| James T. Higgins, At Large | |
| Council President | |
| Jeffrey J. Mutter, District 2 | Bruce A. Lemois, At-Large |
| Council President Pro-tem | Board of Licensing Chair |
| Antonio J. Albuquerque, District 1 | Kelley Nickson-Morris, District 3 |
| Council Member | Board of Licensing Vice Chair |
| Mia A. Ackerman, District 5 | Jason B. Kirkpatrick, District 4 |
| Council Member | Council Member |
MINUTES FOR THE REGULAR MEETING
OF THE CUMBERLAND TOWN COUNCIL
45 BROAD STREET, CUMBERLAND, RHODE ISLAND
CUMBERLAND TOWN HALL, SECOND FLOOR
FEBRUARY 7, 2007
7:54P.M.
REGULAR MEETING
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Council President Higgins, Councilors Mutter, Morris, Kirkpatrick, Albuquerque, Ackerman and Lemois
Also present, Thomas E. Hefner, Town Solicitor, Daniel J. McKee, Mayor and Sandra M. Giovanelli, Town Clerk
MEMBERS ABSENT:
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
Council President Higgins announces that he received a letter from the Police Chief indicating that he will be holding an information meeting for the liquor license holders in Town on March 5, 2007 at 7pm in the Council Chambers. He adds that the purpose of the meeting is to discuss strategies to prevent underage drinking.
Council President Higgins also congratulates Councilor Lemois on becoming a grandfather this morning, at 4:00am this morning his first grandchild, James Raymond was born.
UNANIMOUS CONSENT ITEMS
A. Acceptance of Previous Minutes-Regular Meeting of January 17, 2007
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR LEMOIS AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE. VOTE 7/0.
LICENSES-EXTENDED HOURS:
A. 24 HOURS LICENSE - FOR Presentation and permission to advertise:
1. An application from CVS Pharmacy, 1998 Mendon Road, Cumberland, Rhode Island to extend the hours of the operation to 24 hours
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR KIRKPATRICK AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE. VOTE 7/0.
OLD BUSINESS:
A. ORDINANCES FOR PUBLIC HEARING:
1. #06-28 – An Ordinance Amending the Zoning Ordinance (Presented by Council President Higgins on behalf of the Administration)
Council President Higgins explains that they have before them a shell of an ordinance that needs further work to put it in ordinance form, however, under the Zoning Code as it currently exists the Council must open the public hearing within 65 days of its receipt. He further explains that they are going to do that but he is going to ask that someone make a motion to recess it to a further date at that point and he will refer this to the ordinance sub-committee.
Public Hearing opened at 7:57pm
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MORRIS, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR ACKERMAN TO RECESS THE PUBLIC HEARING. VOTE 7/0.
REFERRED TO THE ORDINANCE SUB-COMMITTEE
Council President Higgins states that they are referring this to the ordinance sub-committee for further hearings and further development of the ordinance. He adds that they have received several calls on this and he would like everyone to understand that this is major undertaking and that they have no intention in rushing the process and everyone will get an opportunity to be heard.
Councilor Morris states that it would be very helpful to the Ordinance Sub-Committee if comments were put in writing.
2. #06-29 - An Ordinance in Amendment of the Code of Ordinances of the Town of Cumberland, Rhode Island, as amended, amending the ordinances and map thereof with reference to Cumberland Assessor’s Plat 4 in the Town of Cumberland ordains (from Commercial -1, C-1 to Commercial-2, C-2)
Public Hearing opened at 8:00pm
Attorney Scott Partington is present on behalf of the applicant in this instance Leigh Realty LLC, owners of Assessor’s Plat 4, Lot 263 which is 315 Broad Street. He states that currently the applicant is under purchase and sale to purchase three abutting lots, lots 344, 262 and 345 that will affectively increase the size of the lot from the current 30,000 square feet to 1.3 acres once the three lots are acquired and merged. He adds that currently CVS is leasing the property from his client and is indicating that it needs to upgrade and increase the store in order to remain in that location. He further adds that CVS has expressed to his client a strong desire to remain in Cumberland at that location. He points out that the intent is to raze the existing building and reconstruct basically looking at an increase of floor space from 8500 square feet to 12,900 square feet. He also points out that in the event that this is approved and the zone is changed, the Zoning Ordinance and Planning regulations require that this has to go back to the Planning Board for development plan review where the Planning Department with certain standards oversees the project. Mr. Partington states that part of the new construction proposes to make improvements to the existing traffic signal on the corner of Broad Street and Church Street. He explains that the reason they are before the Council asking for a Zone change is because they appealed a decision of the Building Inspector, Mark Favreau at the time. He points out that the Zoning Ordinance classifications does not have an actual definition that fits a store like a CVS and the closest they could come was a decision whether it was a convenient store or a retail trade establishment. He mentions that Mr. Favreau determined that the CVS is a retail trade establishment therefore this building as proposed and as it exists is in an excess 2500 square feet making it prohibited under the table of uses in a C-2 and C-1 zone. He informs that during the appeal the Zoning Board sided with the Building Official so that left them with the situation where they have this proposal that wouldn’t have a chance with a use variance. Mr. Partington identifies that the Council has a lot of considerations in requests for zone changes, one being that if they are going to increase this use by increasing the intensity what will they be opening this up to and what will they be opening up this property to, if this CVS doesn’t make it. He addressed that question by stating that according to the Town’s use table, other than this use of 2500 square feet retail trade establishment, there are only 3 other uses out of 92 uses that are not permitted in C-1 but are permitted in C-2. He states for the record that the three allowable uses are a Veterinarian Hospital, Freight Terminal and Transportation Center. He defines a transportation center as a motor vehicle rental office including outdoor storage of vehicles, taxi cab terminal, truck and trailer rental office including the storage of moving vans, truck trailers, storage trailers, boats trailers, passenger terminals, railroad passenger terminals, rapid rail transit and accessory outdoor maintenance and storage. He concludes that this zone change would be in conformity with the Comprehensive Plan.
Councilor Morris states that it has been mentioned that the Town’s ordinance requires 43 parking spots but there is enough space for 66 parking spots. She also states that she understands that some chain stores require more parking spaces than the ordinance requires and asks if they know if that is the case here.
Nicholas Pappineau is sworn in by the Town Solicitor.
Nicholas Pappineau, professional engineer for Garofalo & Associates, replies that in his past dealings with CVS they do have standards that they look at for each store and each size store but he can tell them that for the size of the store, the range of parking that they are looking for is usually in excess of 68 spaces. He adds that they do take into account the location. This is more of an urban location as a rural location where there would be all vehicles driven to the site.
Council President Higgins asks him to elaborate on the proposed drive thru.
Mr. Pappineau states that there is no access behind the existing building for a drive thru but on the new building they do propose a drive thru. He refers to his plan in order to provide more details on the proposed drive thru. He adds that they will be using the existing building during construction of the new building and once that new building is complete they will demolish the existing building.
Council President Higgins asks if there is going to be an additional means of egress from this property other than what is there now.
Mr. Pappineau replies that there will be one more additional egress for the expansion and also there will be an upgrade of signal on John Street.
Councilor Morris addresses the Solicitor by stating that she would be concerned with approving a drive thru without further review of the Zoning Board for a special use permit.
Mr. Hefner states that as Mr. Partington stated earlier that this would have to go back to the Planning Board for a site plan review before anything happens there.
John Pesce, President of Leigh Realty LLC is sworn in by the Town Solicitor.
John Pesce presents the Council with a letter from the Department of Transportation who has reviewed the traffic study and concluded that the modifications that they proposed will help to improve the safety of the intersection.
Council President Higgins asks the engineer, based on his experience with CVS, does the inclusion of a drive thru within the complex increase the amount of traffic for that facility.
Mr. Pappineau replies that the generator is the use itself and they are coming for that use, but typically what they see for stacking and queuing at these types of facilities is roughly around three cars. He states that it is an amenity that they are all providing now.
Public Hearing closed at 8:32pm
Council President Higgins asks the Solicitor if they approve the zone change and it is changed to a C-2, is there any way to limit the use allowed in that Zone to this facility because he doesn’t want to see a truck terminal in that location.
Mr. Hefner replies that if they are going to allow a zone change they are entitled to attach to it any reasonable conditions that this Council feels should be attached to the use and the property to continue at infinitum, but it may not be wise restricting it specifically to a CVS Pharmacy. He states that they certainly would be able to restrict future uses to uses that are consistent, such as retail sales.
Councilor Mutter states that Mr. Partington testified that the only uses that are allowed by right in C-2 that are not allowed in a C-1 are the 2500 square feet Retail Trade Establishment, Veterinarian Hospitals, Freight Terminals and Transportation Center.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR ALBUQUERQUE, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR MUTTER AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE THE ZONE CHANGE FROM A C-1 TO C-2 BY A ROLL CALL VOTE. VOTE 7/0.
Councilor Mutter would be looking for some type of stipulation in the approval that neither the freight terminal or transportation center would not be allowed as a use.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR LEMOIS AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO AMEND BY EXCLUDING FROM THE USE OF A C-2 ZONE, FREIGHT TERMINAL AND TRANSPORTATION CENTER BY A ROLL CALL VOTE. Vote 7/0
Councilor Morris asks if they could have a gas station in that zone.
Mr. Partington replies that is allowed only by a special use permit but the footnote reads that a special use permit maybe granted only if the use is in conjunction with a permitted use.
Councilor Albuquerque states that he goes to that CVS almost every day and he is glad that they are going to improve the area and make the store bigger because he thinks it will be a big help to the neighborhood.
Council Higgins President concludes that in his perspective this facility is important to this area because it is the only drug store in the area, especially for those who aren’t able to drive, so it is important to the Council to keep this facility operating.
3. #07-02 - An Ordinance Establishing the Salaries of the Executive Staff and Other Positions (Presented by Council President Higgins on behalf of the Administration)
Councilor Mutter explains that this resolution has been before the Finance Sub-Committee twice and it was unanimously voted upon to table this matter. He further explains that the Committee decided that for them to seek passage on this ordinance they would need a budget amendment presented by the administration in which all members of the executive staff would fit, at least minimally, into the current budget amount for salaries. He adds that if there is going to be some reorganizations they are willing to look at that but they feel that this ordinance as presented does not provide the layer of scrutiny that they would like. He concludes that they would also like to see the Administration provide a personnel ordinance that would detail the job descriptions and qualifications necessary for all members of the executive staff.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR ALBUQUERQUE AND KIRKPATRICK AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO TABLE TO FEBRUARY 21, 2007. VOTE 7/0.
4. #07-03 – An Ordinance Relating to the Mayor’s Office of Children and Learning (Presented by Council President Higgins on behalf of the Administration)
Public Hearing opened at 8:47pm
Council President Higgins states that Mayor McKee made a presentation before the Ordinance Sub-Committee sometime last week and he would like him to make a similar presentation tonight for the public.
Mayor McKee states that they are prepared to make that presentation tonight in a reduced length. He explains that in terms of the education issue he believes that the financial model is broken. He points out that he doesn’t mean the work and the efforts that are being done by the people involved in the school department. He begins his presentation by stating that 38 percent of the Town’s School Budget in 1992 was covered by State Aid and today it is only slightly over 25 percent of that budget that is covered in State Aid. He continues to say that the 13 percent gap is about $6 million dollars in today’s budget and that $6 million dollars in the last 15 years has been picked up by the property tax. He explains that was the reason why in 2004 the Town Council approved and he signed a Property Tax Cap. He mentions that today Superintendents and School Administrations throughout the State are realizing and explaining that they can’t make the budgets work with the School budgets increasing 5 to 6 percent and State Aid basically level funded. There is more and more burden on the tax payer. He states that now Mayors and Town Councils throughout the country are understanding that problem and need to get involved in the process because our governor’s model doesn’t allow us to do so. He announces that they are here tonight to ask the Town Council to approve an Office for Children and Learning and making a promise to the Council that they are going to make that office cost neutral. Mayor McKee wants the public to know that it is not going to increase taxes in the current budget year and they will make sure that the necessary adjustments are made so that they do not exceed any department. He also wants to make it clear that collaboration is clearly part of what they are considering in their responsibilities, such as collaborating with the School Department, Boys and Girls Club, Recreation Department and whatever is related to areas that have to do with learning outside of the school day.
He states that their overall goal is to do more for the youth in the community and learning opportunities that they may not currently have in anticipation of future problems that they are all going to face. He gives the example of the best practice award that Hampton, Virginia had where they had a civic engagement award that connected the youth in the community to civics, operations, general government and gave them voices in that area which is one of many areas that they would provide.
Michael Magee begins by stating that they are currently facing demographics trends that are largely out of their local control and that are going to have a major impact on the budget realities that they are going to be facing in just a few short years. He adds that one is the aging population and the 30 year widening gap of rich and poor that put a strain on the property tax system of funding education, which is only going to get more dire in the future. He points out that they can hope that on the State and Federal level something will be done to address it and they can even have an impact on that level but while they are waiting for the State and Federal to come to the rescue a generation of students will come through the school system, so they are looking to do something now that will make a real impact on the learning environment for Cumberland’s kids. He explains that they are looking at a streamline office that takes advantage of existing administrative support and where the budgetary economic risk is low and the upside is extraordinary. He continues to explain that it is their belief that it is the Mayor’s responsibility to be engaged on the issue of education and create from scratch a structure that would allow the Mayor to actively participate in this area of Town life. He states that the first thing they are going to do is create a Town wide conversation on education and learning that will take two specific forms, one by creating a Youth Commission including high school age students, parents and other citizens. He adds that the second form would be to structure a ongoing series of public Town Hall meetings so there will be unfiltered line of communication between the Mayor and the Town’s people. He claims that the second aspect of this mission is that they are going to begin creating a series of innovative after school programs in the learning area for children and also work to identify and enhance existing programs in any way that they can. He stress that their programs will not ever get ahead of the budget. Mr. Magee states that they will be reaching out to a wide variety of organization, both governmental and non-governmental to address what he believes is a deficiency in the resources available in early childhood education spanning all the way to working with the senior high school students. He states that he is very hopeful to establishing a very successful collaboration with the School Department and he has actually already been contacted by some members of the School Department as well as he has contacted people in the School Department to discuss some different issues.
Council President Higgins states that there is a version of this ordinance submitted to the Council tonight numbered #07-03A that he reads into the record.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR ALBUQUERQUE, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR KIRKPATRICK AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO SUBSTITUTE ORDINANCE 07-03 WITH 07-03A. VOTE 7/0.
Robert Thibodeau, School Committee member, of 7 White Pine Drive is present and states that he has been a youth advocate since 1970 when he moved into this Town and he is in favor of anything that will assist the youth of this Town so he is in favor of the passage of this office.
Frederic Crawley, the President of the School Committee, of 15 Liberty Street is present and states that Mayor McKee has shown himself to be a visionary, one example of his vision is the CHS2010 project and this new office is no different. He respectfully requests that this Council move passage of this office.
Joe Pailthorpe of 56 Old Wrentham Road is present as a citizen advocate and a neighbor of Mr. Magee in favor of this ordinance. He states that he believes Mr. Magee is a man of high integrity for the position but he is also concerned about continuity. He gives the example of how Mayor McKee did a lot of ground work to beef up their ability to create affordable housing to meet State Law and nothing has been done in two years so what will happen in two years when the Mayor’s up for re-election. He points out that he hasn’t had the opportunity to read the ordinance but he hopes there are provisions for continuity for performance base so that this would last for more than two years. He concludes that if those provisions are in place he is all for this ordinance and will do what he can by volunteering where ever he can to make this successful.
Jim McLaughlin of 15 Garden Street is present and states that he has reservations about this program. He also states that they need to look further into the projections, funding from grants, curriculum and planning. He adds that he is in favor for higher educations but there are too many vague and grey areas that need to be answered and addressed.
Jim Hamel, the former Director of Parks and Recreation, of 32 Mount View Drive is present and states that he feels that he is qualified to speak on this matter due to his intimate knowledge of the various programs held within Town. He adds that the way that this has been described he has seen nothing new with this proposal. He claims that he does see admirable ideas and vague goals but nothing tangible at this time. He points out that he too has been an advocate for youth in Town and he is in favor of new and innovative programs that will help the youth and citizens in Town. He suggests that the Administration go back and do their homework on this because at this time it seems like another layer of bureaucracy that hasn’t been fleshed and this can’t be done on the fly. He concludes by reading a summary of an email he sent to the Council.
Edward LeBlanc of 3802 Diamond Hill Road is present and states that he believes that they are in agreement that they want what is best for children and youth so it makes it particular difficult to not be totally in favor of the position. He adds that in Town they have the protocols and the structure already in place to address a comprehensive approach to youth development and it is called the School Department. He points out that the School Department has an excellent business program and strategic plan, which talks about a comprehensive approach to education, after school programs and engaging teachers, administration, parents, community members and other entities to bring this holistic approach to education. He states that he doesn’t believe that the funding of the position is going to be resource neutral and if there are funds in the current budget that could be readjusted those funds should be returned to the taxpayer. He stresses that if this position is truly that important to the development of youth in the Town he would suspect that the funds for that position could compete well within the School Budget. He concludes that he would like to see a more robust proposal to the public to be a more comprehensive position and urges the Council to look at the Denver model that has a similar office where they will see that the measure of customer satisfaction has fallen 4 percentage points down to 52 percent.
Mark Dosdourian of 26 Alton Avenue is present and states that he is opposed to the ordinance as it is written. He asks for more clarity on what the fully loaded cost of the position and office over time. He also would like to know why if this gentleman is the right person for the job why can’t they hire him as a consultant and pay him based on how much grant activity he creates and why can’t the grant writing position be part of the school department. He adds that there should be a larger effort made to make the Board of Regions seek funds to get innovative programming instead of this being a local effort.
Kathy Dennen of 8 Either Way is present and states that there has been a lot said, positive as well as negative about this and negative in terms of the planning of this project. She continues to say that is the part that she is concerned with, because this big decision to spend all this money is not open to the public to take part in developing these kind of ideas. She states that it is a State Law with the Opening Meeting Laws that the meetings have to be posted 48 hours prior to the actual meeting on the Secretary of State website and there was no notice to the public to take part and she has filed a grievance with the Attorney Generals Office. She states that there is also a concern that the schools are taking loans for copy machines and thinking of selling advertisements inside textbooks so to her this money for this office should be put for better use in the Schools. She feels that they are trying to duplicate something that is already there.
Councilor Mutter states that he will gladly listen to options but Mrs. Dennen has just dropped a fairly serious accusation and he would like to take a recess to determine whether the meeting was in fact posted by the requirements of the opens meeting law because if it hasn’t then that would sway him from voting on this matter tonight.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR KIRKPATRICK AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO RECESS. VOTE 7/0.
Council President Higgins reconvenes the meeting and states for the record that he has a confirmation received by the Secretary of State’s Office that the Ordinance Sub-Committee’s meeting on January 24, 2007 was posted on January 19, 2007.
Darleen Hamel of 32 Mount View Drive states that she attended the workshop in relation to this ordinance and she doesn’t feel that there were enough answers to have this office take place in this Town. She feels that there needs to be more information for the public and as a taxpayer she believes that a new office needs to benefit everyone in Town not just residents with children. She also states that she believes the School Department has the facilities and the means to do the job that they are looking to do. She concludes that they should not approve this because they need to look at this further to get more information and detail on what the benefits are going to be.
Public Hearing closed at 10:01p.m.
Mayor McKee states that he believes that they have presented the information and is readily available to answer any questions that anyone might have. He adds that the funding issue to him is a big issue and he is fully aware of it. He further adds that the financial model for the School is broken and as he and the Council start going through the budget they are going to get a better understanding of how important that is. He concludes that they can do something about that and the upside to this issue is far greater than the downside.
Councilor Morris states she believes that Dr. Magee is an excellent candidate for the position but she is also concerned with the issue of continuity and asks Dr. Magee to address the issue of what will happen when the two year sabbatical is over.
Mr. Magee states that unfortunately he can’t predict what he will be doing in two years but he can tell them that he thinks that the office is created according to the ordinance that is before them with the specific language that he has seen in terms of the job description for the Director of this Office he does think they will be able to recruit candidates with a profile not unlike his own.
Councilor Lemois comments that one of the goals of Dr. Magee is to establish a communication on education outside the School Department and he thinks that they need to understand this is an office of learning not of education. He states that a lot of the issues he has heard even the cons in themselves have no substance a lot of the times. He concludes that when they have a new idea like this there are always going to be grey areas but he believes those areas will be taken care of.
Councilor Mutter states that any new initiative is going to bring questions and doubt. He also states that he recognizes that the onset of this program is being funded through other peoples money and they don’t take that lightly. He explains that this is part of the reason for a budget amendment.
Council President Higgins states that he recognizes that the School Department has some responsibility in improving the quality of life and provide learning opportunities for children, however by State and Federal Law there primary focus must be on teaching during the time that the children are in the classroom. He adds that the School Department in this endeavor are highly burdened by many factors that this new office would not be. He points out that this position offers a number of important opportunities and it is a sad reality that some outside funding groups would rather provide alternate funding sources to this type of initiative rather than fund the public schools. He adds that this office would be unique in that it would be a magnet for grant money and it will provide an opportunity to focus the community on the issues that affect children both inside and outside the classroom. He addresses the argument that they could use the money needed to fund this office by giving it to the School Department has one fatal flaw, the State Tax Cap limits how much money the Town can give the School Department for its budget. He concludes that even if they were to provide the School Department the maximum allowed by law they would still be forced to make cuts and the types of programs and initiatives that this office is designed to address would be the first to go.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR MORRIS AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO AMEND LINE 25 BY INSERTING THE WORDS “AND LEARNING.”
AFTER EDUCATION, STRIKING THE WORDS “BY CREATING AND MAINTAINING” AND THE WORD “DEVELOPING” INSERTING IN ITS PLACE “IT WILL CREATE AND MAINTAIN A YOUTH COMMISSION” AND STRIKE OUT DEVELOPING AND REPLACING “DEVELOP”. VOTE 7/0.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR LEMOIS AND MORRIS AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE AS AMENDED BY A ROLL CALL VOTE. VOTE 7/0.
NEW BUSINESS:
A. CLAIM:
1. Patrick Homes of 41 Abbott Run Valley Road
REFERRED TO THE FINANCE SUB-COMMITTEE
B. APPOINTMENTS-
PLANNING BOARD:
1. Reappointment of Brandon S. Bell of 3676 Mendon Road
Term ending January 31, 2009
Councilor Morris states that they have received several resumes for this position and she believes that they owe it to those people who have applied to consider them before voting on an existing member of the Planning Board.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MORRIS, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR ALBUQUERQUE AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO TABLE TO FEBRUARY 21, 2007. VOTE 7/0.
LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEE:
1. Appointment of Nancy Chaput of 46 High Ridge Drive replacing Jay Brochu due to his resignation
Term Ending December 31, 2009
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR ALBUQUERQUE AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE. VOTE 7/0.
C. RESOLUTIONS:
1. R-07-38 – A Resolution Approving the Purchase of 12-14-16 Mill Street, Cumberland, RI from Miquelina Neves
Thomas Hefner, the Town Solicitor, explains that this is a lease option agreement was entered into some five years ago and they attempted to purchase the property behind Town Hall but Mrs. Neves did not want to sell at that time because of her age. He continues to explain that they entered into a lease agreement for 5 year period with an option to purchase at $90,000 with the lease payments already made and she has extended the agreement until the end of February. He adds that the Mayor, the Finance Director and himself think that this property location is a good idea to acquire for office space for Town government and possible affordable housing unit and they have a pending $50,000 grant that goes along with this.
Councilor Mutter states that he is currently not in favor of this resolution in its current form and prefers to see this in a budget amendment that they have already spoken about regarding department spending.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR MORRIS AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO REFER TO THE FINANCE SUB-COMMITTEE AND TABLE TO FEBRUARY 21, 2007.
VOTE 7/0.
2. R-07-39 – A Resolution to Lease/Purchase of one (1) 2007 Chevrolet 8500 Dump Truck
Chris Collins explains that they went out to bid for the dump truck for the Water Department. He continues to explain that they had a line item in the budget and what they intended to do was to pay it over three years with a lease with the dollar option to buy it at the end of the lease. He points out that what they have budgeted in this fiscal year is the first payment in the lease and if the Council approved it they would budget in the next few payments in next years budgets until it was paid off. He mentions that currently the Water Department relies on the Highway Department to provide dump trucks when they have water breaks and they work very well together but they rely on a dump truck more than just during water break because there are the matters to handle after the break. He points out that there is also the problem in the winter months when there is a water break and a dump truck is not readily available because the Highway Department is dealing with their first priority of snow removal and sanding.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR ALBUQUERQUE, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR MORRIS AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE. VOTE 7/0.
3. R-07-40 – A Resolution for Engineering Services related to the Design of a Water Main Extension on Nate Whipple Highway
Chris Collins explains that they received a letter from Pare Engineering stating that they were hired by the State to do the design to the improvement to Nate Whipple Highway. He further explains that the first thing they do is notify the utilities that they are doing the project because the Water Department will have to locate water mains and water services for them as well as give them the opportunity to submit any improvements in mind because after improvements are done to the State right of way they are not allowed to do any projects for the next five years. He adds that there is one section of that highway where there is a 12 inch water main that terminates and dumps into two 8 inch cast iron mains that are unlined, which cast iron mains are the worst mains out there as far as dirty water complaints. He states that they saw it as an opportunity to replace those 8 inch water mains with brand new 500 feet water mains. He mentions that at the time he worked with Mr. Joyal, the Public Works Director at the time, to obtain prices on the mains and at that time presented it to the Mayor, David Iwuc, who told them to go ahead. He concludes that the reason that he is here after part of the work has been done is because Pare was up against a deadline to get the work done for the 90 percent submittal to the State and that is why they went ahead with a verbal agreement.
Councilor Mutter asks if this extension will allow someone to develop some property that otherwise would not be built.
Mr. Collins replies that this is water quality improvement only.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR LEMOIS AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE. VOTE 7/0.
4. R-07-41 – A Resolution Revoking the Bid Award for Visual Display Boards, Marker Boards, Projection Screens and Poster & Display Cases for Part II of Phase III Renovations at Cumberland High School to Northeast Interiors of East Providence, Rhode Island and Awarding the Bid to New England Interiors Specialties of Norfolk, Massachusetts in an amount not to exceed $28,140
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR MORRIS AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE. VOTE 7/0.
5. R-07-42 – A Resolution Revoking the Bid Award for Masonry for Part II of Phase III Renovations at Cumberland High School to Spino Masonry of Smithfield, Rhode Island and Awarding the bid to M.F. Construction Corporation of Portsmouth, Rhode Island in an amount not to exceed $540,320
Thomas Bruce, the Finance Director, explains that this is corrective in nature but the bid amount has not changed. He further explains that Spino Masonry came up to the bid opening to try to deliver bid at which point Mr. Bruce told them that they were too late. He continues to say that after leaving the bid opening they went to his office and delivered it to his staff who wrote it in as being late but when DiMeo project manager picked up the bids and included that in the tabulation. He states that this resolution is to correct that and Spino has been notified that they were not awarded the job but instead the bid was awarded to M.F. Construction.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR LEMOIS AND KIRKPATRICK AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE. VOTE 7/0.
6. R-07-43 – A Resolution Awarding the Contract for an Elgin Pelican SE Streetsweeper to CN Wood Company, Inc. of Woburn, Massachusetts in an amount not to exceed $125,000
Thomas Bruce, the Finance Director, explains that one of Mayor McKee’s first initiative in terms of equipment upgrades has been a particular street sweeper because the only street sweeper the Town owns is in disrepair often and is not getting the job done. He mentions that Frank Stowick collected this particular proposal from CN Wood Company and the proposed resolution calls for a five year pay back with annual payments of $28,187, the lease factor is .225 yielding a interest rate of 5.18. He adds that this is a State contract with DOT of which they are getting the same terms and under the Charter they have a cooperative bid mechanism that could be used for that.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR MORRIS AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE. VOTE 7/0.
7. R-07-44 – A Resolution to Approve a Memorandum of Agreement between the Town of Cumberland and Dennis Dailey regarding the issue of liability resulting of said ordinance
REFFERED TO THE FINANCE SUB-COMMITTEE
8. R-07-45 – A Resolution to Award the Bid for HVAC for Part II of Phase III renovations at Cumberland High School to CAM HVAC of Smithfield, Rhode Island in an amount not to exceed $1,006,311
Thomas Bruce, the Finance Director, explains that this resolution as well as the following resolutions were still being negotiated when they approved a very large group at the beginning of January. He adds that the completive bidding is attached along with a report that they will be receiving routinely that includes the budget figures for the separate contracts until they have been approved.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR KIRKPATRICK AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE. VOTE 7/0.
Council President Higgins states that the time is now 10:59pm and he needs a motion to continue the meeting.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR KIRKPATRICK AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO CONTINUE THE MEETING. VOTE 7/0.
9. R-07-46 – A Resolution to Award the Bid for Metal Panels for Part II of Phase III Renovations at Cumberland High School to Advantage Glass of Warwick, Rhode Island in an amount not to exceed $273,035
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR KIRKPATRICK AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE. VOTE 7/0.
10. R-07-47 – A Resolution to Award the Bid for Toilet Partitions for Part II of Phase III Renovations at Cumberland High School to Interbuild, Inc. of Lincoln, Rhode Island in an amount not to exceed $8,530
MOTION BY COUNCILOR KIRKPATRICK, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR MUTTER AND ALBUQUERQUE AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE. VOTE 7/0.
11. R-07-48 – A Resolution to Award the bid for GWB/Metal Studs for Part II of Phase III Renovations at Cumberland High School to H. Carr & Sons of Riverside, Rhode Island in an amount not to exceed $683,904
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR KIRKPATRICK AND
UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO TABLE TO FEBRUARY 21, 2007. VOTE 7/0.
D. ORDINANCES FOR PRESENTATION:
1. #07-04 – An Ordinance Amending the Ordinance Establishing Fair Share Development Impact Fees (Presented by Council President Higgins on behalf of the Administration)
2. #07-05 – An Ordinance Establishing the Salary of the Director of Mayor’s Office of Children and Learning (Presented by Council President Higgins on behalf of the Administration)
REFERRED TO FINANCE SUB-COMMITTEE
3. #07-06 – An Ordinance relating to the Town of Cumberland Pension System (Presented by Council President Higgins on behalf of the Administration)
REFERRED TO FINANCE SUB-COMMITTEE
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
ADJOURNMENT:
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR KIRKPATRICK AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO ADJOURN AT 11:05P.M. VOTE 7/0.
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Sandra M. Giovanelli, Town Clerk