Thank you.

All right.

Madam Clerk, you take the roll call, please.

David Carlin.

Here.

Underwood Segley.

Charlie Holder.

Here.

Cycim Savoravan.

Here.

Gene Marina Politano.

Here.

Alan Pinock.

Here.

Stephanie Smythe.

Here.

There is a quorum present, Mr.

Chair.

Please stand for budget allegiance.

All right.

Madam Clerk, anyone signed up for this point?

No, they have not.

Let's get into it.

Okay.

Motion to open the public hearing for the 27 to 2027 to 2031 capital improvement program.

Second.

We have motion and second and discussion.

Motion to accept a memorandum from Jim Nolan, Director of Finance, follow-up to January 7th CIP workshop and revised CIP schedule.

Second.

Mr.

Chair.

Council Sai.

Question on an item within the CIP.

Last year, a major advancement force in the CIP was starting to fund improvements under the transportation master plan.

One of those improvements was sidewalks.

When we can see them right through the snow, we know we need to make improvements.

The administration, can you give an update on why those proceeds are unspent and what the spend down plan is?

So we are making sure that we take advantage of the grant funding that's available and not burden that on the city.

Actually, that one wasn't in last year's CIP.

There was general improvements that was going to be on this year's CIP.

We can we'll then be in a position to reallocate those once we clarify the grant agreement once it's signed.

Usually the reimbursement grants.

Yeah, I can't guarantee it'll be done this year.

It has to go out to bid first, but it is on the it is it is on the docket to be bid out.

We discussed this last year.

And it was, I think, a major concession point that residents are very frustrated about the conditions of our sidewalks.

And it was celebrated as the point by which and the reason why I gave my vote to that budget last year that we were getting that project built, that we're going to start showing substantive improvement in these projects.

We're going to get past this process of endless planning and plan after plan after plan and actually put some pavement and concrete under the ground.

Why the delay?

Part of it was because of the fact that we then found out we were going to have the street repaved, uh, a portion of it repaid because of the utilities, the completion of the utilities work.

So that kind of caused us to go back to the drawing board.

We didn't need to spend all that money on paving and smoothing.

So we went back and relooked at the project around the same time, about a month later, the Safe Streets for All Grant Award information was coming out.

And so this confluence of events is causing us to consider how we can optimize the funds that we have available with the least impact on the taxpayer.

Well, so if that's the case, and you're banking on this being grant funding, and we have the most updated capital improvement plan.

Why am I looking at general funds as the source of funding in the CIP as opposed to grant funds?

We'll take a closer look at that.

I'll have to speak to you afterwards to get the to connect the dots because there are some there's more than one sidewalk project uh in the CIP, but I'll I'll make sure that that's covered.

Is there any sidewalk project that's getting done out of the CIP?

There is we have a sidewalk.

I I have to find it real quick, but I just looked at it earlier today.

There is a side, there is a roadway improvement in the sidewalk.

Yeah, there it is.

Transportation improvements, first item, roadway sidewalk improvements, three million dollars in the CIP.

I'm just looking at the expected expenditure for fiscal year 26, and it's zero.

Uh page 45 of the CIP.

Look, I'm I'm digging in here for for a reason, right?

Which is the issue that we raised last year in the CIP, is that the actual capital improvements that we called for in the master transportation plan, which is an enormously expensive plan, um, were not in any way actually being implemented.

And so the middle ground, the reason why I supported the budget was that we agree that we're going to tackle actually starting to build some of these projects that we always talk about rather than endlessly studying them.

Um and so I want to be crystal clear with where I stand because I know we're just at the beginning of the budget process.

If that project isn't underway this summer, you will not have my vote on this budget.

And I will endeavor to make that priority clear because it is incredibly frustrating for this city, which sits on an unmatched level of cash on hand in the form of a fund balance to be deferring projects to nickel and dime, the cash flow process.

And I appreciate the fiscal conservatism of pursuing these grants.

I'm a huge champion.

I think you all have done a wonderful job on that.

But we actually have to start building some of these projects instead of just constantly planning for them.

And there needs to be some level of progress shown.

I've taken a bunch of time on this.

I realize there's no vote on this item, but I want to communicate as early as possible.

Uh that that's where I stand on that issue.

I'm still Mr.

Chairman.

Council Crowlin.

Councillor Comang, thank you very much.

The majority of uh Narragansett Avenue is indeed uh in my ward.

Uh Mr.

Chairman, may I Councillor Comzavarvang a question for you.

Uh as I recall there were four of us, as I know there were four of us who voted uh to table the budget presented to us for fiscal twenty-six, which we are in the middle of now.

Was one of the reasons that you voted to table that budget because not enough of this type of work was included in the CIP.

Uh specifically, there was none of this work included in the CIP.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate that.

I too will be voting against any budget that comes before us unless work is done likely well or started likely well before what Councillor Karms of Vorovang mentioned.

We budgeted this.

That means it's a council priority.

Budgets are nothing more, and I hate to minimize a budget, but budgets are an example of the council's priorities or anybody's priorities.

In fact, it's one of the most important things we say as a body.

So again, thank you.

Question for the administration, not regarding uh Narragansett Avenue sidewalks, please.

Uh I note that uh with regard to one of the line items for, and I don't have the SIP in front of me, forgive me, but one of the line items for the uh 2627 CIP, which I assume will be then transferred by way of the budget, the proposed FY27 budget, uh, is with regard to the public safety complex.

I can certainly understand uh why a public safety complex construction would cost multiple multiple millions of dollars, but there appears to be a line that I saw in the CIP uh for 2627, which had a study of the project budgeted at many, many millions of dollars.

Is that simply an oversight uh regarding the CIP proposal?

Maybe a typo or something of that nature, maybe one line.

It should have been on one line as opposed to another.

I can't see how uh a study unless I was reading it, excuse me, reading it wrong, how a study could for the project could cost uh north of five million dollars.

That's that's a correct that's a correct figure.

It's a significant it's a significant item.

Uh that you may notice is uh goes back to the bond allocations that were made over a year ago.

Uh $13 million total for the public safety complex.

Uh a portion of that was land acquisition, which we're on which which we're on target uh to hopefully go to negotiate for soon, and the rest of it was for the for the design and fee feasibility and design of the complex.

Can you read that line item as described to us in the CIP that we're proposing now or that we are reviewing now?

Uh since I don't have the luxury of having it in front of me, I apologize.

Yes, it's it's specifically that multi-million uh thank you, Councillor Pinock.

I I can't see that.

Yeah, it's actually I can't see it on paper.

It's too the print is far too small.

Uh but can you read that line item to me, please?

Yes, it's it's uh north end public safety complex feasibility study and proposed fiscal 27, 7.25 million.

So that's where I questioned why it would cost north of five million dollars, 7.2 million dollars for what is labeled as a study, a feasibility study.

Uh I'm not certainly gonna vote for any feasibility study that costs the taxpayers 7.2 million dollars.

You better use damn well use most of that 7.2 million for the construction, not for a study.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

If it's okay with the council, if it's yeah, okay.

That's 7.25 million that includes the uh cost of the land as well at approximately 5.5 million.

Then there's architectural work that's that's included in the 7.2 and um some site work as well.

Thank you, Mr.

Nolan, thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Is that did I simply read it wrong or no?

You have the city defined it wrong.

We defined it.

It should it should say study land architectural work.

It should continue on.

That makes more sense, Mr.

Nolan.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And and that that actually reminds me, because I I should clarify that the $13 million I just mentioned about bond allocation for land acquisition and design.

Now I recall it.

Apologies for the miss uh uh for the misrecollection.

The balance of that is what we have in mind that we may be able to reallocate towards north end parcel acquisition as necessary.

So that's where I got it conflated in my head.

The total is 13 for land acquisition and design.

That was originally for the entirety of the public safety complex.

It's coming in much lower than that, which allows us a little bit of wiggle room should the council decide uh to for the north end parcel acquisition.

Mr.

Chair?

Council Smite.

Um I I just want to echo what counselors Comse Vorovang and Carlin said that um you know I I get the point of a budget is it's it's it's a budget.

We're looking at potential work, etc.

Um that's gonna be done throughout the year, revenue.

Um, but it also results in whether or not we're increasing our residents' property taxes.

So I'm gonna be hard pressed to vote for a budget on projects if they don't come to fruition during that budget cycle, especially if it's gonna result in uh property tax increases.

So um, you know, I I can appreciate what the counselors have said, and and I just think that we need to be for lack of a better term, more thoughtful that when we are discussing the budget and these jobs are coming before us that they're jobs that are actually gonna happen.

And I get that we have to bob and weave throughout the year um based upon urgencies of things and contracts, etc.

But um, yeah, I'm I'm gonna be hard pressed to to approve a budget if it we're just gonna approve things and then nothing is gonna come to fruition after the fact.

Thank you.

Any further discussion?

All right.

Uh yes, I to um address the police chief about the impound lot.

See here.

Ryan Duffy, police chief.

Okay, I and I know there were cars towed during the storm.

That's pretty obvious.

And and a lot of the lots where the places or places where the carts are taken to our out of town.

So could you explain to me what's going on with the city's impound lot and how we're gonna address it?

Certainly.

So the an impound, the impound lot that uh the that I'm talking about in this CIP is not having anything to do with uh towed vehicles for violation.

The the impound lot has to specifically do with vehicles that have been seized as part of a case uh or evidence in part of a case.

Uh there are certain parameters surrounding how you how you maintain the chain of custody and how you protect those vehicles.

And uh part of that is in a secure area uh with uh uh with monitoring, 24 hour monitoring, things of that nature.

And so what this is is uh is um our uh our attempt to to reach that uh professional standard.

Okay.

And uh do you have any ideas?

I know they used to keep them down at city yard.

Well, no, anything that's evidence uh it is kept right now is kept in our back parking lot, or it takes up the prisoner sally port.

So when there's evidence, or we have a seized vehicle that for processing, uh, instead of bringing uh instead of what happens with prisoner, it would go into those into the sally port.

And it's and what we would have to do is when a prisoner comes in under normal circumstances, we would drive the cruiser into the Sally port, close the Sally port.

It's a safe protected area, and then we can bring the prisoner in.

Whenever we have evidence of this type, uh and it takes up uh our bays, then we can't do that.

We have to walk the prisoner in from outside.

Uh so it's a matter of of um uh protecting operations and uh providing uh areas to maintain and keep uh seized and evidenced vehicles and any property, larger property.

Uh additionally, if there's an accident uh and we have to bring the back the vehicle back while the accident is being looked at for uh for crimp for uh the potential of a crime that has to be kept somewhere in their parameters and how you have to keep it.

And that's that's what this does.

It it allows us to to uh fence in an area, put a video camera on it, and uh have it paved.

Okay.

So it's for protection and in the policies of your um for professional standards.

Department, yeah.

Yep.

Okay.

Are these state imposed policies or it's a it's uh it is how you protect evidence?

You have to maintain a chain of custody and you have to ensure that no one else can tamper with that with that particular evidence, and you do that by putting the evidence in a s in a secure area uh and uh maintaining a log of who has access to that particular area.

Okay, thank you.

You're welcome.

Don't say uh I'll I'll set up with you, Chief.

Sorry, I don't want to bother you.

Um cliff walk.

I'm looking at the spend down for Cliff Walts.

It's exciting to see progress on that, but it looks like progress isn't going to come for at least two years in terms of construction on the cliffwalk, um, given the allocation of funding.

Can you give us a bit more color on that, Jim?

Thank you for adding this specifically as CIP, it's helpful.

But I think this is one of the most important assets to this community.

Um it is one of the most popular draws, uh, both for visitors and for residents.

Are we really two years out from repairs starting on that?

No, it could be less.

So where we're at right now, the the permits were all filed with CRMC uh with the Army Corps of Engineers and with DEM on December 23rd.

Each of those agencies takes approximately six months to go through a permit.

Now we sometimes agencies are later than that, but if we hold them to that by June, early July, we should have some permits starting to flow.

Um, and at that point we can go out to bid.

And if we go out to bed early enough in the summer, it's conceivable that some of the materials in the construction uh uh can be ready for for next year.

But it all depends on material availability, contractor availability, and how the bid process sorts itself out, coupled with assume the assumption that the permits from those three agencies are not delayed.

Thank you.

Sure.

Thank you.

Uh I just had a quick question about the playground improvements, which playgrounds?

I I don't have my my full CIP document.

It's it's in there.

Uh I apologize, I don't have that with me, but um I can get back to you absolutely.

Okay.

I the reason I just want to make sure that when we're thinking about playground improvements, that we're thinking about the accessibility of children um who might need devices for mobility.

I know we have um some sort of an accessible swing at my antinome park, but the kids who are in wheelchairs um can't really access it.

So I just want to make sure that when we're thinking about these improvements, we're thinking about our entire community.

We are.

We're not only thinking about accessibility, we're also thinking about inclusivity, which uh I had a nice discussion with uh uh Scott Wheeler, the director of uh parks, grounds, and forestry earlier this week, and he mentioned that those two things are distinctly different, but both important to the value of the community.

He did point out he didn't make one note um that about 10 years ago, the Cardeans playground was was made to be more accessible uh than most playgrounds in the city, but uh anecdotally, he has never seen a uh uh uh a child in a in a wheelchair using that playground.

So that could speak to a little bit about the location that we choose to put these facilities, and we're taking a close look at that as well.

His suggestion is the playground at Pell is the number one spot to potentially put accessibility and include inclusivity features because that's where the need is.

So we're thinking through all of these things as we develop our plans for for various playgrounds.

Okay, thank you.

Mr.

Chairman, from various conversations, I thought um the one that was targeted mostly this year was um for next year would be uh Quidnik Park, the one um behind Stop and Shop.

So I uh but I just want to make sure.

I do.

So yes, uh 2026-27 um were slated for a quidnik playground, uh 2728, my antinome, and then 2829, 3rd Street Playground.

Mr.

Chairman, I was crawling.

On that note, uh Councillor Pennock, thank you for uh raising that very valid and very important point.

Uh however, the important point regarding accessibility for those children in particular uh who are under normal circumstances without the city doing something to help unable to access those playground resources.

That's completely different from inclusivity.

Inclusivity is a word that in my opinion is used far too often these days.

What what are you talking about?

Uh Mr.

Manager when you speak of as opposed to making the playgrounds accessible.

Do we exclude somebody from coming to our playgrounds?

What are you talking about with regard to inclusivity with our playgrounds?

That's a great question.

So accessibility is is the physical act of getting, for example, a wheelchair or an individual with a with a special need such as a cane into the area.

Inclusivity is the the notion that you uh provide sensory uh material, uh in some cases audio sounds to allow the children not only to to come to the playground, but also to have a better quality of play with their peers.

That's that's the difference between the two that is uh that that Mr.

Wheeler helped help me understand.

Mr.

Chairman, thank you.

Yeah, um, thank you.

It's the sensory stuff.

But um, thank you, Director Nolan.

Um for identifying the parks.

The one thing that I I just want to make sure we all understand is that 74% of school age children live in ward one.

Um so it's great that we're looking at equitnik park, but I don't know that that's the part that most kids um are using.

We we could we could absolutely uh um you know there's there's no required order of those.

Uh and if and if we think equid, I'm sorry, we think Miantinomi Park would be a better fit for year one, the shift to equidnic park for year two.

Um I'm we'll happily accept feedback from the council on that.

I do hear two opposing views on that, right?

Right right here.

So I I I'd welcome more uh either here or individually.

Uh but we can certainly make that pivot if it's if it's desired.

Any further discussion?

Okay.

Motion to close the public hearing.

We don't approve this, right?

This is just a motion to close.

Okay, okay.

Motion to resolution.

Yep, the just okay.

Motion to close the public hearing.

Thank you.

Motion and second, any discussion to close the public hearing.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Motion uh to approve the consent calendar in its entirety, with the exception of B7.

Is that right, Mr.

Carlin?

That is correct.

And B.

Um and D.

All right.

Motion and second, any discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Okay.

Uh motion to approve uh the Preston Young uh doing business as young Myjack wedding fireworks, barge off Bel Mayor, June 5th, 2026, five-minute display beginning at 9 p.m.

This is the second of eight permitted per calendar year.

I move approval.

Second.

Uh motion and second, any discussion.

Mr.

Chairman.

Thank you.

Uh Mr.

Chairman, are the uh uh the promotional for lack of a word uh organizers here this evening?

I'm gonna take a wild guess, Mr.

Chairman, and say that there's one promoter and one couple.

Are you the two be married couple?

Forgive me for asking, Mr.

Chairman.

Soon to be married in June, correct?

Mr.

Chairman, may I ask?

Let's go right ahead.

How far did you travel to get here tonight?

All right.

Can I ask a I'm uh I'm gonna I'm not gonna I'm not gonna ask for this to be continued.

I was going to um it's too far a distance.

I encourage others who intend to get married and tend to ask for fireworks uh uh to have their promoters come when there might be a set of questions that I will ask, but uh I'm curious as to whether the first of all for the clerk, are we required uh by state or ordinance, city ordinance to uh notify about us of the fireworks?

We are not.

This is an exclusive council decision.

Okay.

Uh by chance, did you all notify or send a letter to the residents of America?

And there's there are three condominium uh.

I'm sorry, Mr.

Chairman.

I shouldn't have been addressing them like that.

I apologize.

Uh thanks for being here again.

Of course.

Um did you by chance notify the residents of America condominiums and the well, there are four if you look at it uh in total, whether you define it as condominium or not.

There are four separate entities on Goad Island, all of which are in the third ward, uh, which are very close to Bell Mayer, uh, within a few hundred yards, if not within a few hundred feet.

We're not required as uh our uh city clerk has told us to notify these folks, but by chance, did you do it?

Uh I mean, yeah, as a courtesy, we have letters prepared that we're happy to send out to the condominiums.

No, I understand that we we can let them know.

The city can let them know after the fact.

I'm talking about before the fact because we're gonna be voting on it now.

Copy that.

Yeah, we were still in the early stages of planning, but um yeah, we we have not yet sent letters out.

You didn't come from New Haven, Connecticut, did you?

No, uh Hope Valley, Rhode Island, sir.

Yeah, I think I I know of you, and your reputation speaks for itself.

You you're very you picked the right person among other promoters who have been here before, but that's it.

I just wish uh this is a consistent theme of mine.

But you came from New Haven, Connecticut.

What am I gonna do?

Am I gonna continue this?

No.

Uh we'll make sure.

Mr.

Chairman, thank you.

I'm sorry.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Any other discussion?

All right.

Uh all in favor say aye.

All right.

Communication from Maureen Cronin, Chair Tree and Open Space Commission.

Uh having to do with the tree park and open space master plan 2026 update.

This is the motion to receive.

Do I have a second?

Second.

Motion and second.

Mr.

Chair.

Council Smith.

Um, I just want to thank the tree and open space.

I know that you all put in uh an awful lot of work doing this and engaging the public.

The workshops that you had had wonderful turnout and you received really great feedback.

Um, I think you put together uh a great plan, great report.

And you know, I'm I'm hopeful that the information in here, which I think is very valuable, will be utilized towards developing the comprehensive plan.

So I just want to thank you for all your hard work.

Thank you very much.

You've been a great help as our liaison.

You absolutely have.

May I just say a few moments before you uh take it?

Um, first of all, yeah, I'm going out of sync, so I can answer your question.

If you look in the master plan, we have done a lot of focus on the playgrounds and the upgrades uh throughout the city.

We could easily make a distinction between one, two, and three or three and four.

You're absolutely right.

We do have um swings that are portable, but not everybody has one.

But but we're more than even the children.

We're trying to make all of our parks more accessible, more ADA compliant because we actually have a lot of elderly and people that are aging or retiring that are using our parks now.

They're finding them enjoyable places to go.

So we're changing this the way that the uh walkways are, we're changing the bark benches, we're getting water refilling stations, we're getting all sorts of things like that that just make them a draw for everyone.

So um absolutely thank you.

It's top priority.

All right.

Thank you.

So um, what I just wanted to say before you all focus on um at some point reading it and going through it and hopefully adopting it, and we get to work with the planning uh zoning going forward.

Um, this is an update to the 2017 plan.

Um, when we did the 2017 plan, we decided to go all out with making it community centric.

We had not had any kind of a master plan here in town for over a century um until we did the 2017.

We did our entire work during 2017 to now, and not only working and getting all of our things, um, there were priorities taken care of in the plan of 2017, but in looking at what needed to grow more and how the new update would be.

So we consistently use those two things at the same time.

I want to also say thank you to the VMBR and Charitable Foundation uh for two times in a row.

They have stuck with us, they have funded us.

So it's nice to know we're getting these master plans because we're getting funding from in interested and involved members of our community.

I want to thank everybody that ever showed up.

We had an amazing turnout.

We had people calling, writing emails, asking if they could have coffees.

We have everything that needs to happen from a ground from a ground swell of the community.

That is what you'll see when you read this.

This is not a 30,000 square foot, 30,000 foot look down at what should happen.

This is what the people on the street want to see.

And if anything, I would like to really focus um on the guidelines that you'll see in there and the way that we've structured it.

So the importance of there, it's logical, it's doable, and we have the uh community um behind us.

And it's just gonna be a question of what we can get done and how we can get it done and what we can get it into and um what's gonna happen from there.

So if anyone has any questions, I'm happy to answer.

Any questions?

Yep, council side.

So a lot of thank you there, Maureen, but we also want to thank you.

You put an incredible amount of time and effort into this.

I know that you've got a good partner backing you up when he's not on the water patrolling it by a paddle.

And we really really appreciate all the work you put into this.

Thank you very much.

And I want to say we have a wonderful team that's been working on it, and that includes the general public.

And I really need to include them on this.

They showed up, they paid attention, they were open to outcome, and they were honest about what they wanted, and it gave us everything we needed in order to make this happen.

They're great partners.

Maureen, thank you so much.

All right, uh, all is in favor.

Aye under licenses and permits, motion to approve a mobile food truck renewal, Newport Chowder Company, LLC doing business as Newport Chowder Company, 10 Pell Street, Newport, Rhode Island.

Motion and second, any discussion.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Motion to approve an annual entertainment license expansion, class B outdoor Fastnet Incorporated, doing business as Fastnet one to three Broadway to have outdoor entertainment daily from 10 a.m.

to 11 p.m.

on the rear patio.

This is a hearing, Mr.

Chair.

Second.

Motion and second.

Open a hearing.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Is there um any well, first of all, any questions from the council before I see if anyone's available?

Anyone, any uh comments from the public?

No right.

All in favor of I'm sorry, motion to approve the annual entertainment license on secondary reading.

Second.

Motion and second, any discussion.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Appointments to boards and commissions.

All right.

Uh first up for uh appointments of boards and commissions.

We have uh six appointments to the academic integration advisory commission.

Uh, this is part of the uh resolution that was put in place and a an agreement with our uh colleagues over in Middletown uh who last week at their meeting uh name their six uh uh members to the board, and we're gonna do the same tonight.

So uh the following members have been voted on by the or agreed by the council to uh be on this commission.

So we have Christopher Bowley, Michael Nidzwiski, Penelope Hunt, Rosemary Crager, Whitney Slade, and Brian Rochelle.

Uh these six were uh are chosen from uh uh 16 people that we interviewed over a couple week period.

And I I have to say uh and I'm sure not that I want to speak for my colleagues up here, but uh uh I'm sure I can.

It was a very difficult decision to limit it down to six people.

We had some great, great um interviews and applicants that that came in.

Uh everyone that wants to do the best for Newport, uh the students of Newport and the and the residents alike.

So I want to thank everyone, uh especially those other 10 that are not on the uh appointment schedule right now, but could be a help in the future as well.

So thank you uh for your for your time and effort.

But um, so for these six, I want to put out to the council uh all is in favor of the six appointments of the academic integration advisory commission.

Uh say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, Mr.

Chairman.

I just have it.

Council Crawling.

Thank you.

Uh apologies to anyone who was uh just appointed who might be here besides Mr.

Rochelle, but Brian Rochelle is here, and Brian, I know you'll make a great member.

Congratulations.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

All right.

Uh next up, we have uh one appointment for the beach commission.

Uh Isabella Silverman to a three-year term expiring 128, 2029.

Second, second.

I have a motion and second, any discussion.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

And then we have a reappointment to the canvassing authority.

Uh Bud Cicellini to a six-year term expiring March 1st, 2032.

We have a second.

Second.

Motion and second, any discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Okay, next communications from the city manager, action item six five five one.

This concerns the cliffwalk restroom expansion engineering services.

This is going to um making a motion to continue to the March 25th meeting.

Second.

Motion and second for continuation.

Any discussion?

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Action item 6556, uh award of RFP number 2026-PS-005.

Roof and SOFIT replacement, Toro Fire Station with accompanying resolution.

This is continued from January 28th, 2026.

Do you have a second?

Motion and second, any discussion.

Manager Kennedy, would you like to just give us a little background on uh where we're at with this?

Absolutely.

So uh at the last meeting, uh, Councilor Sai had a great question about uh the applicability of faux slate roof in a historic district.

Uh had some deep discussion with our uh historic district planner um and learned that uh typically in the historic district faux slate is not permitted, largely because of compatibility issues, but also because it's it has a small shelf life, and after about five years, it starts to cup, it starts to warp and then becomes incongruent with the neighborhood.

Also, the more times you have to go up to fix roof, the more times you put strain on the structures that are already old and historic, and that's not desirable by the historic district commission either.

Uh what this what the what's the HDC has permitted and continues to permit is what's called uh ready slate.

Ready slate is not full scale traditional slate, but it is still a a slate material that's a little bit thinner and comes with an adhesive and can be laid in strips.

So the HDC has consistently approved this application.

As a result of that uh discussion, uh the fire chief went back to the original bidder for the faux slate roof and asked about whether or not this could be uh accomplished.

And not only did the original bidder say yes, but also for no additional cost uh uh from the original proposal with the faux sleep.

So faux slate.

So it is our recommendation that this contract be approved.

And we have a letter, it came in just hours before the meeting, but we have a letter that indicates from Plan B construction company an affirmation uh that the change of this product does not affect the original bid price.

So the recommendation is to approve with ready slate.

And the total cost is $316,000.

Yes, madam vice chair.

All right, any discussion, Council Sai.

I just want to thank I just want to thank the administration and I want to thank the chief also for going this extra step.

Um, Chief, you save you make sure that we are all saved uh lives every single day.

You're a good steward to us from public safety perspective.

Uh, and you're a great historic steward as well, going the extra mile on this, and I really appreciate it.

All right.

Uh any further discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

I'm gonna make a motion to withdraw action item six five five eight award of contract RFP gateway parking garage concrete repair.

Second.

All right, uh motion and second, any discussion.

Um, just as a quick little background um on this item, the the uh bidder that was selected has withdrawn their um desire to work on this project.

So we will go back to uh do we need to go back to a bidding process or we just go back to uh look at the other bidders that had already we we had uh we had two other bidders, so we're going back out to the to the next lowest bidder, and uh um we're gonna uh request their proposal and see if uh we can make something work.

Okay, great.

All right.

Um no further comment and uh all those in favor to withdraw say aye.

I action item six five five nine, equidnic island regional hazard mitigation and flood plan uh with accompanying uh resolution.

Um it is recommended that the city adopt the 2025 Aquidneck Island Hazard Regional Hazard Mitigation and Flood Management Plan for Aquidneck Island communities, Portsmouth, Newport, and Middletown.

This has no fiscal impact.

I move approval.

Second.

I motion and second, any discussion, Mr.

Chair, Council Pinnock.

I just have a quick question.

Um, does the plan adoption position us for like federal resilience?

I will I will most certainly defer that to uh our director of resilience and sustainability, uh Teresa Creen, who's prepared to speak on that this this evening.

Thank you.

Yes, thank you.

Teresa Crean, director of resilience sustainability, and I'd like to introduce um the city's new resilience assistant, Christina Chewitt, who's been here for four months.

And Christina comes to us from um the Rhode Island Flood Mitigation Association.

So she's very familiar with FEMA programs and will be responsible for working on implementation of this monster documents.

Um to answer your question, yes, by having an approved hazard mitigation plan, um, we are eligible for FEMA grants, um, including and based on the uh email from FEMA that was included in your packet.

Those grants include the hazard mitigation grant program, the HMGP hazard mitigation grant program post-fire, flood mitigation assistance program, safeguarding tomorrow revolving loan fund, and there's also one for dams when applicable.

So, yes, having this plan allows us to um secure FEMA funds for future mitigation programs.

Thank you very much.

Welcome.

Any further uh comments and discussion?

Great, all right.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Action item 6560, the Department of Utilities recommends approval of the attached resolution authorizing the reallocation of existing uh general obligation bond funding to advance the primary clarifier rehabilitation project at the Newport Water Pollution Control Facility.

The city council approved the construction contract and associated contract modification on January 14th, 2026.

This action aligns previously authorized general obligation bond funding with the approved scope of work.

I move approval.

Second.

I motion a second in discussion.

Mr.

Chairman, Council Carlin.

Thank you.

This is a difficult uh issue for the administration and for the council and for the people because we are essentially putting ourselves in a position where we're competing.

Two different sets of interests are competing against each other.

However, as I said when the last time, or as I said the last time we addressed this as a city council.

Number one, I don't think it's fair to tell voters regarding a bond issue that you will be voting to approve or disapprove the city borrowing money for XYZ project.

As it turned out in November of 24, the city voters did approve the 98.5 million dollar bond that the council authorized be put on the ballot.

And among the items that we told the residents of the city of Newport we'd be voting on, or we would be funding should the bond pass, are two items that we have the administration proposing to scoop from this evening.

I know it's a long detailed and complex uh explanation on my part.

I apologize.

I myself am getting familiar with this entire process, but uh it's not fair fair to tell the voters one thing and do another.

They voted for the 98 and a half million dollar bond and they voted for the items that were on the bond.

What we need to do is we need to go back again, as the council instructed several months back to what is essentially the drawing board uh with regard to the government and or with regard to state government and city government, and figure out another way that we can get these funds.

Councilor Kam Zabaravang mentioned earlier uh that we are flush, so to speak, with cash thanks to the current finance director and the previous finance director in our reserve fund.

Perhaps that's something we look at.

Perhaps we look at short-term loans, uh, but what we should not be looking at, and what I will not be voting for is scooping money from what the voters approved in the bond to pay for what is proposed before us tonight.

I would recommend that my colleagues reject this once again.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Thank you, Council Smith.

Mr.

Chair, Council Smith.

Um, I I do agree with counselor Carlin.

I I am hard pressed to vote for something that to me is going against what what the voters had initially voted for.

But but I do have a question on this.

Is this considered an unforeseen event of sorts?

The event was not unforeseen, the timing was.

Uh, this the inspection that revealed the results that we had, and and director Schultz is here, he can speak to it.

But the inspection that we had that revealed the unfavorable results we found occurred approximately five years sooner than we than we thought it would.

It was a significant degradation above and beyond what we initially expected.

So this is one of those municipal surprises that pops up every once in a while and is just really unfortunate.

Uh the fortunate part is uh I I feel that because the ballot question was broad, and the resolution that laid out the allocations indicated that uh conditions may change uh uh that might result in in in the council deciding on other allocations provided they stay under the umbrella of infrastructure.

Does allow us by both resolution and by and by law the flexibility to make this adjustment?

Um I certainly acknowledge that it was not your first choice.

We did everything we could with the infrastructure bank under the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to try to access that kind of a loan structure uh to support the program, but uh we ran into some barriers.

Nobody denied it, but we ran into some barriers between DEM and uh and RIB uh because of their expectations about the timing and sequencing and permitting of such a project.

It's time that we don't have when we're facing an imminent failure.

Um, and so that is why we're in front of you today, reluctantly requesting uh to go back to the bond reallocation uh proposal.

Can we use the the fund balance to pay for this?

We I'm looking over at the director Nolan.

We have we could uh but our fund balance is sitting at about 34 million right now.

This would take literally a third of that fund balance uh away overnight.

Uh it would wipe out the committed fund balance that we just had a policy about um and dig deeper into that fund.

And and I don't know how the rating agencies would look at that.

Certainly it is urgent and emergent, so they might look favorably on it, but it is a significant fund.

It's also general fund revenue.

Um, and and we'd be using that to support what normally would be uh supported by an enterprise fund.

Now I realize the bond allocation does the same thing.

So I'm talking out of both sides of my of my mouth.

I know that.

Um, but that's just all of the things, all of the calculus we were looking into as we were discussing the various options.

The last the last option, which is really not favorable, is is straight revenue bonds, but I don't see how we would uh use those without a significant, either a significant capital gut to other projects within the water pollution control division or a significant rate shock in the budget to accommodate.

Thank you.

I'm gonna break this into a few pieces.

And if I am sounding a bit harsh on this, even though Groundhog Day was about a week ago, it feels like groundhog day when the same issues keep coming back before us over and over and over again after we've given very clear direction.

And I think it's a waste of time.

First, um, the argument that was just used around the language from a legal perspective of the bond authorization.

The public should have no appetite for, and we will not accept using the sword of the nuances of legal protection to attack the issue that you feel you need.

When the actual mechanism that you went at this with originally was using a PR argument specifying specific prop projects that voters should support.

And so to go at this lobbying support for this through paid communications from the city, which I think, in contrast to many of my colleagues, actually was appropriate.

And then to fall back and say, even though technically that's what we told people legally, even though we didn't articulate it to them, we can use the money for whatever we want, completely erodes public trust.

And we're dealing with an environment right now where people don't trust government for this very reason.

And so when I push back on this again and again and again, that is why.

The second bucket of challenges here is what we're talking about is taking a very precious resource and tool that we have, which is general obligation bonds.

That there are certain projects for which we don't have other borrowing tools to utilize.

And we are using that precious capacity in lieu of using the revenue capacity that we have for whatever reason that we're choosing to take that route.

And the difference here is that a general obligation bond is paid back specifically by the taxpayers of Newport.

A revenue bond is paid back by all of the ratepayers in a larger service area, which includes Middletown and Portsmouth.

And I know there's some level of cost sharing that exists here, but at a basic basic level, this community has to stop bearing the entirety of that burden for the island on some of these projects.

And so I think from a pure financial responsibility perspective, we're not using the best tool possible.

And we've told you time and time again what that tool is that we want you to use.

And rather than continue down that pathway and figure out how to get down that pathway, we keep coming back to the same argument.

The final piece of this is prioritization.

And this is where it is an issue of equity that we need to be talking about.

Right?

The projects that you have pulled from here, on the one breath you say are not urgent.

We don't have the specific funding pathway for it for a grant.

These are funds that are designed specifically to help households in some of the lowest income neighborhoods in our community from repeatedly flooding.

These are funds that are being used to help present the breach of our primary drinking water supply at Easton's Beach, which we hear is eroding at a foot per year.

These are priorities that literally in the item just before this.

We said our top-tier priorities for us and a hazard mitigation plan.

And we are saying, but those are going to take back seat to this clarifier project.

If they are in fact that urgent, what's going to go on the table here, at least under my guys, if I have any sway over this council, isn't taking away critical projects or the hope of those critical projects getting done from some of the most vulnerable neighborhoods in our community.

I'm going to ask some basic questions.

Like if this is a top-tier priority for us as a city, right?

Is this more urgent and more important than a public safety complex?

Because that's what's going to go on the line before the ability of people in this community to keep being able to feel like they can keep their heads above water.

And so there are a bunch of pieces there.

I see Rob's come up, and so I'm looking forward to Rob's expert feedback on this.

But that's why I'm not going to be supporting this.

Uh just a point of clarification for how the project is funded there.

Of the total 25 million that was approved as a not to exceed a portion of that, roughly 7 million is going to be paid by Middletown, Middletown.

We haven't worked out all of those details, but they will be paying that share.

And then typically the United States Navy, their share is just under 15%.

They they typically write a check.

Uh that invoice will actually be going out probably this week or next week to the Navy.

Um so uh those portions of the the treatment plant project are getting borne by by those uh other uh entities.

Um it's really for us just a matter of executing it in a timely manner.

So all of those points are are there.

There's not enough money to go around uh as far as prioritizing what what is going to happen.

Um we have multiple pressures.

Uh so last meeting or last month we saved probably a million dollars by executing the contract with Eolia to do so.

Um we may be successful uh in in getting a loan, whether that loan is three months or six months or eight months from now, because of the criteria and the structure, um it it increases risk.

And what is gonna be guaranteed to happen if we don't have another uh bucket available, and this is the only one that I have.

If if there's other avenues that that are beneficial, um I'm I'm all for it.

I just want to make sure that we have the funding needed to do the the project.

Um basically uh we're guaranteed that we're gonna wind up having to go back and get contract modifications from Violia and others uh, you know, going going forward.

And so right now to control the risk, both from uh fiscal standpoint in the project and having that failure that's kind of known and that there you you have a sliding scale.

So we did the inspection, we've been in front of it.

Uh we were asked before, you know, to predict when it's gonna happen, it's gonna have a failure at the most inopportune time.

And so we're trying to stay in front of all of that.

The burden the longer we delay, both from uh contract standpoint, construction standpoint, or risk standpoint, is gonna shift more and more to the city.

So how we come up with the money, I don't really have uh a preference.

I just know that we need to.

Um and and I only came up because I just did want to correct that one point that uh the Navy and Middletown do pay their their uh percentage on it.

That's helpful.

Where is Middletown getting the money from uh there's a few different options there?

Uh most likely we will enter into a finance program where they're gonna pay us back over time.

Okay, so the total cost of the project is about 25, right?

We're looking for authorization here for about 12 and a half.

Yeah.

Where is the cash coming from to front the cost up front that they will then pay us back?

It's sequencing some of it over uh two years, so the project pay down is two years, and so some of it is uh shifting different projects that are not quite ready to make to make it work over that time.

So the actual contract amount is 23 million, not not 25.

And uh to some extent, Jim and I are playing uh musical chairs shifting things around to to make it work um without that full authorization.

So we have some fund balance, we have some that's projected.

Um, and if the revenue streams from the new rates and that don't come in and and something else happens, then we will be back looking for something else.

But right now it's it's very tight, and we believe over the two-year window we can get it all to work.

And by the way, wait, Rob, I I want to say this every time Rob comes up, you have one of the most complicated utilities to run in the state, and we acknowledge that you know making sure you have the funds to do that is important.

So what I'm hearing is that we are going to manage the cash flow crunch that we have on the project through paying out that cash gradually.

It's not like we need 12 and a half million today.

Uh we actually need a significant amount.

So it is front loaded in the contract when you look at it.

I think uh to for the mobilization in the upfront, it's about three million.

Um, and then the following months are two million, two million, and then it tapers off in the in the second year.

So we are um somewhat playing playing with that cash flow management, and it will get uncomfortable if our projections aren't what we're we're expecting.

But uh a big portion of this cushion uh is is being able to get that bond funding in within within a few months.

So why are we why are we asking Newport taxpayers to upfront money?

And not asking the same with Middletown.

We have we're still in negotiations with Middletown.

We've been in negotiations with Middletown uh on a new contract with several elements going on more than three years now.

And so what I'm hearing is that there's the possibility of other funding streams coming into the future, there's the possibility of some level of financial structuring here to ensure this isn't upfront.

What this is on a primary basis immediately is a cash flow need that we have.

What this can emerge into longer term is how we ultimately have the funds to pay such cash flow back or to address the long-term expense of it, whether that's through revenue bonds or whether that's through a general obligation bond.

And so I revisit that prior point.

Um if this is a rainy day and this is an emergency, rather than use the precious capacity that we have from a general obligation rather than betray the public trust that's been placed in us for bond authorization, why not use our fund balance for this?

We could.

I I won't deny that.

We absolutely can.

It's it's it's it's not something that's typical, especially at this at this at this volume, but we absolutely couldn't.

Can I ask, does that preclude us if you start with the the clarifying, you start the project?

Does that preclude us from applying for loans and things like that from other entities?

Uh no, it gets a little more complicated.

Some of it would be refinancing.

Uh the major point now is is uh the city is ready to go out for that first tranche for the bond funds.

Um we're not ready for the two immediate projects.

So depending on how you look at it in the discussions we had, uh, we don't see that that market is gonna actually uh most likely it's gonna get worse with what is happening in that landscape.

You're probably gonna have increased costs.

So shifting that money now.

Um to some extent, I don't see it uh, you know, I don't have the the same, you know, more of that pragmatic mindset that doing it now, we're using the funds now is not precluding any of those projects.

All those projects are continuing.

Um and they may be a better fit going forward, you know, as as you've said numerous times, everything kind of overlaps in our world.

So um we have probably half a dozen different things that are going to come into this as it goes forward, including what the costs of those projects are are gonna come to.

Um I'm not saying precluding um funding for other things.

I'm just saying, would it preclude us if you started the project from additional funding in this project?

Because it's so big.

I th I think the major point is that you need to define for the bond what what the funding is going with.

I I want to make sure I'm answering your question correctly.

So so there certainly are other sources for funding.

So we you know, general obligation is just one.

Um we talked about RIB, which is we continue to go down that path.

Um, there's also short-term revenue bonds that we could work with uh private bank have for 18 months, and then that roll that roll that potentially roll that into a uh a rib financing.

So there's absolutely different avenues we can take, but to Rob's point, it's matter of timing with a lot of this right now.

Thank you.

Bob question.

The prior authorizations provided.

Was that financing source specific, or did it authorize the city to, if need be borrow on a revenue backed basis uh for this project?

Do you have an existing authorization for revenue bonds outstanding that we can utilize?

No, we do not.

Okay.

Could you tell me um how much let's say we took 12.5 from the general fund?

Would that affect our bond rating?

Uh well, we have a couple different pieces to our fund balance right now.

We so we have that committed fund balance.

Um in prior discussions that I've had with our um consultants with our bond consultants, uh, they suggested that if we pulled anywhere from two to about four million dollars of our unassigned fund balance, that probably would not impact our our rating by any means.

Um and we are getting ready to to talk with the rating agencies probably over the next few weeks.

But another 10 would have to come out of the other fund.

Is that what you're saying?

Well, if we're looking at a total of about 11, 12 million dollars, there'd certainly there's certainly a a means to get there.

Um, but I I I certainly can't say with an absolute certainty that you know how how the rating agencies will look at it.

Um it'll be something that we'll disclose.

Um it won't certainly won't be in our financials because we will be talking to them in the next few weeks.

Um, you know, at that time, I don't know if there'll be a decision or not.

So it it is any of those options when we discussed them all had additional costs.

So whether it's a short-term measure, whether it's additional, it's gonna increase the overall cost of of the project.

And so from the communication standpoint or the public trust standpoint, we are we are not backing off the Easton's project or the Elizabeth Brook project where we're still committed to those and um almost have a hundred percent design for a phase one for Elizabeth Brook.

I can tell you that the numbers uh are dramatically higher than than we were expecting, and we're gonna need to work with uh the regulatory partners at the state level to find common ground in there.

Otherwise, it'll be 15 million dollars for soil, which makes the project not viable.

Um, and then the same for Easton's.

We have uh a public meeting uh coming up in March to go over kind of the the core engineering in that major project there.

Neither of those are going away.

So but right now they're on hold.

And because what what we have are matching funds in the um for that that we're committed to the bond.

They're not actually uh neither of them is on hold.

Um, and so we're continuing through uh design and permitting for for both.

Uh the execution the the execution or the construction portion is extending out due to the various complexities, and then the reality for uh phase one for Elizabeth Brook is uh cost creep.

And so what we were projecting with with this money is is it even if you leave it there, we're not gonna have enough to to do that phase one.

So we're we need to explore whether or not we can uh work collaboratively and do beneficial reuse and stuff from soils from our regulatory partners.

It's not something that they have typically wanted to do in the past, but as we go forward and look at the different lens for for what we have, we have to do things differently.

Um and so that's that's not an easy lift, but neither of those projects are are stopped.

They're continuing uh and have been there, there's been no pause on either.

Um, it's just luckily we we just get more and more complicated as they expand.

As it as we go though forward toward the execution of those projects, is it possible to go to the infrastructure bank for them?

Uh absolutely.

Uh so you're you're also gonna have the the rate study and organizational assessment.

The I'll I'll give you the the blunt portion is that rate study for the water pollution control is going to recommend the formation of a stormwater utility.

Um that's going to reallocate, and there's some stuff in there uh as far as making it more fair across the board on who's driving rates, and that'll give us a better picture going forward as to stormwater funding and and how that is.

Right now we're stuck kind of in the legacy CSO model.

And so going forward, uh it would be anticipated that you'd have 10 plus million dollars a year for stormwater, and that you could directly look at bonding that and doing those projects under that umbrella.

So basically we would just be sort of flip-flopping on this.

I mean, uh because in five years we would have to replace those clarifiers.

Uh uh, that was the scheduled replacement, right?

So by doing this earlier and then doing those, the executing those later, we're not missing out on anything.

We're just we're just changing the there's a very hard reality that is is is tough to to have that honest or clear conversation.

If if you look at the infrastructure gap and where all the needs are we we're not going to be able to afford to do everything on the back of ratepayers alone.

And then with the way the federal government has rolled back those programs we think some of them may come back and then at the state level there's other complications there where are they going to step in or not step in you know there are good programs out there but are they a a home run program you know taking even with bonds and loans in that payback schedule there's only so much that we can absorb and and so again that comes back to I'm probably making it as clear as mud but everything overlaps and so for a typical person if their annual burden for their utility bills whether it's separated for stormwater wastewater and drinking water if you're paying three thousand plus a year on that and you look at the percent of your your income it it doesn't really matter what bucket you're going to put it in.

And that's the reality that we're at.

So do you see that the timing on the the other projects the um Elizabeth Brook and Easton Pond that because of the um the political climate that has changed for the environmental projects do you see that we would end up having to do those later on anyway the the earliest that uh we would be asking for the the GO bonds to be that would be next January um what happens between now and next January for that second tranche if I had a crystal ball I'd I'd be doing a lot better for everyone here.

That is the soonest whether or not everything would line up there I can't say for for certain but so right now it's a matter of we can use it now otherwise the the authority sits and it sits what whether we're ready for it in 27 or later I don't know.

So it's just go through it with me like the imminent threat that you're talking about here.

So what will if we don't find funding for this soon what is the imminent threat we're under uh it depends what lens you want to look at.

So the operational one is is having that failure or getting fines or having an overflow so that's that's that operational lens.

We already took moves and the and the council agreed to execute the contract with Violia for the for the 23 million knowing that we would have to find a a place for the money the reason we did that is that pricing was going to expire uh at the end of January um they had already held it for us and the cost uh increases just for materials and that was somewhere around a million dollars so what so we had that savings now depending on where we go to get the money and when there's going to be costs to any of those that would increase it and depending on what bucket that is like if we go through a rib there could be criteria that we would have to go back and do an additional modification to the contract and cost.

So it's it's not knowing what avenue it is almost any other one unless it's from some existing uh pot that there would be additional costs that would come onto that when we're talking imminent threat we're talking pollution in our bay we're talking about possible fines to the city we're talking about um that and the and the fiscal reality that when it if it if it goes into a failure in an emergency condition we just respond and instead of having it be programmed over a two year period where we're ready and mobilized you're doing emergency response so that vendor is coming in more and that would be okay thank you four to six times typically the emergency response costs.

Yeah thank you any further discussion so uh we'll do a show of hands raise right hand do you approve the reallocation of general obligation bond funding to advance the primary clarifier rehab project all those in favor raise your right hand all the opposed raise right hand o six to one ordinances motion to amend section 10.24 point zero one zero of the codified ordinances entitled parking prohibited at all times in designated places this is to add blackwell place north side beginning at the northwest corner next to 12 blackwell place and proceeding east to a distance of 201 feet blackwell place south side beginning at the intersection of Bedload Place and proceeding west a distance of 130 feet I move approval second motion a second any discussion those in favor say aye the next is a memorandum from uh Christopher B and

This is to add Blackwell Place, North Side beginning at the northwest corner, next to 12 Blackwell Place and proceeding east to a distance of 201 feet.

Blackwell Place South Side beginning at the intersection of Bedload Place and proceeding west to distance of 130 feet.

I move approval.

Second.

Motion and second, any discussion.

Aye.

And Esquire City Solicitor amending section 12.28.071 of the codified ordinances entitled Mooring Permit Classification and Quotas.

This is a first reading, Mr.

Chair.

Perhaps you'd like to second.

All right.

Motion second, any discussion.

Mr.

Chairman.

Council Carlin.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Thank you, uh colleagues.

And thank you to Mr.

Bean, who has done the most work on this.

There were dozens and dozens of folks who have attended various council meetings regarding the insurance need for commercial entities like the ones we are dealing with tonight.

Obviously, Mr.

Bean and the council, I hope, heard their concerns, and we are now dealing with them at least temporarily.

So thank you all.

Mr.

Chairman.

Thank you.

Any further discussion?

I just want to thank the administration for all the work they put into listening on this issue for all that they're trying to tackle with our harbors.

We are rapidly rapidly evolving as a community as a harbor here.

And um, you took some really hard feedback from the community on this.

We listened and we're committed to getting it right and appreciate how much time and effort went into that.

Okay, thank you.

Uh solicitor being, would you mind just giving a quick little synopsis of what we're doing here?

Yeah, sure.

So the the section that's affected is 12.28.071 B6, and that was adopted back in, I believe, December of 2024, requiring a liability insurance for uh commercial mooring permit holders.

Uh and then based on uh input from many of those commercial mooring uh holders and also um the insurance providers that would be providing the insurance and and and so forth, uh, and the fact that we're trying to update our commercial mooring ordinances.

Uh, we thought it was best to um amend it, get rid of the existing insurance requirements and take this as an entire look at it and in uh the updating of the commercial mooring uh ordinances, including any insurance requirement as we as we do that in the future.

Great.

Thank you.

All right, without further discussion, uh all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

I just have it.

Um, Mr.

Chair, I I just have a question um about the the clarifier issue.

I know we're beyond it, but um um Mr.

City Manager, are you going to come for us for a request to use the um fund balance?

I I mean I will we'll go back to the drawing board and look at how we can as director Schultz described, we'll look at if there's ways with revenue bonds or other mechanisms to front that.

But I think one of one of the logical options in that menu of options is going to be a fund balance withdrawal.

That might not be all 12 million, by the way, because you know, maybe we'll ask for an appropriation of half that so we can get the cash flow kick started for the first year and then reassess.

But we are under contract, and we need to find a way.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, uh resolution speed camera uh revenue.

I am going to make a motion to continue that.

Next second.

Motion is second.

Any discussion?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Next a resolution on snow removal, Mr.

Chair.

Uh yeah.

So um, as we all know, we had uh some snow a couple weeks back, January 25th.

Um a lot of snow, right?

And then obviously we have the the icy rain overnight, which made uh which made things uh very difficult to deal with.

Um I do my quick resolve here uh that I'll just read is the city council directs the city administration to revisit current ordinances in place to help safely expedite the removal of snow and ice from city streets through the following steps.

Uh operational priorities of primary, secondary, and residential streets, sidewalk and driveway responsibilities of property owners, prohibited acts of snow dumping into city streets, parking bans and obstructions and public communication through real-time updates.

Uh now, therefore, be it resolved that the administration will inform the city council of changes made to current procedural operations and enact them as soon as possible.

Uh I have make a motion.

Second.

Motion and second any discussion.

Yes.

All right.

Let me just hold on.

I just want to just go on it real quick.

So um I first want to say I I want to give a big thanks to the um our city workers who had to deal with uh with this snowstorm and then another one following it right after.

Um dealing with hardships, dealing with your typical um I think it's uh it's not just Newport alone, it's also the the area of uh we'll get some snow, it'll it won't be that bad.

It'll be worse, you know, inland and we we'll be fine, it'll wash away.

Well, we didn't that didn't happen this time.

So we were hit with um a snowstorm that we haven't seen an accumulation of in uh about a decade.

So um and just listening to to some feedback uh on from residents and and business owners as well uh about how we how do we clear streets, how do we communicate with parking bands and what are we gonna do with these cars and you know what's the allowance of time to give out tickets for people who don't clear their sidewalks or don't move their cars and things of that nature?

I thought from you know, just going around town and seeing how things worked out that the the city and and the workers did uh a fantastic job all around.

It wasn't just Newport that had to deal with this.

Most of New England, especially in Rhode Island, all the communities had issues with snow removal and ice and sidewalks and where do you put all the snow?

If you get on the first beach right now, there's a huge snow pile down there in the in the East Parking lot that it's I don't know when that's gonna melt, but maybe maybe the last time so um you know I talked to some of my colleagues, and the reason I wanted to come up with this resolution is for, you know, I'm not looking to point fingers or blame anyone because that I don't think that's the case here.

I think what we need to do is really take a look at what we do, how we do it, and how do we how do we get better at it?

Um I think you kind of look at this in all forms of life and in businesses is you know, you have a a situation that happens and you react to it, and then you go back and say, okay, how can we do things better?

Um is there a way we could communicate uh with the residents and business owners better as far as who's responsible for clearing their sidewalks.

We have, as everyone knows this time of year, a lot of businesses that aren't open, a lot of uh homes that are are vacant for the for the winter time.

How do we make sure that those property owners are are making the proper steps to make sure that there's uh clean sidewalks so people can can walk down the street and and get around town?

So um that's where this uh resolution is going is I think we can look at our ordinances.

I think we can kind of fine-tune some things.

Um do we need do we have to look at what we have for equipment?

Is it enough?

Is it gonna suffice for you know another snowstorm if we get one, uh, which we hopefully we won't.

I bought a new snowblower because of this the day after this snowstorm, and it hasn't snowed since.

So it's good luck, I think.

But um, so that's so again that's just the uh the synopsis of what this resolution is for, and um I appreciate uh the council support in this, so I'll open up to discussion.

So Council Napolitano.

I have, you know, I appreciate this thought of this resolution, but what I'm gonna say is I live on Malbone Road.

I hear those trucks 24 hours a day, and I feel like going out in my front porch and applauding them.

They have been everywhere.

They've been removing snow piles in smaller neighborhoods, and when they were down in the fifth ward, I'm getting calls in the first ward.

Well, they have had their hands full.

I think they did an excellent job considering the amount of snow we received.

Um you know, I'm I am sure that they have operational priorities, primary, secondary, residential streets.

I'm sure they have all of this.

I I guess I'll support the resolution, but in my opinion, they did an outstanding job considering the amount of snow we received, not only once but twice.

And I think it's time for perhaps some of the residents to make sure that they have some sort of help for their uh either their driveways, their sidewalks or something, and these homes where people leave, they should have a manager that comes and does the sidewalk.

And these homes where people leave, they should have a manager that comes and does the sidewalk.

We've got kids walking to school and they gotta walk over these big snow hills.

You know, that's the kind of thing we've got to do it here on the council.

And hey, if they get caught with the big snow pile on their sidewalk and they don't remove it, they gotta pay the city.

I I just I really I guess I take a little bit.

I really think that our department did an excellent job.

They did the best they could under very trying circumstances.

Like um the mayor said we hadn't had something like that in 10 years.

And all I could do is look out the window and think, oh God, I gotta do the driveway again.

I mean, I just I'm singing your kudos right now.

I think the department did a great job.

Mr.

Chuck.

I'm gonna, of course, support this.

It's like voting against you know, motherhood in apple pie.

But if I were to do that, but I think I would have preferred us to narrow down where some of the the issues really are.

Um and we already have the ordinances on the books.

There's already priorities as far as primary, secondary, and residential streets.

That that's that's already been established in many, many storms.

Um and I think that some of the issues are that uh we don't have the um boots on the ground in order to find people who are not obeying the ordinances that are already in the books.

I'm not sure that there are many ordinances that can be revised.

I mean, and if there are some, I think we should have brought those to this to a resolution rather than a general one.

So I mean, we can do work without having a resolution.

All right.

So um, so I'm gonna support this in the spirit of of it, but I don't agree with the the tact.

Oh sorry.

No Apple private motherhood is coming up on a couple couple resolutions, so we'll we'll get to that one.

Um question for the administration.

How much have we issued in fines or how many fines have we issued for failure to clear sidewalks?

Uh no, Terry threw me off.

Over 200 for sidewalk violations.

Um, and then with with those sidewalks we ended up having to clean because we couldn't get compliance.

We will add those, we will invoice those costs and add them to the to the prosecution uh file for their municipal court case.

Mr.

Chair, may I also remind the council.

Council saw you finished.

Sorry.

Yes, I am.

Thank you.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Um, I just want to remind the council that uh this council voted against hiring more boots on the ground, which is exactly what we needed for the storm.

Mr.

Chairman, Council Ground.

Um my recollection is that the FY26 budget passed by a five to two vote.

Included in that FY26 budget.

Be included.

Uh I already said be included, but included in that FY26 budget.

Remove more boots on the ground.

Thank you.

Mr.

Chair, Charles Bennett, um, I am gonna support the resolution.

I do think it it um it makes sense because I myself was fielding a lot of phone calls and emails about snow removal largely from an aging population um in my ward who couldn't get out and remove snow.

And I just wonder if we've ever decided if we've ever thought about looking at less punitive consequences, like encouraging um, you know, neighbor to neighbor assistance um and things like that.

I just I don't think we always need to move straight to to punitive.

Um, but I also just want to thank Mr.

Bill.

I'm Mr.

Mr.

I'm so sorry.

Sorry, Mr.

Rickey, thank you.

And um also to our community um liaison who I felt like was very proactive um and communic doing outreach and communicating.

I had multiple um emails and and conversations with Carrie, so I I do acknowledge that our our city workers worked very hard.

So I I do acknowledge that our city workers worked very hard.

Um but you can't tackle everything.

Um, I got so many emails, I was ready to drive a snowplow myself and help.

Um so I'm just wondering again if we've thought of like less punitive consequences for our residents.

We have I'm glad counselor, you brought that up because I was perusing all of the C click fixed entries as they came in.

We had we saw an incredible surge during the storm, which by the way, I think I noted to you in an email earlier this week.

We we we we encourage that because of what it allows us to do is heat map various areas where the where the where the consolidated problems are.

But in the course of spot checking a few of those uh those entries, what I found is a consistent theme was typically um I'm elderly and not able, or I'm caretaking for someone who's elderly and not able.

It underscores the fact that we do have a significantly aging population in Newport, even for those who stay for the winter.

And so that is that is the definite concern.

And because of that, uh we've been looking at some ways to coordinate, uh, cooperate with the uh Edward King House.

In fact, Carmela Gear is here tonight.

Uh, we're uh we in the past, prior to the pandemic, we've done uh what I think we called the the uh uh athletes with muscles program.

It's a cooperative effort with Salve Regina.

It kind of faded away during the pandemic, but we're looking at ways to bring it back, provided we properly vet the recipients of the support because what we don't want this to become as a free-for-all.

We're looking for people who are truly in need of neighbor to neighbor assistance.

So that's one way that that we're we're preparing to unleash.

And the other one, I would just encourage the community to be more community-minded.

Um, I I have a couple of neighbors.

I I admit this last storm at 12 inches, it was tough to shovel their sidewalks, but typically in a five or six-inch storm, um, I'll just out of habit, just go next door, shovel a sidewalk, go next door, shovel the sidewalk.

If we all did that, we would not have the kind of problem we did during the storm.

And so agree.

Couple cooperative efforts coupled with just being a good neighbor, I think will really help our community out.

Okay.

Thank you.

Mr.

Chair.

That's right.

Um, you know, I I also wanted to thank um Mr.

Riccio and and your team.

You know, I I know that this was a difficult storm.

Um, you know, we were hit with some some sleet and everything else that that made it a little bit more difficult.

Um, so I I I appreciate all the hard work that went into this.

And and I understand and and I think that just communicating to the community that yes, there was a staffing issue.

Yes, some of this was resources.

Um, but I also think that it's based upon the feedback that myself and other counselors received um where residents were struggling.

There were some that that were completely shut in that couldn't get out of their house.

That uh the way that you know this some of the streets were plowed, that it it made it difficult for some of our older um residents to be able to get out there and to shovel.

So I can appreciate that you know we're gonna try to be a little bit more forward-thinking and come up with some kind of plan to help our aging residents.

Um but I also want to thank counselor Holder because when I did contact him that I had some concerns and felt as though we needed to have some type of special meeting to discuss the situation, you know, any time that I see that that residents are struggling with some type of situation like snow removal, um that I think is a good opportunity for us to step back and look at the situation and maybe take some lessons learned and to see some opportunities where we can improve going forward, but to also have some kind of of record or plan of action, playbook, something that we can look back on and say, because I because I don't see that that we have something like that where you know we had we get a storm like this, it seems every what five, maybe 10 years.

And I think having something that we can either look back on or come up with a plan that, okay, we had this storm during 2026.

This is what happened.

These are the struggles that that people had.

This is the struggles that the city administration had.

Um that that'll sort of give us uh plan going forward as to how to avoid some of the situations that came up.

So I'm all about looking at a process and saying, hey, these are some lessons learned, here are some opportunities.

And we are going into the budget season.

So I think that it would be good to hear about what resources that we might be lacking, whether that is in personnel or actual hardware for our employees to be able to get the job done.

I think it's a good opportunity to have those discussions.

So again, I want to thank counselor chairholder for putting forth this resolution, and I'm happy to support it.

Any other discussion?

All right.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

I just have it.

Next Black History Month.

Council Pinnock.

Thank you.

First thing I'm going to say is Black History Month is both historical and personal.

Recognizing Black History is not about the vision, it's about inclusion, accuracy, and telling the full story of who we are as a city.

And whereas Black History traces its origin to 1926 when historian Dr.

Carter G.

Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History established Negro Negro History Week to ensure the study and recognition of Black history, which had been largely excluded from traditional historical narratives.

And whereas Negro History Week was intentionally placed in February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass and was later expanded into Black History Month in 1976, receiving formal recognition by the federal government.

And whereas Black History Month serves as an important opportunity to educate the public, reflect on the enduring struggle for freedom and equality.

And celebrate the profound cultural, economic, civic, and artistic contributions of African Americans to the United States.

And whereas the city of Newport has a deep and complex black history that is inseparable from its identity, dating back to the colonial era when enslaved and free Africans lived and labored in this city and helped shape its maritime economy, trades, and institutions.

I think I got it.

Thank you.

Whereas Newport was once home to one of the largest free black communities in colonial New England, and African Americans in Newport played vital roles as sailors, craftspeople, soldiers, entrepreneurs, educators, and faith leaders.

Whereas the African Union Society, founded in 1780 by Alkramar Marikou, also known as Newport Gardener, was the first African American mutual aid organization in the United States originally meeting at the Peter Bohr's House, 47 Division Street in 1824, established the Union Colored Congregational Church at 49 Division Street and recognizes National Historic Landmark, stands as a powerful symbol of Black self-determination, civic engagement, and community life in Newport.

And we're crucial for the free black community life.

And whereas African Americans from Newport have made lasting contributions to the city's cultural heritage, social movements, military service, and ongoing efforts towards justice and equality.

And whereas recognized in Black History Month affirms the city of Newport's commitment to inclusivity, historical truth and education and respect for diverse communities that have shaped and continue to shape the city.

Resolved by the city council and the city of Newport, Rhode Island, that the city hereby formally recognized Black History Month each year during the month of February and resolved that the city of Newport shall commemorate Black History Month with an annual flag raising ceremony to be held at the City Hall or another prominent municipal location in honor of the history, contributions, and enduring legacy of African Americans in Newport and throughout the nation.

And now therefore be it resolved that the mayor, city council, and city administration are encouraged to support educational, cultural, and community-based activities during Black History Month that highlight Newport's Black history and promote greater understanding and unity among all residents.

And be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be entered into the official records of the city of Newport and shared with community organizations, schools, and cultural institutions.

Mr.

Chadley can make a motion.

Second, second.

Sorry, excuse me for getting emotional.

I'm the third um woman of color to sit up on this dias.

And it's not a duty that I take lightly.

Um it means the world to me to be up here representing our community and working with such amazing people.

And while I know that we don't always agree on everything, um, when I put this resolution forward um right away, I got texts from Charlie who was very supportive and my colleagues were all very supportive.

City management was already very supportive.

Um growing up in Newport in the North End, there wasn't a lot of opportunity to leave the North End and be part of something bigger.

Um, you know, running for council and sitting up here with all of these amazing people.

I don't really think I have the words.

Um I'm just very, very grateful.

And I just want to do the best that I can to represent my community and all of you.

And I'm just honored to have the opportunity, and I want you all to know how much like the trust that you put in me as a community leader um meets means to me.

And you know, thinking about all the people before me who work so hard in this community, like the Miss Paulines, um, like the Mrs.

J's, um, paving the way for me.

I just there aren't any words to express, like, you know.

The gratitude that I have.

So I just want to thank you all very much for being on my team.

Thanks, Council Pennett.

Dr.

Smith.

Um, I just want to thank Councilor Pinnock for bringing forth this resolution.

Um, it's a very important one.

I am happy to support it and to support her.

Um, I'm very blessed to serve on council with you and to consider you a friend.

So thank you for all your hard work.

Um, I'd like to make an amendment to this resolution, if you don't mind.

Um, I'd like to make an amendment on the second resolve where it says uh that the city of Newport shall commemorate Black History Month with an annual flag raising ceremony to be held at City Hall or another prominent municipal location.

I'd like to change or to and other prominent city uh municipal locations.

Second.

Motion second and discussion.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any uh further discussion on the amended resolution.

Um Council Pinnock, thank you so much.

And I think I know the answer, but I sincerely hope that those tears are not for sadness, but for being proud.

Very much so.

As you should be.

Thank you.

And uh I know uh I know uh your grandfather George looking down is very proud of you for sure.

Thank you.

Um Mr.

Chair Council Seguire.

It's going to be a uh an assembly at Rogers, right?

On Friday at 9:30.

That's it.

Is it 9 30?

Yes.

Yeah.

And the public is welcome to uh to join in.

And it's always a wonderful um celebration and uh uh showing achievements uh at Rogers High School.

And I, you know, there's something that someone has always somebody something someone wrote that always struck me as true, which was that black history is American history and black history is Rhode Island history and black history is Newport history.

So we um it's something that we can't we're not supposed to, we should not be separating them, but they uh should all be uh looked at together and celebrated together.

Thank you.

All right, uh all those in favor of the amended resolution say aye.

Uh aye.

Thank you.

Next, uh birthing center, Councilor Comse Voravong.

Well, it seems like I was wrong earlier.

That wasn't fact sweet as apple pie.

So on to motherhood.

Want to read just one of the whereas and the resolves.

Whereas the Noring Stoner Direct Soul Birthing Center and Newport Hospital provides essential maternal newborn care to families in Newport County and the surrounding areas.

Therefore, be it resolved by the city council of the city of Newport that we request the city administration work with the government's relations team to support the efforts by the General Assembly and state lawmakers to maintain operations at the birthing center, be it further resolved.

These efforts include supporting related bills introduced by members of Newport State House delegation, including House Bill H7272 and Senate Bill S2380, which are intended to ensure the maintenance and improvement of maternal health care.

And be a resolved that a copy of this resolution be sent to the governor of the state of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island General Assembly.

I move for approval.

Second second.

If I could, Mr.

Chair, just to explain this is the second such resolution on this front.

Um, Councillor Smythe and I have worked hand in hand on both this resolution and efforts uh as your liaisons uh to the hospital on this issue, as well as with the coalition of Safety of Port Birthing Center, who have been actively meeting on a weekly basis, uh, to do what we can as a community to advocate for the maintenance of this.

The original resolution this council uh passed, uh, had a watershed effect on the community uh with its organizing work that resulted in the uh year-long look that Brown is giving the birthing center itself.

So we really planted our flag on what our values were as a community in that moment, and it was a bright point.

What we're doing here with this is different in the sense that what we were doing is actually drawing a line.

Uh, we are drawing a line that we as policymakers have the power to support that the state house has the power to enact on how it is that we view certain essential parts of our health care system.

It is very easy when we are dealing with institutions like large hospital systems to fall into the business of treating what they do as just that just business, to look at things like a birthing center or another division as a service line on a uh profit and loss statement.

But the reality is that these are foundational programs, the elimination of which has a substantial impact on our economy in this instance, the uh attractiveness of our community uh to visitors that are coming here for the summertime to the U.S.

Navy, which is a massive employer region.

It has a massive impact on the bottom line of the city.

Our fire chief has been such a good champion on this issue, uh, in part because he is a steward to the safety of this community and knows that it will be his personnel that will be serving as the shuttles to other hospitals in the state if they can't deliver at Newport Hospital.

It will be his personnel that will be delivering babies in the back of a vehicle rather than a safe environment where they should.

And finally, to our community.

Um this would have a massive impact on their public health.

Um, and so when you think about those issues, you have to start thinking that at in a very basic sense, if a community hospital isn't delivering babies and we aren't willing to draw the line there, is the next step looking at whether or not a community hospital should have an emergency room, at which point I would question what is a community hospital.

What this legislation that is being proposed by our legislative delegation, and I want to publicly thank Representative Carson for her work on this, is really treating birthing centers as different than other units of a hospital that can be closed to what's called a certificate of need process in putting in place parameters to ensure that what almost happened here in Newport with this being a black and white business decision uh takes into the full account the community impact that changes to our health care providers have on all of us and asserts the fact that we're going to take an active role in decisions that are getting made on that front.

I'm very thankful to um so many of my colleagues for serving uh as co-sponsors on this, and I respectfully ask for the council's consideration.

Council.

Council Crown.

Mr.

Chairman, thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Hamza Varovang.

Thank you, uh Councillor Smythe.

Uh when we all, all seven of us in different sessions met with the president of Brown University Health and the new president of Newport Hospital, we promised we found out afterwards from each one of us as to what our priorities were.

We promised to do everything we could to help Brown University Health in their effort at the Rhode Island General Assembly this year to make their financial circumstances a little more formidable when they're making these type of decisions as to whether to close a birthing center or not.

And I, for one, promise to go to the Rhode Island General Assembly and to testify on their behalf for increased uncompensated care to hospitals.

The Brown University Health System is by far, by far, not even a comparison, the number one hospital provider in the state of Rhode Island.

The governor's budget was released very recently, within the last few weeks.

And although I give the governor's office and the governor himself, of course, credit for increasing the Medicaid payments from the state to doctors who are practicing and who are compensated to a large degree by Medicaid, by the federal government, and by the state, there still has not been enough, nowhere near enough in terms of what the state is providing the hospitals in the state for uncompensated care.

They provide tens and tens and tens of millions of dollars in uncompensated care, meaning somebody shows up at their doorstep for whatever reason.

We're living in difficult financial times.

For whatever reason, they show up at the doorstep of the hospital and they ask for help.

There's a state law which says, and federal law backs this up.

You cannot provide the help.

You must.

As a result, they lose.

Hospitals lose tens and tens and tens of millions of dollars a year.

We must, we must, by way of this fiscal 27 budget, and I am begging the General Assembly for such.

We must provide hospitals with more money for uncompensated care.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillors Comzavarvan and Smythe again.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Thank you, Counselor.

All right, all those in favor of the resolution say aye.

Aye.

Motion to adjourn as counsel and convene as board of licensed commissioners.

Second.

Motion and second and discussion.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Motion to approve the consent calendar in its entirety.

Second.

Motion and second and discussion.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Motion to adjourn.

Second.

Motion second and discussion.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Thank you very much.