New Shoreham Town Council Meeting

Town Hall, 16 Old Town Road, Block Island

Wednesday, April 2, 2025

4:00 PM

 

Present: First Warden Keith Stover, Second Warden Nancy Dodge, Town Council members William McCombe, Margaret O’Neill and Tristan Payne.  Also present were Interim Town Manager Amy Land, Interim Finance Director Mona Dwyer Helterline and via Zoom, Town Solicitor Nick Solitro.  Town Clerk Millicent Highet was present for the recording of minutes. 

 

First Warden Stover called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. 

 

1.      Meet with Interstate Navigation to discuss items of mutual interest, including the Landing Fee and the RI Fast Ferry

Council Member Bill McCombe recused himself.

 

Manager Josh Linda, Office Manager Jeanette Centraccio and Attorney Michael McElroy were present representing Interstate Navigation.

 

Keith Stover commended Interstate for their upgrades in technology and communication, such as text opt-in for service alerts, and their website.

 

Attorney McElroy explained that annual meetings with the Town Council are important.  He suggested shifting the annual meeting to early fall.  He noted that Interstate Navigation tries to be receptive and responsive to comments regarding the schedule. 

 

Discussion ensued regarding the proposal to increase the Landing Fee.  Attorney McElroy stated that Interstate feels that an increase in the fee to $1.75 is excessive, and he is concerned that Narragansett will want to match it, adding $3.50 to the roundtrip ticket price.  Interstate would be willing to support an increase to $1.00. 

 

Attorney McElroy followed up by stating that Interstate would like to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Town in opposing the RI Fast Ferry.  He noted that the high-speed ferry profits go to supporting the traditional, lifeline ferry operations and keeping the year-round ticket price low.  If granted, the RI Fast Ferry would take profits from the Interstate fast ferry, which would impact the lifeline ferry rates.  Mr. McElroy explained that they have until April 14^th to file briefs in the Fast Ferry case.

 

Attorney McElroy stated that Interstate Navigation would support a Landing Fee of $1.00 if the Town were to stand shoulder to shoulder with Interstate in opposition to the RI Fast Ferry. 

 

Ms. O’Neill shared her concern over limiting the Landing Fee, explaining that the impact of the tourists cost the Town a considerable amount through water and sewer usage, trash collection, fire and rescue services, and medical center services.  She noted that she sees the Landing Fee and the RI Fast Ferry as two separate issues and not tied together.  Ms. Dodge stated that the Island benefits from the tourists through their spending in the Islands’ stores, hotels and restaurants.  She additionally noted that history counts, that the Landing Fee and the RI Fast Ferry case are tied and that the Town should be supporting the year-round service by opposing the RI Fast Ferry.

 

2.      Discuss deer mitigation strategies raised at the joint meeting with the DEM:

a.      Deer counts

b.      Weekend/ holiday hunting

c.       Expansion of the season

d.      Bounty amounts

e.       Simplifying local regulations (Police sign-off, land-owner permission)

f.        Opening conservation land

Mr. McCombe returned to the table.

 

Interim Town Manager Land explained that the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management suggested some strategies to deer mitigation at their meeting with the Council in February.  She noted the following on the items raised at this meeting:

·         The Town is waiting on the DEM to pass on information regarding deer counts.

·         She will work with Alarm and Communications Officer Howell Conant, Council member Tristan Payne and Police Chief Deane to do a deer count using the Fire Department’s drone with support from DEM.

·         Space is being held for discussions on weekend/holiday hunting, expansion of the season, changes to local regulations and opening conservation land in the future.

·         The bounty has been fully funded for the upcoming fiscal year based on the numbers from the past two seasons.

 

Ms. Dodge stated that she believes there was a consensus amongst the Council at a previous meeting regarding not being in favor of opening weekend or holiday hunting or the expansion of the season.

 

Ms. O’Neill raised issues over the bounty.  She expressed her concern over running out of money and having a limited pool of hunters eligible/taking advantage of the bounty.

 

From the audience, Chirs Blane expressed his concern over the following: the lack of adverting of such a meeting; opening weekend/holiday hunting; and the Black Rock lottery hunt run by the state.

 

Police Chief Deane stated that he was not in favor of easing local regulations, and believes it is important to maintain landowner permission, police sign-off and police document inspection.

 

Amy Keeler spoke from the audience to raise concern over the impacts of the deer, particularly Lyme Disease, and protecting her farm from the deer.  She suggested experimenting with archery only, weekend hunting.

 

3.      Budget discussions on FY2026 budget, including Public Works

Interim Finance Director Mona Dwyer Helterline noted that the estimated increase for insurance was included in the budget and the actual numbers came in a little lower with a final savings of $7,516.  She also noted that the Travel and Training lines throughout the budget have been combined into one line.

Ms. Dwyer Helterline and Public Works Director Mike Shea reported the following regarding the Public Works budget:

 

·         Custodial Services is level funded.

·         The Consultant/Engineer line was reduced by $25,000.

·         The Training and Travel line was increased. 

·         The $30,000 in the Thomas Property line covers maintenance, such as utilities, mowing etc.

·         There is a $10,000 increase to the Equipment line for a sidewalk snow clearing machine. 

·         Maintenance/Mansion line, for the maintenance of the Mansion bathrooms, is now a known quantity and is budgeted at $13,000.

·         The costs of the Maintenance/Portajohn line was able to be lowered by $10,000 due to the addition of the Mansion Beach bathrooms.

·         Cemetery/Misc is a new line to break out the miscellaneous cemetery costs, from the plot sales and interment costs.

 

Interim Town Manager Land noted the Maintenance/Landfill Slope line has not been funded, but there is an ongoing obligation to fund the line in the future and to continue to fund it going forward.

Ms. O’Neill stated that she would like to allocate some of the Early Learning Center funding to specifically reduce rates of Town employees as an employee benefit.  Mr. McCombe concurred, stating Town employee benefits could be increased by offering reduced rate recreation programs, etc.  Mr. Stover suggested requiring the Early Learning Center to implement some governance standards such as bylaws, an audit, etc.

The visitor center operations were discussed.

The $50,000 in Covid money for planning and the engineering of the bulkhead for unloading barges was discussed.  Ms. Dodge suggested reallocating that money to the Old Harbor utility work.  Ms. Land explained that the purchase orders for the bulkhead have already been executed, cannot be rescinded and the money cannot be reallocated.

4.      Review history and funding regarding Sunrise Wind

Interim Town Manager reviewed the history and funding of Sunrise Wind explaining the following:

·         Sunrise Wind has identified three mitigation measures for the Town, put forward by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, that may be adversely affected by the visual effects of the South Fork Wind project:

o   Planning and rehabilitation of the North Light: $500,000 total, with up to $50,000 to be used for conditions assessment and planning document; the remaining funding to be used for the physical repair.

o   Coastal Resiliency Planning: $50,000 per year up to five years to hire a qualified consultant to assist with resiliency projects that contribute to long-term preservation of historic properties.

o   Past and Future Adaptations Visitor Experience: $50,000 to create digital content for an interpretive trail that will present past, present and future climate risks and solutions to Block Island and its critical historic properties.

·         The next step will be for Orstead to provide a draft funding agreement outlining process, milestones, timing and responsible parties for each of the three mitigation efforts.

 

Discussion ensued regarding the project selection process and the opportunity to redirect the funding.  Ms. Land explained that the language of the Memorandum of Agreement was set and couldn’t be amended.  She noted that there may be some room to interpret how the funds are used under the specific allocation – such as using reliance funds to protect the Coast Guard Station from sea level rise.  

 

Ms. Dodge stated that the negotiations between the Town and Orstead that took place in 2023 should not have been held in closed session.

 

Mr. McCombe questioned whether any of the funds could be in jeopardy, due to the changes taking place within the federal government.  Ms. Land stated that she does not believe that the funds are in jeopardy.

 

5.      Hold public hearing, discuss and act on Town of New Shoreham FY2026 budget

Mr. Payne moved to open the public hearing on the Town of New Shoreham FY2026 budget.  The motion was seconded by Ms. Dodge and it carried.

            Ayes: 5 (Stover, Dodge, O’Neill, Payne, McCombe)                        Nays: 0

 

There was no input during the public hearing.

 

Mr. Payne moved to close the public hearing on the Town of New Shoreham FY2026 budget.  The motion was seconded by Ms. Dodge and it carried.

            Ayes: 5 (Stover, Dodge, O’Neill, Payne, McCombe)                        Nays: 0

 

Mr. Payne moved to adjourn at 6:34 p.m.  The motion was seconded by Ms. Dodge and it carried.

            Ayes: 5 (Stover, Dodge, O’Neill, Payne, McCombe)                        Nays: 0           

 

 

Millicent Highet, MMC

Town Clerk    

 

Date Approved: 4/7/2025