MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE CUMBERLAND TOWN COUNCIL

MONDAY, APRIL 6, 2020 AT 6:00 P.M.

CUMBERLAND TOWN HALL, EVERETT “MOE” BONNER, JR. COUNCIL CHAMBERS

45 BROAD STREET, CUMBERLAND

OPEN SESSION

 

 

The regular meeting was called to order at 6:00p.m.

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:

President Dwyer; Councilors Gemski, Kinch, Shaw, Bradley, Beaulieu and Schmitt

 

Also present— Mayor Jeffrey Mutter; Town Solicitor Kelley Morris Salvatore; Town Clerk Sandra M. Giovanelli; Chief of Staff Linda Teel.

 

President Dwyer read into the record: “To protect the health and well-being of our citizens, and in accordance with Governor’s Raimondo’s Executive Orders 20-05 (relaxing the Open Meetings Act requirements) and 20-13 (restricting gatherings to five (5) people or less), this meeting will be available to the public by live-streaming and by telephone conference call.  The matters on this agenda have been determined to be for an essential purpose as defined in EO 20-05. 

 

Members of the public can listen to the meeting and/or make comments by either:

 

(1)               Calling 401-388-4992 to join a conference call. Once you enter a call, you will be placed on mute until a request for comments is made by the President (Dwyer). A moderator will manage the order of the calls and will unmute the calls one-by-one.

(2)               Emailing comments to publiccomments@cumberlandri.org. Include your name, address, and statement. Only comments including all required information will be read into the record.

 

Town Council Chambers will not be open to the public.”

 

President Dwyer further stated that he would be the only member of the Council in the Chambers tonight. In accordance with the Governor’s executive order, the other six (6) members of the Council will be joining by conference call. The other Council members are: Councilor Scott Schmitt, Councilor Stephanie Gemski, Councilor Lisa Beaulieu, Councilor Peter Bradley, Councilor Mike Kinch, and Councilor Robert Shaw. There will be a brief delay between the opening of the public portion of an item and the comment from the person calling in; he will try to control the tempo.

 

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

 

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

Councilor Kinch asked for a moment of silence for Odette Crowe, the mother of retired police officer Alan Crowe.

 

President Dwyer stated that every vote tonight will be a roll call vote so that everyone will know how every member of the Council votes. He will ask each member for their vote and repeat it for the record. Future meetings will be held via Zoom Video Conferencing. Agendas will be posted on our web site of www.cumberlandri.org along with instructions.

 

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Chief of Staff Linda Teel stated that she had not received any emails or calls at this time.

 

OLD BUSINESS

A.     ORDINANCES FOR PUBLIC HEARING:

1. #20-08 – An ordinance amending the Operating Budget for the Town of Cumberland’s General Fund for Fiscal Year 2019-2020 (Presented by the Council President on behalf of the Administration)  (First hearing)

 

President Dwyer read those line items with proposed changes into the record.

 

Public hearing opened at 6:15p.m.

 

Discussion ensued on the budget amendments, with Mayor Mutter giving details based on the questions asked.

 

There were no public emails or telephone calls.

 

Public hearing closed at 6:29p.m.

 

This was them first reading and required no vote. The next meeting would be at the Finance Sub Committee meeting, and the second hearing and vote would be on April 15, 2020.

 

B.     RESOLUTIONS:   (moved to appear after New Business)

1.      R-20-36 – A resolution authorizing and empowering Mayor Jeffrey J. Mutter to enter into an agreement with New Vision Systems Corporation (tabled from April 1, 2020)

 

NEW BUSINESS    heard first prior to R-20-36

A.     RESOLUTIONS

      1.  R-20-40 – A resolution authorizing Mayor Jeffrey J. Mutter to purchase a server

    

President Dwyer stated that a motion was required to combine R-20-40, 41, and 42 into one resolution. R-20-40.

 

Solicitor Morris-Salvatore explained the need for remote access to the Land Evidence system. At the time of posting the agenda it was not known if three providers would be required. It was subsequently determined that one provider covered under the Master Price Agreement could accommodate all the items.

 

MOTION BY COUNCILOR SHAW, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR SCHMITT, AND IT IS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO COMBINE R-20-40, R-20-41 and R-20-42 BY A ROLL CALL VOTE. VOTE 7/0.

 

President Dwyer stated that a motion was required to retitle R-20-40 to read “A resolution authorizing and empowering Mayor Jeffrey J. Mutter to enter into a contract with Retrofit for an amount not to exceed twenty-one thousand six hundred seventy-one dollars and seventy-one cents ($21,671.71)

 

MOTION BY COUNCILOR SCHMITT, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR SHAW, AND IT IS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO RE-TITLE R-20-40 BY A ROLL CALL VOTE. VOTE 7/0.

 

Public hearing opened at 6:35p.m.

 

There were no public emails or telephone calls.

 

Public hearing closed at 6:38p.m.

 

MOTION BY COUNCILOR SCHMITT, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR BEAULIEU, AND IT IS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE R-20-40 AS RETITLED BY A ROLL CALL VOTE. VOTE 7/0.

 

2.  R-20-41 – A resolution authorizing Mayor Jeffrey J. Mutter to purchase software for a server - WITHDRAWN

 

3.  R-20-42 – A resolution authorizing Mayor Jeffrey J. Mutter to enter into an agreement with Retrofit to install a server and software  - WITHDRAWN

 

President Dwyer returned to the Old Business item by passed earlier.

 

OLD BUSINESS

B.     RESOLUTIONS:  

1.  R-20-36 – A resolution authorizing and empowering Mayor Jeffrey J. Mutter to enter into an agreement with New Vision Systems Corporation (tabled from April 1, 2020)

 

Public hearing opened at 6:40p.m.

 

Town Clerk Sandra Giovanelli explained that New Vision is the town’s current software provider for land evidence recordings and data, and this would allow those records to be available online and provide a key feature of online
e-recording as well. They have a startup fee for extension for the contract and a low monthly fee thereafter for the e-recording feature.

 

There were no public emails or telephone calls.

 

Public hearing closed at 6:45p.m

 

MOTION BY COUNCILOR SCHMITT, SECONDED BY COUNCILORS KINCH AND GEMSKI, AND IT IS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE BY A ROLL CALL VOTE. VOTE 7/0.

 

President Dwyer returned to New Business..

 

NEW BUSINESS

RESOLUTIONS

 

4.  R-20-43 – A resolution authorizing and empowering Mayor Jeffrey J. Mutter to purchase AP 2 Lot 145, located on Abbott Street for the amount of ninety thousand dollars ($90,000.00)

 

Public hearing opened at 6:46p.m.

 

Solicitor Morris-Salvatore stated that this would serve as the reporting out of executive session that the Council authorized the Mayor to purchase of this property for the sum of $90,000.00. The property will be used for an expanded sewer project.

 

There were no public emails or telephone calls.

 

Public hearing closed at 6:49p.m.

 

MOTION BY COUNCILOR SHAW, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR BEAULIEU, AND IT IS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE BY A ROLL CALL VOTE. VOTE 7/0.

 

 

5.  R-20-44 – A resolution ratifying Mayor Jeffrey J. Mutter’s declaration of State of Municipal Emergency and continuing the declaration until April 15, 2020

 

Mayor Mutter stated that any emergency declaration longer than 7 days requires council approval. The Mayor added that in spite of occasional complaints about some businesses not complying with proper protocol during this virus, investigation has in fact shown almost complete compliance.

 

Public hearing opened at 6:51p.m.

 

There were no public emails or telephone calls.

 

Public hearing closed at 6:54p.m.

 

MOTION BY COUNCILOR SHAW, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR BEAULIEU, AND IT IS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE BY A ROLL CALL VOTE. VOTE 7/0.

 

PUBLIC COMMENTS

President Dwyer opened the public comment section at 6:56p.m., and closed it at 6:59p.m.

There were no public emails or telephone calls.

 

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION BY COUNCILOR SCHMITT, SECONDED BY SHAW, AND IT IS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO ADJOURN AT 7:00P.M. BY A ROLL CALL VOTE.  VOTE 7/0.

 

 

 

 

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Sandra M. Giovanelli, Town Clerk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FOR A FULL ACCOUNT OF THIS MEETING PLEASE REFER TO THE VIDEO RECORDING ACCESSIBLE ON THE TOWN’S WEBSITE, www.cumberlandri.org.

 

ADDITIONALLY, THE DVD OF THE ENTIRE MEETING IS AVAILABLE AT THE EDWARD J. HAYDEN LIBRARY.