Providence Special Committee on Ways and Means Meeting – July 7, 2026
Providence Special Committee on Ways and Means Meeting – July 7, 2026
The Special Committee on Ways and Means met on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, at 5:34 PM, with Chair Nigga Sanchez presiding, Councilwoman Davidson and Councilwoman Peterson present, and Councilwoman Graves absent. The committee reviewed and approved three agenda items: a new multi-year contract for speed and red-light camera enforcement, a design contract for North Main Street safety improvements, and a resolution addressing property tax abatements for nonprofits.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of a summary document for the speed and red-light camera contract RFP was moved into the record without objection.
Discussion Items
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Camera Enforcement Contract Renewal and Pilots: Courtney (presenter from the Mayor's Office) presented a nine-month effort to renew the city’s speed and red-light camera contract and add two pilot programs: “don’t block the box” (up to three cameras citywide) and sound cameras (two cameras, placed only in wards where the councilor requests one). The new vendor, Vera Mobility, represented by Wayne Jenkins, will provide new camera technology, integration with the city’s Fort transparency software, performance standards with penalties, and enhanced evidence packages. Key contract terms: five-year initial term with five optional one-year extensions; $7 per ticket fee plus $2,500 per camera per month; estimated annual expenses of $1.326 million for red-light (based on ~48,000 tickets per year) and $2.43 million for speed (~72,000 tickets per year). The city will retain all collected revenue; the vendor’s compensation is paid from that revenue. Data security includes username/password protection, SIEGES certification, and data purging per business rules. Vera uses machine learning for vehicle detection but human review for violation verification. Councilmembers asked about signage, camera locations, data privacy, AI use, and mitigation of system errors.
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North Main Street Improvement Design Contract: Chris from the Planning and Development Department presented a contract with Full Design Group LLC for $1,571,104, funded by STP-US (federal) funds. This engineering and design phase will develop targeted safety, accessibility, and multimodal improvements along North Main Street, building on a prior corridor study. Community engagement will help prioritize improvements within available funding.
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Tax Abatement Resolution (Item 4): Chair Sanchez introduced a resolution to correct a legislative mismatch: the state Senate and House bills differed, so the final bill did not include retroactive tax abatements for 2026 as intended. The resolution aims to allow real and intangible property tax abatements for certain properties (e.g., those classified under 8-law). Councilwoman Peterson noted that a task force had previously reported on nonprofit taxation and recommended developing an ordinance; she expressed discomfort with the resolution and voted nay. The chair committed to bringing a broader ordinance forward in September.
Key Outcomes
- Motion to approve camera contract items 1 and 2 (noise pilot and main contract): Approved unanimously (3-0). The contract award to Vera Mobility includes the main speed/red-light camera program and sound camera pilot, with the “don’t block the box” pilot to follow under the same terms.
- Motion to approve Item 3 (Full Design Group contract): Approved unanimously (3-0).
- Motion to approve Item 4 (tax abatement resolution): Approved 2-1 (Councilwoman Peterson voted nay).
- The committee adjourned following approval of the journal.
Meeting Transcript
Hi, good afternoon, everyone. My name is Nigga Sanchez. I'm calling to order this special committee on ways and meetings Tuesday, July seventh. Our time is five thirty-four. Chair Sanchez. Present. Councilwoman Davidson. And Councilwoman Graves is absent. Councilwoman Peterson. We have three. If we are on the penalty of perjury, that the testimony we're about to get is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Yes, she stick your name to the record. Yeah, motion uh soon will result. Motion made by uh right share too or second by counselor Peterson, all over favor, aye, and news and extensions, any discussion. Ayes have it. Thank you. Okay, thanks everyone. Um this is our last big contract RFP that we've done. So uh thanks for squeezing us in. I have a summary document for you all that I'll give to Maya. Uh motion to answer this as it would be on into the record. Motion made by two or second by counselor uh Davidson, all of them in favor, aye, a nays and abstentions, a discussion is I sign it. Thank you. Okay. So um this has been about a nine-month effort um to renew our uh speed and red light camera contract and add two new camera functionalities as pilot um for the city. One is block the box and one is sound. So we'll talk a little bit about all of those. I'm joined today by Elizabeth Thetis, who you know who's our court administrator, um, and Wayne Jenkins, who represents the vendor who's been awarded this contract. Um we started about nine months ago. This was a collaborative project between the mayor's office, the court, police, um, looking at you all have known that we've had some problems with our camera functionality in this in the city. So that was like a probably a 30-year contract that's been new, you know, vendors that have turned over. Um so we issued an RFP and ran a competitive process, um, which was awarded to Vera. We've been in contract negotiation. The document before you represents the um at a high level, the terms of the contract. Um, we have a few more legal tweaks to work through, but nothing that relates to the pricing of the scope of work. Um, I'm just gonna voice over the scope of work and what we're doing. I'm gonna let Elizabeth talk a little bit about um kind of what we're excited about as it relates to this vendor, and then let Wayne talk about what Vera brings and where they work in other places. Um at a high level, this vendor is going to provide us new camera technology uh for red light, school zone speed cameras, and then the city's pilot for don't block the box, uh, which we just um extended the enabling statute for, so we can have three of those um and a pilot for sound. Um, on sound, they're just gonna provide us with the information, but that one will be reviewed by police because it really is a pilot. Um, and as a reminder, we've talked about this before. We're gonna do two sound cameras and we're only gonna put them in places where the councillor who covers that ward wants one. So if as a counselor you don't want a sound camera in your ward, we won't be considering that. Um Courtney, questions at the end, or you want to take a um how are you gonna determine if multiple counselor is more than two or one or you gonna um we have about we have a lot of data about where we're getting complaints? So I think our idea is that we'll start from the places of highest complaint and talk to those counselors about who's interested. If we're successful, then we could expand this. Um we uh right now started with two because that's what we budgeted for, but if there were a lot of counselors that wanted it and we were successful with two, that could be something that the council and the administration could work together on. So does this contract allow um for us to add more noise? We would have to come back with a change order. Okay. Um and then is the don't block the box, is that considered a pilot or is that it is because the state legislation only allows us to have three, and I think it's for two.
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