Um at this time I'll ask our lovely clerks to do roll call.

Chair Sanchez present.

Vice Chairman Taylor is asked to counselor and boss present, Councilwoman Graves.

Present.

Councilwoman Peterson is absent.

We have three present and two absent.

We have a quarter.

Awesome.

Thank you.

I'd like to recognize our colleague Joel Davidson here, the clerk's office, our city solicitor.

There he is.

Thank you again for your labor intensive work.

We really appreciate you.

At this time I'll entertain a motion to waive the reading to waive the readings of item one through six.

Second.

Motion made by Councilman Innerwell, seconded by Councilwoman Graves.

All those in favor, any nays?

The ayes have it.

How are we gonna start this?

Hopefully, not too long.

Uh Chairman, if we do mind, I think it might make sense to start with the fire department and then move on to CIP.

Um Superintendent Nielsen does have a commitment tonight, so she's requested if she goes first in the CIP uh order, if that would be amenable to you all.

Yeah, whatever works uh for the directors and you guys were happy to adjust.

Perfect.

Okay, I think we're mighting everyone in that's to stay in operating and then move over to CIP, if that's all right.

So yeah, um at this time we'll just uh swear anyone in my testify.

Please raise your right hands.

Nothing but this for the records.

Chris Martin, director of special project for the department.

And Lobas, senior project manager for our public property.

Uh Joe Holligan playing in Charlie.

John Roswelly, public department, agent general sustainability.

Kevin Praff, which is really positive department public works.

Sorry, so very finance director.

Yeah, I think uh you can come up, Chief.

Uh let the record record reflect that council omen vice chair Taylor is here.

No noted.

I really think quarter five level.

The fire department's budget can be found on uh page 290 in the budget book.

Um at this time I'll undertain a motion to enter six six to the record.

Seven seconds.

So moved by councilwoman grave, second with councilwoman inarrow.

All those in favor, aye.

Any nays?

Aye have it.

Excellent.

Right.

Uh the fiscal uh the fire department is a revenue generating department.

Uh they earn revenue from fire department sections, plan review review fees, rescue them, uh sorry, rescue billings revenue, um, and fire details, which are uh firefighters performing details for various city events, uh, and restroom rooms.

Uh this year's budget is an $850,000 increase over the fiscal year 2026 budget.

Uh the primary revenue that is driving that increase is the rescue run revenue uh and it is supported by historical trend.

Total expenditures in fiscal year 2027 are proposed at 94 million 953,800.

This is a 1,857,000 uh $36 decrease from the fiscal year 2026 budget or approximately one little under 2%.

Uh the budget for salaries does not include any new FTE for accountings.

Uh the fiscal 2026 salary budget was 37 million two hundred one thousand three hundred and sixty dollars.

When we add in cost of living increases in steps, it brings proposed fiscal year 2027 salaries to $38,315,273.

It's important to note that this budget is being supported in large part by SAFER funding, which is a federal grant to City Providence and received.

There are two safer grants running concurrently in order 2027 with combined total award amounts in excess of 29 dollars.

These have enabled the city of Providence to hire, oh we've got a typo here, I'm very sorry, 60 uh new firefighters uh over the past course of a couple years, and they are um providing a considerable amount of reductions in salary range in this upcoming budget.

So 16 should be it should be 60 of the bottom number.

Yeah, that will format example.

Uh their budget can be broken into fixed and discretionary costs.

Uh first under the discretionary line items, if these are not classified, this is their loss and services and open three certification.

Do you have any questions on that process?

I'm sure it's like to elaborate.

Uh there's also a nominal increase for postage, which is supported by their historical spending trend.

Uh dues and subscriptions are level funded as our uh professional developments and tuition.

Uh I'm sorry, and I'm sorry, as our professional development and promotional exams.

Tuition is increasing by $13,000.

This is EMT training for our new academies and required um to maintain their conventions.

Uh and legal expenses are level funded and required for the CDA.

Under uh the supply line items, the the vast majority of these supplies are considered discretionary because we can uh order more or less of them, but they are very critical.

For example, the medical and lab uh medical, chemical and lab supplies are very critical EMS supplies, which we certainly would not want to run out of.

Um there is uh a small increase to office supplies, which which has been supported by historical trend, as uh is the case for the increase in lubricants.

Uh auto parts are projected to decrease next year, which is offsetting some of the increases we are seeing in this budget.

Uh tires do have an increase, and that is trying to see throughout the city budget.

Uh we renegotiated our tire contract a couple years ago, and we are seeing that they are increasing in cost.

And as our uh uniforms and wear and apparel are also going up uh in relation to the new academies and replaces of uh necessary equipment.

There is an increase in uh miscellaneous materials and supplies.

These represent AFG grant matches, so the city's uh contributing our share towards additional grant programs.

Um maintenance and service also has an increase.

This is two things.

Forty thousand dollars of the eighty-four thousand dollars has come from the Commissioner of Public Safety's budget, so that is a transfer from one budget to another.

Uh there was also an initiative done in fiscal year 2026 to consolidate the billing cycles, which resulted in a savings in fiscal year 2026.

We'll be paying the full cost of all of those in 2027.

So one of the same demolished.

Um repairs to autos and trucks have been level funded at 48,500.

Uh copy release maintenance has also been level funded as has been repairs to other equipment.

And that wraps up the budget for fire department.

Thank you.

Uh do you have a question?

Well, I'm talking about questions.

Uh you can go ahead, Chief.

Good evening, Chair, members of the committee.

Um, as uh Crystal mentioned, uh, there's no significant changes or say increases in this budget.

This budget should also stay in other products we've already made over the last two fiscal years.

Um I don't want to sound like too overly uh um I forget what the word is, but anyway, thanking all of you because you know, three years ago in the first fiscal year, um, I was asking for significant increases in some resources and some staffing.

And I know you had some healthy skepticism about that those increases are really gonna add uh become more efficient later on in uh future fiscal years.

Um I hope that now we see that through that um healthy skepticism, which was completely appropriate, that now we've seen that that investment early on has uh led to I'll say reductions in the financial cost of our services, but not a reduction in services in this fiscal year and continued in the next fiscal year.

We added two in fact rescues, meaning two additional rescues are there during the day, Monday through Friday, which has decreased mutual aid reliance by 50%, uh, which is a big deal for us, which means rescues, province rescuers are picking up province residents 50% of the time more.

Um also our EMS price school unit has now been expanded to your own coverage by making truly data district driven decisions on terms of which trucks get dispatched and uh kind of really pointing in on better response times and more appropriate resources.

So while this budget doesn't ask for anything overly expensive and just sustained what we're at currently, um I just want to make sure that everyone realizes that we still have increased services quite dramatically, even with this more efficient budget.

Thank you, Chief.

Uh Madame Clerk, will you let the uh record reflect uh councilwoman Peterson has joined?

So noted.

Um and then if someone can get another chair, um, city voters, thank you.

Um committee members' questions comes in first.

Um councilwoman.

My question is now that we're going through this mess.

How do you think the cost of gas is going to affect this budget and stuff now?

I mean, when we were planning this, none of us knew this was gonna happen.

So, how is it gonna affect you and how?

Because you got extra vehicles and yeah.

Um, I'll say in the five-pound budget, there will be some increases, and you'll see that reflected in uh like tires and lubricants because even before I'll say the global issue with Veron, we're already seeing increases in those costs, but uh fuel consumption is in public property, which not to say that it's not a problem, but it's John's budget.

So you're exactly right.

I mean, that's we are seeing it even in the so the only really fuel that we purchase is for like our ventilation saws, that true fuel that you see little cans in like Home Depot, um, those costs have rose dramatically in the last few months.

Um so I can only imagine what the fuel costs are citywide, but that's all held as one cellar.

I can tell you we did increase the the cost of fuel this year.

So I believe it was at least the $400,000 increase, but we'll reveal in more detail of how the properties operating budget.

Okay, and did you add the increases for the other things that he's talking about?

Uh we do in our budget that the two items that were driven by that same issue are reflected in there, too.

Okay.

Um my other thing is the uniforms.

I I understand you're getting these uniforms, and they gotta be spotted swapped out at the 10 years or the other tier or how are we doing with uniforms?

Yeah, so our fire protection gear, our protective ensemble, but the bright yellow and triple chun that you see um quite recently in the last few years, they made a kind of tenure expiration date on that gear.

Um, thankfully, we've gotten to a point now where we are on a good replacement cycle.

In fact, uh last year, about January of um 25, we transitioned away from uh PFAS uh containing fire gear to now.

Do we still have PAS gear?

Certainly, the older stuff as it gets cycled out will be replaced with UFAS G but now almost 18 months ago we transitioned away from that.

Um that uniform line you see and the increase that you see in that budget is also by contract a requirement that each firefighter is paid an $800 stipend to maintain their actual station uniforms.

Yeah, and because there's about 54 firefighters, I want to say, that now have gotten a year on the fire department, that's when that $800 stuff to kick in, and that's the increase because otherwise that uniform budget line would be the flat from current year to next year.

So we've done a good job maintaining that uh supply chain.

Okay, thank you.

Councilman intervals.

Thank you, thank you, Chairman, and thank you, Chief and our budget officers.

Um I had a few quick questions in one quick statement.

The first is just to say thank you.

You guys do such an amazing job.

And I know whenever I have a question, you're like 30 seconds and you reply, and I'm like, I don't know how he's doing this, but you guys have had a lot of really high profile uh fires as well this year, and it's just an honor to get to work with you.

Um and I also just wanted to call out you mentioned the um you know, our the first year we were together, you know, the questions about the staffing and the increases, and I was just noted in the callback line.

You know, in fiscal year 24, it was like almost 11 million for callbacks, and then because of like all the work you've done, it's like half.

I appreciate you identifying that, but just to put it in context.

So this next fiscal year the request that we're asking for for callback and over time is the lowest in true dollar amount since fiscal year 2008.

So a very long time.

And that's not adjusted for inflation or cost of living increases in true dollars from 08 to now, it's the lowest it's everything.

That's awesome.

So I just wanted to like say thank you for that because you did say it's gonna happen whole tight, and you were totally correct, and just want to acknowledge at last that did happen.

Um we trusted you, and also it happened, so thank you.

Um and then I had two questions.

One is we have a lot um of safer funds in the budget.

Are we at all worried about any because of all the chaos at the federal level?

I'm just gonna keep being the one to talk about the chaos.

Um getting cut back.

Um to a point, yeah.

I so far they've come in.

Um, I was just talking to uh Deputy Commissioner Lane about it, how in terms of the reimbursement, I'll say the time in which it takes is much longer right now because a lot of that staff isn't working.

Um but we have been getting money quite regularly, it's just slower than it traditionally is.

Okay.

Um I'll say putting on like my policy hat in terms of what that looks like as a uh national landscape.

Um more red states and more say more conservative states take a lot more of that funding than blue states do.

So I would imagine kind of all the buckets of cash that maybe when it gets left alone.

Um and so far it's been pretty strong here over the year, and federally that bucket of money comes from the AFG and safer programs in FEMA have been level funded for years, so it's not as if everyone's asking for an increase.

Oh, okay.

So it's not making it.

And then umpe, that was actually my last question.

Yeah.

I'm excited to see what happened to the Rosh of the fire station is the only other thing.

I'd love to look.

I know.

That'd be amazing.

So I got a few questions.

Um I was just looking at the the chief of EMS is in the union.

No.

Why does it say chief of emergency medical?

FU means fire union, right?

Yeah.

I'm not sure if you're stepping, but I imagine it's just type out, but the chief of EMS is not in the union.

Oh, okay.

Okay.

So everybody else up to deputy chief is in the union, right?

Correct.

And how they is everything.

Okay, so I know Lieutenant Captain, I know battalion chief.

Is deputy chief?

Is that a test as well?

Deputy, no, it's an interview and a selection.

Why is that?

Uh by the CBA.

Personally, I think that should change because I don't think that should be uh so who picks them?

You do?

Yeah.

I think that should be a test as well, just as the others now, but that's that's the CBA thing.

Um, so now rescue eight and nine, I know we're in service, right?

Yeah.

What are the hours there in service?

Uh 9 a.m.

to 7 p.m.

Monday through Friday.

Okay.

And um, how many?

You might not know this, but how many out-of-town rescues still come into the city?

It the rate has decreased by 49%.

So last year, as an example, we had about 2,000 mutual aid rescues coming to the city for the whole year.

For the whole year.

And this year so far, we're on tracking to be half of that.

But in that half, we're losing money, right?

Because we've got to pay that.

The half that's left?

Yeah.

Not not awful, but I'm just saying if we had another additional.

We would theoretically recoup that revenue, you're right.

Yeah.

In your opinion, what do you think?

And I'm just not holding it to it, but if eight and nine were to go in service, do you think that would go up?

What do you think?

It's all hypothetical.

What do you think that would drop down to?

Um, so I think you mean eight and I went service like the whole time.

It's all full-time, yeah.

I don't think it would drop entirely.

Because I know it's still some, but I mean, because say it's a thousand runs.

But that's that's a thousand that we're not getting as it uh money wise.

So we're still getting eight and nine from nine to seven.

Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, that's entirely correct.

What I would say is the most advantageous thing would be able to get more staffing during those same hours.

Because the overnights are dramatically slower than the daytime.

Like after 10 p.m.

our call volume drops dramatically.

And so the more rescues that we can have during all those peak hours from true truthfully, it's really 10 a.m.

probably 10 p.m.

Um, recognizing there's also value um in the workload that every rescue is doing.

So Rescue 4 is an example is doing 6200 calls a year, right?

So what um nationally that they utilize for EMS units is called unit hour utilization.

And so nationally, unit hour utilization should run between 35 to 50 percent.

So if you're at 35 percent, alright, your rescue's being utilized, and you don't need to add another one.

When you start to get to units that have 50%, that's when you should decide to add another truck or reorganize your trucks.

Rescue 4 is the only one that hits over that 50%, that like 54, 55%, whereas rescue two, profit average, on the outskirts, and it's kind of a less demanding neighborhood, it's at 38%.

So I think the issue is is the way the ones are spread over the seven rescues, but eight and nine make an impact.

Adding eight, nine overnight.

If I had to just take it like an educated guess, I'd say about 15% more.

But reality is that we had those extra hours, I would advocate first to add a 10 during the same time that 8-9 is to capture more of those mutual aid level design.

Because you're right, we'll leave the money on the table.

Right, and eight and nine is running both of them on a Hobbit Avenue?

Both of them the trucks are stored there, quite honestly.

Once they go in there for us, call they're never back there, but yes, they're both stored there.

Okay.

Because I know rescue nine got hit the other day, and I know there's not enough pro both there.

I don't know why, but I haven't seen it hanging out on a bunch of.

We're at like a storage premium as a city right now with trucks.

Um the bike patrol.

The like I've seen them out in the winter time.

Is that voluntarily?

It's all volunteer.

And quite honestly, I shut it down for a solid month or so because of the snow and the cold, and I got pushed back that why if we shut it down, we want to work it.

They do want to work.

Okay.

Oh my god, they're gonna be freeze it.

I'm looking at them.

Even today, it was cold, it was rainy, would I try to tell them on those days, like stopping some of the businesses, state 20 minutes the yeah, go on to the next one?

Because it's that presence that makes people feel comfortable too.

But yeah, it's voluntary.

And now I'm gonna get into the schools, which I know you knew I was gonna ask these questions.

So you know I have a problem with the schools, but the the here's the problem.

Well, let me ask you the first question is how much did we pay for lateral firefighters for for them to be hired?

I want to say total 25,000.

About 25,000 in total.

Total.

So the ones like Patalk at Portsmouth, it was total of 25%.

Total 25 grand, we didn't have to haven't spent anything more than that on the laterals, period.

Okay.

Because don't know if you know this council members might remember that we've been here, that we approved one lateral school.

Yeah.

And from 2023 to now, we've had uh, and correct me if I'm wrong, the 53rd, the 54th and 55th was all lateral schools.

Then we went to a traditional school in the 56th, went to a lateral in the 57th, and then now we're in a traditional the 50th.

That's right, correct?

Yep.

So you know the problem I have with this.

We're not hiring uh province residents.

And I think I know I've talked to you when I talked to the mayor, and I know they've changed it on the website to like 2050, which that's fine because I don't know if we'll be a real night then.

But um, I I personally had a problem with the 57th, I guess it was, that I had a constituent just to let the that I had a constituent in my ward that applied for the lateral was uh in another fire department, and um I reached out to the chief and we talked.

Um I was a little upset because we didn't get hired, and the problem was that I thought was that there was only three um province residents that were hired.

I mean sorry, there's only three province resident residents that put in for that school.

They hired two, which was the two that came out of the high school, they were the two high school, and they didn't hire this kid.

This kid's eventually he's born in he's at um uh he was hired by um Central Falls, but I don't think we're sending them a strong message by not hiring our own, considering this kid fit all the check marks, he was Spanish, lived in the city, family lived in the city, plus he was a war-day resident.

So that's that's a really you know that's a really got me upset.

Um so that's why can I follow up on that question?

Yeah, uh just figure back real quick.

Out of all the lateral uh transfer academies that we've had, how many um, if any uh of those firefighters are proud of its residents?

Some of them are, I don't have the numbers, but I could definitely get them for you.

But um, to put it in a little bit of perspective.

So right now we have a school that was meant to be 25.

This is entry level for one that's going on currently, and so while I 100% agree, I wish 100% of our firefighters were city residents.

Um the reality is they're just not applying, and so even with the entry level in a 25-person school, we had four city residents.

So, in theory, if laterals were displacing those city residents, then when we did an entry level, we'd have 100%.

We're just not getting the applicants, and that's where I need like all of your help.

And so, what we also did is we started opening the application for entry level now.

So joining PBD fire.com, the entry-level applications open.

Because part of my theory is we cast a wider net, and part of our recruitment issue in the past has been we hire, seven years go by, we don't hire, and then we hire again.

Well, how can we go out into the schools and go out with the community and ask these kids to apply to become firefighters when I can't give them a straight answer on when the next CAD is going to be?

It's hard to tell the 19, 20 year old kid that, hey, stick with it six years later, you might get a fire department job.

So the idea is if we keep the application open all the time, whenever we're having conversation with these kids, like put the application now, and now that we're up to a sustainable staffing, we're going to do small academies every other year.

And so now I can tell them, hey, put it in now, six months or so, you're gonna hear from us, and then it's a choice, and we decide whether they don't want to go forward with it.

Um but what I'll say is even though you know I can understand that a conventional wisdom would say that hey, if laterals are displaced, diversity, whether it's person of color or female candidate or a city resident, the numbers aren't showing that.

And so to put it in perspective, from 2017 through 2019 through 2022, uh, our female candidates or female firefighters incumbents on the fire department is about 5.5%.

And it's been flat for that for I'll say during the period of time in which we've made diversity in the workforce a priority, which really started with like Mayor Sisolini's administration, and then every administration has taken that on as a whole, um, has remained flat.

And so while not monumental numbers, today our female workforce is six and a half percent, so it's moved a full percentage point with that predominantly being lateral hires.

In terms of people identify as something other than white Caucasian, those persons of color, our percentages have grown from 27% to 31%.

So again, not monumental increases, but increases.

And then with city residency, we had about 10, 11% pretty flat for that same period of time, and today we're almost at 14%.

So while we haven't made you know as much strides as we can or should, we've made increases.

We are the most diverse fire department in the country in the state.

Countrywide, the percentage for female firefighters is about 3.5%.

So while 6.5% ain't great, we're beating our colleagues.

Same thing with people of color, about 22% national, and we're 31% here.

Like I said, we have work to do for sure, and I 100% agree with Councilman Taylor.

Like we need to make sure we're given these good jobs to people in the city and diverse workforce.

But we are making strides in that direction.

We have the most diverse department we've ever had for.

Thank you, Chief.

I guess I'll have a quick follow-up on something you said, and then we'll get back to Council Taylor.

In the most recent um academy, or you said there's 25%, how many total applications were received?

So that's the that's spot on.

So the we typically had about 1,500 to 2,000 applicants in the past.

This last time we had 400 apply, about half showed us the written test.

And then this entry-level academy was off the same list as the last city level of the council members.

So we took about 75 voters in total entry level from that list of 200 or so.

We lose a lot, I just don't show up the written, and then we lose a lot in the agility, which quite honestly are the only real two measures that we have.

Um that's kind of why my goal is to cast the wider net because we're just not getting the applicants in to then get to that pool.

And I think like I said, I may know to get you the numbers on residents that are unilaterals, but also get your numbers on residents of those applicants because they're just not great now.

Yeah, I think that'll give us uh just a better understanding.

Um and then we will go back to governments and I got two.

And I don't know if you know this, but and if you talk to your fellow chiefs about this, but are we seeing Providence residents apply for courses outside of Providence?

Is that more attractive to them in some way?

No, so actually, it's I'll say it's not a phenomenon specific to Providence.

Um, everyone's struggling for police and fire public safety generally, just people aren't applying.

Um talk to my colleagues in West Lower, Warwick, they're not even getting enough applicants for the positions they have.

So that would assume every applicant is going to get hired, and they still don't have the numbers.

Um I I don't know what the phenomenon is because it's it's national, it's not just locally.

Colleagues across the country, a province or probably what's called the Metro Chiefs, Metro Fire Chiefs, it's about 150 of the larger urban departments in this country, and they're all having the same recruitment issues in terms of compensation benefits.

Yeah, province is on the top of the food chain in terms of that, and our schedule's attractive, not the workforce that we work, but like the schedule on the trucks.

Yeah, so I don't know, other than I think perhaps there's a lack of education on what the job entails.

Yeah, um, and I think that's where the council can do.

I think in the future, we can be helpful having like smaller neighborhood type-driven recruitments.

Yeah, I think we could all help you out with that.

Um, before councilman Taylor continues, Madam Clerk, we let the record reflect the councilwoman Harris has joined us.

Okay, so this let me finish beating that voice, but one thing, like I said, it really did upset me that he didn't get hired, and and the reason why, because I knew the kid when I was on the job, he was actually in the fire explorer program in the high school.

So he was in the program, then he got on another fire department.

And um, I mean, even if he took the test regularly, forgetting he was not a fire department, he would have got 10 points because he was a province resident.

He didn't get anything for this.

He just and then and I I don't know who it was, but I mean, if I talked to the chief and he said, hey, you know what, there was 10 people put in for it, I wouldn't have said anything.

But when you hire three, I mean it's three, and you only hired two.

There's something wrong there.

My opinion.

So I'm done being that voice.

My next question is I'm gonna go back to the two that were hired on the school, in the school.

Did they have to take a test?

What was the I know they were in the program in this high school and they're 18 years old and they're coming out and they're on the fire department.

What criteria did they have to meet to become a firefighter besides what they were taught in school?

So the CTE cadet program, I'll say CT is like the PPSD per portion of it, and then there's a cadet program for the fire department.

If they pass the level one equivalency, level one and level two firefighter training and EMT training in high school that our folks are embedded in the school and teach the program, they pass all those programs and they get their EMT licensure on their own, then they're offered a position to go to the municipal training academy.

If they pass the municipal training academy, then they come to us and fold into our lateral academy, and that's how they get up.

So they have to pass the test.

So they were an EMT.

They weren't an EMT at all.

They're already MTs.

So what happens is their junior into senior year.

Um it used to be Chief Ramos.

Now it's um Lieutenant Barres runs the cadet program.

And so Province Public Schools, you know, solicit applications, the students apply, um, they're interviewed with a CT program coordinator through province public schools, the cancer selected in that they start in that summer between their junior and senior year, and then their entire senior year, they do that fire for the level one and two level training, uh, hazmat training, and the EMT course.

They can't take the test because they're typically not 18 while they're in their senior year, and then that summer after they get out.

If the program's really designed to kind of introduce students to the pro the idea of being a firefighter, kind of like the other kid did years ago, we're kind of like kind of what it'll be the way.

But I know you went there, and I'm just but it's stingsy too, because like I know you called me, and I I know you know that when you call me, the selections already been made.

Not to say that I would just suck a candidate based on that, but I would have taken a harder look to see was there a reason why he wasn't selected, it just so when they come out with two, they still gotta pass the EMTB, they still gotta pass the EMTC to become firefighters.

EMT B, they pass if they don't have to have their EMT license to get into that municipal academy, that next that I'll say that second tier.

So like they do the high school program, they get basically province public schools have an agreement with C CRI, so CCRI teaches an EMT program.

But they also have to pass the C to be on the job if they don't, then then they have all the same requirements that any other firefighter province would have to have, they have to have as well.

Okay.

Is that gonna continue that program or that just was no?

Um, so in its first year we hired one, this second year we hired two.

Um, my hope and goal, and I believe it's gonna happen is we'll have five more hire this year.

And that's why in the FESCA that we're pressing, we're not asking for an academy because we only have two mandatory retirements, the vacancies will be able to absorb the CT candidates.

One last thing.

Of course.

And I know obviously there's a lot of new firefighters on the job.

Um, and I'm just hearing bugs, and maybe you can straighten this out for me.

That um, I guess I want to say the administration, meaning you is not cooperating with like for example, say a new firefighter is assigned to rescue and they go and they have two or three babies that die within a month or two, whatever the reason, job or SIDs or whatever.

They don't have that much sick time, they don't have that much because they're not on the job that long.

And I'm I'm hearing, and I don't know if it's true, that's why you're yeah, I'm asking, um, that you're making them use their own, like either their own sick, they're not being put off into like for a PPSD or whatever, not PS PTSD, thank you.

Um, that they have to use their own sick time of vacation, which personally, if that's happened, I think it's unfair to a new to anybody.

Right, but I I don't know if you can explain that more because you have them you have more new firemen under your watch than any other chief has ever had.

And I just I'm trying to get a better picture of how you're handling that type of incidents.

Yeah, um, so it's not exactly the case as usually is.

Um, so last year Ron John Sembly passed that PTSD presumptive law.

And so effectively it makes PTSD or stress-related claims just like any other IOP claim.

So, what happens is I know you know it, from pretending like you're not here.

Um firefighter submits an IOD claim, at that point, the sec eventually uh effectively just a person attesting to I'm injured, I'll call PTSD an injury, even though we know it's not a broken leg.

Um, and so that attestation triggers alright, provide a medical note, and then if for whatever reason the city department, myself, or or really it's not me, but through our HR office, if there's some question as to whether or not this is a valid claim, it goes to that second doctor, and if there's a conflict there, it goes to a third doctor.

So problem specifically to PTSD claims, as you can imagine, there's not a whole lot of doctors or medical clinicians out there in that space, and it's even a smaller pool that want to take on uh I'll say they're not workers in conference, we don't have works complicated, workers' comp type claims, so that's the challenge.

So, what happens is while that process being adjudicator, sometimes it's really just waiting for them to provide a doctor's note, their ongoing sick time.

Once we get the notes in, they get reverted back to IOD from the day of their um PTSD or stress claim.

And to date, not a single person has been denied, everyone's finished back their sick time.

And no one's been gone without pay.

What typically happens is if they don't have enough sick time and don't have vacation time, the CBA allows uh the chief department to approve up to 15 sick days followed from future banks.

And so as just like a policy perspective, I just auto-approve those knowing that most of the time we're gonna credit you your time back anyhow.

So far, I know for some folks, they get annoyed or irritated or whatever the word is you want to utilize because they see someone go out from uh an infant passing or something like that, and then on their own sick time.

But it's just a bureaucratic process.

It's not like we're actually taking their sick time from them, they're getting it all for store.

Eventually they get it back.

Yeah, but they're not seeing it too good in a week or two.

Yeah, and it used to happen a lot more when on traditional injuries like broken leg where they don't go and get treated at the hospital, they decide to go to their own doctor, and then there's like a misunderstanding with their own doctor that no, like it's not workers comp, it's it's kind of the same blue cross that you can give us the documentation, and that is the hang up.

It's the just slow, arduous process of getting the paperwork to us, getting the notes to us.

But so far we haven't denied, and I'll say we've had a significant increase in those claims too.

So it but none of them have been denied.

So I guess like to go further with that, is there something that we or you guys or can agree or for to address this in a future contract, like a PTS?

Because PTSD is never run.

And I'm gonna go for even further with like what can we or what can the department do in the number of suicide firefighters that have happened in the last four or five years, we've had three or four that have happened.

You know, I don't know if it's because I don't know what the deals with, but we I've never heard of so many fire active firemen and can been around a while that have actually committed suicide being active.

Um I'm not saying it's your fault, but I'm just saying what can we do as a city to address that.

Yeah, we've been struggling because uh similar to recruitment, it's not specific to us.

Warwick and Cranson have had a uptick, nationally there's been an uptick.

Um what I'll say is we do our point schools, we had a mental health commission come in, and then really what you're trying to do is give them more access to different levels of care.

You know, traditionally we've had our employee assistance program that's run through the union.

Um that's more based on once a person like solicits help.

Okay, here we're trying to develop a way to have kind of help like brought to your doorstep.

Like instead of waiting for you to call and go find it, you almost have to say no, I don't want it because it's right there in front of you.

I I think it gets a little sticky or it's uh it gets a little uncomfortable when it's the administration saying, Hey, go see a doctor, because now it's just like, well, do I trust that doctor because Silva's the one pushing it?

And I so I don't know what that balance is at this point.

We're still trying to figure out kind of how we back around more services.

Um Chief Schumann, the uh chief administration and I, but then we meet with another clinician to maybe just have them embedded in the stations and just come not like work there, but like come in every so often and just like have lunch with everybody and just talk to them.

But to your point about like handling the claims, a hundred percent has to be enough collective buying agreement for the future, because right now the contract divisions, just like the kind of the uh retirement orange divisions, like a true injury, like it doesn't envision something that's not tangible, like a broken leg that you can't see and touch.

Um so I don't and I think when that PTSD law passed, the state it really didn't go deep enough in terms of like how do these claims get adjudicated or how they get processed, because that that's that's the hang up is finding doctors that want to get with seeing younger people, the 18-year-olds coming on the job.

So they went from high school to be a fireman.

They could be more affect uh affected by their first job.

Yeah, so they've never done anything else except go to school here.

So they might take it different than older people like you in the other.

And also my last question.

Sorry.

Um, when they had like the Brown University uh shooting, do you guys still do like a debriefing afterwards, like with the guys to say, you know, anybody needs help or talk about it about this again, same thing.

Younger department, we've never had that happen in as long as I can remember in the city.

Um so cap will retire captain Lancelotti is still in charge of the EAP.

So he came around to stations, um, and then as the command staff, uh, we had three different opportunities for those that responded um to just talk through the whole scenario, like what happened, what occurred.

Um I know for sure one firefighter was out with stress over there.

It might have been a second one.

I can't remember off the top of my head.

Both of them were covered and we took care of them and now they're back to work.

But yeah, no, it was for sure that's something that's a little more extreme.

Is that like gonna be, I know you mentioned point schools, is that like a point school in the future to follow up on obviously you talk to them, they come back to work, then they see someone else that might get shot and it might trigger something.

But is it something that in the future at that point school we just wrapped up?

We did it, it was um March.

Okay.

Um, and that was uh Dr.

Cole Sawyer.

Um she's out of New Hampshire, but she's kind of on that national circuit in terms of public safety um prevalence and stress, and really what her teachings were about were like recognizing what's going on and really understanding it so that you can identify that yes, you know, I should go talk to somebody.

Was it wasn't so much like clinical in terms of like let's figure it out today.

It's just kind of giving you all the identification of like why things occur, what occurs, a lot of stuff we all know, diet exercise, so yeah, and uh we're gonna maintain that comfortable.

Okay.

Um thank you.

Awesome questions, uh, Councilman Taylor.

I think this is a very important conversation.

Would you thank you for uh what appears your willingness to be committed to this type of work?

Um any working environment, you know, especially when it's dominated by males, sometimes it's difficult to have these conversations.

Uh, but I think it starts at the top in changing that work culture and work environment, and sounds like uh you're moving in that direction, so we definitely appreciate it.

Councilwoman Peterson.

Thank you very much.

Hi, Chiefs.

Oh, that you might have to find a different place.

Um I first wanna say thank you.

We've had a couple of major um fire needslash emergency needs in my with in my warden or an hour ward, and I wanted to make sure that I just said thank you.

Um the firehouse in board 14 is exceptional.

Um these guys have come out to multiple calls.

I mean, obviously they all do, right?

But just the extent of the level of quality of care and the approach with neighbors all around has been really wonderful, and neighbors often respond about how um approachable all of you are.

So thank you very much for that.

Um I actually I'm gonna go back and forth a little bit, and I forgive me if I missed anything as I was coming in a little bit late.

Um with regards to the safer grant.

Can you see me sorry?

Um do you remember when the first time safer grant funds were received?

Yeah.

Can you tell the the date or like the year?

Exactly about two years ago.

Two years ago.

Um and were any how many um firefighters have been sworn in through the grant?

Or with get funds, sorry.

60.

60, okay.

And they're trained and hired through those uh yes.

Okay.

Um one account is going on right now.

What okay?

Thank you.

Um I don't foresee there being based on my experience with FEMA, but I don't um foresee there being a removal of any of that.

Um, but in the event of a potential change in that, do we have a plan B in place or something?

Yeah, and then and that's what I'll say like you know, this budget is actually going down in total over current fiscal year.

Yeah, so that's like a I'll say exaggerated decrease.

Um the next USPA we'll see a little bit of an uptick.

One cost of living increases, etc.

But also um the normalization of that callback, right?

Like I don't have another layer where it decreases further.

It's gonna kind of just stay flat and then go up year over year.

But recognizing even absent any safer funding at all, and if we were just paying for it as a city, I I don't have it with me today, but I ran a bunch of different stress tests on terms of where the number of firefighters in total should we should have as a fire department to kind of keep that balance of efficiency.

Yeah, it is 460.

Still 460.

Okay.

So at 460, we're still saving about I'm gonna use a ballpark number, about 30,000 per firefighter in terms of callback to the salary, right?

Um after that, it it really is dependent on like how many injuries do we have?

What else is going on significantly?

Um that's why I say like this budget goes down a lot because we're getting that full benefit of the savings and callback and also not paying for the salary income.

These people were paying for the salary, the salary would not come up as high as the callback savings.

Callback statements would still be great.

Yeah.

Um going back to kind of the callback, um we noticed that you have about 16 employees that are about 32 years in.

Do you have any um anticipation that they're gonna be retiring?

And if so, I know that you said you might have said that you allotted for two retirements that are kind of pending, but what is the um what would be the change to the callback situation that we're kind of you've done such a great job of managing?

Yeah, so part of it is word of mouth in terms of like most of them don't keep it quiet that they're gonna leave.

Um doesn't want a big festivity at the 32 mile deal.

For sure, too.

Um, and then I have speculation of like another third or fourth going.

Um we have about five CTE candidates that are pretty much ready to start.

We have this Fox Reserve and Municipal Academy, assuming that they finished the last couple um whoops the other jumper I'll say.

Yeah, um, so those will absorb those and then we're there's a little bit of savings too.

Like right now, for example, we have 18 in the academy, but on the street, so there's a few vacancies out there, so we're still saving that salary money that pretty closely offsets each other.

Okay, thank you.

I think we're just gonna think about the how many uh firefighters retired uh so far in this fiscal year.

I don't know in this fiscal year currently, but our average is about 15 a year.

Uh a couple of years ago.

Yes, I do.

I'm so sorry.

My daughter texted me.

Sorry.

I um I'll have that to my too.

Um can we talk about hazmat?

We could talk about whatever you want.

I've learned a lot about hazmat in the past year.

Um I kind of want to know how much um we actually utilize hazmat in um in the city of Providence.

We've had this conversation before, but not often.

Not often, right?

No.

So we have a vehicle.

Um is every firefighter trained for hazmat, or do the firefighters have a special it's a voluntary team.

Okay.

It's about 25 on the team with that training.

Um they typically train off duty, they utilize grant funding for that training, and even that truck was purchased with grant funding.

So from that respect, even though it's a low volume kind of incident, I'm not too annoyed with that fact because it's not our funding right now.

Um, I would argue that it became city funding that the state needs to kind of revamp how it works.

We've had this discussion, and I don't want to get too far over my schemes.

Yeah, but I just think simply for the size of around, we just have too many teams.

Yeah.

So not enough of them go out enough to be utilized to the extent that we should be utilizing.

Yeah.

Um even like as an example of Providence pushed it out and said about new internet.

Yeah.

I've seen the truck team sitting in the warehouse.

Um, not of warehouse and province.

Um the question I have as a follow-up to the hazmat is do the firefighters receive an additional change in pay as a result of having that extra expertise?

No.

Okay.

Um we assumingly that um make it up to five fighter graves wanted to be on the hazmat team, she would raise her hand and say I want to be on the hazmat team, that next time we have a hazmat tech program, she'll be given time off to attend and then over time to get the training, and then kind of knowing that all the continuing net training will be over time.

So like that's kind of like the little bit of the carrot, I guess, but there's no increase in base salary or anything.

Okay.

And then my last question is um with regard, I know that W commissioner uh Richards is segueing out, and I know how um how much work she does to be able to support in the financial aspect of everything the fire department does.

Is the fire department going to be taking on some of the grant um available?

I know she's done so much and she's been such a great um manager of all of it.

I just wondered if you guys were going to be kind of moving those things on to different chiefs or somebody else in your um in your that's really a partnership.

Um, so I'll just make up as soon as Elaine left tomorrow.

Um I would hope it would be someone that would fill that role to do because the part that she does is more like the financial arm of it, where she works very closely with, depending on like Safe Grant, you know, it was me authoring it and her kind of editing it and us going back and forth to get whatever our um uh narrative was going to be for that grant application, or like another one, it might be Chief Schumann or someone else on the command staff.

Um so like we have that working knowledge ability, but really we still need that like fiscal arm person to kind of do the that piece of it.

I was just curious because I know that it's um there's a potential opportunity of employment for somebody else, so I just wanted to kind of see how that would if there was more of an opportunity for some of that um more daunting description to compliance act of the fact once you get the funding.

But let me tell you, as a person that does that on a daily basis, I get it.

Um the last thing I'll say is that um thank you very much for having your um chiefs come to our community meetings.

I know that they come to mind.

Um one thing I'll advocate for is for our community members to hear about the opportunities that the fire department has available.

We have minor quarterly only, but one thing I think is um really great about the community meetings in Ward 14 is that you get a different bunch every time.

Um so different people are coming in, and perhaps they I mean we still have a lot of families in the neighborhood, so maybe um just that opportunity to hear that there's an opportunity available.

Um please have them bring it up because I think it's super helpful.

Thank you.

And I'll say too, like we usually think the duty cheap servers on that ship.

But if you maybe have a specific topic you want to cover and want me and a staff to come, like we're more than welcome, we're more than willing to come.

I do have one.

Um lithium batteries is a big topic right now.

I just want to make sure that we've got a few incidents in the last few weeks too.

Yeah, so something like that um for the next time.

I think that's awesome.

Councilwoman Graves.

I just want to piggyback on Councilwoman Peterson's thing.

I I do appreciate the guys coming to all my monthly meetings.

And they do get up and you give us the spiel on whatever's going on.

And you know, they're they're fabulous.

The guys are fabulous, and sometimes I switch up, but a lot of times we have the same ones, but everybody's welcome.

Thank you so much.

I've never had you guys at any time.

Ah, well, you can get that.

It's coming up.

Uh yeah, Kyle, can we open the doors again?

Yeah, too.

Um Councilwoman Graves, Almore Davidson.

Do you guys have any questions for uh locality?

I I don't have any questions, but I I gotta say um five period of time that I've been here.

I'm very, very pleased and happy with your leadership and just hearing the council people talk about transparency being in the neighborhood, and you know, getting to know the people that you serve is beautiful, you know.

And I you know, I've always uh admired you, you've been one of my fans from the very beginning.

So thank you for being here tonight.

That's all I wanted to say, Mr.

Tier.

Awesome.

Thank you for the gentleman.

There's you have seconded.

Okay.

Truly grateful if you've been very kind to me as I've gotten up to the start.

It's been great having the uh department at our monthly community meeting staff actually.

Surely hope we're tonight by one of 6 30.

Thank you.

Um does anyone else have any questions?

I have a couple just to wrap up.

Um thank you so far, uh, Chief.

Um I always get uh you know, a lot of compliments and a lot of words of encouragement when you know people see the the bike program in downtown.

Um usually the follow-up question to for someone that doesn't represent uh downtown is how do we get this in our neighborhood?

How do we expand in other parts of the city?

What what would uh the pathway to to do something like that be?

Yeah, part of it is identifying like an area where there's like enough, like I'll say people walking around and foot traffic, like not to say that's the only area, but like a Hope Street example, like for Apples Avenue or areas where like that bicycle will like also have an impact on folks that are out and about.

Um downtown program effectively half of the year is funded through the CARA Act uh grant that we have.

Um what that allows us to do is it's really about like um overdose intervention and open load interdiction.

So the funding was specific to the rates of where our overdoses are occurring or where knocking is being deployed, and I'm sure it doesn't come to surprise anyone that like this area has a high need for it, or at least the the running data shows it.

Um doesn't mean we can't expand it.

Um but if anyone has like an area that they'd be interested in deploying it, then we can figure it out.

If it's not like uh like uh councilman Taylor had asked, it's a voluntary program, but we have well enough uh fibers that are willing to work it.

That was awesome.

Like logistically speaking, uh, would it be possible to have like another team like rotating in different parts of the city?

Like one day they're in one part, another day they're they're another part.

Like I don't know like what logistically something like that would look like.

Yeah, I mean we need we would need a small investment, like nothing to sound silly about it, but we don't even have a bicycle rack.

What they do is they talk to personally.

You guys they ride down Washington Street from public safety to get to here.

So not a heavy hurdle to overcome, just those small things we would need to figure out like is there a small SUV with a bike rack that we can do to deploy in another part of the city.

Um for a little while we were doing it in like the Fricker Street area around like the Elmwood Brocks Street Triangle over there.

Um it worked for a while, and like and probably we may do it again because of the summer time when there's more students like kind of lingering in that area after school.

Um so we have practice deploying it other places, but also over there they can grab the bike at public safety and ride right over there.

Um again, not a big hurdle, it's something we can definitely.

Yeah, that that that part of the city definitely makes sense to me, especially um, you know, there's so many students out.

Um I'm gonna be jumping all over the place.

Uh you know, I I I really appreciate the the conversation of Providence residents and in-house or traditional uh academies.

Um are in those uh CTE, BBSD collab.

It's about 12 a year.

And is that how many students are interested, or is that like capped with resources?

It's capital resources in terms of PBSD.

Um there has been discussions about increasing it to even 25 that um the school company has mentioned where my apprehension comes from increasing it is we don't have the attrition rates as a department.

No, it hasn't happened yet, but assume all of them wanting to pursue job in the fire department.

I don't want to get to a place where I'm encouraging them to go to a program and then not actually have a job for anything.

Right.

The numbers we have now, even if 100% of them follow through, we can absorb 100% of them now.

Um that would be my only concern about experience here.

I'll say one of my complaints about the program is it's specific to central high school.

We don't as a firepart, we don't control that.

It's a part of public school decision.

Uh at least my understanding of it is that the school department wants every high school to kind of have its thing as to what's attractive to it to go there for different programs for it.

Um, and so I guess the way they state it is to say that well, if you're a whole high school student, you can still apply to the program, and if you're accepted, you have to transfer center high school.

Now, what I would argue against that is what junior at a high school is gonna leave their friends and their established kind of report with teachers and et cetera, and leave for their senior year to go to the high school.

I don't see that happening, but that's I'm I guess I'm defending to you now.

But that part of the program we don't control that as a promise from the school student control.

No, I really appreciate you saying that because I mean I definitely wasn't aware.

Um I was under the assumption that any Providence uh student that lived in the city uh had that opportunity.

And officially they can because they can do the transfer, right?

I mean, that's something we could definitely uh talk to the school, see if there's any wiggle room.

Um just to clarify, so out of the 12 that have historically taken that class, um we've said that year one there was one, year two.

Is that the only are those the only kids or or or young people that uh had interest uh after completing that to continue, or was there other hurdles that they in that first year?

We pretty much we got the one that really wanted to pursue it.

Um, and then these two.

Um the hurdle that we're having is more so with the female candidates, and it's passing the physical agility test.

Uh it's it's quite onerous.

Um but that's why I'm comfortable because what we've been doing is kind of we still meet with those students every month about at the division of training and kind of coach them and kind of point them in different ways to get training and get ready to take the agility, and that's why I am comfortable that I think the three that we've hired are all the males.

There's two females that I'm pretty confident we're gonna hire uh this calendar year.

Um assuming they pass the other hurdles that need to pass.

And to me, like that's part of it too, is just I think once one student sees someone like them get through the process, it's like all right, I can do it too.

Because not everybody wants to be a trailblazer, so we want to just see that there's already helped me environment for it.

That's a very good point.

Um, just uh the last two questions really I have.

Um back to the the safer grant.

Um this is probably for like finance too.

Um what like stress has like what's like the near future planning um in terms of taking absorbing these costs once once the grant comes to to an end.

Um you know it's it's certainly part of our five-year projection.

So every year the finance department prepares a five-year report, we we presented to city council, um, it get for beauty and committee.

Um, when we are preparing that, we're thinking of these things.

Um the finance department's pretty uh uh when we prepare this five-year projection, we make no assumptions on changes in tax rates.

So we are always assuming that the tax rates will stay flat and that the bulk of our revenue that is generated will become naturally come naturally from the growth of the levy and/or re-evaluations as they occur.

Um, and so I can say that we're forecasting and planning for this, but um, you know, at this point, uh, you know, we're just hoping that the levy continues to expand and that we're able to then absorb these costs.

And to the chief's point, um, we are seeing some savings in callback and overtime currently, and so um, you know, it will be a struggle, it's gonna be something we have to think about and work for, but you know, most things are, right?

Um, and that's what this whole process is for.

So I don't have crystal ball to tell you exactly how we're gonna fill the budget gap, but it's gonna be some sort of combination of finding revenue and reducing expenses, or just finding revenue.

And then you guys add to her point.

Um that was part of the reason for applying that second safer brand.

It was intentional to wait another year so that it wasn't a cliff but that point drying up, and then we have to resolve it all.

So now it's kind of like there's a second-tier tour, so it kind of drops a little bit, and then we still have another year and a half to figure it out in the next fiscal year after that.

Um last question.

Um, so just to confirm, I'm sorry if I missed the is there no anticipated uh after the current academy, or is there a few is there a another academy uh either traditional or lateral uh anticipated to happen in the next fiscal year?

No plan of doing a like a full academy in this post-fiscal year.

Uh FY20, yes.

Uh the idea is to pass that net now so that by FY20 ready.

However, we will more than likely be hiring those five or so CG candidates as statistical.

And that should eat up the vacancies that we have.

So is there funding and this budget for recruitment for for that?

No, no.

I guess the idea that it is something to do with that with local use, I was just making sure that that's not the same.

Correct, there's no funding for for recruitment in fiscal year 27 for the fire department.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Um Chieps Award.

No, thank you guys.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, guys.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So I think that's like a hot last thing.

I guess we might exactly change.

Is this uh all the time?

So we're gonna be using the CIP book.

Um I directly to the department pages to copy as the cyber article source.

Um I drill um I got it.

So you guys have to display my thoughts.

Okay, I got us.

And then we can't have a problem.

And maybe these are not emergency by the motion to answer this uh exhibit seven.

So by the way, all those in favor, uh, and nay.

All right, Crystal, how are we gonna uh so if you don't mind, I would like to just kind of walk through quickly um what the CIP book is and how it's set up so you guys understand the best way to read through this.

Um, and then I will um call departments up if you're okay with that one at a time to review their budget.

Um we would like to start with the department of parts because Superintendent Nilson has another commitment tonight, so I'll try to make my overview somewhat brief.

Um we did have a quick preview of what will be in the CIP at our budget overview last week.

Um so I don't have a lot of updates in that, but I will want to make sure that you understand that this book has been presented in a format that provides you with a copy of the proposed tackle improvement plans ordinance.

It is broken down all of our projects by a funding source, including future projects which are unfunded at this point in time.

And then we've broken them down further by departments.

This year, what's new is we've added some spotlight projects that departments have been working on so we can see in real time where we're at with our capital dollars, which is once we planned over last year.

Um and you know, one thing to keep in mind that for all of the projects that are currently funded, we do have commitments and have told bondholders that that is what we will be expending these dollars on.

So aside from adjusting things for spend or costs that may come in over under budget that do not have a tremendous amount of flexibility in repurposing dollars that have already been committed to a project.

Okay.

Yes, it was important.

Yes, certainly.

So when you look through these pages, for example, on page 80, you'll see the parks department.

Some of these projects will end in accounts that have zero zero.

These are projects that are not funded at this time that we are planning for and we'd like to ask for aspirationally due in the future year.

Things that end in a 26 are proposed to be funded with the new 25 million dollars CIP bond in fiscal year 2027, and those are certainly up for negotiation.

Items that end in 25 or 20 are items that have been previously committed and are projects that are underway, and really we do not have a lot of flexibility in repurposing those dollars at this time because these projects have been committed to to the bondholders, and in some cases are under contract, and so we do not have flexibility in repurposing dollars for those projects.

So just to make sure, so projects ending in 26 are potential be able to be negotiated.

Correct.

Potential to the new 26 and or if there's a project that you would like to see on here in future years so that we're planning for it, that is certainly something that we'd be amenable to adding into the schedule.

Awesome.

Uh-huh.

The only exception to the 26 rule, there's going to be one.

Um, under public property, there's an allocation for building improvements at 444.

Those improvements are tied to the acquisition of 444 Westminster, and the total amount of funding is going to be dependent on the amount of bond premium we receive when we close on that bond this year.

And so, because of the nature of that issuance, those dollars cannot be spent on anything other than improving corporate licensing.

So, if there's no additional questions, I will uh have Director Nielsen or Superintendent Nielsen join me.

Yeah, absolutely.

Uh, and we can kind of walk through what is proposed uh in her budget.

The spreadsheets um are effectively all of the same information.

The only difference is we pulled out all of the unfunded things and kind of grouped similar projects together.

Um, parked, you'll see Adrian Hall State Park.

We've put a bar in there so you can see both of the funding allocations we have for that project.

Okay.

Uh superintendent.

Superintendent, how are you?

How are you?

Just so you know, at the event I'm going to is the volunteer appreciation event or parks.

So you're all welcome to come just for an A, but that's why I'm rushing out.

I wouldn't normally do that.

Where's it up?

It's at the casino.

Oh that's why I'm not there, sorry to hear.

Yeah, that's okay.

That's why I'm not there.

So it works out.

Um, but thank you for accommodating me.

Of course, thank you.

Um I think at this point in time, none of these projects are dramatically new other than the items that are being proposed in the uh 25 million dollar bond.

Um, of most of that money is being dedicated towards India Point Park, which is tied to is also being um tied to a federal earmark if I interview our director, as well as uh as well as uh as well as grant funding.

Um I'm not sure if we want to know we we did a presentation on kind of the status of all of these a month ago, so I'm not sure at this point in time if you want to ask questions that you have or if there's anything specific that I guess to get into on this list.

Um committee members, I would you guys want to run through it quickly, you want um, I I heard we wasn't here, but I I did watch the Zoom.

Um so I think we can just ask general questions if anyone has any uh counseling.

Thank you.

And Lindy, you know, I think you're like a gift for that.

So thank you for everything.

And um, my overall question, just in general, is like since we only see FY27, but not like what have been proposed, because these are always five-year projections.

Are there things that shifted in your planning between when we saw the five-year projection last year and then what's the funded now?

Does that question make sense?

Well, I think so, because we're working within a budget of 25 million this year, and as much as I would love to use every penny of that for parks, we are only one department of many, and so it really is sort of triaging which projects are real priority, haven't received funding before, are going to be used for leverage funding or to mitigate uh a more serious situation, which is a case of operating.

So I would say in general, counselor, you would expect these project values to change, so you know, because we would expect work to be happening, right?

Yeah.

So for example, when we're looking at citywide water parks, there's only 37,000 proposed in fiscal year 2027, whereas we had 449,000 in last year's CIP.

That changes because that much work is expected to be done in this one year.

Okay, yeah.

So there's always a little bit of trueing up.

What is what is hard, and I haven't quite figured out the best solution for, and I don't know if there is a best solution for, is these budgets are proposed by our departments and project managers.

Really, you know, they were due January 2nd, I want to say, like right after the Christmas holiday, right?

So at that point in time, we're making some very big assumptions of the work that will be completed between January and June.

Yeah.

And so there are often times where we think we can complete more or less, and so there will always be adjustments in the next year's CIP to account for you know where we may have been off a little bit on our expenditure.

So that is also some of the fluctuations.

In general, if you see a line item increasing, that is what's happened.

Is last year we had assumed that there would be a like more money spent in the spring of 2025, and it was not expended.

However, we want to keep those dollars allocated to that existing project, so we're keeping them there so that we can continue to spend in the future years.

Okay, that's helpful.

Yeah, more um that is really helpful.

And my question is also like I'm gonna just pick on the first one alphabetically, though I'm not implying anything about this because I know it's touching one, but yeah, for Adrian Hall State Park, like less the whole thing that was proposed was gonna be 550, I think.

And so just making sure that like it didn't we're not planning for less or different, like between years without like a heads up, but I think you've just no, that's exactly what we're trying to do, and that's why we've created these very complicated coding systems so that we can track when things are unfunded, when we're funding them, how we're funding, and we can then group by project titles.

Um it's been a tremendous amount of work, and actually a lot, they're very colorful are our capital bond analysis color codes things, which I'm very supportive of.

Um so you know, again, it's it's not perfect.

We are still doing our best to try to present a lot of very detailed information to you all so that you understand what this is.

Um, but I think it's really important that we have the ability to both budget for dollars that we have in hand and also budget in a way where we're proactively thinking about what our needs are gonna be and for the future.

I can say that building the list of what we were proposing for this current CIP bond was tremendously easier than it has ever been because we were able to start with something and then pick from there, whereas previous years you're kind of starting with a blank slate and trying to figure out where you're gonna program from.

Yeah, um, so I do envision that as we continue to make improvements in the capital budgeting process and we continue to you know empower our project managers to have access to data, this process will get even smoother and we'll get even more accurate in how we're doing these things.

No, this is really helpful with all the things so I appreciate it.

Yeah, of course.

Thank you.

Uh just a quick comment is I think we are gonna try to get in the routine of uh either quarterly or at least uh more frequently uh you know, bringing in CIP and just the kind of goal and updates because we spend a lot of time uh around this time discussing it and then um you know, obviously as counselors we were in touch with the departments on specific projects, uh but in terms of being aware of what's going on uh citywide.

I think we need to tie that up on our end, so a heads up.

I think that's the routine we're gonna try to get into going forward.

I certainly welcome that.

I think talking about our capital stuff is some of the like fun things I get to talk about.

Um so I certainly certainly welcome the opportunity to come in and speak on one of these things are uh councilwoman Peterson.

Thank you.

Um the things that are allotted for um sorry, the projections of funding for the parks that are in here.

Are there specific projects already aligned with them?

So, for example, I'm looking at Fargnoli Park that has a projection on uh I believe it's 27, I'm sorry, 28 and 29, maybe.

Um, are there specific things that are already we're looking to target for that market?

Yeah, we have things in mind for that.

For instance, at Farnoli, we know one of the things that we were value engineer at the projects would evolve fields and fencing around that.

So that was uh one of the things that we had to identify in that.

Of course, when we get closer to that time, things may change along that line too.

So and we always involve the community that we do.

So um we're approaching the 10 years on that, and that's how I got my start in all of the things that have to do with city services.

So I'm very, very um keen and looking forward to what's going to happen over there.

Um but there are new community members in, and they all have um a lot of great up um ideas as they're raising their families here.

We had visions when we had our toddlers, and now our toddlers are teenagers, so um more opportunities for different ideas and different um things to do in the in the park are things that I've talked with amongst neighbors, not only in my ward but in the um the ward next door.

So I would love to make sure that we continue the opportunity for the friends of Fargnoli to kind of thrive and have new um new input from different community members that are newer to the community now.

Absolutely.

One of the things that we do is that when we're doing a park improvement project, we you know, a lot of what we're doing is also working toward accessibility and making sure things that you know didn't necessarily happen over the years.

Um, and we keep such exquisite data on all of our parts, what pieces break, what things need done, all of that sort of thing.

So when we're making we're making these projections, we're including all of that data, and we know that the life cycle of a playground on average is 15 to 20 years, right?

So we want to plan ahead for that and have those things, and then it's marrying out with what the community wants as well.

So that's that's uh that's where the real artwork is, and why I think it's really beneficial that we have our own design team.

Yeah, you know, many of whom live in Providence and live in these communities, and and you know, take the owner into these places as well.

Can I ask two more questions?

Thank you.

Um the other one thing that I wanted to make sure that I address about Fargnoli Park was the um, I forgot the name of it.

The the water splash pad.

Splash pad, thank you.

I couldn't remember the name.

We do have a little bit of a water issue every every single time um uh the summertime comes and people try to use the bathrooms, but they can't use the bathrooms because the flash pad is on and the splash pad, um, then the toilets don't work if you go into the bathroom.

So it's kind of a whole thing that's been an ongoing process, but the part that is the most interesting is that um the people that are managing the splash pad area are some of our rec um youth uh in that are working, and so I'm sure that they have absolutely no idea what to do when it comes to trying to figure out how to do that other than close the door so you can't use the bathroom here.

So we've had um neighbors say, hey, there's a problem that we can't use a bathroom that's close by, and um the the baseball fields um the structure for the little league that's there where they do a lot of their selling that has a bathroom, but it's only open during little league time.

So there's a whole thing that has is starting to brew with regards to bathrooms during splash pad season.

Um so it's just something that I wanted to put out there while we're talking here to make sure that we address.

I believe we rectified that last summer what the issue was.

Um, but if not, I will certainly look back and confirm that for you.

And if not, then we'll I think it's a reoccurring thing because we also had the same issue the year before and the year before that, and they also were we thought we had rec fixed it, but um hopefully hopefully you're you might be right.

All right, I will triple thank you that it's not well on it.

And then my last question is with regards to Iola French.

Um I see here that we're obviously I'm driven by at least um I know that we're well in progress.

Um, but the description in here really just talks about the softball field, and I want to make sure that um what was presented to the community is still very open and active and available.

Um there's a lot of we have outside of BZ Street School is where Iola French is, and while WZ Street has their own playground structure, we actually also have two or three daycares that are local that utilize um Iola French as our space um to bring their kids, and while it's been down, it's been a little bit tough, but it's feedback that we've gotten from local neighbors that have said we want to just make sure that all of these things are still in play because they did attend the meeting to ensure that um some of their voices and the things that they wanted were available to them.

Yeah, I will tell you that that is under contract.

If it's not under construction already, then it might be tomorrow.

It's that close.

Um so I think that was um that contract was just signed, and um we are if you remember with the footsall field that we were um the budget was such that we were going to do just a natural turf one, but we did some accounting today and found a little more money under the cushion and are going to be able to order a turf field like the ones that we have been putting predominantly in council embarguses for.

Um so there's really the really the ones that um uh are um they are almost like carpet squares, yeah.

For uh for uh and they already get damaged as kids you know that because we're pleased, they weren't the recreating and so that that they get damaged, and so rather than having to redo a football field of 400,000 dollars, you can just replace a piece of it.

The I don't believe it's a playground appointment was in that, but that was not no, I don't remember off the top of my head, but that's probably up and coming project that was.

Yeah, yeah.

So we have that.

I mean, the good thing about it is the whole entire park is master plan, so it's funding becomes available, we can peel off pieces of that to do that.

But um, I did spearhead the the um outdoor classroom space for the school and getting grant funding for that for years that we've gotten to know the school and making everything school yard and really have great affection and appreciation for that.

So it's really well used, so we definitely appreciate that.

I think um it's a little bit hard when the daycare there in school is in session.

Um but they're making good yeah, be nice to have the stuff open.

Yeah, thank you.

Um I just also wanted to say one final thing, and I'll totally let you go, Wendy.

I was just really excited to see the North Braille Brown still on the list um for Mwayway 27 and then it's committed funds.

And um, I think you know the North Bail ground, but you know, I was at the Summit Neighborhood Association's annual like full big meeting this last week, Monday.

I don't know, sometime prerecently.

And a lot of folks were talking about the excellent program at the North Burrow ground, they were encouraging people going tours, and people were talking about that they were excited that they knew there were going to be things happening there because it's like an increasingly loved space.

It was already loved, but increasingly loved.

People are excited about the gateway project that Act is doing there.

Like there's just uh so because he's very excited that there's gonna be investment there, and it's increasingly loved big high fives to Ana Lisa who does such a great job.

But um, just wanted to say that people are talking about it and are very excited that they were good.

Wonderful, it's really nice to see it being integrated into the neighborhood.

It's just such an incredible asset as a salary session.

I don't know.

I just want to finish some.

Yeah, um, the Nut Burrow Ground came up in my community meeting last night, and they were talking about the clean house and how lovely it was.

So the words getting out.

Okay, we're barrel ground.

Well, I am I I encourage you to sign up for their social media.

They're so good because there's so much good stuff on it.

The moon talks they do at 8:30, there's one I think on the first, but it's on the parks Facebook page as well, where they do the Museum of Science and Analisa uh get together and they talk about the moon and they talk about the cemetery and who's buried in the cemetery and the history of the cemetery and also the history of the natural world at the same time.

And they it's a phenomenal talk.

It's at night, it's in the dark with flashlights, and it's so much fun.

And they're all free.

So low-key, the best sunset in the city is in our program.

Just the community library website.

Um I don't know if it's on the community library, but it's on it's on parks uh social media, but also North Burger.

River has its own social media, it's really good.

It'd be nice if you can get it on there because they have so many different groups going to each of the libraries, and I think it would be really great.

You're also a console group.

I got my hands in here.

Oh, I was like here.

Uh I just want to say this is my last budget, so that's why I'm doing the chair and then committee.

So this is how we started out now in this way.

I want to say for the class department.

We really appreciate you.

We appreciate the mission we have when I met you.

I met when the I said, I can't stand these high fences.

It looks like ACI after all of working on prison people.

Right.

And it looked like ACI.

She played one.

She's like, absolutely.

We all look the same around the city.

All of us.

We have equity.

And that's what I'm appreciate you because you know, probably they've always been like, why are we map out the east side of the city?

You know, it's always been that way.

But you showed everybody in the city and showed people, not children, how important they are.

I just want to say that as I leave when you put it on record.

Mr.

Cheer.

Yes.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you, Wendy, for having and working in our name of those soldier things.

Thank you, Councilman Harris.

Uh, any other questions for you?

Uh just quickly, um so there's a couple of projects on here uh the end in two zero.

Um are those expected to be completed in the in the near future.

Yes, those are expected to wrap up this index week at some point probably this summer.

Is there a I know we'll we'll get into it as we bring up the other departments, but is there a uh a good amount of projects from that bond still that need to wrap up?

Um yes.

So if you turn to a screen.

So if you turn to pages 22 and 23, you'll see all of the projects that are still remaining in those bond series.

Um we are vastly expecting to spend almost all of that in fiscal year 2027.

Um of the bigger holdovers of that bond is the EPW complex, which took a little time to get off the ground, but is moving tremendously quickly in the public properties guidance.

So yes, um, that is the other really push pressing item I have is like pushing to spend dollars as quickly as possible, and where possible if we have older dollars for a new project, spend the the the old money before the new money, just logically speaking, I think that makes sense.

Um so we've been doing a lot of work with the direct with departments of project managers to make sure that hey, if you've got money from you know the 2020 bond for this project, spend that first, even if that may not be how your POs were originally set up, so that we can at least get those dollars moving and out the door, and then we can you know keep the existing bond money and and send that once the ones we need to.

Great.

Um so can we quickly just there's there's there's there's three that end in two zero.

Um one fifty thousand, um, which is okay.

Um for the there's a Pleasant Valley Parkway at 150 and the Raja Room's park zoo at 150 as well.

Um what what's the what are those two projects?

Oh, I'm excited about that.

Okay, so the $50,000 is actually buying $920,000 in a federal year mark.

Yeah.

And so that project is um that's our match to this project, which is actually a very, very low match.

Um, and that is to connect all of the uh parks in Councilman Taylor's ward along the NASHOG ponds and connected with Garvin House, which is a place that we use for education and outreach and environmental education and stormwater education, which is what we also run our meals program from, um, as well as our urban wildlife um uh education programs.

Um there's an outdoor pavilion there, but none of the um you cannot get from one part to the other.

The trails are um overgrown or they they're they're locked by water, um, and so this is a project to not only do that but working with DPW to address the stormwater and that and also provide interpretive trails and education along with that.

So that is that project um which is going out to bid for um design very very soon.

Also um so that's all cued up.

What was the next one on uh Valley Parkway?

Desmond Valley Parkway.

So that was one we started uh quite a while ago and realized that the bridges actually did not need to be repaired, they needed to be replaced.

Um not one but two bridges, and so we have um identified the bridges and what they're gonna look like, which is really really exciting, but we needed additional funding from that.

So 150 it didn't make sense to repair those, so we in subsequent years kept up additional 500, and so that project is also all queued up to go out to ROP as well for we believe in engineering design build on it because we've already identified the bridges, um, which I think will be really dramatic and beautiful over there and really compliment the natural area as well as the architecture can neighborhood.

Next one of the zoo.

So that is for the remainder of the balance, I believe, on the um education centers, which um I just took a tour of yesterday with our folks at Ride them uh brought out the Department of Environmental Management that um that it may have been the penguins also, but I think it's closing out on that one.

Um but one of those two zoo buildings and uh of course the education center is is gonna be um magnificent, and I know that they've invited a lot of you all to go on those tours, and if you have it and you want one, let me know.

Yes.

Yeah, I'd definitely gotta schedule one of those here soon.

Should they let you need the pandas if you go?

So the red canvas.

So we can arrange a red panda meeting.

I guess we need the representatives and it was the best thing that happened to me all of 2025.

Yeah, okay.

Yeah, just I'm gonna show you the picture of the meeting.

Yeah, the more excited than you've ever seen anyone in your life.

Uh do you have any questions for parts?

Kyle Delgado is the project manager for the City Council for transparency.

Oh, Chairman.

Um here.

We talk every day.

So we do so.

I mean, I think Chairman, you tell us a lot upon the projects that were in the previous bonds.

So that was super helpful.

Wendy, if you can just talk a little bit, I may have missed this.

Any projects that were maybe moved up into this bond cycle or products that were deferred out.

And to you, this is really like the framework behind the prior prioritization behind what the projects got included in this one versus may have moved out of the sponsor.

Yeah, should we have to miss it?

I think so.

You're talking specifically about the $25 million bond project.

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So India Point Park, the funding in that.

The to do the entire adaptive shoreline for India Point Park is about a 20 million dollar project.

We've done by the end of this year, we would have done probably about three and a half million of work there.

So this is for we are for a federal earmark to do additional sections of India Point Park.

Again, this is an adaptive shoreline.

India Point Park is unique, but it is everyone's park.

So it's not just the neighborhood park, but it's a destination park, very much like Roger Williams Park is.

And that's all she wrote.

Thank you, uh Superintendent.

I don't have any further questions of any committee members on any.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Wendy, we sincerely appreciate you, and we'll see you in the near future.

Yeah, and if you get out of 4-8, come find us.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Up next on the agenda planning, do you want to move to them?

Crystal, uh, I'm gonna give you that responsibility and power to dictate uh who we hear in what order, because if there's anyone upset, then that will uh be directed towards you and not even.

Yeah, I love that.

Okay.

Um motion to enter eight into the record.

Don't move.

Second.

Motion made by Consul Airwall, second of council engraves, all in favor.

I need names.

I just have it.

Excellent.

Uh so the planning budget is on page one twelve uh of your budget books because it includes all of the projects both funded and unfunded.

Um the vast majority of the projects in here are matches related to larger projects.

Um I'm sure that's uh director Mogan or uh book the planner Christian Martin.

Thank you.

Uh also with the label uh find any information you can have on these projects for awesome.

Thank you.

Um Director Martin, I don't know if we've got uh nice to meet you.

I see it.

Thank you for having us or for being before us.

Thank you for having me.

Are you uh are you gonna kick us off, Crystal?

Or uh yeah, so again, um not a tremendous amount to report on here.

The bulk of the projects in this budget are matches for federal grants or class our grants passed to the state.

Uh there is one project proposed for the 2025 or 2027 bonds, and that is an alleyway redesign project, which is some exciting concept of the planning department to put together.

Um all their projects are well underway, many of which are completely to wrap up in this clear 2027.

Um check here if you have any questions on anything specific or you'd like us to walk through any three lines.

Thank you.

Um there are a few of the line items that are kind of generic, um, like read complete streets, grants match, safe streets for all grants match, public infrastructure improvements.

Can you like us pack what some of those projects are?

Like with parts we saw each part, but like do we know what's underneath these?

Yep.

Okay.

So ultimately see you guess HP.

Yeah.

Uh so uh green complete streets match, that is part of our uh federal funds matching with our federal funds for safe streets and roads for all uh grants.

We have two of those.

Um one of them is uh 27 million dollar grant, and the other one is just under two million dollars.

Um both are underway, uh, but those that's the matches are are our portion uh of that.

And do we know what other projects fall under that 27 million?

Like what streets we're talking about?

Yeah, so the 27 million one that includes Southwater Street, Broadway, um uh Fountain Street, um Square uh traffic implements.

Uh if we go to page 118, you'll see actually like a rendering of all of the things.

Oh, thank you.

Okay.

And do you have a sense of like when these are gonna be completed?

I get a lot just to unpack it.

I get a ton of questions about Southwater Street, like every week.

Sure.

For a software specifically, um, we are looking at construction this summer.

We're actually very close to ready to go.

Um we're just waiting for World Cup festivities to end, uh, so we're not interfering with the uh crowds that we're interested in for the and that's all under contract already, like we've approved contracts to do the construction or uh so yeah, so that's um we will have to go out to bid for that.

Um but that's into we're we're finalizing permits right now so that we have our full construction documents in hand so that we can do the big thing.

What's that timeline?

Yeah, no, that was a question.

So what's the timeline on that RFP?

Uh so that RFP will go out um fairly soon.

Um we're I think we I saw some emails today about CRMC finalizing those permits, and with those in hand we'll be able to pull that together.

Okay, and then that would still sorry if you're gonna do that.

And construction construction would look we're looking to start mid to end July, end of July.

Any other questions?

Um I wanted to understand like what this was to approve the end.

Oh, actually I do have two other questions.

What are um can you talk about the decreases we've seen the change from adopted for the USBOT raise?

And we don't ask you to talk about Robert Greenway, like why the why the change for adopted is a negative.

So those are those are projects that are going to be completed.

Yeah, correct.

I just want to make sure.

Oh sorry, an earlier I didn't get it.

Um can you talk a little bit about Trinity Square?

And um something that's been out there for a while, um, but maybe understanding of like what the status is, or where it went from 10 million to six million, it's there's a lot of moving parts that are still kind of unknown.

I I'd love to be able to know a little bit more if possible.

Yeah, so the reason that's been pushed out so much is because of utility work that's been happening there.

Um it's something that I know that between us and DPW were prioritizing to make make something happen there, but uh that was something that just couldn't happen for this year because of the utility work that's happening in that area.

Uh just to build up on that question, if if you allow me, uh Councilwoman Pearson.

Um, and obviously this isn't Councilwoman Harris's award, so feel free to jump in.

Um for my understanding, this uh has been uh plann since 2017.

Thank you.

Um at what point, what leverage does the city have uh to pressure the utility companies to do the work uh rather sooner than later?

One or two years, I I think anyone in this room understands um six, seven, eight, nine, ten years, I I think is unacceptable.

What what I guess what what can you do from your position?

Uh what can DPW do?

Obviously, they can answer that question.

Um that's um yeah, I mean, working with our colleagues at DPW, we try to you know, we do our best to let them know what our priorities are and what our projects are what projects are happening and when, and so we let them know when that's happening, and we can do that only so much, but then you know they do end up coming in and doing work.

Um, so I I don't know if we as a planning department have as much leverage, but um you know we we communicate with them as much as possible to to let them know that this is the work that we're trying to do and to coordinate with any kind of work that they need to do in there.

We can't stop emergency work that might happen right now, but um so when the communication is happy with them.

Are they aware of like the like the money uh that's uh tied to uh the the projects?

Like there's there's timelines on these bonds, so I'm sure that that's part of the the conversation.

Yeah, I mean that's a good point, and that's something that we should absolutely be uh making clearer to them if it's not already clear to them.

Sorry.

Can I say a question about that?

Yeah, of course.

Do we ever um loop in their the utilities regulator, the public utility commission, let them know about these lags because they're supposed to be regulating and making sure that like yes, they are supposed to they have to have access to their infrastructure, but if it's impeding city services, that seems like something the regulator should be aware of.

Um I don't know if David's done that or others, but I haven't been part of that kind of conversation.

I'm not sure if my other colleagues in other departments have, but one one or two years seems like what else, but nine years is like totally unacceptable.

I don't know.

I won't make you put on the stuff, Greg, but I am looking at you for later.

And just to be clear, uh director, um we're we're we're not trying to put any blame on you.

We we want to be a part of any you know conversations, uh any solutions uh for this not to continue to happen um and to not happen into any other projects, um especially uh this night too where um it impacts uh a lot of people.

I know it's in your ordinary um questions about it.

Yeah, absolutely.

This um project actually started on the former um mayor, a lawser, who uh ward at 10 million dollars to 20 square um infrastructure.

What they wanted to do was sort of move if you guys are gonna stop proud of this.

There's an island that's near abroad and and um uh El Wood split.

And they wanted to sort of move the item a little to make it more uh traffic convenient, right?

Yeah, so uh I I guess they was able to convince the mayor to give that award, but that was not something that I sort of was monitoring because that was a direct to them.

So I had no idea for about three years that this existed.

And during that period of time, onion gas spent uh on 10 million dollars, and we're right now we're looking at like six million something.

And um uh in tracking it, we understood that uh clear 425,000 went to a massive land.

425,000 went to a master plan for Trendy Square.

Do you know anything about that?

I would have to get back to you on that.

I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to.

Okay.

And if we went 450, 425,000.

And if you do find out the master plan and what was that far and who ordered that, you know.

We we don't know where that came from.

And the second funding was someone gave 250,000 to South Side Culture Center, and we don't know for what was it.

Oh, I actually can tell you.

Okay, thank you.

Um moving forward with this.

We know that the planning department, you don't mind me.

Of course, the floor is.

As we're moving forward, we don't mind um working within the planning department, but the money was actually awarded within the community.

We would like to figure out how to have a community engagement process, maybe more like a participatory budgeting process where this six million is actually decided on by the neighbors.

We understand that Trade Square is part of the neighborhood, but it's a lot of um businesses and you know, um people who are ownership of other things affiliated with it more so the neighbors.

And we want to make sure that this process is really done by neighbors or deciding on projects moving forward.

So we're hoping that we can work with the planning department and figure that out.

That's a wonderful idea, I don't know.

Do you think so?

I do.

I think that this is really something that's been committed to this community, and we need to give them something in exchange for this.

Um I will say that the city is still committed to doing the sidewalk improvements when we can, and so if you look at DPW's budget, there is an unfunded allocation of this balance to complete the sidewalks if and when we're able to do that work.

We don't necessarily want to tie up more dollars because we don't want to be 10 years down the road and still unable to do this.

Um, but you know, I can tell you in all of our conversations, like spending these dollars in a way that that community can benefit from is is certainly a priority.

Um so I can't speak on behalf of the planning department and how they would do that engagement because that's certainly way way outside of my house.

I can say that there is a commitment to use these dollars to improve that area of the city specifically in a meaningful way in the near future.

And Ms.

Barton, you're on Neil Ray.

I'm doing this role, I've been in the planning department for a little over four.

Uh but doing this role, and I actually from the administration was told to wait to you take the position to have a bigger conversation around how do we do just what you're saying, you know, making sure that the community understand that this money can be spent in their neighborhoods in advance.

And Mr.

Chair, if you don't mind with the um with the stuff that's going on with uh uh the water and all the other things, uh I gotta give credit to our uh property person Kyle comes up because Kyle already have tried to have this conversation just like the way you asked Mr.

Chair, how do we not keep holding this up?

Um this project up and uh you know just getting broader and broader, and then other things are being spent, you know, in other areas without the community even knowing.

So I don't know whether you want to ask how exactly what happened with those conversations, but we did try to have that conversation.

Yeah, we can jump in.

Um I'll think I'll just go up to the table to respond.

Good luck.

Thank you, Chairman and Councilwoman.

Um there's an equity sentiment from the councilwoman and uh the committee here, obviously you know the back story of the utilities and all the you know the lives that's been happening here.

We've had a conversation with the administration that was really productive, and I do believe that they are committed to doing a purposeful project in this um community.

Um conversation that we did have though was having a community engagement, um setting it up and getting an idea of what the community needs are.

I understand that you know it's it's a lot of money just to say like what do you want, right?

Um maybe we come up with a few viable and have the idea that we present and have some type of participatory budgeting process there.

Um but we were told just to hold off until we can have somebody assigned to this and go out there and have that engagement.

So do we feel like the planning department is in a position now to go out there and work with the council office and have a committee engagement effort with the councilwoman to kind of set this up?

Yeah, I mean that's that's what that's what we are here for.

That's that's what our kind of uh what we're assigned to do for the city, so yeah, that's that's absolutely something we can think about.

That'd be great.

Um we can have our office coordinate, you know, and schedule something, it would be great to kind of connect internally, talk about some viable you know, scopes that would be good to present.

Um, I don't want to just go out there and not have any log rails and just kind of have it be all over the place.

So maybe we connect internally first and then coordinate on some external communication.

Uh thank you, Consul.

Um before you um go, I just have a clarified question.

Um just for whole clarity.

Well what are we waiting on the utility companies to do exactly?

Right.

I believe they have a roadway repairs that they need to make.

Yeah, um, twater was in the land uh water uh water names and rail and energy has been in there replacing their uh gas names as well.

Um we should purchase them in 2024, uh which means that they got that plan probably late 22, late 22, um that their contracts give them 23 instead of 24.

They've been working simultaneously side by side to expect that work.

Um we're showing that province water is nearing uh completion of their in groundwork.

Uh Rail and Energy still has some work together.

So hopefully this year, uh all that's a community.

One thing you'll be seeing coming up is Providence Water is looking at areas where they don't overlap with gas for restoration purposes now that they're mostly all of their underground work.

So they're gonna be putting a plan together to show us of what roads they want to come in to soar um this year.

So once I get that, I will share that with you.

Thank you.

Um so I guess just to just further clarify.

What um I guess what's what's the type of work that we're looking at?

How is it impacted uh by road work?

Previously it was cyber sidewalks.

Yeah, that was the previous work, and I believe Crystal indicated that it's gonna live in a different part of the budget now just to rectify that now.

We're still we're trying to open it up to the community to see what they would want to uh be invested there.

Yeah, we'll side report.

Yeah, well, some folks don't mind this.

Some folks have talked about portage on and stuff like that, but those things are very you know, I know it's a part of infrastructure, but you have to be very, very careful which ones to really invest in.

So we want to make sure that people understand what they're asking for, what what's required of it, you know, you know, whether it's uh you know how how that's gonna be maintained, how it's gonna be cleaned, you know, all those things have to be a conversation.

So uh engagement, a community engagement would actually help people think about exactly what they're asking for.

So that's why we wanted to make sure that after waiting all these this time and being promised all this time, but it's still in the CRP and getting to a point where now it's six million, how much more is going to be spent without the community having any say?

You know what I'm saying?

So yeah, thank you.

Consulting grades.

No, I just wanted to know what was the numbers that you gave for the beginning.

Oh, for the beginning for the spending.

Okay, just give me a second.

I had to write it down.

425,000 on um a survey.

Yeah, for a mass, some kind of trendy square mass applied.

I don't know what that is, what's in it?

I've never seen that.

Um 250,000 for South Side Culture Center, which is explained to us.

So three million dollars.

And that yeah, on two.

No, you said how much you need 250 for the windows at Southside Culture Center.

How much money?

250, 250,000.

So what happened to the rest of the money?

That's a that's a big discrepancy.

No, for 425 about the mass supply.

So that's 425,000.

250,000 as well.

If I'm not if I'm not mistaken, I believe some of the money was moved towards a shovel ready project in other areas of the city, I think when that's for Tucker.

So correct.

This was prior to my overseeing this project, but what I've been told in passing is that there was some sort of understood agreement that funding would come from here to go to the mighty pronounce it wrong when Oscar Tucker.

That was a big end.

How much was that?

I think that was almost two million.

I think it was it was a considerable amount of money.

I want to say it was two or two point five million.

I don't have the exact reconciliation, Councilwoman, but I do remember like pulling documents to try to get this data for you.

Um and I do remember that the bulk of the spending was redirected, which is why it's really critical for us to have this process where we are publicly like annually looking at these budgets and ensuring that's that that's not happening if I'm being handed.

There wasn't quite a bit of that when I picked up this process of people reallocating money from one project to another without documenting it in a codified way.

Um and so that is a lot of what we're trying to do right here.

Say that again.

Um that work that was and that I think that's the point that was made by many uh the community members is that this money is being moved and they have no voice there, although they were the ones that advocated for it.

So, you know, I think that is where we stop everything and try to make it fair and balanced, just like Kyle said, we have been having these conversations to be able to do that.

Um where the community build that trust around you know city and what's going on.

Yeah, I think that's very important, certainly.

And I really agree with Director Delgado's suggestion of coming up with a couple of viable options when I'm presenting those options.

Um, so I think that really is going to be the homework over the next few months is to kind of figure out what is possible there.

If we know we can't do sidewalks now, we'll have to do those later, that's okay.

But we're not going to be able to do that.

Well, we're working, we're working Carl and I'll be working with you.

We'll we're very excited about this.

You know, yeah, of course, my little rage.

I think there needs to be something written that no.

No more money should be going in anywhere else except for in her area.

If that money was allocated for that community, that's where that money should go, and that's where it should stay.

Um because those are the people that fought for that, and the other people that still didn't need that money, you know.

Um we gotta stop doing that because that's why people don't trust us.

You know, um, they fight for it and then it goes somewhere else.

I'm not saying that the other project wasn't wasn't a good thing, you know, it's just that we just can't keep doing that.

So it was is there something that we need to put in writing or whatever, so that we can say this money is to only go to this this project or something in that that group wants.

Uh this specific or is part of the capital improvement ordinance.

Yes, but for the rest of this money, the six million six hundred and forty from my perspective, this allocation is considered an appropriation, and so there is no legal ability to change it.

So, you know, from from my perspective, they could not amend this amount in an amount greater than five thousand dollars without representing the CIP and and codifying the reappropriation of those.

No, I'm I'm not saying send it somewhere else.

I'm just saying that it should, if it was allocated, but this was this this was allocated but what's what I'm saying is if if, for example, we wanted to reallocate something, there is no legal mechanism to do that in excess of five thousand dollars.

So if once we appropriate this CIP, this six million dollars is earmarked for this project, we cannot reappropriate it anything under the under the charter.

We do not have the authority to reappropriate.

Unless you guys come back here, unless we come back here and formally request to amend the appropriation.

Okay, because I was gonna say because it's already done.

So this and that is again part of the problem, right?

Is we didn't have this presented annually.

We didn't have quartering meetings, we didn't have reports, we quite frankly didn't have any database.

So it's been a lot of building systems to prevent exactly what happened here and to ensure that we're gonna end this.

I appreciate you that and I and I appreciate you saying it's quite anything.

Because this should not have happened.

It really shouldn't happen.

Yeah, uh councilman here.

Yeah, Mr.

Chair, thank you so much for um definitely opening up the questions around this and all the committee members needs to be attention to this.

Uh uh I would like um Mr.

Chair, if you don't mind to see where those dollars did go for just for the heck of it.

Um this is my final term, and the last thing I want to see down the road is under councilwoman Harris four million dollars disappeared from CIP, you know.

You know, you never know.

People get the stories wrong.

And so if we can have it on the record, you know, you started out telling us a little what you've been able to find, but I just read you some things that I think Trendy Square may have thought happened to it.

And if it's not a master plan, then we need to say there is no such thing as a master plan.

If there is a master plan, we need to know what it is, and you know, I can remember the planning department to try to identify that master plan.

I know that that description came exactly from the PO and solicitation that was used to pay the vendor for that work.

Um I would find it extremely hard to believe that we didn't get any product out of that expenditure.

I personally would not have seen it yet, but what I can do is take that reconciliation we have prepared for you and try to find some backup documents.

If you think that would be helpful, I'd be appreciated.

And how we'll work with you with that.

Yeah, okay.

Chairman, uh if I may ask one more question.

Um this is more for Craig and Brian.

Um, just for clarification, the utility company, we're expecting them both to be out of there by this year, or is there like uh water is mostly finished, gas is still working, and I'll probably go in the spring over next year.

Um we should be able to get it.

So within about a year, we should have both of them up.

So yeah, proximity.

Thank you.

Um committee members, uh any other questions for planning.

Uh direct director and director.

That was good.

Uh Director uh Joe, do you want to say anything?

We're breaking in the new guy.

Um on the debug we you know, we we've had some staffing shortfalls, and it's still not up to our um design capacity, but we do have some new talent in the office uh that it's gonna be a great benefit to the department.

Uh we're actually thinking with a hope that we might be able to hire uh in the next fiscal year, and uh we've been very impressed by the talent out there that uh very much want to work for the city of Providence.

They think this is a great opportunity, it's a great city, it's a great place to live and work, and uh they are impressed by what they see happening here in the city in all aspects.

Uh so that's a great positive.

And uh Councilwoman Harris, I think let's we we gotta get through a little bulge of work right now that's on our desk to start the uh take it into this construction season, but considerably we can be on these other initiatives and get them moving the pipeline so that we can efficiently coordinate with the conclusion of the underground utility work uh and then immediately roll into these improvements.

Uh the the greatest thing would be to do improvements and then have them died by you know someone right behind us.

Then it I think it's good to note that some of that work uh that was in that scope has probably been initiated and completed by uh uh development using green lobby and and the other the aforementioned reimbursement that have been done under the role of the mission.

So uh it's not that not nothing has happened, but that it is changed to wait until we uh we await the utility infrastructure to be completed and then uh we can roll away.

Unfortunately, I've been hearing that for a long time.

I'm on the way out the door and I'm here just saying things like yeah.

I have when I first arrived when we walked through the community, and I'm frustrated that where that situation.

Yeah, I would say councilman Harris, thank you so much.

Um I know we we talked about it before in O'Kayao has has mentioned it to me.

Um but by you, you know, coming here and and at least making everyone in this room aware.

Um I think if delay uh keeps happening, um it would be unacceptable on on all of us.

Um, when issues like this uh magnitude happen in in our individual wards?

Um it's important for all of us to be aware of it so we can keep advocating and um I I think you definitely have three uh counselors here that are committed to uh keep finding solutions and to get this work done.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair for this.

Uh thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you guys.

So you guys do thank you guys.

And that's not correct.

Yeah.

Here we come.

Yes, it's all every department.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Bye.

Good night.

Of course.

Before we start, the Madam Clerk is going to swear Anthony in.

Not to put you out, but I mentioned you weren't here at the beginning.

What is the truth, the whole truth?

And I think that's the purpose.

I do.

So it's all right.

Oh, I'm sorry, before you start, I just need to enter uh exhibit uh nine into the group.

Second.

Motion made by Councilworth, you know, Councilwoman Craves, all those in favor.

Thank you.

Yeah, no problem.

Um I'm joined today by Director John Lanny, Deputy Director Anthony Allen, and senior project manager from the Lob.

They've been doing a tremendous amount of work in the city over the past couple of years.

Um I don't know about you, but I've been really impressed with what I've seen in City Hall over the past few years.

It's nothing like the prior 10 years after the city province.

Um additionally, there's a quite a bit of money in the proposed bond that is earmarked for this department.

Um most of it is general to facility improvements, but there are some specific projects that are very exciting.

Uh as if we see, they've been really well underway in spending their dollars.

Um we've got a lot of movement happening, and uh, you know, I'm very confident that they really will need money next year if we don't issue a new bond.

Um many of our facilities are in states of disrepair.

There's years of neglect that we're trying to build for.

Uh and this team is working really, really hard to not only identify those issues, but try to build a strategic plan on mitigating them.

I don't know if the team or the directors have anything to add, but the director might have a few words to add.

I mean, it's uh again, um you know, I've only been here a couple of years now, and it seems like we go 20 years of catch up in uh it's it's just amazing that uh we are getting a lot done on uh supporting the council and uh keep going.

Yeah, we we appreciate you.

I mean um definitely for guests of City Hall, you know, the elevator, the bathrooms, those are very uh visible uh improvements, and I know uh they sincerely appreciate it in addition to us, of course, appreciating our work here.

Department does any members any specific questions?

Um the only question that I have really is um the the what what's the what's the timeline on the PVES ADA player?

Oh the that's the value elementary school ADA playground.

I believe that we search that RPC happens, yeah.

It's in the process now.

She'd be completed uh by the way.

June.

Awesome.

Yeah, so we kept the money again.

This is one of our estimates, right?

So RP went out, we awarded it.

We're not sure if it'll complete our June and July.

We're putting some of the money in July.

If we spend all of those funds in June, we will not be spending more than what was originally allocated for us.

Awesome.

Uh Kyle, question?

Yeah, thank you.

Um, Chairman, I do want to give credit to this department.

Um I work really well with Ben, Anthony, and John.

I think they're tremendously responsive and do a lot of great work in the city, the whole department on the project manager, so I do want to give them all a shout out.

Um one of the more important projects I think are on here is the city hall roof and the different bonding that we've done here.

Uh can you just catch us up on where we are on this roof?

What's going on?

Sure.

Right.

So designs are complete.

They're now with the state historic preservation society for final approval.

And then we go out to bid.

So our hope is to award a contract to general contractor in you know a month or two.

Uh get started putting up scaffolding on City Hall, and should be complete within 12 months.

We are anticipating a completion of phase one in summer 2027.

Phase one's gonna be the flat membrane roof on top as well as the decorative architectural elements, so slate shingles and the copper uh metal detailing all be in phase one.

Is that the path?

Is that over the uh archives?

Yes, yes, so it should solve the majority of the water infiltration that's coming from the experience.

Um what's the title on the other elevator over here?

We're anticipating completion in July.

Yes.

Awesome.

Any other questions for it and then Kyle, we'll go back to you.

Are you really interested in public safety garage?

That has been a waste.

I mean, the first year it seemed like it was, you know, building on profit, you know, people were using it.

I paid my funds to get in it.

And now it's just so what is plans for that?

Is it to fix it and generate more of it?

That's a good question.

Um it's it's right now it's mainly use for employees.

Uh but we go there too.

We ran in.

I understand that.

Um we we used to have a uh parking lot across the street that we're able to use that pocket line at that point while the fireman and policemen actually moved into the garage.

Um our goal is to find out uh how many uh exactly we need four employees themselves at that point, maybe the first, maybe the second floor, depending on how we're gonna go up with the use for the public.

But right now it's just the investigation process to find out how we can utilize that guarantee.

I mean, that's one year after it's sort of what the area is like gone.

And we're also looking at uh opportunities uh you know for to see how much it's gonna cost them for an area of grass to make extra parking for employees to lock uh to again believe the parking in that garage.

So as far as issues with the garage, um we are going to be replacing the roof that's on top of um the elevators.

Uh we're gonna be doing some elevator work.

Uh we replace all the lighting uh that goes around.

Um we are going to very soon start looking at any like repairs for uh sealant to keep the water from coming down and any and all uh potential cracks and whatnot that we need to fix.

So that'll all be running up.

So thank you.

Of course, uh Kyle?

Oh, thank you, Chairman.

Um another big project that I see here, there's 24 million that's for the DPW complex.

Um, what are we looking to do there in that addition to what's already been done?

So that's all will be considered phase one of the new DPW complex.

Uh it includes constructing a whole new building uh that's gonna be both nine garage maintenance phase as well as new crew quarters for the highway sewer maintenance departments that currently operate out of the existing garage.

Uh so that's one piece of it is that brand new building, but also includes repairs for that existing garage where they park all the vehicles.

Uh we just completed uh roof replacement over a portion of it.

Um it also included the purchase of the two new buildings just at the top of the hill on uh Chapman Street, where now DBW's admin folks uh have relocated, uh, as well as some renovations that are needed to those buildings, such as uh making an accessible entrance, right?

Uh ramp uh some security improvements and material that's so it's sort of a holistic campus improvement uh for DPW, but the largest piece is that new building construction which they're currently in the ground or pouring concrete foundations now anticipate to be completed in uh May of next year, 2027.

Awesome.

That's all turned.

Awesome.

Any other questions?

Um appreciate your thank you.

Yeah.

That was good.

Yeah.

Right for the baby.

So you guys have to wait a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a lot of things.

Yeah, yesterday I didn't have a question.

Yeah, that's something like that.

I don't think I just ran out.

I just want to be able to do that.

We need to get someone in the store.

All right, thank you, Matt.

Interesting motion to enter exhibit 10 into the record.

Second.

So moved by Councilwoman Green, second by Councilwoman Airwall.

All those in favor.

And these eyes have it.

Thank you.

Excellent.

Okay.

I was a little remiss in not remembering that Director Delacruz has a new order of APF home, so I've got to do that.

Oh earlier.

So my apologies.

That's what I want the responsibility.

I'll take it all.

But we're going to talk about something that's really, really exciting.

And at first for Providence, and maybe in currently in the state, if I'm getting there.

Definitely in the state.

Definitely in the state.

It's the establishment of a new brain revolving fund.

Yes, so this fund will be considered part of our CIP process.

There's an initial C funding of three million dollars that's been allocated to this project at this point in time.

The bulk of that money has been allocated to a line item for state harbor payments.

Right now we're in a really critical time period, which I'm sure our director of energy can really elaborate on.

Where we are trying to get as many projects as we violently can earmarked for IRA reimbursement credit process.

So one of the things that the sustainability and I have probably been working on really for gosh, two years?

Yeah, probably two or more years is like the moment these IRA credits became available under prior administration.

Our external audit partners uh reached out to me and said, hey, this is something Providence should be doing.

I immediately looked at sustainability, and we've been having quarterly meetings to try to figure out what Providence can do to monetize these credits.

Um thus far we have already received, we haven't actually received it yet from the IRS, but we have filed one tax return, which has entitled us to $79,000 in rebates for some EVs that were purchased under definitely prompt.

Um again, the we are still waiting, and that tax return is a couple years old, so it we are working with the IRS to try to figure out how long this takes, but one of the things we're gonna have to factor into the decisions on what projects ultimately move forward before June 30th, are you know what is the reimbursement timeline look like, what are their cash flows that we have, and kind of just projecting our cash flows for the projects which is cashbacks on funds like that into the resolving funds.

Um team here that knows all about this stuff much more than I do, so I'm sure they would like to talk a little bit more about what this initiative is.

Um they have a phenomenal job of writing up a write-up of this remotevolving fund, so I would encourage you to read through their um narratives in the book.

It has a lot of details, it has some uh kind of forecasts on what reimbursements would look like, um, and it has some really great uh information.

Thank you.

How are you?

Good, how are you, Chair?

Yeah, so this is really exciting.

Um we started this conversation last week before um Councilman and the Watt's Environmental Resiliency Committee, where we were able to um talk to you more about like the context of why we create the Green Revolving Fund.

But um Crystal can also work with sustainability, she's like well-versed in all these things, like we did a wonderful job explaining that because we spent a lot of time together, especially um David Director of David uh uh David Verdure and Crystal spent a lot of time looking at these tax incentives.

Um but all this tied to the Green Revolving Fund Um is tied to the energy efficiency and carbon neutral ordinance, so really ensuring that we have a funding mechanism that's dedicated for how we're actually going to make all of our buildings energy efficient and carbon neutral by 2040.

So the ordinance was signed two years ago, since then no more um new fossil fuel hookups in our buildings and what we found working with our peers across departments, um, you know, including public property, um DPW and parks is that we really need dedicated stream of funding.

And then what we also found is that wouldn't it be great if we could like capture the savings, you know, specifically in this case from a center for rebates and apply them to the next round of projects.

So I think this is something really vague for the city.

And the sponsor of the legislation, Councilwoman Anderwan knows that and understands it.

She's legit champion of this work.

I think this is gonna really create longevity for how we we we set plans and for also how we fund them and implement them.

And this is uh all in the spirit of the climate justice plan.

Um and and also within the Green Revolving Fund, we mentioned the Climate Justice Plan because it's really the anchor for everything we do, including the energy efficiency and carbon neutral ordinance and really keeping in mind right the the equity um challenges that we face across our city and really thinking about um how do we use our community center spaces not only as a space where like our community feels um good, right?

Being in um and also essential to their health in terms of like indoor air quality, but also David can talk more about this as assets, like they can actually generate electric bill savings for us and revenue, um, and that is something that our department thinks about every day very strategically.

Like, how do we save the city more money and also bring in more revenue?

So, really the Green Revolving Fund is just the next iteration of this, it codifies that um and also complementary to that.

We launched um the decarbonization roadmap.

I think that is David's third child now that decarbonization roadmap.

Um literally, I mean, since the day that the ordinance was signed, um really thinking about how do we set the strategic vision and framework for how we're gonna do a comprehensive assessment of all of our buildings, and David um achieved that with Power Options, who's the energy nonprofit consortium we work with to develop the roadmap and it assessed 130 municipal buildings.

So again, we we know what we have to do, and the Green Revolving Revolving Fund now um gives us a seat at the CIP table and an ability to do that.

And I will yeah, any questions, and if there's anything that I missed, um you guys all set.

So thank you, that was uh wonderful, and I think we have uh another conversation tomorrow.

Yes, yeah, that's what I was gonna say.

I'm just one floor is yours.

Thank you, my friend Chairman, um Chairman McGill.

Um, I'm just so excited about this, and you guys you already presented for a committee last week, but because out of all the members uh were there.

Just like this team is stunningly confident.

If you um haven't read the decarbonization roadmap yet, and I've certainly gotten mine signed by David's do that, but um, because I'm new treasurer for always.

But um it is just an amazing piece of work, and I'm just so impressed by this department and the foresight of like understanding like how we need to keep reinvesting so we can um achieve these goals.

And I was just excited the um committee after your presentation realized how urgent it was to make sure that the enabling ordinance also passed, and so we're excited to hear that ordinance tomorrow in committee starts Friday afternoon.

It's like the worst, but it was like with all these meetings, it's the only time we can get it in, and we knew it was important, so we're sneaking it in Friday 5, and uh so we can get it moving along so you guys can uh get the process going.

But thank you for all you do.

Awesome.

Thank you.

And thank you to the committee members tomorrow to come in through a 5 p.m.

Yes Friday meeting.

I will try and break the 4:30 and 430 for a presentation for ourselves.

I'm telling you about it.

But yeah, they'll be advised.

I suggest that it's Saturdays for meetings and I got pushed back so that it wasn't for me.

I mean, if we do Saturday, they'll just bring my baby.

Yeah.

I mean, we should just bring the baby anytime.

I could do that too.

Yeah, counselor uh Roy is brought his uh style uh to last.

Yes, last meetings.

It makes meetings so much better.

Just for the record, say us could do the same thing.

Oh, the next uh civic leaders I personally don't have any uh further questions.

So I think it was a great presentation.

Uh do any committee members or council sustainability.

This is amazing.

I remember when you just first uh took the position and the excitement that you brought to the table, just knowing that it's still there and accomplishment and all the things you've been able to achieve since being able to take the position, you and your team.

So I am so excited to hear how we just involve right here in the city, you know, taking on the challenge of environmental concerns and everything around it.

So thank you.

Thank you and your team, appreciate you.

This is my last term, so that's why the cheers giving me like room disappointment.

Thank you.

If you were going to appreciate you.

Thank you.

I just want to say thank you too.

No, sitting beside me is the biggest cheerleader.

So there's really not too much idea.

So I'm just so excited.

I really do appreciate it.

And I did get a chance to read through it.

It's really interesting.

And thank you.

Thank you all.

We appreciate always your encouragement and support means a lot to us.

Priscilla and David and I had a chance to you know talk about this, but I just wanted to bring this up in committee.

It seems like these products are living in the CIP now.

Are there plans to kind of graduate this and have it be its own mature green revolving fund separate from CIP?

Have it have without dependence on the CIP dollars.

So it's not currently dependent on the CIP dollars, right?

So there's initial seed funding that is coming from the CIP that is going into this fund, but from an accounting standpoint, it is its own fund.

It's not shared, it's not a shared account with the traditional CIP.

Traditional CIP is in fund 390.

This is in fund 354, if I remember it correctly.

Oh yeah, right here, 354.

Um so even if you see on the coding systems, you'll see that the traditional things funded by buying dollars to start in a 390.

This is starting in 354.

So there's no conflation or mixing of dollars.

Okay.

Um however, the capital improvement plan is a plan that should be contemplating all funding sources, and this is a funding source for Hapo, so that's why it's included in the plan.

Fair enough.

Thank you.

And just as the last one, these are all solar projects.

Uh no, so there's a combination.

The majority of the funding in the year one will be allocated to solar projects because of the tax credit that's about to start sunsetting in June, but there is some energy efficiency in there, and there is also some building electrification upgrades to prepare for um EVs.

Awesome.

So we should the code here.

So the SEU on the yellow is electrification SAs or E is energy efficiency.

Excuse me, could you repeat that?

Yeah.

I was just saying on this yellow page, uh, that the codes at the front of each item is building electrification that's the SEU.

SA solar and UP is energy efficiency.

Oh, good thing.

You know, those are the three main categories that the decarbonization plan focuses on.

Yeah.

Efficiency, electrification, and then removal.

Appreciate the.

It's always urgent, it always comes in the sky.

I'm so excited.

I think we're all sad.

We appreciate you guys.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I like after they presented it last Monday.

I'm not even kidding, I told you I cried on the way home.

I mean, that's one thing.

Yes, it is.

Thank you.

Thank you.

This is all issues.

I just have to help you.

Any names?

I just have it.

Floor is yours, guys.

Thank you very much.

So I'm going to take my director Trish Wayne Fake.

Uh, and two of my favorite uh civil engineers, Craig Hoxman and Brian Anderson.

Yes.

Brian and I have regularly have 8 30 a.m.

phone calls, so it's always a pleasant surprise when I'm getting ready to start my day.

I can think what I can say is just like public property.

I've seen a tremendous amount of work happened by these teams.

The work that Ryan and Craig do to track their projects to track their spend how they know these things just off the top of their head is really incredible.

The fact that their engineers have made help like building coding systems so much easier.

I mean, the minute we started this, Bryant was calling me trying to figure out how we're going to number things and sequence things and how he can track things.

I'm actually building him his own custom report so we can keep track of this.

And I think that's just a lot of words to say that like giving our project managers data, access to data and the flexibility to do their jobs in real time without having to rely on asking someone for information is resulting in us being more efficient and sending dollars better.

And so I'm really happy to see that.

I started with DPW because they're in off vocal order, and it was like kind of sad because it's just like we have so many roads and there's so much repair, and we have 10 million dollars to fix it all.

Or you know our sewers are in major distributed, obviously, they're much better off than a horrifying presentation I saw about five years ago.

But again, there's so much need that is happening in this department, and these are not oftentimes glamorous, like you know, and this is you know not on parks, parks are beautiful and they're lovely, and we see them, and you have ribbon cuttings and all of that, but there's no ribbon cutting for putting a new road down.

Um maybe we should.

Um, because I do think that this is a lot of the unsung work, and it's really critical work, and it's work that impacts everybody every single day, um, regardless of what part of the city you're in.

And so, you know, I give these fellas and the rest of the team a tremendous amount of um recognition for the amount of work that they do and the amount of dedication that they put into this work.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Um director, do you have anything to that?

Awesome.

Uh councilwoman in roll.

Thank you.

Um promptly cry during this presentation, like I just did.

Um I have a few questions.

I also first have a comment.

Um, one, you guys are great, uh, which is not the comment I was gonna make, but it's a comment I should make because you're awesome.

And the second comment is to the ribbon cuttings.

I wonder if there's some way we can think creatively to celebrate the work that you do.

Like thinking in my neighborhood when we fixed the um and this was with DOT, so it wasn't with you guys, but when we fixed the um amount of time we got to cross at the Rochambeau and North Main Street intersection, I didn't plan this, but the E or B did an impromptu parade to celebrate that they pressed the button and then could cross while playing, and then they waited and pressed the button and then crossed while playing, and it was just like uh we fixed something in government parade, and like maybe we I don't know.

Let's just get creative because you guys deserve to be celebrated too, not just parks, and that was really really nice to be able to celebrate something as silly as or as important, but not normally celebrated as like a crosswalking.

And I didn't plan that, so I can uh um just love on the fact that they did it.

So I would love to think about how to celebrate you guys better, is a thinking tab all put on.

The second question I have for the roads.

Um are these just repavements?

Because like the little line I drew is like traffic calming is such a small amount of money compared to other pieces, but as we're repaving roads, are there things we can or should be doing to make sure that we're building in the vision zero like ethos into like any road work we do, or like is traffic calming part of any of those road repavements, or are these just strict like repavements?

Either it's a great answer, I just want to know.

I I mean I prefer the vision zero answer, but like I'm not this isn't a trick question.

Yeah, they they are primarily uh repavements.

If there are uh initiatives out of planning or through our traffic engineering division, we are incorporating those when possible.

Uh a big portion of our about 20-25% of our road budget is also road maintenance.

Um it's much cheaper to maintain a road that's in good condition than then that's in poor condition.

Um so when we can we surface a road for $65 a square yard or maintain it for two to five dollars a square yard, we're gonna offer that two to five dollars a square yard.

Yeah.

Uh we've done a lot of good work since 2013 and paved a lot of miles a road.

Um and in past CF budgets, one of my uh proudest moments is saying we've maintained everything that we've done since 2012.

Um we've lapsed a little bit, but we do have that program coming up with uh some of the remaining 2025 uh dollars that we planned out and implemented this year.

Okay, cool.

Thank you.

Appreciate that.

Uh are you gonna start by the way?

Um I think that's my question's right now.

Or circle back.

Uh Councilwoman Peterson.

Thank you.

Um I have everything that she said and everything that Crystal said.

Kudos.

Um, you guys are awesome.

And when it gets done, um, I had a neighbor when a there was a piece of her sidewalk that got done, and it was taken care of kind of towards the end, and um she actually kind of rejoiced as big as you did.

So I see it, and I don't think that we give it back to you guys, so I just wanted to make sure that we said something.

I do have a quick question with regards to the this um, and forgive me if I if I'm just not picking it up, it's getting kind of late.

Um I'm looking specifically at your sidewalks, um, and there's two line items.

Um one of them has the five million, and then for FY 2028, um it drops a little bit, but then there's three million dollars.

Would you be able um in a different line item?

Would you be able to tell me what the differentiation between that is?

It's the funding sources.

So um the one that ends in 25 is for the bond that is currently issued.

We have those dollars in hand.

The three million dollars that has the equipment ends in 26 is the proposed bond.

So part of the reason we're proposing that bond is if we do not, we will run out of sidewalk money in fiscal year 2028.

Okay, so where in this, and if it's not presented in this, then um, I guess where would it be placed?

Um the proposal for the sidewalks on the east side.

Um, does it show on any of this, or is it just a completely separate the mile history projects?

Yeah, those are not included in this.

Um I could pull them in and show them they're reported in a different funding source as well.

Um, but I would be happy to pull that in for the final CIP if you'd like and amortize that over the higher period.

Um I'd like to part of the reason why I wanted to make sure that I talked about it is because I think there were so many of us that had concern over bonding out for to the taxpayer for such a small project, and I think that um many of us were um while we understand the need, it also becomes an equity issue.

And one of the things that I wanted to see and have a conversation about here was to actually discuss how we could um give parity to some of these projects specifically related to sidewalks in other neighborhoods to be able to quantify what we're asking our taxpayers to take on just for a small project and three wards.

How do we make it a little bit more equal and fair to the rest of the wards to be able to sustain um more projects?

And I think um what I'd like to ask if there's a possibility to ask is to be able to find a way to shift um some stuff to be able to quantify some of that.

And I know that we I know that you have mentioned that a lot of these things are already very much allocated for and need to be um kind of stay exactly where they are, but I do also believe that it's really important to make sure that we're advocating for our neighbors um in a in a way to be able to create that opportunity.

So I just wanted to make sure that we started that conversation.

Jimmy, can I tie that?

Of course.

Yeah, it sounds like and correct me if I'm wrong, um, budget officer uh Oliver, but the the things with the 25 afterward are already contracted, but then it sounds like the one with the 26, which is the three million dollar uh for sidewalks, maybe that's where we figure out like how we I'm just saying out loud, yes, and like it seems like that's the one where we have on that with you.

Okay.

Yes, yes.

So the one that ends in 26 is where we would have some opportunities for reallocation.

Um that's my knowledge, the road and sidewalk uh contracts are are like blanket contracts first road and sidewalk work with certain vendors.

So I do think like they're not necessarily tied to specific roads or or wards per se, it's just a contract for sidewalk work, and then this team works on a plan, an actionable plan of what will happen in that fiscal year.

Um, but yes, I would think if there's some sort of proposition to change how we're budgeting for roads and sidewalks, that would be the correct plan I am to adjust.

Um I just want to make sure there's actionable way that we have to do that.

Yeah, thank you.

Um just to add to this conversation.

I think we need to try um to increase that that number.

I think um just bonding, I know it's not just but in reality, three million doesn't go too far.

Um for example, I know on the mile history walk, there's there's other work besides uh sidewalk, but you know that alone was five point five six million um for that specific street, um, and to have only three million uh for future sidewalk projects across the city.

I don't think that's very uh equitable in the lines of others.

So I'm not sure if that's the conversation for now or so.

I think what I think we have to look at is our debt capacity, right?

So the 25 million was kind of picked because it was something that felt affordable this year.

Um it was also done intentionally because we do have again like quite frankly with 2017 bond money I'm spending by June 30th, right?

So it feels right now it's this balance of weighing when we should be bonding versus what cash we have on on hand at this point in time.

Um, I think we need to be more strategic about how we're borrowing going forward.

Um historically, it's been like uh every once in a while we feel like we have a capacity in our operating budget to take out a bond, so we bond for as much as we can, but we don't necessarily know what we're we're bonding for, we're just putting a hundred million dollars out there because we can afford it.

Um and that's and then we decide what we're gonna spend at that point in time.

But but you know, the unfortunate truth is if if I'm gonna bond for a hundred million dollars in July and I want to actually spend that in five years, I need to have that all buttoned up now.

Like I need to have known two years ago what I wanted to do.

I need to figure out how I was gonna do that, I need to figure out how I was gonna issue my hard keys.

And so while I agree that three million dollars doesn't would is is not sufficient to equitably distribute sidewalks throughout the city.

I also don't know that right now we should be borrowing more than the 25 million dollars because I don't know that we can actually spend more than the you know, what are we at now?

Uh six, eight million dollars we have on hand in a five-year period in time.

Um right now we're projecting that that will last us five periods or you know, two years, but what if I get to next year at this point in between mile of history and other things that come up, we've only spent two million dollars, and I'm already holding ten million dollars for a future year.

So, again, part of this process is being more participatory and being more nimble in how we're borrowing.

We're looking at that right now on the school construction projects, right?

I mean, one of the things I'm constantly doing is forecasting when is the cash flow going to be needed to build this school because I don't want to borrow money in July if I don't actually need it until June.

And so it's been tricky and it's been certainly complicated, and we've been working on our advisors, but I would definitely caution against assuming that just because there's three million dollars in this bond that there's some sort of desire to not equally distribute sidewalks.

These projects were prioritized in what could be done in certainly could be done in five years in time.

Thank you, Crystal.

Um, I I appreciate that.

And I wasn't suggesting increasing the 25.

What I was saying, maybe exploring um that 25 and seeing if we need to increase it uh specifically for sidewalks.

Um question is in terms of not being able to potentially do more.

Um, is that uh internal capacity?

Is that a vendor challenge?

I don't I know probably all of the above.

But I mean, what what can we do to build more capacity internally if that's what is needed in Yeah, I think if you'd have a couple of those points, um utility coordination is also quite a bear.

Um Province Ward is doing great work with their light service replacement program half of the you know buildings of the city.

Um to balance that our work and uh Rhode Island Energy or the big players here, um it's a logistical challenge, and sometimes we need to stack those uh a year, two years out, sometimes three years.

Um we've got about five million dollars on the street this year, another five million to follow next year.

Um that's the most we've ever done.

Um so we have been ramping up as we've been staffing up also.

Um, crawl walk run.

We're we're kind of going from walk to run.

Uh just how fast can we run?

We'll find out this year and next year.

Awesome.

Uh Councilwoman Peterson and then councilwoman Kriggs.

Actually, I never wants to.

Um, I do go ahead.

I think we need to see all right.

Um I feel like we constantly have the same questions.

So we're winds up.

Um to your point, Crystal, thank you very much for um kind of explaining that.

And I I have to say that I agree.

I my follow-up question to what you had said was um how often are we auditing in our wards to be able to address immediate needs or growing needs because our you know, our sidewalk deficiencies on our main roads are not our pretty much um they're being addressed, right?

But on our side streets, it's become more of an issue that combined with the elevation of the the trees, you know, um making the huge gaps, the roots you know, are expanding and causing these issues with the sidewalks.

All of those things kind of they're not things that haven't happened over that they've happened over many years, but they're still things that linger on that don't necessarily have um they certainly don't have a date of expiration, but they certainly are the requests are um they're long in process.

So I kind of just want to understand how are we auditing to see what our needs are in an effort to support the constituent of the taxpayer.

Yeah, we're open to that input every time we uh we reprogram here.

Um the approach we've taken now has been in place since about 2017.

I think it's been pretty successful, impactful and visible to the community.

Um the feedbacks we've heard over those 10 years is it's not getting into the community where our constituents are living, right?

We are getting to those main streets.

In some areas we've solved the main street problem and we are into the neighborhoods.

Um it's not exactly even ward to ward as far as main streets and residential.

That's a question I think we have to continue having and figure out a path forward together.

Yeah.

I think um I think part of this conversation is really it really does surround equity and being able to be to show our neighbors that actually all of this is being equally represented in in every board, and that's oftentimes what we have the feedback that we're getting is well either you're not advocating strongly enough or this is we're just not being recognized, and that's part of um the uphill battle that we as counselors often have, and I want to make sure that we continue to find ways to be able to formalize what we're trying to do because I think it's extremely important to highlight that these are conversations that we I think I've been here every year asking pretty much the same question.

Um, and um I know that in my what I what I can contribute to my um sidewalk projects and projects in general, um, often go to being able to help the the smaller areas or the the more side streets, but truthfully, we also know that those dollars are stretched so thin and the projects seem to be getting more expensive and even bigger at times, right?

Depending on who has to be involved.

So I just want to make sure that that's something that we're addressing.

This is um, you know, um equity, I think is is a highlight of everything that we're at at least in this particular council, we're trying to make sure that we um maintain and sustain, but it the equity goes and it's it's a variation across so many different departments and services that we have in the city.

So I just want to make sure that we talk about it and figure out a way to get it done.

Thank you, Councilman.

Councilman Grace.

Um speaking of that, you guys are finally on Camden Avenue in my ward.

Candom Avenue was the top on my list when I first came into this.

I put the money, I put my money in.

I had a crew of nine people going out listing all these streets by you know who you know which ones were the worst, uh the most dangerous, and then you know, and gradually going down.

And this is my fourth year, and Canada Avenue is just not being addressed.

So going along with what you said now, Smith Street has been done uh numerous times, you know, since I've been there.

And I and every year we get the same complaints from us every single year.

The main streets are done.

And we thought, well, it has to be near a school.

Wasn't there a school?

I mean, rather than you know, um, I mean, uh, Harris area is is a school.

So um, but it's just now getting there, and now they're saying to me, well, you have to choose between which ones you want, because yes, all those are bad, but we can't do them all.

So which ones do you want now?

Um I'm like, wait a minute, if I tell you to do one 17 and not one nineteen, and it's sitting side by side, you're gonna have a wall.

I can see these people coming into my community meeting, ready to hang me.

Because 117 got done and 11, and we were we we put in at the same time.

Now these people have been on the list.

Well, we no longer have that unless you did a new list.

But they've been on the list for over a decade.

Both of them.

So it's it's we're still talking the same.

So I think when you said my question is I want you to clarify what is the reason why we can't get more money because we do know where the the streets that need to be done.

I think every bass one of us, you know, all our all the um different wards know the streets that have to be done, all the sign streets.

We we can we can point them all out to you.

So it's not where it is, is it it's is it you just don't have the capacity because of of staff to do it.

I don't understand.

So what what is it?

Um we're trying to plan our improvements around where we theorize and we're identify or where we identify the most amount of pedestrians walking.

Um we've heard Orm Street in the past.

We know that has a high uh pedestrian population.

That's very focused improvements on this uh this round.

Camden App is also gonna see some improvements, especially on the Cazarian side where they propose moving the sidewalk over to make room for drop-offs.

So for us to be there at this time, I'm not sure it's quite the time.

No, no, they're they're going to school, we're not worried about this.

I didn't even put that down there.

Let the school take care of that.

The sidewalks that I talked about was further up the street and further down the street.

So we can note that and in this next three million dollars if it's uh comes to the state.

I think correct me if I'm wrong.

I think those are the ones that um they they got in contact with me about.

So Candom Avenue is already on your list.

That's what I'm saying.

I'm applauding.

Once you do that, might be net funded.

Yeah.

So yeah, is that a net function?

So yeah, so I because I put money in every single, every single year I put money in for sidewalks.

For CD regions, yeah.

So one of the things we see as well that you just noted is when you get typically off and you're not doing a straight corridor, high pedestrian thing in the neighborhoods.

You go to fix one repair, and there's another one right next to it, right next to it.

And where there's not sufficient budget, once you start one or two repairs, then everyone around a person that's in front of their home is happy about that.

But people outside of that don't have a repair in front of what they might be needed, um, are in that thrill that those couldn't be done.

And another challenge we face is you know, the corridors when you're going from a starting point, you're able to clean repairs and say the whole block.

Whereas if you do a repair in a neighborhood that's a needed repair, so you deal with a tree revision.

From a perspective of going from one end of the block to the other block, you may still have five or six other repairs that are needed.

So if you get in a neighborhood that has some unique challenges that are different than the higher pedestrian quarters.

That's why you talk to them.

They already know.

We're only going after the ones that are really bad where somebody's gonna either trip over or they gotta go into the streets to walk.

Those are the first ones, those are the ones we're worried about.

If yours is because, okay, it looks a little crumbly, uh what you're on you're on a list, but you're on the bottom of the list.

If we talk to the people, they don't talk about can you talk to them?

Talk to them, they understand.

Talk to them and be blocked.

I would like to want my street to be done, but but I know mine's is not on that top of that list.

So they all understand that.

So they come to the meeting, they've talked to me, and I and and I let them know, and they know where they are, but they've known that they were at the top of the list forever, and they still didn't get it done.

So I I think that's where the problem is.

I think the ones are saying that look, you told me I was top prior.

You told me that you know people are tripping and falling, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

We're gonna get to you first, but nothing's been done.

So I think we really need to either tell them we're gonna do keep on doing the main doorways, and that's it.

Or whatever, but we need to put some money in.

I agree with with uh uh our chair that we need to put more money in, and and if we're gonna talk about doing all the 13, I mean the other 12 uh wards, because we're talking about putting how much money into for other three, we definitely need to at least match that more, and this is ridiculous.

But that's my opinion.

I've been fighting for the sidewalks in my community for a long time because I've seen people trip and fall.

You know, I see people in the middle of the street trying because they can't push a carriage or a wheelchair or whatever, and I and it's just an accident or a death waiting to happen because some of these streets, like I said, Orm Street is is the is terrible.

Can this street is bad because people fly down Kansas Street, and it's a one way.

There's a playground down there, there's a um park down there that that the wrecks down there and the school, and they still fly down that street.

And but people have to walk in the street because they can't walk on the sidewalk.

Yeah, I think uh our current plan both forms, depending on how far the funding goes in.

Can this and both of those you help identify to us uh through various needs, so for any any of the council members that they do to reach out to us if there's uh a street or corridor that's not necessarily the main street that you'd like us to look at and evaluate because in a few in this current uh bond that we're spending now, there's been a few cases where uh councils have identified streets that are in in a higher need and have a number of repairs that make sense for us to go down instead of doing the uh maybe the busier street.

And like I said, in your C Lynn just cosmetic medicine, walk right by it.

And if they have a problem with tell them come see me.

Not to say thank you.

Very good.

Council Peterson.

Um questions.

Um obviously everything is way more expensive right now.

Yes.

Way, way more expensive.

Um do we have the capacity to execute under these numbers, everything that we're still trying to do, or are we looking at projecting not being able to do all of the the amount of projects that we're considering?

As far as we've done the sidewalks or both of them.

Um everything in general, because I mean I'm sure you guys are the expenses are increased uh everywhere.

So it does pair back the total uh amount of roads we can pay or five bucks and repair, and just have to try to work the best and time to get the best price as possible under the circumstances, and I'd be as selective and um try to pick the reports or sidewalks that have the most need so that we're uh utilizing the dollars to have.

Yeah, our annual budget requests also build in um inflationary figures, so we're estimating three to four percent, five percent of certain issues or on certain line items also better reflected in the budget book, not necessarily the handout we have here today.

Yeah.

So you can see that we're building in to more or less do the same thing that we're doing annually.

Um our hope again is that we continue to ramp up and increase what we're able to do.

Thank you.

Um how quickly do you make that determination about what projects you have to kind of um backlog?

So for for sidewalks, the way we do that is we have sort of serous, it's priority one area, which is where we we hope we can get to the full extent, yeah, and then priority two, but because the sidewalks are so dynamically different in different places where you might run into two blocks that have a lot of repairs, not a lot that they're almost scattered.

It's hard for us to predict exactly where we're gonna end, so we work with our engineers that come on and look to find out so we know how far we can go when we work all the money is expended, and then uh plan on starting up at that point if it makes sense once we receive additional funds.

Okay.

Um and you notify our project management team when that happens, right?

I just want to make sure that if we're anticipating something and it's not gonna happen, we are able to notify our neighbors as well.

We'll see a lot of the stuff we send out, we might say evaluation area versus because we don't want to miss a week if we want people to see that as this is sort of the long-term plan.

We're gonna do as much of it as we can with the funding we have under the current cost.

Um, but we're trying not to have people see that quickly and say, oh, they're gonna go from here to here because we're not yeah, we're trying to stretch it out at every opportunity.

We're not making cosmetic repairs, we're making functional structural repairs.

I appreciate that.

My last question, and I probably have done.

Um we talk about utility coordination because that seems to be a hindrance across the board for every project, not only at DPW related, but in our schools and as our constructions are happening, it's the consistent theme.

Um, first of all, who does that in DPW, and then second, how does it work?

And then when it's taking a long time, who is responsible of saying, hey, we're backlogged as a result of your not doing your part of the job.

Yeah, so it's primarily bright these days.

Sorry, Brian.

Let's go.

But we we we've kind of switched our tone lately.

Um we're noticing, you know, I can think of Apple's ad where a project has been going on now for five years.

It was initially a water project, then it was a gas project, then it was another water project coming in with lead services.

To the point where you said we we can't take this anymore.

If you want to get your lead services in, it's got to be by the state, or it's not gonna happen.

Right?

The residents are sad, we need to just move on.

Um, right?

It's happening in quite a few areas.

Uh yeah, and it's ongoing now on Apple's app, that's right.

Um drive home, so we're very familiar.

But these critical utilities are very dynamic in their needs, they're just like we are with sewers.

You could have a priority today, which is Trump I a priority on the other side of the city, which is actively leaking or undermining, or you've got a sinkhole because of sewer failed.

So it it's it's it's a dynamic process.

However, we approach the utilities with a bit more urgency to either do their work or say, you know what, we're gonna come back in five years.

Or we're gonna come back at a later time.

With Red Island Energy, they've recently gone through some areas with the Public Utilities Commission where their capital plan is now drastically evolving.

Um they will be next up on our on our list to uh force or say we defer.

Right?

Either get it done or we defer to work.

Um also with the passage of the uh utility ordinance through uh through city council, we are drafting regulations actively in the hope that everyone gets on the same page from day one, including our internal staff too, right?

We've got sewer highway needs, traffic needs.

What can we get done in a coordinated fashion?

And we're trying to hold people to a completion date.

It just cannot keep going out indefinitely.

So that'll all be coming soon.

We look forward to uh implementing that.

Um I hope we see progress.

Okay.

I have one more question.

What is going on with Bath Street?

It's blocked, it's not black.

It's black, it's not black.

It was supposed to be last year.

They came to the community my community and said, Oh, it's gonna be a three to four, maybe six week project.

And it was like a four-week project, and then they took the little sign down, and then three weeks later there was back up again for it's blocked again.

Could you please tell me what is going on?

Do I have to avoid that?

I don't want to be ride by and the thing loads up.

So I can tell you uh some of the work that we did on Bath Street last year was in response to uh a sinkhole and a sewer failure.

Um we've ever dealt with because it's right next to a Covence water pump station.

Oh my god.

Uh 36 inch sewer main, which is very large, which uh pumps up to all the high elevations in the city.

Um Bath Street is very constrained and very narrow.

So right next to that big water main, we've got the local water main, uh big gas service, and the local gas service, and we are threading the needle in between.

Um sometimes when utilities do work, we undermine the other utilities.

So if we do our sewer work, it causes undermining of a gas system and a water system to where they now have to come in and do work.

So that is some of what you've been seeing.

Um that the best we can.

Again, they're now reactive to the work that we've had to do.

So they're coming to Bath Street and they have to leave something else, right?

So everything kind of falls, and that's the dynamic process we we just discussed.

Yes, I am.

Logistically challenging, uh, but there was very minimal interruption to sewer, gas, and water there, maybe to the traveling public.

Um, but we were avoided catastrophe, which uh I mean that was the number one win there.

Um disruption of critical water services to hospitals.

Yes, and uh gas service remained intact as well.

Okay.

Well, you know, um hasn't little little old lady now at the screen how I might do because she's come to the meeting screen now.

Uh I think we get one of those on every street.

Uh sure I am fairly.

Oh I said that up.

I don't know.

I'll go over there with you unless you can yell at those more, but I really don't know what's going on.

Yeah, I can take right after that stream tomorrow and I can uh get back to you with anything I see out of the area.

Yes, please send something to me so I can talk to her next meeting because she was at the yesterday's meeting.

Um still very irate.

Thank you.

Uh committee members, any other questions?

The last question I have is specific to uh retaining walls.

Um obviously pretty familiar with more going street.

Um you just give a quick update on on that.

And then um retaining walls is something I thought was more uh like privately, you know, uh owned, but what I'm hearing more frequently is that the city uh does own a good amount of retaining walls, and where is that addressed um in uh your capital improvement uh budget yeah?

So uh we did our first major retaining wall project on Collier Street, um, that's off of Smithfield Lab a couple years ago.

Um that was a result of uh a complaint from the neighboring business saying, hey, your wall is approaching, it looks like it's about to fall, and they were right.

Um we got out of Nintendo, uh we did have to close Collier Street for the time being, uh, but that was a very successful project.

Um did a great job there uh in the process of designing two wall fixes.

He said, hey, I think our third and with it a fourth wall, uh I'll have to give kudos to our contractor that on some efficiencies in the way they were installing and they were some of the allocated funds to replace the third wall that was the third need to be failing.

It was a smaller wall, but once they remove the vegetation things, they know we said it was failing in it.

And actually, I can't prefer that credit for the contract if we had them work here that identified that we're able to work with us to complete that third wall with the public.

I don't think we always do, but yeah.

Yeah, it's a good partnership, it's a local contractor in the city, and that worked out great.

Um Borderway Street retaining wall.

Um we are at 50,000.

Yeah.

So right now we have $50,000, and that's uh to get a start on design, uh Chairman.

Um that is to iron down a contact and start full design of how we're going to treat Badoni Street.

Umcept, Brian and I is to narrow Baudouin Street.

Um the one-way concept seems to be working efficient or least expensive, most efficient uh fix for Baudonian Street.

Uh for us to chase a retaining wall all the way down uh that slope just to maintain that width, I think is uh a bit ill-conceived.

Um everything we do, we're trying to stretch a dollar to get the best product so we can use dollars elsewhere in the city for our many needs.

So is that is that funded in the new So I think the expectation at this point is that the RFP for that would pull out this year, um, depending on like this current fiscal year, which is why the funding is not in 2027, but this is again one of these things where if the RFP drags a little bit or you know, that's for the 50,000.

Yeah.

So that RFP has uh begun.

Um it is in draft form.

So we'll put away on that.

I feel like that's gonna been a little slow.

Um I know you guys are one of you guys out there probably like two and a half years ago at this point.

Yeah, it's not super urgent, it's not in an active state of continued failure.

Um what we've done to mitigate out there has been working for it's gonna be about three years right now.

Um so it's not as critical as like a sewer break.

Um, we have some bridge issues that were our higher priority.

Um it's just slipped in priority uh based with all the other needs that we have going on right now.

Awesome.

Um then what's like the what's the what's like the general need citywide on city-owned retaining walls?

Is it uh a concern?

Is it I think we're always concerned about our infrastructure.

Um I don't think we're fully understanding where our retaining walls are in all cases.

Um we have a retaining wall is one of the trickiest things we deal with.

Um a lot we see between state and city property lines, a lot we see between private and public right of way, deciphering whose exactly it is always a challenge.

Um it's not something that's historically been cataloged by public works.

Um I think over time it's just travel through different departments.

Um it's kind of like a um an asset without a home.

We just don't know because it really hasn't always been with public works.

Um component that public properties has there as well.

Um we're finding out about retaining wall issues as they're reported to us, and that's typically how we're going about retaining wall uh issues.

So for like the foreseeable future, do you think that's something uh public works will be more responsible in terms of like organizing and being aware of that work or yeah, we're always involved if we're uh we're supporting department for any department who needs our services.

Um we're helping our public properties department with an RFP for a different retained wall design.

Um I think we've helped our planning department on certain initiatives they've had that require some structural uh earth retention.

But yeah, it's it's it's out there like any other asset.

Um just not the most critical at this time.

Thank you.

Um I don't have any other questions.

I don't think committee members kind of have any more questions, so we can move on to uh our support.

That's it.

Thank you guys.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So uh get out of here.

Oh, no fun at hand.

I'll think of that.

Just for our reading arm right now.

The best.

Hey.

Thank you, Chair.

Hopefully, it's one of your last though.

Wow, so it's gonna be free.

Okay.

Oh, nice.

Um at this time I will entertain a motion to enter exhibit 12 into the record.

So moved by councilman Peterson, second by councilman Graves, all those in favor, I always opposition.

The eyes have it.

Chair, Mr.

Wilson Jr.

joined us a little bit late to squares and then.

Of course, thank you.

I'm in the penalty of Credit and the testimony you're about to give.

So, I do I will state your name title.

Joe Wilson Jr., director of the Department of Art Culture and Tourism.

Thank you.

So this department is slightly different in that they are also proposing an amendment to the ordinance which dictate planmark public art.

I will let the director elaborate a little bit more on what they're looking to do here.

What I can say from a financial perspective, it's really refreshing to have some fresh eyes look at these in my mind.

When I started building CIP a couple of years ago and looking at this, I was very alarmed with the status of the 2020 landmark art funds.

And so one of the charters I've given to these folks is you know figure out how to spend this money so that we can actually put these dollars to use.

I know they took the past year to really creatively think about how can they use these art dollars to make our community better.

Um and I think that they've got a really exciting idea that will uh benefit really not just us but also some cultural facilities in the city.

Awesome.

Thank you, Crystal.

Um director gonna absolutely.

First of all, I'm sorry I was late.

Um for over 10 years I have been the auctioneer at the UCAP Gala and helped them raise money, and they asked me a year in advance, and I could not tell them no or change that date.

So that was tonight.

You were in that leave.

You could have came five minutes ago, you would have been right on but thank you so much.

Um we're really excited about um you know, as you want to know, the original legislation to establish the 1% of public art was passed in 1980.

Um and we didn't receive our first allocation of CIP money until 2020, 2020 a bond.

Um, and we learned a lot from uh those resources and and the challenges of putting art in public space, and really uh thrilled about where we are right now, uh, as I mentioned two nights ago with the exciting proposals that were received for the Gateways project.

We got a chance to send those to the mayor.

Um they're really beautiful and gonna be really great signature pieces of public art here in the City of Providence.

Um, but as I spoke about even two nights ago, that the way that we're thinking about investing in cultural infrastructure has changed.

Um, you know, how we're thinking about festivals as a part of cultural infrastructure, how we're sort of reimagining what infrastructure is in our cities apart from pipes and buildings, it's people.

Um but one thing that you know without getting too personal, I'm from New Orleans originally, Louisiana, and I come from a city that actually owns cultural infrastructure.

You know, Gallier Hall, the municipal auditorium.

Um, and we don't have those kinds of assets here in the city of Providence.

Um I think it's important that we think about using CIP dollars to be able to invest in our cultural infrastructure.

Uh and that's held by many of our 501c3s and nonprofits.

And so the ordinance change that we're proposing in the department is that we have plenty of money for statues and murals.

Um, we've done a lot of that work over the past what six years here in the city of Providence.

And so many of our cultural uh institutions continued to struggle from you know what was a transformative moment in 2008, the housing crisis and then moving into COVID and to now that what would it mean for us to use capital improvement project money to invest in our cultural infrastructure?

And so this change the ordinance would allow for not only right now.

And we're proposing opening up this um ordinance so that it also allows us to provide cultural infrastructure grants.

Um we think this would be transformative for the city, uh, transformative for our cultural institutions.

Um we have so many, you know, we have institutions who are really busting at the seams in terms of of their needs to expand and grow.

Um a lot of those ARPA dollars that were spent uh on uh cultural infrastructure was transforming for many of our cultural institutions.

And so we want to be able to use these CIP dollars to not only support public works of art, but to be able to also establish a new grant making program here in the city province that would go toward a cultural infrastructure.

And so we um we're thrilled about the possibility here, whether it would be the money that we've were granted in our in our general fund to support grants, which is a really important program that we have to support artists in 501c3s.

We think this will be a natural expansion of our grant making capacity to be able to support cultural infrastructure.

That's awesome.

Thank you for that there.

Well, Risca has done this so it's happening on the state level.

But we know there's a density of cultural infrastructure here in the city of Providence, and literally we're hearing every single day that you know I think about I don't want to call anybody out because I I learned I always forget that I'm in a public meeting and I get a story written up about me on RWRPI or something at a PRI.

So I don't want to.

There's a lovely picture of you to that.

Um sway like a pig.

But um there are organizations, and you look at different cultural districts or cultural districts in the city of Province, whether they be in the Valley Arts District or Oldinville, um, you know, that are really need support.

And not because they're unsuccessful, but because they actually need us to help them interrogate, you know, finding bigger spaces, or you know, many of our cultural organizations are you know following in an example of what's happening around the country of how do they maximize their resources around joining forces and embedding themselves in certain neighborhoods.

And so, again, without getting into too much specifics about that, because um I'm on many boards, and a lot of this is confidential.

We have creative institutions who are really thinking in wonderful ways about how do they band together, how do they create new models of how our 501c3's um cultural institutions uh can join forces uh to strengthen their capacity moving forward, and this money would help them do that.

Um again, my job in this department is really to think and strategize around there's been a lot of attention paid to downtown over the course of the 20 years that I've been here.

But there are, and while there aren't the kinds of cultural district designations that I see, because my department is a part of the global cultural districts network, and we have these kinds of conversations with cultural districts around the world, while we don't have that kind of legislation with an entertainment district designation, I think, on the state level here.

But many of these, like I'm using the Valley Arts district, they see themselves as a cultural district.

And so they're looking for this kind of infrastructural support to be able to support organizations that want to make homes uh in these neighborhoods.

Um, and these are very successful organizations that want to do that.

That's awesome, thank you.

This is phenomenal.

So always my hats out to you because you do such a wonderful job of really highlighting the essence of what Providence is and you've done a you've picked up the ball and run with it this entire time.

Thank you.

Um what would it take for us to be able to create those districts as you mentioned here?

We clearly have them within our own neighborhoods, and we know what each neighborhood represents and the historical background behind so many of them.

What would it take for us to be able to do something like that here?

Legislation, an ordinance, um outlining you know what these districts do is that tax incentives around organizations that are cultural organizations embedding themselves in neighborhoods, protecting existing infrastructure within those neighborhoods.

Um so it's about developing strategies in these uh areas, uh, and that would be that would be through city ordinance and um and working with the state.

Uh tax incentives for cultural organizations to locate themselves within uh certain uh areas of the city and protections on the cultural infrastructure that already exists uh in these areas.

I mean, we talk, you all have heard there was a term that was an old term many, many years ago about place making.

Um but now we have changed our understanding of that place-keeping because culture already exists in these neighborhoods, so it's not about bringing in culture or reshaping neighborhoods to be a cultural district, it's about investing in what currently exists in these sites, excavating them, platforming them.

Um, and so you know, again, doubling down on what kinds of of economic incentives can we provide for those kinds of place-keeping initiatives.

Um, and so it would be a city and state uh, it would it would have to work on a city and state level.

And of course, there are models that we can there are resources that we can bring to bear in helping us figure this out.

Again, the department is part of a global network of districts that exist around the planet.

You know, we I have uh been to conferences in LA, uh, the district that exists with the Walt Disney Opera Center and along the Mark Taper Forum along those areas.

You know, I've I've seen these districts in Greece completely transform uh areas uh in that city.

I've seen this in Montreal and brought back many of those practices.

Uh there's an area called the the uh the Corpus Spectacle.

Uh, for example, many of the installations that are built by that group, we brought back for um the Lumina projects in District Park, um, and they have ready-made areas in the city, like ready-made festival areas where they've done the work that we've been trying to do in Kennedy Plaza for a long time and taking out curbs, uh putting in lighting infrastructure, you know, you walk in sections of the city and you're always hearing music, um, where they actually embrace people activating public space.

These things exist around, they exist around the globe.

It's just it's just a matter of us, you know, getting folks in a room and deciding that activating public space is important and establishing these kinds of cultural districts are important and providing incentives for those that own property, uh, those that want to come in and invest in property, um, centering arts and cultural initiatives, um, and and and and in the same way that you would want to build uh you know, the infrastructure to get a wind farm or support X amount of industries in treating arts and culture as as a sector and as industry that needs to be invested in, um, and that we want to woo and attract uh into not only downtown but into our neighborhoods.

I see this as a phenomenal segue or support to economic mobility and development in the city.

So I would love to be able to circle circle back.

I hate that expression, get together with you again and see how we can mobilize on something like this.

I think absolutely great idea.

And again, right now there is legislation which establishes entertainment districts, right, but not cultural districts.

Understood.

And so um I'm happy to dig in with you all in the council to figure out how we can get that ball moving forward.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Also, I think Councilwoman Peterson, Councilman Grace.

Um, I hear everything that you're saying.

We know that we've been done before from so many places.

Um I agree with you.

Before we can do anything else, we really need to get the taxes, the zoning, and all that together because what has been a downfall for many of those places that have existed, is that someone comes along and they want whatever property or whatever area there is, they'll do that in many domains, they will come and they will push you out and that culture out and this gentrification as we want to say.

So um I would like to work on this, but like I said, I I've been on this rodeo trip numerous times, and I've seen it happen.

I've seen the beauty in it, but I've always seen how somewhere comes somebody comes along and always pushes us out, you know, push just pushes it out.

I mean, look at how that was a cultural thing.

That's exactly what that was.

And it thrives for years, and then it got pushed out.

I mean, the same thing had happening everywhere.

Philadelphia, you know, Virginia.

You know, any we can go to any probably any state and and point out areas where it happened before, and it derived, and then it died.

So I agree.

I think we need to have the foundation, and we know what tears in the pie.

So as we know this, we need to have the foundation set up so that it can't be taken away.

Um for the next person that comes along and say, Oh, I like that property, they gotta go.

Um I moved here from Harlem, and so I know um I was living in New York as a working actor.

I know the area well.

I lived on 128th in St.

Nicholas Terrace, and I watched it firsthand between 2000 and 2005 change.

But I think the one thing I'll say about this is also, you know, really treating, and this is the work that we've been doing with the Cultural Heritage Tourism World, really thinking about how we celebrate certain neighborhoods in the city of Providence, and we over-regulate and criminalize other neighborhoods in the city of Providence.

And so what we're working to do in our department, whether it be through our permitting process or the community building work that we do is that Federal Hill should be as celebrated as Broad Street and really thinking about helping our small businesses and cultural stakeholders mobilize themselves and create that same kind of advocacy work for themselves that whether you were talking about you know uh benefit street mileage history or you know uh federal hill, they do a great job of really advocating for those businesses, and so we work every single day as a department to empower um other cultural corridors in this sector to know that they have rights, they have power, they have value, um, and and and really giving them the tools by you know making connections with other uh folk who have done a great job of mobilizing on behalf of their neighborhoods to say that you know we deserve to put voice too.

Yes, and we work really hard with you know whether it be with our permitting process and with our uh city service process.

Um I just want to give a shout out, even in thinking about these questions around safety and security and sound and the whole nine yards that we have a public safety team that works with us with permitting that it's truly department of yes.

Yes, they work extremely hard to make sure that all of our cultural corridors with the benefits of activation and permitting and licensing and support.

Um I think these are all of the tools that build toward the greater goal of as I've said at many global cultural district network conferences, which I've had the chance to present at.

I presented at one about PPE Fest, is that we are the only city that is a part of this global network because we see ourselves as a city as um as a cultural district comprised of these individual neighborhoods that make up what we love about Providence.

Um and so um I think there's a lot of um I'm excited about this conversation and excited about the support that you all can potentially give us in terms of you know creating synergy to think more broadly about how we look at Providence, how we look at these interlocking walkable cultural corridors, and more importantly, make sure that these that there's equity in these spaces and that all of our neighborhoods are valued and celebrated and being um as worthy of being uh platformed as a destination as another, but also making sure that the folks who live in these neighborhoods uh feel a sense of pride and ownership and knowing that they hold a valuable piece of what is the cultural landscape of the city.

I agree.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Awesome.

Thank you, Director.

I uh do not have any of those community members Kyle, you're also awesome.

Uh thank you so much, Director.

Thank you for coming and pushing this this idea.

I think it's you know, very transformative idea like you mentioned, something that I think most of us, if not all of us, will definitely hurt.

Um I'm definitely very supportive of it.

Seems like committee members are also, so continue the conversation, thank you.

Thank you.

And Mr.

Chair, congratulations.

Thank you a great job.

Yeah, I appreciate it.

Congratulations.

I uh have a wonderful team, uh, very committee members, so they make uh the job very easily.

Thank you.

Shout out to the clerk's office.

Yes, thank you.

Um Crystal, before I take uh motion, I just want to tell you uh thank you so much uh for all your work not only around the budget, but CIP.

Uh we've had these discussions for four years now, and it seems to be getting a little more clear and a little more uh efficient in terms of process.

Um I would like to think, you know, we're five, ten years from now, and whoever's in these positions, uh won't even have to think twice about what happened to X, Y, and Z five years ago.

They'll they'll go to a database and know exactly uh where went and when it went.

Um so I really appreciate that.

Uh like I said, this committee is definitely committed to uh supporting uh this process and improving it uh to get to uh a better place.

But I just wanted to state that here on the record that I'm super super grateful to your work and your whole departments where director uh Sarah here we really appreciate you guys.

Thank you so much.

I really appreciate you.

It's been a pleasure working together for the past three years.

I'm very excited about this year's budget.

Um I'm someone by nature who just like can't handle things staying in status well.

Uh so I can envision this will change every year slightly just because it can always be better.

And we always want to be better.

So looking forward to uh a happy budget season with you all.

I was not our take a motion to uh continue items one through six.

So moved by uh Councilman Greece, second by Council Woman Peterson, all those in favor.

At this time I'll take a motion to adjourn.

So moved by continuing second council.

All those in favor.

Aye.

Thank you.