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Town Council Meeting

October 14, 2003
Town Hall - 125 Main Street
7:00 P.M. - Council Chambers

Council Members
Present: Arthur C. Barton, President
Sharyn C. Iannuccilli, Vice President
Mathias C. Wilkinson, Councillor
Joseph E. Cardello, Councillor
Marilyn J. Kiesel, Councillor

Others
Present: William Sequino, Jr., Town Manager
Lee Whitaker, Town Planner
David Desjarlais, Chief of Police
Joseph Duarte, Director of Public Works
Peter A. Clarkin, Town Solicitor
Deidra A. Kettelle, Town Clerk

Council President Barton leads the assembly in the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE AMERICAN FLAG for the Tuesday, October 14th, Town Council meeting.

CITATIONS
President Barton indicates that there are three citations; one previously approved for presentation only and two that need to be approved before presentation.

Councillor Kiesel moves for approval the Citation for Helen O'Hara, 2003 Woman of Achievement; seconded by Councillor Cardello and it is
Voted 5-0 for approval.

Vice President Iannuccilli moves for approval the Citation for Holly Desrosiers honoring her for overseeing God's Galley for eight years; seconded by Councillor Kiesel and it is
Voted 5-0 for approval.

After the approval of the citations, Ms. Desrosiers accepts her citation from the Council members.

Ms. Kiesel excuses herself at this point.

MINUTES OF TOWN COUNCIL MEETINGS
Vice President Iannuccilli moves for approval the September 8, 2003 Regular Session, September 8, 2003 Executive Session, September 22, 2003 Regular Session and the September 22, 2003 Executive Session; seconded by Councillor Wilkinson and it is
Voted 4-0 for approval, subject to Ms. Kiesel returning to the meeting with any changes she may request.

REPORTS AND COMMUNICATIONS (For Decision by Town Council)

Mr. Frank Woods thanks the Town Council for the candidate that was picked for the Elderly Affairs Coordinator; expresses to Mr. Sequino that it was a very wise choice.

It is noted that during Mr. Woods' comments, Ms. Kiesel returns to the meeting and after his comments indicates she has no issues with the minutes.
Senator Raptakis was scheduled to speak to the Council at this point on the increase in fees for liquor licenses that was passed in the FY2004 state budget, as well as the 1% increase in the meals tax but has not arrived as yet. President Barton indicates they will continue with the agenda until he arrives.
Regarding the resolution from Middletown asking cities and towns to have their local legislators introduce and support legislation that would expand the definition of veterans to cover all VFW qualifications. Ms. Iannuccilli asks for the present legislation so they may see what is lacking in the definition and Ms. Kiesel would like to see it also so to be aware of what is included in the definition of "veteran".

PUBLIC HEARING (For Decision By Town Council)
There is no public hearing tonight.

CONSENT CALENDAR (For Decision by Town Council)
Vice President Iannuccilli moves for approval items a and b under the consent calendar as follows:

Application for a Drain Layers Permit for Isidro Bairos
d/b/a Bairos Construction, Inc., 813 County Street, Seekonk, MA 02771; and
Award of bid to Cardi Corporation for South Road
bituminous concrete in place for a net installed price of $119,760.00; seconded by Councillor Kiesel.
After a brief explanation from Mr. Duarte on what "bituminous concrete in place" is and a brief overview of the work that has been done in this area of South Road, it is then
Voted 5-0 for approval.

OLD BUSINESS (For Decision by Town Council)

Councillor Cardello moves for approval the adoption of resolution for Plan C of 45-21-52(a)(3) for all eligible employees who belong to the East Greenwich Custodian/Maintenance Association/NEARI and who retire on or after January 1, 2003; seconded by Councillor Wilkinson.
Discussion:
Ms. Iannuccilli indicates she is abstaining from voting on this issue as she does not understand why the Town Council has to okay something that the School Committee has negotiated in the course of contract negotiations.
Ms. Kiesel indicates that a new State Law requires us, as a Town Council, to do this. Mr. Sequino gives an overview of this new State Law and, after brief further discussion, it is
Voted 4-0 for approval, with Ms. Iannuccilli abstaining from this vote.

NEW BUSINESS (For Decision by Town Council)

President Barton introduces the request from Mr. and Mrs. Cornwall for a convex mirror at 3705 Division Road to resolve a dangerous traffic situation at their driveway.

Councillor Wilkinson asks why they don't have a convex mirror installed themselves? Vice President Iannuccilli asks whose responsibility it is; does it fall on the Town? The Solicitor indicates that we could be held liable now that it has been brought to the Town's attention.

After brief discussion, it is then
Voted 5-0 for approval.
Chief Desjarlais is asking permission to auction a seized 1993 Ford Probe vehicle. Ms. Iannuccilli asks if this could be held back till the PIP recommendation has been reviewed. The Chief indicates that this car does need work if it's going to be kept on the road and probably is not be worth keeping.

Councillor Wilkinson moves to approve permission for the Chief to dispose of the 1993 Ford Probe in a manner he sees fit to maximize funds for the Police and Attorney General; seconded by Councillor Cardello and it is
Voted 5-0 for approval.

Senator Raptakis arrives and the meeting is moved back to 2.b. under REPORTS AND COMMUNICATION on the agenda. He is asking the Town Council to seriously look at the liquor license issue and pass a resolution to try and change this particular statute on the liquor license fees increase, and the meals tax increase.

He indicates he is introducing four pieces of legislation; two pieces to repeal this increase and a second set to allow the Councils to set the fees on these licenses. He is looking for a resolution from the Town Council to support his legislation. President Barton indicates that we need to take action soon on this issue and Mr. Sequino indicates he will have it on the agenda at the next meeting, which will probably take us to the first meeting in December.

Councillor Wilkinson moves to approve permission for the Chief to dispose of Senator Raptakis thanks the Council for letting him address this issue.

The meeting is moved back to 6.c. on the agenda.

Councillor Wilkinson opens discussion on the question posed by the Charter Review Committee on whether they may look beyond the quorum question, stating he feels they should address only the quorum question.
Councillor Kiesel feels Council was very specific in their charge to them but would be willing to take a look at anything specific they may have in mind.

President Barton suggests that we meet with the Charter Review Committee to see how far away they are from making a recommendation, keeping in mind we could possibly piggy-back their recommendation with the school issue.

Ms. Iannuccilli asks that we go to the realtors with a packet of forms and ask that they include this in their closings for East Greenwich properties in an effort to keep us informed and to help clean up our voting rolls.
Discussion on the role of the Finance Advisory Board is opened with Councillor Cardello asking for an explanation of item (2) under "Duties" in the proposed ordinance. Mr. Sequino explains that the first sentence in that ordinance is connected to that item.

Councillor Wilkinson is wondering if this board, or any of the boards, are really needed; would like to review all the boards and commissions as to their need at this time.

Councillor Kiesel indicates that the policy could almost substitute procedure; one of the things that we are looking for in budget is procedure.

President Barton is in agreement of looking at some of these boards for talent that may be used in other areas and not spreading the talent too thin over a number of boards. The process of a good timeline would be valuable for the Town and School Committee to have.

Discussion continues on past boards and commissions that have been deleted and constructively using the boards we have by giving them specific direction.

Consensus is to continue this discussion tomorrow evening.
Mr. Sequino gives an update on insurance for rental of Town buildings and the storage of autos in an enclosed area and reports that the insurance carrier feels if all Town vehicles are stored at one location, the carrier may have go out for re-insurance as the potential for loss is much greater.

On the issue of rental of town buildings, Mr. Sequino reports that we are not covered for alcoholic beverages so we will no longer consider that on an application. The amount of liability insurance would be $1 million for property and liability insurance and people may not be able to get that kind of coverage inexpensively. We will fine tune those limits and come back to Council; as a Council you will have to decide whether to lease out Swift Gym or go below the million dollar policy amount.

Councillor Cardello would want the liability insurance for the site.

Ms. Kiesel thinks it's a good idea to look into this but would not want these buildings unavailable to people in Town.

Mr. Sequino indicates that the Town programs are covered by our insurance; it's private party use that we are talking about now.
Councillor Cardello moves for approval the appointment of Robert Bolton to the Zoning Board of Review; seconded by Vice President Iannuccilli and it is
Voted 4-0 for approval; Ms. Kiesel is not available for this vote.

Councillor Cardello moves for approval the appointment of Joseph Zenga to the Zoning Board of Review; seconded by Vice President Iannuccilli.

Discussion:
Councillor Wilkinson states he will vote "no" on this appointment and indicates that is solely due to his own personal philosophy that we seek new blood for these boards. He feels that we are discouraging other citizens from coming forward and serving on Boards and Commissions.
Ms. Kiesel returns to the meeting.
After brief discussion, Councillor Wilkinson moves to table the motion to reappoint Mr. Zenga to the Zoning Board of Review and to review the composition of this board; seconded by Ms. Kiesel and it is
Voted 5-0 for approval.
Award of Bid to the lowest qualified bidder, J.H. Lynch & Sons, Inc., for the replacement of the Tillinghast Road culvert for an amount of $84,500 is addressed by Mr. Duarte and gives an overview of the bid opening and why it is over budget by $34,500.

Vice President Iannuccilli moves for approval the award of bid to J.H. Lynch & Sons, Inc.; seconded by Councillor Kiesel.

Discussion:
After discussion on what the priority is to complete this project and what the schedule would be if approved tonight, Mr. Duarte indicates it is of high priority. It is then
Voted 5-0 for approval.
Vice President Iannuccilli moves for approval the Resolution authorizing the Town Manager to apply for a $7,165,000 loan from the State Revolving Loan Fund Program to proceed with the Denitrification Project; seconded by Councillor Kiesel.

After an overview of the funding and summary of the time line for this project from Mr. Duarte, it is
Voted 5-0 for approval.

TOWN MANAGER'S REPORTS (For Decision by Town Council)

The Town Manager highlights the quarterly budget report which was distributed to Council and discussion continues on revenue coming into Town with the new recording fees, revenue from the real estate transfer tax stamps and the process for eliminating past due taxes.

Councillor Cardello asks what the status is on the Irrigation System for the fields and is answered that the bid is being worked on now. Mr. Sequino and Mr. Duarte go on to explain the bid process and how the bids are carried out by Town staff members.
Councillor Wilkinson inquires if we put bids on the State Web Site and is answered that, as yet, we have not.

COUNCIL CONCERNS

Joseph E. Cardello:
When a bid goes out and they put up this liability policy, do we check the quality of the insurance company to make sure they are going to be around for awhile; do we have a process for this?

Mr. Sequino indicates that if you want an "A" rated insurance company, you would have to put that in the bid specs.

Sharyn C. Iannuccilli:
Requests the two PIP proposals be put on the next agenda. Commends the Police Department and Capt. Higgins for the grant of $349,000 for a Mobile Command Post.

Chief Desjarlais gives an overview of how the Mobile Command Post will be used in the community.

Read an article in my packet that there are funds available for Crime Watch; are we applying for any of those?

Mr. Sequino indicates he has sent this information to the Chief for his review.

Read an article on the Senate voting on Cop's Funding and are urging local officials to encourage the Senators to pass this.

Chief Desjarlais indicates that we already participate in this funding and urge that you do support this.

Regarding the Mawney-Hopkins Farm Greenway, is this the Pine property?

Mr. Sequino indicates that a grant was submitted by Lee to have the Town take possession and then use it for soccer fields.

Marilyn J. Kiesel:
Also congratulates the Chief and the Police Department on the grants they were awarded.

Have received some phone calls from people regarding the web site. In looking at the sewer map in our packet, one street is indicated as sewered and I know that it is not. I would also appreciate updates on the sewer projects periodically.

The Bailey's had an incident where someone cut the fencing to one of their pastures so they could enter and ride their motorbikes. In the meantime, some cows that were being pastured there got out and wandered into people's yards. Would like to request that these areas be checked now and then.

PUBLIC COMMENT (15-minute time limit)
No public comment tonight.

Vice President Iannuccilli moves approval to go into EXECUTIVE SESSION for the purpose of a collective bargaining matter as allowed under RIGL 42-46-5(a)(2); seconded by Councillor Wilkinson and, after Council members are polled individually, it is
Voted 5-0 for approval.

After President Barton reconvenes the Town Council to open session, Vice President Iannuccilli moves to seal the Executive Session minutes; seconded by Councillor Wilkinson and it is
Voted 5-0 for approval.

Vice President Iannuccilli moves to adjourn; seconded by Councillor Wilkinson and it is
Voted 5-0 for approval.

Respectfully submitted,

Deidra A. Kettelle
Town Clerk

NOTE: Recording tapes are available in the Town Clerk's Office.

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Town Hall, 125 Main Street, East Greenwich RI 02818
401.886.8645
8:30 am - 4:30 pm

Town Hall 125 Main Street East Greenwich, RI 02818 Phone 401-886-8665