from the first floor, go out around the side of the building, and then come back in at the change of every class because the elevator didn't work.

That went on for two months.

So even buildings that we are not noting here have those kinds of the the elevator issues, like those kinds of things, and not that that changes the conversation, but um it's not an inconvenience, it's a huge problem.

So sorry, Mr.

No, no, thank you.

For only in that um Mr.

Catone, floor's yours.

I go by a doctor with the with the council present.

I'm just kidding.

Not red lights on.

Yeah.

The um just speaking of elevators, um, Mr.

Melillo and I just got an email from a local Cranston uh scout uh earning a badge on the civic engagement side, but be the email and the letter was about concerns because his sibling who was injured and attends Parkview, uh wasn't able to uh fully participate in all of their classes because there is no elevator, and so had to get school work brought to them instead of being able to it because they were unable to use the stairs.

So it's uh these building needs are uh you know, pop up in these day-to-day and and everyday situations.

Um part of this presentation is really just uh just to say to just get this off my chest, frustrating to sit through and hear um only because I haven't been on the school committee for that long, but it we've been saying this year over year over year over year.

In 2024, we we we said we have 200 million dollars of need when it was the last chance for the 74% sale, and what the city said was we can do 40.

And here we are tonight with a lot of people saying we can do a lot, we can almost just do 40 again.

Um, but we know the the need was 265 to a billion somewhere in there.

Um and and just two years ago when we could have got it on seven, you know, 26 cents on the dollar, all we all we could muster on on the city side was was 40 when we very clearly laid out 200.

And I'm not I know half of you were were over on this side of the table when we were doing that, but or not half, but you know, some but pretty much and and not all of you were seated at that time.

Um for so it's just just to say like it's it's something that and and I think one of the frustrations um, you know, we hear the frustrations from uh the city when there's you know the school department cre uh occupies so much real estate, quite literally, and for the budget, um, without you know the direct uh control and and utilization of those funds, but then the the frustrating side on here is we don't get to raise money, we just get told what we get what we get told what we have to to try to figure out how to do the job.

So um I'm really excited that we're here tonight, though, figuring out how to do this job together.

So that that's I think a really important step forward.

I think since I got on committee, Mr.

Maloma's trying to get us to sit together for the last few years.

So um the one substantive question I have, uh Mr.

Judson was the the around the energy efficiency, and you might not have a full analysis, but it'd be curious if we could do a fuller analysis on like what are the projects that are around energy efficiency where we would get some of those kickbacks, or I don't know if that's the reimbursement technical terms, maybe the the the term reimbursements or like we're with that lighting project, and I missed the number that you said I heard that was 1.7 million dollars in lighting costs, but I didn't get what the return would be.

So it would net you about 350,000 in savings per year.

So your payback in savings, yeah.

So I'm wondering about just more broadly, because a lot of this, I mean, there's a lot of the the HVAC and the heating, but the windows and the I don't know how feasible it is to get an analysis of what would the cost of these energy oriented uh projects be, but then what would the efficiencies, the savings be?

Of course, rates are changing and all that, but but to the best that we can estimate, you know, what that return on that investment is, because that's one area where we on top of the state reimbursement, we're actually saving money.

Our energy costs are killing us.

So any way that we can get in front of that, and then that's over time.

That's paying us back every year just through savings.

Do you have a number?

Or what would it take to get to?

It's a very difficult question.

So, you know, what we are on solar net metering, so we are getting rebates uh that way through our energy bills.

How rise works and how the uh programs work for energy efficiency, lighting's not uh difficult because you know what fixtures you can use, you know what you have.

When you get into custom rebates, boilers, insulation windows, that's a case-by-case basis to go through national grid, rise through national grid and through the energy department for the Save Road Island.

It's not an easy number to come up with because you have to go case by case.

Red lightning's going on.

I don't see it.

There it is.

There we go.

Um that's just, but that's on rebates.

What about just savings?

Like we wouldn't wouldn't we theoretically pay less to heat this building with a brand new boiler system?

I mean, and and Councilman Campiano was sort of getting a little bit about that around efficiency, right?

Right.

So on the say on the whole pilots uh slide, I did go through that in terms of putting in um condensing boilers who would save you from you're running about 82% efficient boilers to you could get up into the 98% range.

It illustrates about probably $20,000 a year savings and gas.

So they're definitely a savings in the projects that you're putting in.

Um we could try to tabulate that, but it's uh but it's not like I'm trying to say it's a case-by-case basis as as you're designing and developing these.

So just I mean, maybe there's more of a heads up.

If if and when we are prioritizing and and doing projects because we are going out for some level of bond, I'd be curious if I'd be interested in that information to inform our decision about priorities to to understand where we're gonna get some additional savings versus where it's just as a straight cost.

Um, and the last was a very specific question, it's just around that 3.9.

Um, and this is a sort of self-interested uh word one side of the city, but the park view middle, what's in that 3.9 highlighted?

What what uh on the immediate need on park view?

What was that including?

Uh that was the boilers and um a portion of the roof at the boilers and the roof.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Katone.

Ms.

Budiris.

Oh, yeah, that's all you left it on for you.

I just I want to start by saying thank you for this really eye-opening and frankly, kind of depressing and scary presentation.

Um, as a fairly new school committee member, I mean, I knew it it wasn't a great situation, um, but having it laid out very clearly like this is you know, it's terrifying.

Um, and like I said, I am a proud parent of children that go here.

I'm proud to serve on the school committee.

Um, and superintendent, you said that we're here teaching these kids 20, 25, 26 technologies and new things, but we're still kind of living in the past.

And the 93-year-old boiler is just shocking.

Um, it really just doesn't align with the pride that I think we all kind of feel and say that we feel about our schools.

So thank you.

Um, I'm gonna lose a little bit of sleep.

Um, I did um going off of Keith's question.

I thought he was going to take my question, so I'm glad that he did it, but it was about Parkview um for the pool.

So most of the presentation that you've talked about is just around like heaters and roofs and just really um important things, and not that there's not importance for the pool.

Um, I actually just kind of wanted to know um out of like just kind of out of curiosity.

Um, I know it was something like 3.2 million.

It was 3.9.

3.9.

Okay, so 3.9 million, even worse.

Um, I know that my kids have done it was really exciting.

We heard about the myth that there was a pool there, and we kind of snuck in during open house and someone brought us there.

It was exciting in the time in the moment.

Um, do my kids love swimming in the pool every gym period?

I don't know.

Um, but I I just wonder um while there is benefits to having the pool with the amount that it is just costing to fix it, and I know it's not part of the immediate need.

I'm just wondering if it like your take on if it's more of a liability to even have it versus um continuing.

Like, is there revenue that comes in from other groups?

Uh my personal opinion uh would be to shut it down.

It you're at risk there.

Um the the equipment there is ancient.

Um that's supplying the heaters and the filters and things of that nature that's already failing.

Uh you have uh two pretty significant um structural deficiencies at the pool that need to be addressed.

Uh within the pool itself, the uh tiles and all of the uh grout is starting to fall out.

So it it's a uh repair situation.

Um would I spend that much money at the pool?

Um, probably not, because it does not prevent you from operating.

My biggest thing is looking at all these things and looking at risk.

And the rest of me is keeping the schools operational and open.

The pool is a nice to have.

Right.

I was gonna use that word, actually, that since we are kind of in the business right now of pinching pennies, um, that is a nice to have, especially when you're talking about like roofs caving in and things like that.

Um, well, not the pool's actually like in use, right?

I'm I'm pretty sure my funds were in it recently.

So okay.

So I mean, it's not it's not a catastrophic failure, but it it needs attention.

Right.

Okay, and then um my other question was going off of uh so in the Edgewood Highlands uh flood.

The I'm sure there's costs associated with having to do that kind of emergency shift, right?

Um, just out of curiosity, what I know that was a smaller school, and we're not talking if it's one of the high schools, but what was the cost associated with something like that?

I don't remember how much it cost us to renovate the whole basement, but that was covered by insurance because it was um an that was an insurance claim.

So that didn't really cost us anything.

Well, I meant more of having to adjust in that quick immediate moment, like the immediate shift of having to like did we just use the same stuff that was in those buildings and just have the children attend those schools, or did we have to physically move things and no, we had to physically pick up everything at Edgewood Highlands and move it to the Norwood elementary building.

So there was there's a costume.

We did all of the work ourselves.

Our custodians, our utility crews, the the staff at Edgewood Highland at the time, they had to pack up the the basement classrooms that were destroyed.

We lost all the materials.

There was feet of water.

Um, but the other classrooms that just had to be out of the building because of all the remediation that needed to happen.

That building could not be used.

So we just weranston public schools staff picked up everything and just moved.

So it's about just kind of like manpower and it was okay.

A lot of manpower, but um, it was one of our more successful endeavors under an emergency circumstance.

Thank you.

Let's all ahead.

Thank you, Ms.

Madeiris.

Uh I'll move on right on to uh Vice Chairman Melillo.

Hi, everyone.

Uh so I wouldn't forget anything.

I I wrote a statement, so I'm gonna read from the statement.

Um first, I want to thank council president Dan Wall for bringing this meeting together for several years, as Mr.

Kotone referred to.

I've um talked about the importance of a joint meeting between city council and school committee.

And tonight with his leadership, that vision became a reality.

It takes initiative to move something like this from conversation to action, and I truly appreciate his commitment to making it happen.

I also want to recognize our facilities manager, Chris Jetson for putting the work and superintendent Janine Natamasi for their tremendous amount of work that went into the preparing this comprehensive report, the time, the effort, the detail that went into this document showing how seriously our administration takes the responsibility as well as our administrators.

I see pretty much every principal in the city in that audience right now.

So if you don't think we take this serious, we do, because they're all here on their own time, by the way, to uh represent our schools.

Uh, what this report makes clear is that uh the challenges facing our facilities and our school system as a whole are not something we can continue to push down the road.

There's a real sense of urgency here that needs are real.

The the needs are real, the costs are growing.

The longer we wait, the more difficult and expensive the solutions become.

Tonight is an opportunity for all of us, school community school committee members and city council members to work together and ask the tough questions and begin taking steps necessary to protect and strengthen Cranston public schools, because in the end of the day, the decisions we make will shape the future for thousands of Cranston students.

Thank you.

Now I have some questions.

Um Chris Mr.

Jetson, I'm sorry.

Uh what my suggestion would be whatever we decide as a bond that we're gonna float, whatever, whether it's in it's a an antibond or traffic anti-bond, whatever we want to do, something in between, whatever.

I try to name a school.

I try to name a school stuff.

I I like it.

No, that's all right.

Listen, whatever we decide, whatever we have the appetite to do, my suggestion is whatever that number is, we need to put an escalation cost in every single one of those numbers because the problem we had before is we had no escalation costs.

And when things went up, we know the history, we know the history way things are going, way things are moving down the road.

When I bid on certain things that I do for my living, and I bid a three-year bid, I always put an escalation cost based on the history.

Now I know things are totally different with tariffs and everything that's coming in, but if we could put some type of escalation cost on every single project and we go out to a realistic bond, so we're we're not we're finishing every project, not saying, okay, we're not gonna finish two floors at Bain to finish uh the boiler at East.

So if we can do that, because and I none of this surprise me because I sit on the buildings committee, so I'm not gonna ask specific questions.

I'm not gonna act shocked because like I said before, I spent my first three years on the school committee asking for a joint meeting.

So the sky, or in this case, the ceilings aren't falling.

So if we could my only suggestion, and that's all I have, is if we could put some type of escalation cost.

So our numbers are real, so we're not revisiting these existing projects.

If we go to 40 million, 265 million, 300 million, whatever we decide to do, there's an actual escalation cost based on that, because like you said, it's not going to be done next year.

We might go all to the bond next year.

Our first three projects might not get done until 2027-28.

So we need to look at this and say, what is the actual escalation cost or something like this?

So we're not it's not a pipe dream, it's actually something that can happen.

So just so you know, uh 265 is present value today.

Um what built this report is every single line item um per category for a school.

And I did send that to uh Mr.

Zidellas.

There's an 11% escalation uh per year based on a five-year projected all in 265.

So that's built already.

It's just a matter of I personally do not know what the appetite is for the city, what size of the bond.

So we're at a we're at a point here of what projects do get done for what amount of capital funding we do receive.

And then we can build the projects.

And again, let's not repeat history here because when we look at other cities in town, 800 million, one billion dollars in Central Falls, we miss the boat.

Let's not look back in another two years from now and say, oh, why didn't we why wasn't that project done?

We have to act now.

That's it for me.

Thank you, Chairman Muller.

I'm gonna go hold on.

Clarify something you said.

Oh, the for me with Mr.

Jedson.

Mr.

Jetson, could you clarify?

I'm gonna ask you one more time.

I know I'm kind of a pest speak right up into the microphone because I'm sometimes having a hard time when your voice goes down a bit.

So go ahead, uh Mr.

Catone.

I just missed if you said that the 265 includes an 11% escalation over five years.

The 265 is present value.

Okay.

So what what included the the escalation?

I missed what you were referring to.

Uh when I put this together, I went out with a five-year uh the number was in the threes um based on what you can do each year, understandably.

It's a five-year plan.

Okay.

All right, I'm gonna go to Chairman Fusco.

And just before you start, I want people to know those people in the audience.

After that, I'm probably gonna ask for a uh if no one has any objections up here on the stage.

I'm on the school committee and the council, if we could take public comment.

But I'm gonna let Mr.

Fusco go first, and then I'm gonna ask that question.

Thank you, Council President.

Well, this has been a very interesting night.

Um I hope a lot of eyes were opened and people noticed a lot of different things.

Thank you to the council for sitting in and listening.

And um I know from the school committee side, we knew a lot of these things coming in, but it's still quite a shock to see it when it's on paper.

Um I just I wrote a note.

I had to echo one thing off Ms.

Crowley about the parking lot at West.

Um, there's also I see some of our administrators from Bain are here.

Um if you go to the backside of Bain near Trainer Street, there is a big hole over there that probably is gonna swallow a small car one of these days.

So um there's parking lots everywhere that need that need help.

Um so one comment I wanted to make that um I've kind of heard from the public than this is well, you have all this money, so if you can't do this, why can't you do that?

In order to get this these uh items and reimbursements from Ride, you have to submit a project plan.

The project plan has to have certain amount of projects or schools that are going to be worked on.

Because they approve that list of schools that will be worked on, you can't just willy-nilly change them around.

You have to go to Ride, have to do a memorandum agreement, right?

And make sure that they'll they'll accept the changes and things like that.

So it's it's not really that easy to do things like this.

So that's why it's very important that the planning go is goes into place when we go to ride for these bonds.

Another thing about the reimbursement, the state has it quite backwards, as far as I'm concerned, and I've said this many times.

Reimbursement from the state doesn't happen until all projects uh on that are completed.

So for example, we've pushed out the bond, the the work for the current uh Gladstone and and Garden City, things of that nature.

So we're not gonna see that 74% for another, you know, a couple, another year or so when all this work is done.

So what that means is now the city has to absorb that debt services, which councilman traffic anti mentioned as well.

And um, it's it's not fair to the cities and towns that they have to put up all this money up front and then wait till the project's done.

Most of these brand new schools, they're gonna take five years to build, and then we have to wait till those five years are up before we see any reimbursement.

So that means that when the bonds are issued, because we have to pay these projects, so we have to issue the bonds.

We're not gonna see that reimbursement for quite a few years.

And I still think that's a mistake.

There was a bill a few years ago at the General Assembly, but of course, but of course it didn't pass.

So along those lines, while I would love to see, like Mr.

Handhart said, a billion dollar bond.

We I think we got to be a little bit more pulled back a little bit because if we're gonna go to a huge bond like that, and that's gonna cover like every single school in the city.

That could take 10 to 15 years to complete, which means we're not gonna see any reimbursement for 10 to 15 years.

And while I would love to do that, we've got to be careful about that, because the city right now is in a little bit of trouble, and they're not gonna be able to cover those debt services.

Um, they were already keep throwing it back in our face.

Um, so that's why, and then another one other thing is we have to get the public to approve a large bond.

And I hate to compare ourselves to Warwick because we're so much better.

But if you notice, Warwick went out for 350 million dollar bond, realized that they didn't have enough money, just had a special election to get another 50 billion 50 million, and it got and it was uh rejected.

So we really again, I would love to be able to go big.

Believe me, I'd love to go big, but we I think we need to be a little bit more realistic.

So if like the like uh councilman traffic mentioned, if we do something every two years, then we can look and say, okay, we got this little group of projects.

We finished it.

Let's get reimbursement, go for another bond, go get a reimbursement, go for another bond, get reimbursement.

So I just think we gotta we could take you know, kind of think things through like that as well.

Um can I speak to the reimbursement?

Yes.

Um so what happens is once the projects are done and completed, and in our recent cases, we bundle the reimbursement requests.

So to take advantage of the 74% um maximum that we can.

So we submit for reimbursement.

Those reimbursements are given back to us in our state housing state housing aid payments over the life of a bond.

So if it's a 20-year bond, we get those small increments over 20 years.

I don't want people to think that once we submit the paperwork, we're suddenly given the 74% in one lump sum.

Those are small increments.

So as bonds age and age out, the debt comes off the books.

But so does the reimbursement.

You understand, right?

How that okay?

It's like a mortgage, you know, as as you're paying it, you're getting some of that money back.

Um, but it does take 20 or I think the average is 20 years.

So I just wanted to make that kind of clear.

Like we could be really gonna think things through.

I um I I appreciate everyone listening and their support.

I mean, if you've been in Arlington school, um it's pretty bad.

Uh, up on behind the curtain on the stage, they have this weird contraption set up to collect water.

And um, there's a big bag, there's pipes, it goes into a waste can.

It's amazing.

There are classrooms where our preschoolers, um, when it rains, they can't take naps because they'll get dripped on.

Um so we really need to take care of this.

So um thank you again.

Thank you for this presentation.

And uh thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Uh, at this time, if there are no objections among the committee or the council, I'm gonna take public comment from the people in the audience on this agenda matter.

Do I hear any objections?

Seeing none, if someone in the in the uh the auditorium would like to make public comment on this agenda item this evening, please step up to the microphone, state your name and your address for the record.

I'll get you.

All right, seeing none, Tom, is anyone online who would like to make public because they raise their hand here to kind of tell her Lizbeth Walking.

Ms.

Larkin, can you hear me?

Yes, can you hear me?

I can.

Uh please state your name and address for the record, and you have three minutes.

Yes, my name is uh Lizbeth Larkin.

I'm president of the Cranston Teachers Alliance, a very proud um teacher at Parkview, 766 Boston Neck Road, Narragansett, Rhode Island.

Um I have been in the district for 40 years.

I have been a leader of uh our wonderful workers uh that are in these schools for over 25 years.

And um, I just want to say to um school committee uh uh person, um Anthony Melillo.

I'm glad that your uh vision finally came forward because we needed this uh joint meeting a long time ago, and um I will tell you that I contact the superintendent weekly, if not on a daily basis.

She is a very hard working proactive uh leader who feels our pain, and I think also takes it so difficult when she cannot do things to help us.

Um, I am very grateful for this meeting because I think that our schools have been neglected for many, many decades for one reason or another.

Um, we have had no heat, no electricity for devices, asbestos issues, boilers issues, boilers overloaded, fireboxes going off, um, evacuations of schools, significant leaks, unhealthy environments.

And um, really truly, if any of you are working in a certain circumstance, you would never work under the conditions that my members and our beloved students work under every single day.

You really cannot even believe it.

And I know that many of you have toured a lot of the schools and have seen certain things, and I am grateful for that.

But these people work there day in and day out, freezing, cold, dripping.

And uh, someone um, I think um Mr.

Fusco just mentioned Arlington School, and while I'm very grateful that we're gonna go out for bond and try to fix our major issues at least before we move on.

We have absolutely dangerous situations right now.

We can't wait to go out for bond.

We need to find some money to help the schools that someone is going to get hurt, and one of our main concerns is the Arlington school.

I went there to unfortunately lay off people with Mr.

Crudale.

The boiler room was overheating with steam.

You could not see in it.

I was standing waiting for Mr.

Crudale while the red box fire alarm was going off.

They started talking about the leaks, and there were buckets.

There are not enough buckets at Arlington School to take care of the leaks that are going on in the school.

And I'm going to tell you one more thing, Mr.

Wool.

I'm sorry.

Sum up now, or Sarah.

Yes, I will.

That I was looked up, and there are ceiling tiles empty with Oscar, who was a wonderful custodian there, who put plastic bags and they're full of water like a bladder hanging over your head.

And this is no way to have a work environment, let alone our precious children living under these conditions.

And I just ask that thank you for going out to bond, but please try to fix some of these places that these people are working under.

Thank you, Mr.

Thank you.

Tom, is anyone else on online who'd like to make public comment agenda matters?

A reminder to please press the raise hand button if we would like to speak.

I see no other public comment.

Tom, thank you.

So I'm gonna close public comment at this moment.

I'm gonna take it once more around because this is a pretty serious subject.

I'm gonna go right around to the uh the city council.

I know I saw Mr.

Andrew High's hand up.

Oh, Mr.

Riss is for I'm sorry, Mr.

Ritz.

My eyes are all right.

Yeah, all right.

I just want to make sure you were pointing to him and me.

Uh Councilman Campiano is that your hand is up.

Okay, please.

Thank you, Council President.

Um, I guess I I think the short answer to the rise uh comments was it's a possibility to get some of that money back.

Am I correct to saying that any project that uses energy, we can go and um perform like a custom measure um on any project to see if they would give us uh any type of money for uh energy use.

That's light on the horizon then.

That's positive.

Right?

That's good.

And my other question is it's it's I guess it's a long-term question.

I live with Stone Throw from Hope Highlands, and I know that area housing is exploding.

Um, is an addition to Hope Highlands a possibility versus a whole new building.

Anything's possible.

I don't know if that was ever considered, but there's a lot of land there.

Um, it's already a uh a structure.

You probably don't have to build another gym, you don't have to build another cafeteria.

Um, maybe it's just a matter of expanding that.

I don't know if that was ever explored or if that's a good idea.

Um just talking about that.

There is a lot of uh real estate there.

The back does have some wetlands, so that's the only consideration.

Anything that backs up to the Briggs um field, you know, with a soccer and all that, there is some wetlands back there, but um that is a large parcel of land, so yeah, anything is is uh anything is possible.

Oh, that's I mean, that's more good news.

I mean, even if we had to utilize some of the parking lot, maybe the Chafee complex could absorb some of that parking and then use the rest of buildings.

Um, I didn't know if that was explored, but I guess it was.

Yes.

Oh, was it explored?

No, but um when we did the 2017 plan, we looked at the different um schools and where expansion could happen, and that was one of the areas, as was Woodridge, Glen Hills.

Um I'm trying to think of Bain because of you could take over some of the um park, the track.

So a lot of our schools, yeah, we could we could look at that.

And if I could, superintendent, I believe they also include stadium for that middle area to expand it there as well.

Yeah, some of our schools have absolutely no available real estate.

Um, because when the school was designed, it was just on that small parcel of land.

But there are some that could be um expanded and added to sure.

I don't even know portrait farms we would be another one.

I know there's a lot of wetness there, but if it doesn't sink for us, I'm gonna I'm gonna pass on that one.

Yeah, I'll I'll give you a buy.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you, councilman.

Councilman Trafficanti.

Uh Chairman, I just want to say thank you to the superintendent and to Mr.

Jensen.

Uh the uh presentation was well done and very revealing.

Uh my question is, can we get copies of it?

The presentation.

Yes, we will put them on thumb drives because this it can't be emailed, it's too big because of all the pictures and the data.

So we will put them on the um small thumb drives that you could use into uh in your computer.

Thank you.

And and I did neglect as well to talk about um Mr.

Stevenson and the building committee, because that's an additional responsibility for many of you.

And you come and you listen to all of the um the information that we offer and you are providing vision.

The building committee is the conduit for which all of these plans need to be made.

So for those of you who are on it who have been on it in the past, um, it is critically important that we use the building committee to then um make the plan going forward.

What's that noise?

Thank you, councilman, councilman Andrew.

Thank you.

I just wanted to I, you know, I was doing quick numbers here.

And for 320 million dollars, it comes out to probably eight thousand dollars a house, and if you float the bond for over 30 years, that's roughly 267 dollars a year.

And with interest is probably 300 a year.

It's it's a tough pill to swallow, but it's something that the voter should decide whether it happens or not.

And I just wanna say something to the to the school board.

When our president speaks, he speaks for all of us.

And this is the second meeting where your chairman, and I'm talking to you, Dominic, you throw shade at us.

We're on this side try, and we're gonna make things work.

If you don't like it, or none of you guys like what's going on on this side, you guys are more than welcome to run against us.

You're more than welcome to run against me.

Sorry, but do never ever disrespect this side again.

I said nothing you're gonna hold on, we're gonna have order right now.

We're not gonna go back and forth, neither one.

So we're just gonna hold on.

We're gonna have order right now.

Um we're gonna go back to a spirit where we're working together.

I think that would be better, more counterproductive.

Um I'm gonna take you there at this time.

I just want to thank everyone for coming out this evening.

I know it's been a long meeting.

Um, I appreciate that all um school staff and principals came out this evening, and I appreciate the presentation.

Um, I think we need to be updated.

And I I like this collaboration with the school committee.

I think this was very positive for for getting this train moving.

Um, and I will just leave you guys with this.

If you build on wetlands, you lose my vote.

I'm a wetland scientist, so no filling wetlands.

You're preaching to the choir, believe me on that one.

Thank you so much.

Uh anyone else on on this side.

I I see you're all sorry.

I can't see Councilwoman Missouri.

You're going your next, Miss Crowley.

If you yes, I just want to thank the superintendent and her team.

Having been first year here and being a superintendent in another district.

I just want to say I am very impressed by how this district is run.

And I've said that over and over again.

It is a district that is well managed and well run by a very good team in the central office.

And as a member of the school committee, I truly appreciate it.

I'd like to thank Anthony for finally getting this meeting between the two bodies together.

I think it's been a very positive meeting, and I hope we can continue this communication.

So thank you all for coming.

Thank you, Janine and Chris very much for your presentation.

Absolutely excellent as usual.

And um, thanks every member of the school committee for all the time we've put into this.

Thank you so much, Ms.

Crowley.

Mr.

Catone, no?

Okay.

Ms.

Madeiras, no?

I just want to make sure I don't miss everybody.

All right.

Uh Vice Vice Chairman.

Yeah, just two things.

I just ordered 20 thumb drives.

I'll bring them to your office on Friday.

So we'll have those.

We'll have copies for everybody.

And again, I I really appreciate this.

I think we should do more of it because when the facts are presented on anything on buildings, on budget, on whatever it might be, there's a lot of things out there that you know.

Same thing.

I say this to the superintendent often because we talk about this.

What I thought I knew four years ago, and what I actually know now is totally different than what I thought four years ago.

So if I can anybody has any questions off the record, whatever I will talk to anybody about this because it's it's something I'm passionate about.

And again, we do sit on the buildings committee.

Marcus Stevenson is here tonight, and he knows we have these conversations on a daily basis, either during the meeting, after the meeting, whatever it might be.

These this is a need that needs to be addressed, and it's great that we all got together.

So whatever we can do, meetings like this, even if it's you know, budget meetings or or something like that where we can talk about stuff that you know people think they they know and they actually don't.

So I I think this is great, and I really appreciate everybody being here.

Thank you.

And thank you for your efforts, Mr.

Chairman, uh, Vice Chairman.

Uh Chairman Fusco.

I just like to say thank you once again.

Thank you, um, Council President.

I think this was uh a great um discussion.

I apologize, Mr.

Andar if I said something that you took the wrong way.

I was not saying anything negative about the council at all.

I apologize if it was taken that way.

Um, but I think that the cooperation needs to continue.

I think this is a great step in that direction to get that because we worked for our schools to make sure that our children um have uh the buildings that they deserve.

Thank you.

Uh thank you, uh Mr.

Chairman.

So before I call for a motion to adjourn, I also will thank the members of the school committee, the leadership of the school committee, um, the superintendent, Mr.

Jetson, and all the staff.

Um everybody who really I could see everybody at this table here, and the people who came in the audience were concerned about the schools.

And I'm sure many of these people, as well as myself, have a pretty close contact with schools, many all of you.

And even the people on the school committee, the people who taught who have been in these buildings, looked at those slides and their jaws dropped a bit.

Even those who have some familiarity.

Um I know we're uh there's an urgency with the buildings themselves, their conditions, but I also know there's a certain urgency in the time frame we have to get this done.

So we're gonna have to work very closely to get this done.

So once again, thank you.

Um at that before before I take a motion.

No, she's gonna shut it up.

Go ahead.

All right, all right.

If there's nothing further before this uh meeting this evening, uh at this time I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

Second, all in favor, please signify by saying aye.

And for the school committee.

I tell you why to say, yeah, and for the school committee motion to adjourn.

Second, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Thank you.

No, I think they have to have.