(The following is not a verbatim transcript of comments or discussion that occurred during the meeting, but rather a summarization intended for general informational purposes.  All motions and votes are the official records).

 

 

SPECIAL MEETING – CITY COUNCIL

 

-DECEMBER 5, 2022-

 

 

            A Special meeting of the City Council was called held on Monday, December 5, 2022 in the Council Chambers, City Hall, Cranston, Rhode Island.

 

            The meeting was called to order at 7:35 P.M. by the Council President.

        

Roll call showed the following members present:  Councilwomen Marino, Renzulli, Vargas, Germain, Councilmen Donegan, Campopiano, Council Vice-President Ferri and Council President Paplauskas -8.

 

            Absent:  Councilman Reilly -1.

 

            Also Present:  Anthony Moretti, Chief of Staff; Richard Bernardo, Director of Public Works; Steven Angell, City Council Legal Counsel.

 

 

Attorney Angell stated that in the two years he has been with the City, we have not had a workshop of the Council.  Over the past year and a half, he has had discussions with no less than six members of the Council and more recently seven.  Councilwoman Germain’s introduction of the Ordinance added another voice to this issue.  There seems to be a consensus in her contact with various members of the Council.  In looking at this issue, as the Council has seen, there has been litigation put in, it goes before a Committee and it is absolutely amended beyond recognition.  This is not a less complex piece of legislation, it is involved, perhaps more involved than one might imagine.  He has reviewed the proposal from 2017 that was before this Council and more is required than is set forth in this proposed Ordinance.  The purpose of the workshop is really so that a majority of the Council can meet and have an open discussion.  He knows that Public Safety had weighed in on this in years past and a traffic study was done in 2017 and there has been work done in bits and pieces on this over the years.  The prior proposal of legislation had indicated that this be a pilot program.  His suggestion is that it not be a pilot program, that it be applied City-wide, but it only be applied to specific enumerated streets much like we do stop signs and other things in other parts of the Code.  As he had indicated before, there is an administrative aspect to this program that needs to be included in this Ordinance and what the application would look like.  In his research, he has found several in other places, not in Rhode Island, that could be a suggestion for whoever administers the program.  He had some preliminary discussions with the Colonel.  The person who does the VIN checks could administer this program.  There is an application process, a renewal process, a collection of fees, issuance of stickers – different color stickers for different years.  Legislatively, you have to set up the framework for that and also what is the violation for someone who does not comply with the Ordinance?  That has to be part of the Ordinance as well.  He indicated that Open Meetings Act does not require public participation, but rather requires that the work be done under the eye of the public.  Once we get a legislative proposal together and drafted, it will be introduced before the Council like any Ordinance and it will be referred out to a Committee and there will be a hearing in Committee and then hearing again before the full City Council for public comment.  His suggestion would be that the Council do its work on this, give him instructions, listen to the Administration and so forth, but it is up to the Council’s discretion to allow public participation.

 

Councilwoman Germain stated that when she first proposed this Ordinance, there were many pushbacks from the Administration, from the Colonel and from Fire.  We have to adapt to our current population so what has happened in the past five or six years cannot be applied.  When we talk about safety, during the day there are a lot of people and cars parked in the streets and Police and Fire are able to do their work.  She does wot see how it is going to be more difficult if we have parking allowed on one side for those people who do not have any option.  She is really happy to finally have all the Council who are interested and want to have this issue resolved.  She asked what the Administration agrees with and it does not agree with as far as this proposed Ordinance.

 

Director Moretti stated that Mayor Hopkins has open ears to this and is sympathetic to the situation, although, he is also listening to his Fire Chief, his Police colonel and certainly head of DPW and it is a very complex issue.  He asked that Director Bernardo be allowed to speak and articulate his concerns as to considerations for shaping this Ordinance.

 

Councilman Donegan stated, from an administrative standpoint, to administrate a hypothetical permit program, he asked Director Moretti if he felt the City would need additional personnel, what Department he thinks would be best suited to execute such an Ordinance, would it be DPW or would it be out of the Police Department?  Director Moretti stated that he thinks it would likely be the Clerk’s Department and it would require a full-time employee to administer.

He would like Director Bernardo to express his thoughts regarding this.

 

Council President Paplauskas stated that he does not envision the Clerk’s Office administering this program.  He would envision maybe the VIN Station administering this or the Police Department because he would like to put somewhere in the Ordinance that the car needs valid insurance and needs to be registered so he thinks that is something the Police Department could check and not the Clerk’s Office.  After looking at the Ordinance Councilwoman Germain put together, he disagrees with the past of the four adults because he knows of a family that has two teenagers and two adults that live in the house and every night they have to leave two cars on the street and then snowstorms are a challenge so he thinks it should be four licensed drivers instead of four adults.

 

Director Bernardo stated that he did a review with the Police Department and the Fire Department and has some notes that he presented to the City Council.  He stated that they reviewed everything and have had multiple meetings with colleagues in other Cities and Towns that are dealing with these issues and it is not that they are opposed to this Ordinance, they just want to make sure that we have it right and we avoid the problems that the other communities are already experiencing.  We have a process in the City where someone can get a handicap placard for the street and it is based upon need.  We have to set up a similar criteria for need.  He does not agree with the fact that all drivers license presents a need.  What he is thinking more of is that the applicant would go and would show the registered vehicles for that address.  We would review what is capable for that address.  If they have two cars and they have access in a driveway for two cars, there is not a need.  That is what he is talking about for a need.  The bigger picture is we have to evaluate every single one of our roadways, the width and the length.  We have to look at the length of the roadway, subtract out driveways, subtract out intersections, subtract out hydrants.  We need to know how many cars can fit on that street safely before we start issuing permits.  Something that was not addressed and would be a huge impact to the Police Department, Department of Public Works and the residents is no matter what person gets a permit, they are still going to have to move their cars during storm emergencies and if the Police Department does not have nearly enough tow contractors under contract to pull these cars off the street in the middle of a storm in the middle of the night and they will not be paying that fee to the City, they will be paying that fee to the towing contractor and they will not get their cars back until they do.  He does not think we would be doing a service by doing that, but we are very concerned about if we have not analyzed the streets, we want to set up a criteria that you can’t park within five feet either side of the driveway.  If a neighbor leaves a car in front of their house and they can’t get their trash picked up, he needs to call because Waste Management is not going to want to have both sides of the driveway with an area for the recycle and the trash containers.  We have to make sure that the Fire Department can get to hydrants, so that whole roadway has to be evaluated and we have to figure out where available parking is and have it in the permit the conditions – not parking within certain feet of the intersection, not parking within certain feet of a driveway and not parking within certain feet of an intersection’s driveways and hydrants.  We see a lot of work that needs to be done in advance of any kind of Ordinance just allowing four people with driver’s license.  Those four people with driver’s license may only have one car in which case there is really no need unless they just want to leave it out and which is convenience and not need.

 

Council Vice-President Ferri stated that the street itself has to have an eligibility requirement also for as the width, length, corners to take, those type of things.  As far as the garbage backup, that is going to be a major issue because he has had that issue with people on Cranston St. who park in front of his house when it is not allowed, he can imagine on a small street.

 

Director Bernardo stated that that is all feedback that he has had from colleagues in Pawtucket, Central Falls, Providence and Newport.  These are problems that they have already dealt with.  We are just trying to avoid those problems.  There is a way of avoiding all of them if we do it right, but we have to do it right and the first step is to analyze every street to see what its capability is.  Are we going to do it on the even side of the roadway or are we going to do it on the odd side of the roadway and even selecting, that is going to be a problem.  We are not going to please everybody.

 

Council President Paplauskas asked how long it would take to do an analysis or is this something that Maria Giarrusso could do with their GIS maps?  Director Bernardo stated that he thinks that we would have to probably have to go out there physically and survey.  He does not even think it would be done inhouse.  He would think that one of our contractors would have to do that.  Council President Paplauskas asked Director Bernardo if he could relay to the Public Works Committee how long this would take.  Director Bernardo stated that to figure that out, he would have to sit with some of them and ask them what their availability was.  He would guess it would be less than three months.

 

Councilwoman Renzulli stated that she thinks that this would need a fiscal note to know how much this is going to cost and how much we charge for the permit.  She asked if Director Bernardo could get the cost for them to do this analysis.

 

Council President Paplauskas thanked everyone for being present this evening.  He stated that there has been a lot of great input and a lot of stuff for the Solicitor to digest.  He certainly understands that this is a problem across the whole City and if we all work hard on this, we can maybe be able to solve this.

 

Councilwoman Germain thanked Attorney Angell and stated that this is a good step in getting something and we need to do something to address this for those that are in need.

 

 

The meeting adjourned at 8:25 P.M.

 

 

 

 

 

/s/ Rosalba Zanni

Acting City Clerk