| 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
MARCH 21, 2007
7:32P.M.
REGULAR MEETING
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Council President Higgins, Councilors Mutter, Morris, Albuquerque, Ackerman, Lemois and Kirkpatrick
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 there will be a special Town Council meeting held tomorrow evening at the Cumberland Public Library at 6:30p.m. to consider the awarding of a bid contract to a company concerning CHS2010.
UNANIMOUS CONSENT ITEMS
A. Acceptance of Previous Minutes-Regular Meeting of March 7, 2007
B. DEPARTMENT REPORTS:
Parks and Recreation Department
C. COMMUNICATIONS:
1. C-07-11 – A Letter from the Town of Westerly seeking support for a resolution that they adopted on February 26, 2007 relative to the Non-Renewal of Insurance for Costal Properties
2. C-07-12 – A Letter from Town of Burrillville seeking support for resolutions that they adopted on February 28, 2007 relating to Legislation Requiring Utilities to pay for Relocation of Infrastructure, Legislation Amendments to Chapter 98 v Energy Facility Siting Act §42-98-7(a) (2). – Powers and Duties and Amendments to §16-7-44. School Housing Project Costs
3. C-07-13 – A Letter from the Town of Barrington seeking support for a resolution that they adopted on March 5, 2007 regarding supporting the proposed Public Financing of Elections Act to Create a Voluntary System for Full Public Financing of Elections
4. C-07-14 – A Letter from the City of Pawtucket seeking support for a resolution that they adopted on March 7, 2007 regarding “An Act Relating to Fish and Wildlife – Menhaden Management Area”
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED COUNCILOR ACKERMAN AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE. VOTE 7/0.
LICENSES:
A. VICTUALLING HOUSE LICENSE TRANSFER:
1. An Application for a Second Class Victualling House transfer for Great Taste Chinese located at 3404 Mendon Road from Jian Sheng Chen to Ming Tong Zhu of 32 Willis Drive, Cumberland, Rhode Island
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED COUNCILOR ACKERMAN AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE. VOTE 7/0.
B. 2007-2008 RENEWALS-
ENTERTAINMENT LICENSE:
Blackstone River Theatre
Cantina DiMarco Restaurant & Grill
EveryBuddy’s Bar & Grill
Filibuster Club
Good Times Pub & Restaurant
Mickey’s Valley View Pub, Inc.
Pitchers Pub
Royal Panda Restaurant
Slam. Inc.
Stephanie’s, Inc.
Valley Café, Inc.
Valley Park Pub Ltd
MOTION BY COUNCILOR LEMOIS, SECONDED COUNCILOR MUTTER AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE SUBJECT TO PAYMENT OF LOCAL TAXES. VOTE 6/0.
Councilor Albuquerque recuses himself from the vote.
FIREARMS:
J.A. Sales
Quack Decoy Corp.
Sanford, Steven
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED COUNCILOR KIRKPATRICK AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE SUBJECT TO PAYMENT OF LOCAL TAXES. VOTE 7/0.
HAWKER LICENSE:
Blaise’s Holiday Shop
Cumberland Fire Fighters
Pivo’s Landscaping
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED COUNCILOR KIRKPATRICK AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE SUBJECT TO PAYMENT OF LOCAL TAXES. VOTE 7/0.
JUNK CARS:
Route 16 Used Auto Parts, Inc.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR ACKERMAN, SECONDED COUNCILOR MOTTIS AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE SUBJECT TO PAYMENT OF LOCAL TAXES. VOTE 6/0.
Councilor Mutter recuses himself from the vote.
KENNEL LICENSE:
Boday, Michael & Barbara
Frampton, Elizabeth
Goodman, Tammy
Howe, Richard
Kelly, Carolyn L.
Moran, Lynn
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED COUNCILOR LEMOIS AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE SUBJECT TO PAYMENT OF LOCAL TAXES. VOTE 7/0.
PEDDLER’S LICENSE:
Bill’s
D C Enterprises
Don’s Frozen Lemonade
K & S Novelty
Palagi’s 2000, Inc.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR LEMOIS, SECONDED COUNCILOR KIRKPATRICK AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE SUBJECT TO PAYMENT OF LOCAL TAXES. VOTE 7/0.
PRIVATE DETECTIVE:
Clearly, Richard
Howe, Richard W.
Interstate Investigations
Maguire, Barry J.
Walsh, John F.
Williamson, Henry Joseph
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED COUNCILOR ACKERMAN AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE SUBJECT TO PAYMENT OF LOCAL TAXES. VOTE 7/0.
USED AUTO PARTS:
Bill’s Auto Parts, Inc.
Gene’s Auto Yard
King’s Auto Parts
Valley Motor Sales
MOTION BY COUNCILOR ALBUQUERQUE, SECONDED COUNCILOR KIRKPATRICK AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE SUBJECT TO PAYMENT OF LOCAL TAXES. VOTE 6/0.
Councilor Mutter recuses himself from the vote.
FINANCE REPORT:
1. General Fund Report as of 2/28/07 for the current FY 2006-2007 period
Council President Higgins states that the Finance Director, Thomas Bruce is not present so there will be no presentation this evening.
OLD BUSINESS:
A. ORDINANCES FOR PUBLIC HEARING:
1. #06-28 – An Ordinance Amending the Zoning Ordinance (Tabled from February 21, 2007 for Status Review)
Councilor Morris reports that the Committee has scheduled one additional date, April 26, 2007 at 7:00pm in the Council Chambers which is also when they plan on finishing up. She also mentions that their next scheduled meeting is for Tuesday, March 27, 2007 at 7:00pm in the Council Chambers, and the following meeting date will be April 9, 2007.
Council President Higgins asks when they will be reviewing the Non-Conforming lot merger issue.
Councilor Morris replies that she believes they scheduled it for April 9, 2007 and they will be posting everything that is suppose to happen on the Town website.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MORRIS, SECONDED COUNCILOR ACKERMAN AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO TABLE TO APRIL 4, 2007. VOTE 7/0.
2. #07-06 – An Ordinance relating to the Town of Cumberland Pension System (tabled from March 7, 2007)
Council President Higgins states that they were supposed to have an executive session on this matter but due to the Finance Director’s illness it got cancel and they are not sure when they will be able to reschedule so he suggests tabling the matter.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR ALBUQUERQUE, SECONDED COUNCILOR MUTTER AND LEMOIS AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO TABLE TO APRIL 4, 2007. VOTE 7/0.
3. #07-08 – An Ordinance to Reopen and Amend the Existing Budget (Second Public Hearing and Vote)
Council President Higgins states that this ordinance is on the agenda for the second public hearing and vote but asks the Solicitor if it is alright to proceed if Councilor Mutter intends to make amendments to the sub A that was presented at the first public hearing.
Town Solicitor, Thomas Hefner, replies that as long as it has been advertised in order to give people a general notice of what they will be discussing and voting one it is alright to proceed.
Councilor Mutter states that the Finance Sub-Committee met on this ordinance and unanimously voted to recommend approval of ordinance #07-08A pending a discussion of the resolution that is further in the agenda for the police cruisers. He adds that he has spoken to the Chief and that is the resulting amendments to #07-08A are due to that discussion. He points out that they only further amendment to #07-08A is under “f” the amount approved for Police should be decreased not increased from $3373618 to $3344868 and then adding a new item called “dd”. The amount for Property Taxes should be decreased from $47250135 to $47185135.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR ALBUQUERQUE AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO AMEND ORDINANCE #07-08A ON LINE 34 B Y STRIKING THE WORD INCREASED AND REPLACE IT WITH THE WORD DECREASED AND LINE 35 BY STRIKING THE $3,411,818 AND REPLACE IT WITH THE $3,344,868 AND ON PAGE 3, LINE 1 ADDING, “DD. THE AMOUNT APPROVED FOR PROPERTY TAXES SHOULD BE DECREASED FROM $47,250,135 TO $47,185,135. VOTE 7/0.
Public Hearing opened at 7:45pm
Public Hearing closed at 7:46pm
Councilor Mutter explains that this amendment to the budget to properly budget allows them to properly budget for the purchase of the Neves property, which was not in the budget and it keeps with the mandate of the Finance Sub-Committee that was in approving the funding for the Office of Children and Learning that would reflect the salaries. He adds that it also allows them to fully fund the Rescue and make the copier purchase for the School Department.
Mayor McKee states that there were going to be a few items that were going to be difficult to manage in this years budget including the debit service that was unfunded. He adds that a payment of $214,000 would have to be made on April 1st and without this budget amendment they did not have authority to make the payment. He also adds that the issue with the Rescue allows them to manage that budget. He concludes by commending the Finance Department and the Finance Sub-Committee on all this work they did on this amendment.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED COUNCILOR ALBUQUERQUE AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE AS AMENDED BY A ROLL CALL VOTE. VOTE 7/0.
4. #07-09 – An Ordinance Relating to the Naming of Public Property within the Town of Cumberland (Presented by the Ordinance Sub-Committee)
Councilor Morris explains that this Council placed a moratorium on naming buildings until the Council had an opportunity to review and potential revise the existing procedure. She states that the Ordinance Sub-Committee reviewed the existing ordinance and researched related provision particularly the guidelines from other communities. She acknowledged and appreciated the work of the existing Naming Committee particularly on the most recent applications filed under the existing ordinance and they want to recognize any existing petition as valid under the new ordinance. She summarizes the issues that the Committee considered and some of the changes that they made.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR ACKERMAN, SECONDED COUNCILOR MORRIS AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO AMEND ORDINANCE #07-09 BY REPLACING IT WITH ORDINANCE #07-09A. VOTE 7/0.
Public Hearing opened at 7:55pm
Anthony Nobrega, the Chair of the Naming Committee, is present and ask for a copy of ordinance #07-09A.
Mr. Nobrega was given a copy of the ordinance before the Council to review and Council President Higgins held the public hearing open to allow Mr. Nobrega time to review the ordinance.
Mr. Nobrega thanks Councilor Morris for providing him a copy of the amended ordinance prior to tonight’s meeting and he does notice that there has been one correction from the version that he was sent in Section 1-135.
Councilor Morris states that Councilor Mutter asked for that change possibly after she had sent Mr. Nobrega a copy.
Town Solicitor, Mr. Hefner, states that he just noticed that the ordinance needs to be amended on page two where it reads Sections 1-135, 1-136 should actually read Section 2-135 and 2-136.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MORRIS, SECONDED COUNCILOR MUTTER AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO AMEND PAGE 2, LINE 16 BY STRIKING THE 1 AND REPLACE IT WITH 2, PAGE 2 , LINE 20 BY STRIKING THE 1 AND REPLACE IT WITH 2, PAGE 2, LINE 28 BY STRIKING THE 1 AND REPLACE IT WITH 2. VOTE 7/0.
Public Hearing closed at 8:01pm
MOTION BY COUNCILOR LEMOIS, SECONDED COUNCILOR MUTTER AND ACKERMAN AND IT IS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE AS AMENDED. VOTE 6/1. Nay: Councilor Albuquerque
Councilor Mutter commends the Ordinance Sub-Committee’s work on this ordinance because he knows this is a difficult subject and he doesn’t think that they could ever legislative perfectly or to everyone liking. He adds that what he likes about this ordinance is that it allows flexibility from the Council, because it does not say that there shall not be a Naming Committee instead it offers the opportunity to create one if the Council feels it is appropriate in that particular case. He also states that it allows for different proposals to be treated somewhat different. He concludes that there is no kind of power play by the Council and this will allow the Council to decide what is appropriate.
Council President Higgins thanks the Joint Naming Building Committee for the work that they have done during their existence. He also states that the original ordinance came in during a somewhat controversial petition to rename the Cumberland Hill School, when it was founded that there was nothing in place in the ordinance which established who had the right to name a building and the Council at the time decided to enact these sets of procedures that have been on the books for the past seven years. He points out that they will still have in the books, who is responsible for the naming of buildings, they are just going back a few notches from the level of beauracy that was established back in 1999. He concludes that he believes this ordinance is beneficial in that it does provide some guidelines for the Council to consider to determine if a proposal is appropriate.
B. RESOLUTIONS:
1. 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 (tabled from March 7, 2007)
Thomas Hefner, the Town Solicitor, states that counsel for Dennis Dailey is present and has informed him that there has been someone from the law firm present every time this matter has been scheduled.
Council President Higgins apologizes because the Council was not aware that there has been any counsel present at previous meeting on this matter. He also states that this matter is not going to be acted on tonight because the Finance Director hasn’t been present for Council to have further discussion so he is not sure why counsel is present. He concludes that if there no objections, counsel can approach and make statements on the matter.
Vicky Bejman, counsel from law firm representing Dennis Dailey, was present and stated that someone from the firm was present every time this matter had been on the agenda. She states that this has been pending since last fall where Mr. Dailey, a retired police officer, who was injured during a special traffic detail resulting in severely and permanent injury. She adds that as far as fiscal impact there would be no affect on the tax rate and settling this matter would be a matter of convert his retirement pension to a disability pension to get rid of the workmen’s compensation claim and all other claims he has against the Town. She concludes that resolving this matter would be advantageous to their Workmen’s Experience Modification and would like to address any questions the Council might have in order to expedite the outcome.
Council President Higgins states that they are aware of all the issues that counsel has mentioned but the Council still has some other issues they wish to discuss with the Finance Director before they decide they are going to take this avenue of settlement or not.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR LEMOIS, SECONDED COUNCILOR KIRKPATRICK AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO TABLE TO APRIL 4, 2007. VOTE 7/0.
2. R-07-54 – A Resolution to Purchase of four (4) police cruisers (tabled from March 7, 2007)
Chief John Desmarais asks that this resolution be withdrawn.
3. R-07-55 – A Resolution Awarding the Contract for the Reconditioning of the Elevator located at Cumberland High School to American Elevator, Inc. of North Attleboro, Massachusetts in an amount not to exceed $40,000 (tabled from March 7, 2007)
Councilor Mutter states that the Finance Sub-Committee met on this resolution but did not act on the matter because there was no one present to answer any questions. He recalls that the problem was that the fiscal note stated that it was a sole source provider but the resolution states that it went out to bid.
Patricia Anderson states that she has received, from the School Department, a copy of the bid specifications that does show that American Elevator was the lowest bidder and explains that it is unclear why the fiscal note states that they were a sole source provider.
Councilor Lemois asks if and why the School Department went out to bid for this one item when the Council and the Town has been managing the CHS2010.
Council President Higgins explains that Mr. Hilton from the School Department is not present to answer that question.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED COUNCILOR ALBUQUERQUE AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO TABLE TO APRIL 4, 2007. VOTE 7/0.
NEW BUSINESS:
A. APPOINTMENTS-JUVENILE HEARING BOARD (Mayoral Appointment):
1. Andrea L. Trottier of 1 Sandy Way
Term Ending September 3, 2007
MOTION BY COUNCILOR ACKERMAN, SECONDED COUNCILOR MORRIS AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE. VOTE 7/0.
B. CLAIM:
1. Lynda Mckenzie of 74 Silo Drive, Cumberland
REFERED TO THE FINANCE SUB-COMMITTEE
2. Cheryl L. Bruhn of 16 Middle Street, Cumberland
REFERED TO THE TOWN SOLICITOR
C. RESOLUTIONS:
1. R-07-56 – A Resolution Authorizing the Settlement of the Case of Binchy, LLC/Logan Enterprises, LLC vs. Town of Cumberland
Council President Higgins states that this is a follow up to an executive session that took place two weeks ago where they disclosed that they had voted to authorize the settlement and this would finalize the settlement.
Mr. Hefner states that this has been pending for some time and it is his understanding that there had been some discussion by the prior administration but for some reason it did not go forward. He adds that after reviewing the file the Town has already but in $8,000 of Town funds into outside counsel and this is a chance for the Town to get $135,000 with $64,000 in taxes and the rest can be used for whatever the Council sees fit.
Council President Higgins mentions that part of the settlement involves merging lots.
Mr. Hefner adds that back in the early to mid 1990s the Town had an administrative policy where by different people could come in and merge their lots. He states that these lots had been merged by the Town under a tax title as having a tax title ownership rather than an outright equitable interest in it so it is one lot now. He explains that what is going to happen now is that the merger is going to be vacated and these 6 lots are going to be merged into not more than 3 lots.
Councilor Lemois states that in the resolution there is a reference to the additional $70,000 to be used by the Town for any legal purpose to be determined by the Town Council and asks if this money is just set aside in its own fund to be used for a later date or is this something they have to determine tonight.
Mr. Hefner replies that this is the type of situation where they get the money owed in taxes and they have this remaining $70,000 that is in the prerogative of the Town Council to look at where the Town might be best able to put this to work. He adds that this is the kind of funds that can be used to acquire property like the Neves property.
Council Mutter states that the type of fund that Mr. Hefner is referring to is the Property Acquisition Fund and he would not object to having the money deposited into that fund and he is leery of the money going into the general fund. He asks the Solicitor, if they were to place the $70,000 in the Property Acquisition Fund would that prevent them at a later date to move those funds some place else.
Mr. Hefner replies that he does not believe there is anything preventing them from moving the funds at a later date.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED COUNCILOR ACKERMAN IT IS VOTED TO AMEND PAGE 2, LINE 1 BY STRIKING THROUGH “USED BY THE TOWN FOR ANY LEGAL PURPOSE TO BE DETERMINED BY THE TOWN COUNCIL” AND REPLACING IT WITH, “$70,715.01 SHALL BE PLACED IN THE PROPERTY ACQUISITION FUND. VOTE FAILS 7/0.
Nay: Councilor Mutter, Ackerman, Lemois, Albuquerque, Morris, Kirkpatrick and Council President Higgins
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MORRIS, SECONDED COUNCILOR MUTTER AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO AMEND PAGE 2, LINE 1 BY ADDING AFTER THE WORD BE, “DEPOSITED IN THE PROPERTY ACQUISITION FUND AND TO BE”. VOTE 7/0.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED COUNCILOR MORRIS AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE AS AMENDED. VOTE 7/0.
2. R-07-57 – A Resolution Awarding a Purchase Agreement to Central Nurseries, Inc. for the Purchase, Delivery and Installation of Playground Equipment and Playground Improvements at the Monastery Playground, the BF Norton, Cumberland Hill, Community, Ashton, and Garvin Elementary Schools and the Fatima Preschool in an amount not to exceed $103,926.00
Council President Higgins states that he is going to refer this to the Finance Sub-Committee because they have requested additional information, that they only received this evening and need the opportunity to review the materials.
REFERRED TO THE FINANCE SUB-COMMITTEE
3. R-07-58 – A Resolution Awarding a Purchase Agreement to Lucena Brothers, Inc. for the Installation of Playground Walking Path at the Ashton Elementary School in an amount not to exceed $14,595.00
REFERRED TO THE FINANCE SUB-COMMITTEE
4. R-07-59 – A Resolution to Reconsider Resolution R-07-51 Decreasing the Bid Award for Roofing for Part II of Phase III Renovations at Cumberland High School for Eagle Cornice of Cranston, Rhode Island in the amount of $30,600 and Increasing the Contract amount for Dimeo Construction of Providence, Rhode Island in the amount of $30,600
Councilor Mutter explains that at some point they awarded a bid to Eagle Cornice and there is some question whether they should be involved in the transaction removing Eagle Cornice instead they feel it is more appropriate for it to be handled between Eagle Cornice and Dimeo.
Jeff Morris, Dimeo Project Manager, disagrees with Councilor Mutter’s opinion on the matter. He states that the curtain wall contract is a separate contract from that they have with the Town and has nothing to do with the CHS2010 bond referendum. He adds that this is a unique situation where they were handed, as construction manager’s for CHS2010, part of a previous contract from DePasquale Builders. He further explains they took the curtain wall out of his project and the Town bought the curtain wall and they were brought in to manage it. He points out that in doing that they met with the previous Council members to come up with a budget that would work to get this curtain wall done. Mr. Morris states that in that budget they told them it would take additional funds than what they had to do the budget because there were a lot of loop holes. He continues to explain that one of the items that they had was a reimbursable amount in their contract for all the items that were open ended and there were four contractors that they met with to discuss how they were going to put this curtain wall together. He mentions that in that meeting the contractors were asked to review the numbers and the plans and tell them what they own per their contract.
Council President Higgins asks if these sub-contractors were hired by the previous general contractor, DePasquale.
Mr. Morris replies that yes they were hired by DePasquale so there was no bidding process for the sub-contractors the bidding process was for DePasquale as the general contractor and he hired who he wanted to do the work. He continues to explain that these sub-contractor got handed to Dimeo to do the work and in the process they discovered several deficiencies in it that they went through and came up with an agreed upon number with the Town and did a contract. He states that Eagle Cornice had a certain amount of work to do and during the scheduling and the construction they found that it was easier to have their carpenters do the work then to try and bring in Eagle Cornice when needed. He states that they spoke to Eagle Cornice and explains that they liked to take the money that Eagle had set aside for the aluminum work and they would do it under their contract to get it done in a timely manner which Eagle was very agreeable to. He concludes that it was the exact change of funds from Eagle’s contract to Dimeo’s contract and they did not want Eagle Cornice paying Dimeo under the table to do the work for the Town of Cumberland.
Council President Higgins states that their concern was the Eagle Cornice had gone out to bid for the job and that the Council is in compliance with the bid requirements.
Councilor Lemois states that his only concern is that if they had a resolution making a change order into a contract then the contract had to be awarded and it would have been awarded to Eagle Cornice.
Mr. Morris replies that there was a contract.
Councilor Lemois states that if there was a contract they can’t break that contract unless they go out to bid.
Mr. Morris asks why the Council would have to go out to bid for a change order.
Councilor Lemois states that this is not a change order they are stopping part of a contract.
Mr. Morris states that they had a change order for Eagle Cornice to take the money out of the contract and give it back to the Town then there was a change order to put that money into Dimeo’s contract.
Anthony Nobrega, former Town Councilor, explains that this is part of the Phase II to do the curtain wall and at one point the Council stopped DePasquale under agreement with him from doing the curtain wall. He further explains that part of the reason for that was that the curtain wall had been delayed being made by the manufacturer in Canada and it would fit better if it was put together during Phase III. He adds that they decided to stop everything and hold the curtain wall off but Eagle Cornice had been hired as a sub-contractor by DePasquale. He concludes that when they severed that part of that contract with DePasquale and moved it over he released those sub-contractors to go with it so there is no direct contract with Eagle Cornice and the Town but instead with DePasquale and the Town.
Councilor Mutter asks if Eagle Cornice was awarded a contract by the Building Committee.
Mr. Morris states that the Building Committee approved the contract but the contract was awarded by the Town.
Councilor Mutter states that if Eagle Cornice has a contract that was approved by the Town why can’t they just hire and sub-contract Dimeo.
Mr. Morris states that he feels doing that is a conflict of interest.
Mr. Hefner states that he is satisfied with the fact that Eagle Cornice did some of the work and Dimeo did the rest and he doesn’t see anything wrong with it.
Councilor Lemois states that it is his belief that the contract between Eagle Cornice and the Town was passed by resolution and he doesn’t believe that the Council should be in the business of voting to end that contract and move job and money to another contract through a change order.
Mr. Morris states that they are not ending Eagle Cornice’s contract because they are still doing work for this project.
Council President Higgins asks if there is some kind of written agreement between Dimeo and Eagle Cornice where by they fore go the right to do the work.
Mr. Morris states that the change order needs to be signed by both parties and the Town. He concludes that the work was going to have to be done by someone and they selected as the managers to utilize their people on site to expedite and keep the job going in a smooth fashion with Eagle Cornice in agreement.
Mr. Hefner states that it appears that this is damage control and it is a good discussion for the Council to say to Mr. Morris that they aren’t going to do this anymore, but he is comfortable with this. He adds that he is not comfortable with the way this was done but he thinks it was a better way to do it than to do it under the table, so to speak, and they have been up front with it.
Council President Higgins clarifies that this resolution would rescind the previous resolution that award payment to Dimeo to vote rescind would negate that payment.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR LEMOIS, SECONDED COUNCILOR MUTTER AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE. VOTE FAILS 4/3.
Nay: Councilor Mutter, Ackerman, Morris and Council President Higgins
5. R-07-60 – A Resolution Authorizing an Increase t the Approved Amount to the Existing Contract with Commercial Electric of East Providence, Rhode Island in an amount not to exceed $13,368 for Electrical Services for the CHS2010 Phase III Retro-Fitting of the Art/Music Classrooms at Cumberland High School
Mr. Morris states that at the completion of the job they realized that the service to the panels was not sufficient to match up with the lighting and along with the overall renovations of the rest of school they were upgrading the service from 220 volt to 277 volt.
Council President Higgins asks who designed the electrical work to begin with and why wasn’t it done the right way.
Mr. Morris replies that the architect hires engineer and explains that this was an oversight on their part and is currently being addressed by the Building Committee
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED COUNCILOR MORRIS AND
UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE. VOTE 6/1.
Nay: Councilor Lemois
6. R-07-61 – A Resolution Authorizing the Purchase of an XLT2500 Digital Mobile 2 Way Radio and an XTS2500 Digital Portable 2 Way Radio from Motorola, Inc. of North Scituate, Rhode Island in an amount not to exceed $10,878.28
Greg Noury, the acting Rescue Director, explains that the Town of Cumberland Rescue Service is part 8 communities with the State that receive grant money to keep supplying, educating and training for the mass casualties trailer and prime mover. He adds that this particular grant that they were awarded was for $10,000 and these eight communities have decided to purchase these radios to improve the ability to communicate from one end of the State to the other end of the State in all the different public safety emergency vehicles on a large scale.
MOTION BY COUNCILOR ALBUQUERQUE, SECONDED COUNCILOR LEMOIS AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO APPROVE. VOTE 7/0.
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
ADJOURNMENT:
MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED COUNCILOR ALBUQUERQUE AND UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO ADJOUNR AT 9:19P.M. VOTE 7/0.
______________________________________________
Sandra M. Giovanelli, Town Clerk
HAYDEN LIBRARY**