[0:26] I'd like to call the meeting to order the meeting of the town budget public hearing. And the first order of business is that we are going to ask the town council and the budget commission to call their meeting to order so that they're able to speak as part of a regular meeting and answer questions.

[0:48] I can call the roll if you like. Mr. Gens, Mr. Trambley, Ms. Lee, Mr. Rhodes, and Ms. Fence, like those

[0:57] members of our council for the Budget Commission members, Mr. Sarder. Mr. Hemendway. It's not

[1:04] here, Mr. Haskins. Not here, Ms. Phillips. And Mr. Slattery. Not here. So we do not have a core

[1:12] off the budget question.

[1:26] Let's continue by doing the pledge of allegiance to the flag. Please stand.

[1:57] I know I

[2:02] know most of the people in the room, but for those of you who don't know me, my name is Leo Manelli and I've been in

[2:18] time resident of Charlestown, and the reason that I'm telling you that actually is because

[2:22] I love Charlestown, and one of the things I noticed when I travel around the state, and

[2:27] I do that because I'm originally from Providence and know a lot of people around the state,

[2:32] is I find people like the town that they come from, wherever it might be, but when you talk

[2:37] to people in Charlestown, they love the town where they come from, and I really notice that

[2:41] that's a difference, and that's the way I feel about Charlestown, and I want to convey that

[2:45] you and I hope that you feel the same way.

[2:48] And the other thing that kind of goes along with that, in my estimation, is something that

[2:54] I used to talk about in another organization that I belong to, and that is that we are

[2:58] to all work to try to leave this place a little better than we found it.

[3:02] And if we all do that and do it in a civilized manner, I think we can really accomplish a lot.

[3:09] Now I realize when you talk about leaving things a little better than what you found it,

[3:13] That can be subjective.

[3:15] How much money you're going to spend?

[3:16] You're going to do this.

[3:17] Or you're going to do that.

[3:18] But by civil discourse and then bringing things to a vote, when you have a consensus,

[3:23] we can, in fact, make progress.

[3:24] And that's what we're trying to do with each and every meeting that we conduct.

[3:30] The one of the announcements I want to make is that when you come, when you're going

[3:34] to speak, please come to the microphone and stand fairly close to the microphone.

[3:39] That's the way these systems work.

[3:40] and stage your name clearly for the record, so that it is recorded properly and that Amy

[3:47] our town clerk gets the correct information.

[3:52] I'd like to explain a little bit about some of the things that we have to observe tonight.

[3:57] There are rules and procedures, and the first one is that 10 electors shall constitute a

[4:03] quorum, so we have at least 10 people here, but the votes will only be taken on a particular

[4:09] If a quorum of 50 people has been reached, and in fact we have exactly 50 people signed here tonight. That includes me.

[4:19] Sufficient copies of the budget have been prepared, and if you would still like to get up and get copies of the budget or the agenda they're over there on my right hand side.

[4:28] And then I'd like you to note the fact that on or before a Monday, May 9th, 2016, the town council will make a final revision to the budget and adopt the same to be placed on the ballot for the all day referendum.

[4:41] The town clerk will immediately the next day submit the questions to the board of elections for ballot printing.

[4:49] I don't before May 27, 2016 the town clerk will publish and post the warrant for the all-day referendum.

[4:58] The electors of the town will vote on the budget at the financial referendum to be held on Monday, June 6, 2016 at the town hall.

[5:06] And that will be the voting place for all of the people in town.

[5:10] The poll will reopen from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., the vote is an approval or rejection of the municipal budget and the questions or petitions on the ballot.

[5:21] I've already talked about civility in our conversation and debate.

[5:26] I hope that you will observe that.

[5:28] I'd also like to talk about limiting the debate just so that everyone gets a chance to speak.

[5:33] It's somewhat similar to the way that we did it last year.

[5:36] And that is, those people who are introducing a subject to get five or seven or eight minutes to introduce the subject, whether it be the budget or the petition.

[5:46] And then each person, I would request take just three minutes to make their point.

[5:51] And really, if you think about it, you can say whether you're in favor or not in favor of something or make a point in three minutes.

[5:56] If you need more time than that, I would request that you allow time for other people to speak for the first time.

[6:04] And then you can come back and we'll stay as long as you would like in order to have everybody

[6:09] speak to every subject that they would like to.

[6:14] I'd like to accept the motion to open the public hearing.

[6:19] Anyone?

[6:21] Seconded?

[6:22] Seconded?

[6:23] Seconded?

[6:23] So the public hearing is opened and the first item on the agenda is the tentative 2016-17 municipal

[6:31] budget of $13,491,329. And the petition and the budget report will be given by Dick

[6:44] Sotter, and then we'll go from there.

[7:09] That working?

[7:14] Yes.

[7:14] Yes, OK. My name is Dick Sotter. I'm Chairman of the Budget Commission. And late March,

[7:20] we sent to the town council, I recommended budget for the year, and they modified it slightly.

[7:25] However, the final recommended operating budget with the adjustment made by the town council is 27,602,768 dollars, and that includes the board of education as well as local government expenditures.

[7:40] That is an increase total expenditures of 2.39 percent,

[7:50] the recommended budget with an increase

[7:54] of 2.39 percent requires an additional $683,424 above the 2016 budget.

[8:03] There's a small tax level increase of $363,525 to fund the budget.

[8:09] that is the additional money that needs to be raised from taxation after all the other increased

[8:15] revenues of the town are considered. The bottom line is that this requires an estimated tax

[8:22] level increase of 1 percent, 1.08 percent, and an estimated rate of $10.22 per thousand.

[8:38] I believe

[8:39] The major changes in the budget are significant because there is an investment this year proposed for

[8:49] essentially capital investment in roads. The Buckheadbrook road project that was put out for engineering a year or so ago is now in the budget for its first phase of construction of a million dollars.

[9:00] We've recommended increasing the annual overlay

[9:04] road resurfacing program.

[9:07] We increased by $100,000 to $250,000.

[9:11] And additionally, that somebody's

[9:13] be set aside for engineering for an additional

[9:15] road project in the future.

[9:18] And that's King's Factory Road,

[9:20] which would be a follow on subsequent

[9:22] completing

[9:24] vertical road.

[9:26] That we would anticipate be engineered next year

[9:29] and probably be two or three years down the road before actual work would be completed.

[9:34] The only other large projects have to do with the police vehicle and equipment replacement at

[9:39] 150,000 in the town hall emergency power generator at 110,000.

[9:45] The reason for that, they currently have in this 28 years old, and it will only do half the building,

[9:51] so an emergency it simply does work.

[9:54] The, speaking again, toward the tax rate, essentially that continues to maintain us in the position we've had for a number of years, we're in the lowest tier of tax rates in the state of Rhode Island.

[10:07] Depending on which tax classification you look at, we are either second from the bottom up to fifth from the bottom of taxes in the state of Rhode Island.

[10:14] We have a $2.33 billion grant list which supports those activities.

[10:21] So our cash rate remains low.

[10:23] We have a fund balance, an undersigned fund balance, and that money is available for cash flow.

[10:30] And on an anticipated expenses, it's expected generally and recommended by the auditor to have between 15 to 25 percent of our budget.

[10:38] hours is currently at 19 percent, and we have used some limited amount of those funds to offset tax increases in this current budget.

[10:50] A few personnel changes in the budget as well. There are three reclassifications of positions, the wastewater manager, the geographic information systems manager, and the tax collector.

[11:01] They are additionally is the appointment of a part-time plumbing inspector in the building department.

[11:08] Building departments had a very significant increase in workload and revenue,

[11:11] and they do need additional code enforcement people.

[11:14] So we recommend that I believe it's $13,000 for our plumbing inspector.

[11:18] Additionally, there's a part-time maintainer in the public works department.

[11:23] I've been working predominantly in recreation area as a public works maintainer,

[11:27] moving from part time to full time and I don't recall the last time we proved a new full time.

[11:34] So that essentially is the budget.

[11:39] Hopefully, modest, we tend to try to be the budget

[11:42] commission as quite conservative and we work to examine each budget, anticipate, expenditure,

[11:49] each request, carefully, each year to try to maintain our tax rates at the levels that we

[11:55] have in the past and continue to do so.

[11:58] The Residential Collection Center, the Recitling Center, is budget $25,000, and that's an enterprise

[12:07] fund, which means it's not in the general fund budget that you're discussing tonight.

[12:11] It's a separate enterprise fund, which works essentially as a private business.

[12:16] The same is true of the Coastal Pond Commission, which is the Harbor Master and all of

[12:21] activities, that's at 61,894, and that is fully funded by more increased paid by people

[12:27] who are more in the ponds. So that's essentially the budget and the impact, it's a 1.08% tax increase,

[12:37] and we believe we'll recommend it to the council.

[12:46] There was a list for folks to sign up to

[12:49] speak, and there was no one signed up. Apparently no one signed up to speak.

[12:55] Regarding the budget, is there anyone who would like to speak on the budget,

[12:58] as Dick a question or other members of the Budget Commission.

[13:05] If they are not going once, going twice, going three times this portion of the hearing

[13:14] is closed, and we will proceed to the next portion of the hearing, which is the petition.

[13:22] And that petition reads, shall the town treasure and the president of the town council

[13:28] be authorized pursuant to Rhode Island code, to issue and refund from time to time bonds,

[13:36] notes, and other evidences of indebtedness in an amount not to exceed $1,750,000 to finance

[13:44] the acquisition, maintenance, and capital projects of two properties.

[13:47] The general stand-in in at 415 old post-road, 6.85 acres, plot 13, lot 1, purchase price

[13:58] 1,325,000 dollars, and 2.3 acre lot on old post-road, plot 13, lot 5, purchase price

[14:09] $163,000 and maintenance capital fund of $262,000 or any interest therein alone are in conjunction with federal agencies, state agencies,

[14:24] these land trusts or preservation organizations or non-profit organizations, where the acquisition

[14:30] of said listed properties, the terms, details, and conditions of such bonds, notes, or

[14:35] other evidence of indebtedness to be set by resolution of the town council or by the town

[14:40] treasurer and the president of the town council in the absence of such resolution.

[14:46] Now, I have a short explanation of that particular petition, and it says, acquire the general

[14:51] standing in and one adjacent property for preservation and enhancement of our community village center.

[14:58] It is envisioned that another.

[15:00] Online-profit citizens organization would be created to manage, develop and promote community values, uses, and activities in the village.

[15:08] In vision activities include historic preservation, education, commerce that serves our community, entrepreneurial, incubator, business space, social events, and activities to guide and promote the continued development of the child's town central village, while preserving its character.

[15:26] I understand that Kickstarter is going to introduce that subject also.

[15:33] Thank you,

[15:37] Dick.

[15:37] Thank you, Dick Sarder.

[15:39] Again, I've clarified that this is absolutely not in my role as budget chairman,

[15:44] and it's a totally separate endeavor that became involved in about a year or go.

[15:50] I remember the friends of the General of Stanton Inn, a number of other members,

[15:55] are in the audience.

[15:57] And we'll like to thank everybody for the opportunity to present this.

[16:00] Most of you will recall about a year or so ago there were some activities

[16:05] through the regard to the General St. Ninn and Proposal Sports use.

[16:09] That I thought we're on appropriate apparently.

[16:10] The town did also, it was ultimately turned down.

[16:14] And a general character with regard to a number of facilities similar to the General St. Ninn.

[16:21] There's a cavern and another place in our community,

[16:25] all of which seem to have been having commercial difficulties over the years.

[16:29] The combination of those two things, plus the fact that in Charles Town probably the most

[16:35] single, most visible location we have in our community is that particular piece of property,

[16:39] particularly people driving through or going through our community.

[16:44] Also throughout the state, probably the one thing that people do know about Charles Town

[16:49] beyond beaches is the general standing in.

[16:52] And it is a location.

[16:53] So, those things in the background, a number of us started having conversations, is there

[16:59] some way that we could work to preserve that and enhance our characteristic, our signature

[17:05] or village center, which hasn't happened by other means in the past.

[17:10] And one of the concerns was to preserve the facilities and the artifacts that exist there,

[17:16] promote community events around holidays and seasonal activities and seasonal tourism promotions,

[17:23] the education and to do some fundraising against the economic development as well.

[17:29] Our goals quickly were, you know, have a viable central village preservation, and then we said,

[17:37] well, how can this work? And we talked about this significantly, and there's, we felt there was no other way

[17:46] than it could work other than if the town were a partner, if the town, if the town essentially owned the facility.

[17:52] But then we said, well, what if the kind of owns the facility, is it going to become an endless money pit?

[17:57] And we were concerned about that as well.

[18:00] So the argument was, and part of the conversation was, what can we do to ensure that that does not occur?

[18:06] And from that was a discussion about forming the group, friends of the general stand-in, and that has occurred.

[18:14] We've been conducting public meetings for several months.

[18:17] There was quite a lot of interest in the community and the remains.

[18:21] So we have become a Rhode Island nonprofit corporation.

[18:27] And we were also responsible for the development and circulation of the petition.

[18:33] As you know, the petition requires 200 signatures.

[18:35] We turned in 351 that were valid.

[18:40] One of the significant reasons for forming the organization was to have an organization which would have the capability of sustaining these facilities without heavy annual expenditures by the town, so the money pit idea, and we felt that also with all the skills that exist in our community and the numbers of people that exist in our community who are interested, that we would have sufficient citizens support to make that a reality.

[19:11] We believe we've done that, in addition to forming and doing the petition, we've been meeting regularly, we have formed a number of committees.

[19:20] And those committees have examined the history,

[19:25] the buildings and properties, the finances, the communications group.

[19:30] And most recently we've formed a small group that is researching the flea market activities that take place there in how it's running, all of the things associated with that.

[19:38] those are preparatory to what might happen in the future.

[19:46] The necessity is that the town would acquire and own the properties.

[19:53] We have not found any way that it would be possible to do otherwise.

[19:57] On the other hand, we did some recent checking.

[20:00] About six or seven other towns that we've called recently,

[20:03] I've already found a dozen buildings and properties own specifically by the municipalities and operated by management groups or non-profits.

[20:17] In fact, a lot of them are called friends of whatever the particular event is.

[20:21] Probably one of the ones that you would most clearly recognize is the Casino and Narraganset.

[20:26] it, that's owned by the town of Nier against it, and it's operated by a group to keep it

[20:33] to sustain it. So we have a number of those in the community, it's not at all unusual,

[20:40] and I'm surprised by that, because at first I thought it might be, but it's very common occurrence

[20:46] to preserve historic facilities by a partnership between the municipality and a group of people

[20:51] were really to sustain it.

[20:55] The, you had a brief description of what the bond issue would be, it would be 1,750,000

[21:02] dollars.

[21:03] So, without going into that again, I'll let you have a question to be happy to answer it.

[21:06] It's a 1,035 for the M, 163,000 for the parking lot, capital maintenance of 262,000.

[21:15] that would be an account for any investment and repairs that were needed.

[21:22] The other side of that is debt service when you bond funds you have to pay for it.

[21:27] So we were very concerned about that, and we determined what the annual payments would be based

[21:33] upon all the costs associated with it.

[21:35] And the costs include issuing the bonds, advertising, foregone taxation by public ownership

[21:40] If the community owns it, there's a grand total

[21:44] about $16,000 per year in taxes that come in now

[21:47] that wouldn't, so we capitalize that.

[21:49] We put that in the number as well,

[21:51] and then finally, principle and interest

[21:53] just like your mortgage.

[21:55] The total of all of those things comes to $143,189

[21:59] per year, and the impact on taxation

[22:04] will be six cents.

[22:05] The tax rate would go up by six cents.

[22:08] If nothing in the world changed other than that,

[22:10] It would be a six-cent increase.

[22:13] We oftentimes in Charleston use a $300,000 value home,

[22:16] assess value home, to determine tax impacts,

[22:20] and at six cents, that would be $18 per year,

[22:23] or $1.5 a month.

[22:24] It's easy enough to figure out for your own property.

[22:29] The essential proposal is acquisition ownership

[22:32] funded by the town.

[22:33] It becomes town property, becomes an asset of the town.

[22:37] The friends of the General Stanton in would contract, would offer to contract with the town,

[22:43] to manage, operate the programs and improvements with the goal of fiscal sustainability

[22:48] so that the property would not be an annual drain.

[22:54] It would always have the capital costs associated with, but of course it would always have the capital,

[22:59] the value associated with owning probably the most central visible property in our community.

[23:04] To

[23:10] complete this activity on the part of our organization requires a lot of information we made to the public and not a lot has been transmitted as yet

[23:19] One of the reasons for that is we've been developing the information and trying to be certain that what we say is accurate and correct

[23:26] And secondly, right now most of the material that is imprinted form or other form is actually out being done

[23:33] So, the public information campaign is really only going to be about three weeks before the

[23:38] lecture from about the 15th to June 6th, will be the time of which we will get as much

[23:42] of this information out as we can, and of course, we need to answer questions tonight as best

[23:47] we can.

[23:49] There are also two open houses, tours being planned at the General Stanton Inn, and that's

[23:55] June 4th and 5th Saturday in Sunday from 10am to 3pm, most people who go through our surprise

[24:03] based on what they've heard from their friends and neighbors when they go through and actually look at the condition of the facilities.

[24:09] We found them to be in good condition.

[24:12] We've not, it's an old, the parts of the building are 1667, so you're not meeting 2015 codes that's impossible.

[24:21] But the building itself has been maintained and is a good working condition.

[24:24] We'll talk further about that as time goes on.

[24:28] So, I'm told also that good offices of Ellen Olson here that we may, may in fact have some people from the near-against at Flavent Drunk or on our Sunday, the Blue Jack, though, at our Sunday open house.

[24:44] That is essentially the proposal, it is a strong effort on our part to try to preserve

[24:52] this facility, use of education, use of preturism, use it to as a central location in

[24:57] our community to have events there that include seasonal events, holiday events, in other

[25:02] words, get our community back using it again, as perhaps they did 20 or 30 years ago and

[25:09] In the summer time, seasonally, obviously tourism is very important.

[25:16] We will have other speakers who will talk to other parts of that, and I would like to

[25:19] call one of them, which is Pam Lyons, who speak about the historic part of the end, and

[25:24] he'll give you some background as to why we believe this activity should take place in our

[25:31] community.

[25:32] We think it's a great investment in our future.

[25:37] Could I interrupt for one second, Pam, before you begin?

[25:39] I just want to find out how many people have signed up to speak and there are three people who have signed up to speak.

[25:46] So I just want you to keep that in mind because I know you have several other speakers besides Pam, right?

[25:51] One other one?

[25:52] Okay.

[25:53] And I realize that we want to use this venue to get some information out to the public.

[25:58] And I'm just trying to think about timing here.

[26:00] So there are three people scheduled to speak and I don't know if there are any more who want to speak after that.

[26:04] But go ahead Pam.

[26:14] So who is General Joseph Stanton?

[26:18] Some of you may know a little bit about him,

[26:20] but some of us know an awful lot about him.

[26:22] And I just want to share just a very concise history of who this man was.

[26:28] A little bit about his family. I'll keep it short.

[26:31] Some of you know I get a little carried away with history.

[26:33] But I just want to start with 1667.

[26:38] The six, don't worry, it's only one page.

[26:42] My husband said, oh no.

[26:45] The 1667 room of the General Standing Inn is one of the oldest structures

[26:49] that still stands in the state of Rhode Island.

[26:53] It was put there by Thomas Stanton, one of our earliest ancestors

[26:57] who came here to this area as an Indian interpreter

[27:00] for John Winthrop Jr. of Plymouth Colony.

[27:05] He came here to mediate between the English and the Native Americans.

[27:10] During King Phillips-4 in 1667, the structure was spared because of that respect that the Native

[27:16] Americans held for Thomas.

[27:18] Coming known as Thomas the interpreter by 1643, the United colonies appointed Stanton as

[27:25] their official liaison.

[27:27] In the late 1600s and through the 1700s the Stanton family flourished and what was to become

[27:33] Charles Town in 1738. In the 1730s, General Joseph Stanton's father built the largest

[27:39] part of the structure that would become the future end. He was active in town government

[27:45] affairs. He was also, by far, the largest landholder in the entire Narragansic County.

[27:52] His son, General Joseph Stanton Jr. was born in 1738. The year Charles Town was incorporated.

[27:59] He became one of Rhode Island's most outstanding colonial citizens.

[28:03] During the Revolutionary War, a Joseph Jr. was a colonel in the Rhode Island militia.

[28:08] Then, becoming a Brigadier General, he was a delegate to the Rhode Island Constitutional Convention in 1790

[28:14] and the first U.S. senator from the state of Rhode Island from 1790 to 1793.

[28:21] He was later elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

[28:24] The National Archives, the Library of Congress, and the Rhode Island Historical Society,

[28:30] to name just a few organizations in the House Correspondence between General Joseph

[28:36] Stanton, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson.

[28:40] The end is the most prominent historical structure that still exists from our town's past.

[28:46] By preserving and repurposing this building, we have an opportunity to showcase Charles

[28:51] sounds earliest heritage while providing new life for its future. To leave this building

[28:57] exposed to dismantling and destruction would be a tragedy for this town and an embarrassment

[29:03] I believe. Many of the local towns in Rhode Island have already repurposed their historical

[29:09] structures. We hope that Charles Town will be among some of them.

[29:25] Last speaker from the friends is Ron Minio, and Ron is going to speak just a little bit about

[29:32] rather short Pam

[29:34] Ron's going to speak just about a very important subject is what now

[29:39] Thank you

[29:43] Good evening, my name is Ron Minio, and that's a tough act to follow when you hear that history

[29:50] And if I may just share a personal anecdote which I've shared once before

[29:55] These two rooms

[29:56] These two rooms, they are the Indian

[30:00] In the George Washington cabinet room, when we have the open house, please be sure to stand in that room or those rooms and think about who else may have stood there hundreds of years ago.

[30:15] Dick, and can both spoke about the property in terms of what it is today and what it was years ago.

[30:22] What I thought I would do is just take a few minutes and talk to you about what our plan is

[30:29] if in fact the warrant item passes on June 6th and then what from that point forward we envision would happen

[30:40] both with the friends and with the town

[30:43] At this point what we have is essentially an opportunity to purchase the property

[30:49] So, if they warrant item passes, we will then be faced with a about three or four month period

[30:58] where additional due diligence with regard to the property would be conducted.

[31:04] And a formal agreement to purchase the property would probably be negotiated and then put in place

[31:12] between the town is buyer and the current owner of the property as seller.

[31:20] While that process is going on,

[31:23] we also anticipate that the friends would be in discussions with the town with respect to an agreement,

[31:32] under which the friends would take over the management and operation of the property

[31:36] Once the closing approach was completed, that process would probably take anywhere from the three or four months and hopefully by that point we would have something in place to allow the friends

[31:52] with the consent of the town and the town council to take over the property and move forward.

[32:00] Assuming the purchase takes place, we anticipate that to be sometime in October

[32:04] And our short term or immediate plan once the property is acquired is to stabilize the operating expenses of the property and to prepare for the operation of the property over the next 12 to 24 to 36 months.

[32:26] stabilizing the revenue and stabilizing the income so that the properties revenue pays for the operation of the property

[32:33] and there's no, I think, as Dick referenced it, no big black hole with respect to the cost for operating the property.

[32:43] During that period of time that 18 to 36 months, then a longer term plan for the property would be developed.

[32:51] During that period, we also anticipate and it would be our plan to establish a museum at the property,

[33:00] the core of which would be the two rooms that I referenced and the essential original in.

[33:07] We do not anticipate and do not plan continued operation of the in.

[33:13] That would cease at that point.

[33:15] So, the museum would be the core, the flea market would be the revenue generator, and there is

[33:23] also a residential property there that is currently rented, and we anticipate continuing

[33:29] that rent for some period of time to generate additional revenue.

[33:34] Now, we circulated and have made available a four-page document which, if you haven't seen

[33:40] it, we do have copies available here.

[33:42] It sets out the revenue stream that we have conservatively projected based on information available to us.

[33:51] We anticipate about a $35,000 revenue stream from the flea market and the residential property.

[33:59] And we anticipate operating expenses to keep the property up and running and pay for its maintenance of about $32,280 dollars.

[34:09] that would leave us with net positive revenue of about $3,100.

[34:17] And that's set out in the document that we're circulating this evening.

[34:23] The last item that I wanted to address and what we've also put in the document is the

[34:28] group of people that have come forward and committed themselves to working on this project.

[34:34] We have between 25 and 30 very committed, motivated and talented people.

[34:39] And we've put here in this document some of the backgrounds of the people that are working on it and have committed to continue working on it in the future.

[34:50] So with that, I think we'd open it up to three people or more that might have questions for us.

[34:58] Is there anything else stick you you completed your part of the presentation, okay?

[35:04] One of the people who has signed up is won up Pearson

[35:09] Did I say that correctly?

[35:11] Pearson

[35:12] Thank you.

[35:22] I am more in a Pearson

[35:26] Kind of come here. I feel like I'm I'm representing there's 50 people in this room. There's what seven eight thousand in the town of Charleston

[35:33] I feel

[35:34] Partly why I'm representing the under represented population of Charleston.

[35:40] Why I feel that I just wanted, I was kindly invited to sign the petition for this endeavor.

[35:47] And thought about it.

[35:50] Made a response to why I felt I couldn't sign the petition.

[35:54] And I got responses from other people in the town who felt they couldn't speak up publicly

[35:59] because either they are a business owner or they might be a practitioner and they don't

[36:05] want to offend their clients, their business base, and the town, so I thought it

[36:10] was important for me to get up and speak. So I apologize if I'm reading for my paper,

[36:19] it's a, I'm not great at public speaking and my words were better thought out on paper,

[36:26] But I appreciate the passion and the enthusiasm of the grassroots groups who's trying to do this in the town of Charleston.

[36:35] They love Charleston, but there's also, that's a sentiment shared by lots of families and citizens in this town.

[36:43] However, as a business owner and a property owning taxpayer in this town, I do want to voice my concern,

[36:50] But a small group of well-meaning individuals wanting to commit a great sum of our tax dollars for the purchased renovation in maintenance of a privately owned business.

[37:01] I was recently at the town meetings in which the town council, it was brought up a perspective buyer for that property.

[37:11] They had a business model that was perceived as not suitable for the town of Charleston at that location.

[37:18] And some of the reasons that were given for that potential buyer was that being a non-profit organization,

[37:24] they would not be contributing to the taxes, and their mission would not be adding business revenue to our town.

[37:31] Those are some of the reasons given.

[37:32] And right now, I'm a little uncomfortable and discouraged that if the general standing in business property should be the responsibility of the taxpayers of Charleston.

[37:42] The purchase kind of preservation of the general standing as a historic landmark would be at this time, I feel, a very questionable and irresponsible endeavor.

[37:53] the citizen.

[37:56] There's a large, impassioned group which there seems to be in that have a historical

[38:00] vision for this property. I mean, they should be joining forces with the already established

[38:05] historical society, which they are, and seek private funding. I really feel that should be a

[38:10] privately funded endeavor for this town. In the meantime, that would give the owner, you know,

[38:15] the freedom to perhaps sell that property to somebody who has an innovative and created a creative

[38:22] vision that could add to the business in this town.

[38:28] I feel making this something that goes through the budget is not a free-well gesture on the part of the majority of taxpayers in this town.

[38:40] This should be a free-well gesture, not something that is forced upon us.

[38:44] And people should be able to give their resources for that.

[38:47] you own a $300,000 house, if you want to give $20 a year for the next 20 years, then that

[38:52] should be your free-wheel gesture and not something that's imposed upon you, and I just

[38:57] feel like many citizens aren't here to voice that.

[39:02] I really think the role of child government, although I know they express that some do that

[39:07] I feel, and many in this town feel, the role of child government should be encouraged and support

[39:12] responsible development through your policies and procedures and making it open to other businesses

[39:16] and a more business-friendly community and not procrearing and managing privately on your own.

[39:26] So, I do feel I like the passion of the people, I feel it's a worthy thing.

[39:31] I just think it should not be something that the town takes on and makes a decision for all the taxpayers

[39:37] for their responsibility.

[39:40] And I just think another voice needed to be heard.

[39:43] And I thank you for your time.

[39:45] Thank you.

[39:50] All the people who are on the list here have spoken, other people who would like to get up and comment on this petition.

[40:02] Paul?

[40:02] My name is Paul Anderson.

[40:05] I have read what towns and cities across this country are doing to inspire others to save places.

[40:11] We are history happened and to preserve their historic places before they're gone forever.

[40:18] But what is historic and worth saving?

[40:21] This varies with the beholder, but some definition is urgent.

[40:27] Simply put historic means, old and worth the trouble.

[40:31] In this case, it applies to a building that is a part of our community's very tangible

[40:36] past.

[40:37] The building under discussion here this evening, the General Stanton Inn, and its history

[40:42] should be preserved and protected for present and future generations by enabling our community

[40:48] and its residents to take the responsibility for protecting the historical resources that

[40:55] link Charles Town's past with its future. We protect our natural landscapes, fields, farms,

[41:03] and water protecting our historic buildings should be another arm of the plan.

[41:08] Another point, it is the obligation of the town leaders in the community to educate and motivate the public and to encourage involvement and increase awareness of every person's responsibility to preserve and protect natural historical and cultural character of our town.

[41:28] And though it may surprise cynics, all buildings like the General Stanton in can offer opportunities for our community's future.

[41:37] So what is historic preservation?

[41:39] It is a way for us to transmit our understanding of the path to our future generations.

[41:45] So let's not lose this historic opportunity and support the purchase of the General Stanton in. Thank you.

[42:04] is topping. I'm not the 400 against, I just have a lot of questions.

[42:12] Where is it? One is, I think, you know, it is a prominent place in town. It is an interesting building,

[42:19] certainly, and I would certainly like to see it be maintained there, not being raised.

[42:27] And I'm wondering, I've heard some of the process, they're saying that if it, if the referendum is passed,

[42:32] Then, due diligence will be done, is that the building inspector looking at it and assessing what needs to be done, or the tax assessor, or an independent real estate assessment.

[42:45] I don't know what exactly is covered by due diligence in that case, and it's after the referendum.

[42:51] If the referendum passes, are we still obligated to buy it? That was one question.

[42:58] The other is, what is, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[43:02] If it doesn't, this, this, the Friends group, if it doesn't work, can the town then sell the property?

[43:09] What is the, you know, long term possibilities there?

[43:15] You know, I thought the Senior Center would be a good activity there, I'm not sure if that's on the cards or not.

[43:22] Also, if the rental and the flea market is enough to maintain the building, is that what's being done now?

[43:29] I mean, I understand that the owner wants to sell it, but is it the income that's there now sufficient to maintain it?

[43:39] Has that been shown that it can be maintained?

[43:41] And who has the liability and responsibility for the building?

[43:46] Is it the fringe group or is it the town if the town owns it?

[43:50] So, those were some of the questions I had, and I hope that some of this information will

[43:54] be coming out before the referendum, because he says three weeks before, which isn't

[44:03] a lot of time, but it is some, but I would like to see a lot of those questions answered.

[44:10] I do have, you know, some concern about the town owning what could be a liability, as

[44:17] as a people as I've said, I'd like to know what, you know, a little bit more of what they've

[44:23] done to find, I don't know what the activities or users for the, for the different parts

[44:36] of the in, you know, different things get banded around and they never really show what's

[44:42] true case. So that was my main one. It's just what are the safeguards, if the town were

[44:52] to enter into such an agreement. As I say, I'm not a pro nor a against, in that sense I just

[44:57] need a lot more information and I will...

[45:00] I'd certainly like to see the general stand and in be used. I think the historical part is really a very good part of Charles town. And I wait to see what information comes out.

[45:12] Thank you, Francis. I will call on Dick later on to attempt to answer some of those questions and then we'll go from there. But before we do that, is there anyone else who hasn't spoken who would like to speak?

[45:26] Good

[45:37] evening everyone. My name is Barry Goa. I'm a retired architect. I've been in Charlestown now for, I would say, close to two decades, I've been involved in Charlestown through a process. I now have a home, my built in design, my own home here in town.

[45:57] I was asked to become involved in the friends for the General Stanton and I thought it was

[46:06] a unique opportunity for me to get involved and give back to the town and I've been gradually

[46:16] been pulled into this process where I think it is a worthwhile endeavor for this town to

[46:24] was established a fabric that's so important historically in the development of this town

[46:32] that it should be purchased by the town, I think, through tax dollars and yes, the town

[46:41] will get an opportunity, the people in town will get an opportunity to make that vote.

[46:47] And I'm all for it, I think it has so much potential there, it's a gem of a building.

[46:52] We need the fabric that's already established there. It's a center building in town

[46:59] It's it's has the history certainly and I think it's a worthwhile endeavor for the town to get involved with and

[47:09] And to help the friends of Stan

[47:11] The Stan in a proceed and be successful and for the benefit of Charles down

[47:26] Go ahead, and anyone else who hasn't spoken yet, who would like to speak, I will recognize you before, and then we'll give Dick a chance to respond.

[47:35] Hi, I'm Ruth Platner. Again, I just have questions. And I think when the questions are answered, people will have more questions.

[47:43] And so I think there needs to be, you need to set up some kind of place where people can ask questions and get responses.

[47:57] And a question I have, you know, you said it was only going to be three weeks. Will there be a townwide meal that your group puts out to let everyone in town know?

[48:09] Because I think you need to draw people in.

[48:14] And a question that I asked Dick in a private conversation was if this could be used for the senior center or a community center.

[48:25] And I think a lot of people aren't quite clear on the concept of a municipality owned building that's not a municipal building.

[48:34] And sort of what that means and why it can't be.

[48:40] So, I think I have other questions, but I think what you need is some kind of form,

[48:47] you know, not a public meeting, but an electronic form, where people can ask questions.

[48:53] And these 25 people are involved, can answer them.

[48:57] And try to engage the entire town in the...

[49:09] Thank you.

[49:11] Hi, my name is Travis Justice.

[49:13] I'd just like to ask the friends to clarify if they have any intention of making the

[49:18] Tavern for the operational.

[49:19] They've made mention that the rooms won't be utilized.

[49:22] I'm just curious if they have any plans for utilizing the Tavern.

[49:26] Thank you.

[49:30] Is there anyone else who would like to speak?

[49:32] Who hasn't had the opportunity yet?

[49:35] Who had?

[49:38] Who have questions?

[49:40] Donna Kamole, Charles Town.

[49:43] It just seems to me three weeks is very important.

[49:45] quick and trying to get all of this done, all of the questions, and it just seems like

[49:50] it's being, you know, really rushed through. What would happen if there's the friends

[49:57] of General Stanton in, if they can, if people can be paid it all for all their work they're

[50:03] doing when they're running all of this, what happens in five or six years if there's not enough

[50:08] people that keep on running this program, this is building. It is a big undertaking. I think

[50:13] So a lot of things haven't been totally slowed out.

[50:16] What happens if the revenue isn't there?

[50:20] The town's got to end up paying for anything that the revenue isn't there.

[50:27] The kitchen, if you're going to have an event there, is the kitchen up to code.

[50:33] Can that be used?

[50:35] Who's going to, what's the fee going to be?

[50:37] Who's going to be cleaning it?

[50:39] It seems like this, you know, just a lot of questions that still have to be answered

[50:44] and that happened. There's a lot of great information you did a great job on this, but there's

[50:49] not a lot of specific things here, and I think the town's, the town's taxpayers really

[50:54] need some more information on this. What's going to happen with issues problems arise?

[50:59] And that's what I'd like to see addressed. Thank you.

[51:02] Thank you.

[51:08] Is there anybody else who would like to speak who hasn't been heard yet?

[51:39] Hello.

[51:43] There was a statement made. Yes, I'm an architect. I still have a license, but I am so enamored with this, this thing that we're trying to do here. I'm not getting paid for anything for this. It's for the love of this town and for the love.

[52:03] And the right act of saving the Stanton and preserving is such an important thing that I will, if things break down I would donate my time to fix it as a carpenter, and I'm sure I have resources of those kind of people in town that would help us, and it's for the love of keeping this thing together, but I'm not getting paid for this.

[52:33] Thank you.

[52:37] Anyone else who hasn't been heard yet?

[52:39] I just want to be sure that we give everyone an opportunity

[52:41] and then we'll put Dick at the microphone again.

[52:47] Okay, Dick, you're on.

[52:50] I saw you taking notes, so hopefully you can address

[52:52] several of the questions I can.

[52:53] Very quick notes.

[52:54] Yeah, hopefully I got them on.

[52:57] Preserving the general stand-in is not a commercial endeavor.

[53:02] There are commercial parts of it.

[53:05] For example, the organization has agreed to run up my contract release with the town and needs to generate revenue in order to offset the expenses.

[53:14] So any activity that takes place there would be directed toward raising funds to pay the cost of operation of the facility.

[53:23] And for example, I would anticipate that over the years are the future development.

[53:27] There are already been people who already talked about things they would like to do, get grants, build this

[53:32] start, buildings, whatever, any number of thousands of suggestions.

[53:36] Some of those will come to pass, but they will all have to be funded.

[53:40] And that is part of what the Friends Group is about, is to determine how we will proceed in an appropriate

[53:48] way in a sustainable way that would not ever become a burden on the town.

[53:53] There

[53:56] is no way that you're absolutely correct.

[54:00] I agree with you.

[54:01] There is no way that this activity can take place.

[54:05] We cannot never preserve it with any resources that we found that are available to us.

[54:11] There are billionaires around.

[54:12] I don't happen to know any if you do, please call me.

[54:15] But other than that, most communities have acquired the properties on their own.

[54:22] I've got a list of several here with me now where the community owns the property, their ends,

[54:30] there used to be office buildings, there used to be any number of things, and they were converted into operations

[54:35] that were supported by their friends groups or by other groups.

[54:39] It's a very common pattern in Rhode Island, but you're absolutely correct that the municipality would own the property.

[54:45] I would suggest that the property can only be worth more in the future,

[54:50] rather than less, and the answer to, if can you sell it, of course you can.

[54:55] It is not intended to be a commercial competitive endeavor.

[54:58] However, you need to have the flexibility to raise sufficient funds to be able to move forward

[55:04] as a signature Village Center Museum activity in our community.

[55:10] It's going to take some effort to raise money.

[55:12] And if you have no way of raising money,

[55:15] you're ensuring that it becomes a burden and remains one.

[55:18] I think owning the capital of property ownership

[55:23] is a fair trade, so to speak,

[55:27] because if the people of our community

[55:29] choose at a referendum to acquire,

[55:32] I believe that that speaks for the voter base,

[55:37] the populist who are actually the legislator of this community.

[55:40] So I'm so glad that it's going to about the people who make the choice not us.

[55:46] It terms over the friends with the general standing in, I see a number of them in the room

[55:51] and I know every one of them has got money out of their pocket on their so far.

[55:55] No, it's not a personal investment, no, it's not a business venture and I would suspect none of us

[56:00] will ever be paid or even compensated for what we've already spent.

[56:03] It is an act of love and a future for our future of our community.

[56:08] That does not say that someday in the future, there might not be employees hired to do portions of what is done at that facility.

[56:18] But that would be up to the friends board at that time to determine what that would be and how they would be paid.

[56:25] That's not the counter-function.

[56:27] But that's a good answer as I give to that question at this time.

[56:32] You will need to come to the microphone and I'll recognize you in a second.

[56:36] I'm just trying to get closer, there was a question about liability and a specific

[56:40] question about whether or not there was any plans to have the tavern operated.

[56:44] We have no plans to operate anything in particular because as I said it's not a commercial

[56:48] endeavor, there has been talk about opening a tavern, you've been talking about opening

[56:52] a coffee shop, a spa, a thousand other things, but that is really down the road.

[56:57] What we know will operate in the short term in the first two years will be the rental property and the and the flea market because we are convinced on our examination that there's a fish at revenue available from those two combined operations to fully support the in as it is when we begin to change the level at which the end is operating.

[57:18] We have to change the revenue associated with that, but those decisions have not been made and as a matter of fact a lot of that would be determined by the nature of the agreement between the town and the organization

[57:29] Do we know who would be responsible for any accident the liability or the place burned down or that kind of thing happened?

[57:38] The property owner is the town, the town is a member of the Rhode Island Trust, which ensures all of the town's properties.

[57:47] I'm not certain, but I don't know that it would even be any increase in premiums.

[57:52] In terms of operations that were to take place on those grounds, if there was a vendor in or a parental property,

[57:59] they would be required to have all the necessary insurance that anyone would have for being a tenant or whatever operation.

[58:07] You know, it's going to operate on a business like basis, either those not intended to be a commercial profit-making endeavor.

[58:14] Okay, thanks.

[58:15] Would you like to go to Lake of Funker?

[58:17] Please do.

[58:24] I brought the old Raspollum-strish market.

[58:26] I've been renovating that property.

[58:29] And I have a quite one question I have is,

[58:32] if the asking price for this property is 1.75 million,

[58:38] as a business owner,

[58:40] I would come with a lower offer. I wouldn't just say, sure, you can have 1.75 million. I'm not paying it. The people have charged down a thing.

[58:51] That doesn't make any sense to me at all. Does that make any sense to anyone in here?

[58:57] And secondly, Janet's felt cold zone there property forever. How many businesses have failed there? What makes anybody think the town is going to do any better at it?

[59:06] And if she loves Charleston, so much, what is she donate to property and take the tax credit?

[59:14] Why should we be forced to put more money out of our pockets?

[59:19] I have neighbors that are having fixed income.

[59:22] I don't care, but it's 6 cents a month, but 6 cents a year on their tax bill, or whatever.

[59:27] If it's $15 a year, if it's that little, then what does the account pay?

[59:33] chip in and pay their increased tax burden. That's not fair. That's not right. If you're going to go buy a house and you've looked at that house and they were asking 500,000 for it. Would you walk in and say, sure, I'll give you a 500,000. What would you say? Well, you know, maybe it's only worth 400. Maybe it's worth 250 in the person just wants extra money.

[1:00:00] General standing in is not worth 1.75 million. The property surrounding it included,

[1:00:11] pretty much what I'd like to put in. Okay, thank you very much.

[1:00:18] I think the best I could do is respond to the purchase price. I think it will be as a firefight. The bond issue is a million 750. That is for the purchase of the general standing in a vacant property and a fund that would be available for future investment in the building and maintenance.

[1:00:37] control. The general stand-in itself was on the market at 1,8 plus, I saw it on Zilla was suggesting something like 1.56.

[1:00:48] It was sold kind of dably for in the 1,05060 range, and that was turned down. I don't have the exact number, either roughly correct.

[1:01:01] The assess value of the general stand in is $1,398,100.

[1:01:06] That's what the town taxes it on and most of our properties are valued on.

[1:01:11] The purchase price of the end is $1,325,000.

[1:01:15] I would only ask one question.

[1:01:16] When's the last time the town of Charleston or any other town,

[1:01:19] bought a property for less than its assess value?

[1:01:22] This was negotiated over a significant period of time

[1:01:27] and that's the negotiated price.

[1:01:31] certainly everyone can have an opinion with regard to that, but it was done.

[1:01:35] The vacant lot was on the market for $215,000, that was about the assessed value and the price

[1:01:41] that we have negotiated for this activity is $163,000, which is, we believe, a good price for

[1:01:49] that property.

[1:01:49] So in terms of the property, that is the property value.

[1:01:53] As far as the opinion with regard to spending that everyone has their own.

[1:01:58] Thank you, Dick.

[1:01:59] In a minute.

[1:02:00] I did someone who hasn't spoken yet.

[1:02:03] Mr. Meyer.

[1:02:21] I'm William Meyer.

[1:02:21] I'm a resident of town.

[1:02:23] I really first came here in 1964, but lived here 11 years now.

[1:02:28] I have a couple of concerns.

[1:02:31] One is, well, first I'm glad to see that we're going to do something about the General's

[1:02:34] standing and take it all over because the last time I went there at a Chinese meal.

[1:02:37] I think George Washington would have turned over and is great.

[1:02:44] I'm for that. I've also been involved with the grains taking the grains over and helping

[1:02:50] get those going and there's a lot of heads when you run something like that like who's

[1:02:54] going to take care of the lady who stops up, but who's going to take care of when it

[1:02:57] hits too high. There are a lot of problems and the grains is only a puppy to what the

[1:03:10] be over the life of the thing we're going to cross the town, you know, upwards of 3 million

[1:03:15] dollars.

[1:03:15] I question that.

[1:03:17] I question the town's going, it's a propensity to take over problems, like the blonde

[1:03:23] property.

[1:03:23] The blonde property came up.

[1:03:24] He wanted to put a woman, a windmill up there, or the generator power up there.

[1:03:30] I went to the zoning board.

[1:03:31] I don't think it would have ever got past his own blood, because it was not the right

[1:03:34] use for the property, but the town board it out.

[1:03:37] The town does not belong in buying property.

[1:03:41] The town operated the driving range down there,

[1:03:45] look what happened to the driving range.

[1:03:47] It went to funk.

[1:03:48] I'm all for helping out, but I think private enterprise

[1:03:52] has to run this type of an operation, not the town.

[1:03:56] The town and the government is not the type of commodity

[1:04:01] or type of institution to run a private enterprise

[1:04:05] And see, and then, like that, go, I'd like to see it go.

[1:04:08] But I think the town, just they added that business, and maybe

[1:04:11] forth to someone else, or give someone else a tax break.

[1:04:16] But we should not be bonding it, getting on self and what that,

[1:04:19] and our kids in debt.

[1:04:20] Thanks, Leo.

[1:04:22] Thank you, Bill.

[1:04:24] Yes, sir.

[1:04:41] I'm just curious.

[1:04:42] I'd like to inquire, if there was one individual, if there was two

[1:04:45] separate entities that negotiated that purchase price was the

[1:04:48] and seller represented by the same individual over the represented separately.

[1:04:52] Thank you.

[1:04:56] Dick, can you answer that?

[1:04:59] The negotiations took place over a period of three months with two separate owners, and there

[1:05:04] were four of us involved from the front side, and brokers on the other side.

[1:05:13] That's all I can tell you.

[1:05:14] Those are the parties who are involved in the discussion, leading to option agreements,

[1:05:19] conditional option agreements for acquisition.

[1:05:20] We needed to fix the price before we could even bring this forward for consideration.

[1:05:26] Could you imagine if we were standing here trying to pass a referendum without knowing what it would cost?

[1:05:31] And that's exactly what would have happened had that not, it would have been impossible.

[1:05:35] So the process was over a period of several months negotiated by our group with the brokers representing the owners.

[1:05:47] Thank you.

[1:05:49] Yes, would you like to speak again?

[1:06:04] A few concerns. It seems like that some of the friends in the general stand had said they've been working on this for a year.

[1:06:11] I mean I think this idea.

[1:06:12] Excuse me, could you say your name again?

[1:06:13] Lord of Pearson.

[1:06:15] Lord of Pearson.

[1:06:16] Thank you.

[1:06:18] And also now these negotiating over the price of this has happened over several months.

[1:06:24] That's very concerning to me that in that meantime a prospective buyer came in front of this town

[1:06:29] And part of the solid reasons that the council rejected that variance was because this

[1:06:39] would be a not-for-profit organization, therefore not contributing taxes to the town.

[1:06:48] And that's a big reason, and I'm sorry I lost.

[1:06:53] And that it wouldn't be a commercial endeavor.

[1:06:55] Those were true reasons that were given to the town council that helped the town council

[1:06:59] say, no, that that organization could not, would not be accepted.

[1:07:06] And now these are some of the same things that this organization, who said they've been

[1:07:09] in negotiations over this price for months.

[1:07:13] This is, I just think this is way too rushed, this, there's information, it's a well-established

[1:07:20] organization, they already have donations, they're ready to publish and send out literature.

[1:07:26] and the town people aren't having that time to respond.

[1:07:30] I would just ask that at the very least we put in consideration that putting something in front

[1:07:35] of the town for a vote, that the other town people don't have a time to digest the material

[1:07:40] or organize themselves to get out literature that might stay in opposing position.

[1:07:47] This is very premature and seems very rushed for, I would say, the majority of the town.

[1:07:53] I think that really needs to be taken into consideration that before this goes to a vote.

[1:08:00] Thank you.

[1:08:12] Decision.

[1:08:13] Oh, sorry.

[1:08:19] I'm George Trump.

[1:08:21] I remember the town council.

[1:08:24] The decision on the prior offer to utilize that property was not based on any commercial interest whatsoever.

[1:08:32] I wrote the motion that led to the defeat of that arrangement, and the motion was restricted

[1:08:39] entirely to the zoning regulations and the definition and the zoning ordinances and the

[1:08:47] comprehensive plan of what constitutes traditional village district.

[1:08:52] So it was a very narrowly refined rationale for defeating that proposal.

[1:08:58] Thank you.

[1:09:00] Thank you, George.

[1:09:00] Did

[1:09:06] you have anything else to add?

[1:09:08] I could address the kind of regarding the timing just to be clear from this person.

[1:09:14] The conversation I've heard around the town over the last year doesn't mean that was not the friend that was just community.

[1:09:20] The negotiation did take several months and that's one of the reason why the organization wasn't able to go public earlier because we hadn't closed sufficiently well so that we had firm information to bring forward.

[1:09:32] As soon as that was done, and that was a delayed process because it was lengthy back and forth and a typical negotiation, as many of you have been involved in there, they are given take, they are not simple.

[1:09:45] And that was done with two different owners, one of which is in California.

[1:09:49] As soon as they were done, we immediately set up the first meeting of the public and that took place in March, and we have been working very hard ever since trying to catch up and get the work done that needs to be done as quickly as we can.

[1:10:01] I would have preferred a bit on the street already with the information, but we simply could not move that fast with a citizen's group volunteer organization.

[1:10:09] We're getting there, we'll get it out as quickly as we can, and we're trying to answer every question we can.

[1:10:14] It was mentioned earlier about could there be a townwide mailing.

[1:10:18] We recently reached out to our membership to ask for donations because, as you know, a cost money to print mail.

[1:10:24] We would like to do a townwide mailing, and if we have sufficient resources we shall,

[1:10:29] We'll also be doing several other kinds of contacts, including phone and other activities of posters and clients and buyers.

[1:10:40] Those kinds of things hopefully to inform the public.

[1:10:44] We also have tried to work closely with the press to give them information as well.

[1:10:47] And we'll continue to do that.

[1:10:49] So everything that we can do to help people make their own decisions that we can do within the resources we have available.

[1:10:56] We shall do. Thank you. Thank you, Dick. I'd like to ask the town administrator to comment on one aspect of it and that is what happens with the petition between now in June 6th.

[1:11:10] When the whole town is going to vote on the financial budget and apparently the petition also.

[1:11:19] The Tom moderated wanted and everyone went to know that this was a petition article so they had the required number of signatures they had over 200 fact that over 300 once that was put in place

[1:11:31] This question is going on about it regardless of what happens

[1:11:36] With the town council or this public hearing tonight

[1:11:41] This is mainly for informational purposes and when the town council meets at their next meeting to finalize the warrant

[1:11:47] it's compulsory they don't have any discretion as to whether or not this question goes on

[1:11:51] the ballot so I just want to make it clear that procedurally because of it being a petition

[1:11:57] it is on the ballot automatically our

[1:12:04] own charter in conjunction with the state law charter

[1:12:07] allows for petitions Francis you have a digital comment

[1:12:19] Francis topping again something

[1:12:23] something that wasn't addressed that I mentioned before was, do you see any possibility of

[1:12:31] it being used as the community centre being more central to Charles Town? The other is

[1:12:38] with a town building inspector also be looking at it before any decisions made, and seeing

[1:12:46] there have been relatively few buyers looking at it does that can that affect the price

[1:12:55] although it's already negotiated presumably but when it's been on the market for a long

[1:13:00] time and you know if you have a house on the market for a long time you generally have to

[1:13:05] put it down even if the assessed value is higher so I just wondered how that's been taken into account

[1:13:13] Thank you, Francis.

[1:13:15] Dick, would you want to make any response to that at this particular time?

[1:13:21] Does anyone else have a comment they'd like to make?

[1:13:25] Please take the microphone and state your name.

[1:13:27] Dave Henley.

[1:13:28] I just have a question, Dick.

[1:13:29] You mentioned that you had a list of other towns that had properties like this,

[1:13:35] and they've been able to make them work.

[1:13:36] Could you share more of that with us?

[1:13:42] I hesitate to do too much of this because we've been doing it in the last couple of days

[1:13:46] that I'm not certain of all the specific facts behind them.

[1:13:49] The information I have is at East Greenwich, as at least one, Westerley has at least four.

[1:13:54] Bristol has, when they bought the Mount Hope Farm, they got the Governor Bradford in.

[1:14:01] And they had three historic buildings.

[1:14:05] The Narraganset is a kidney bungalow, towers, and one other property.

[1:14:09] Portsmouth has Elmhurst Academy, and Manorhouse, and they all think all the Manorhouse Authority.

[1:14:18] Each of these, some came to the community in the purchase of a property for one purpose,

[1:14:24] but these facilities were on it.

[1:14:26] Others were specifically purchased, some were purchased by the State and given to municipalities.

[1:14:33] I'm sure there were some donations.

[1:14:34] I just, we don't have all the facts.

[1:14:37] What I do know is the pattern in Rhode Island is very well established to have municipal ownership

[1:14:44] and of historic properties and of agencies operating them and that is what we intend to do.

[1:14:52] One comment about something set earlier about the town running or the town running property

[1:14:56] Well, towns on lots of property folks, we would have beaches parks.

[1:15:00] Any stations, if we didn't know properly, including historic properties, very, very common, very normal.

[1:15:07] And that has always been the case. We believe that this is an appropriate use of town resources.

[1:15:16] And I personally believe that 20 years from now when some of us in the room won't be in the room.

[1:15:22] They will look back and say it was really good that some people thought far enough ahead to be able to provide this to our community.

[1:15:29] Don't forget, nothing is going to get more visible to root 1 than that piece of property, and nothing is going to get much older than the general statement in this community in terms of historic value.

[1:15:41] It seems someone said to me it's an obrater, well that's not true because everything requires thought, but the reality is the pluses over the long term for the community as a traditional village center as a signature place.

[1:15:57] If you speak of it, you would know you were talking about

[1:16:00] Cheshire, Charlestown, that I haven't worked here for 45 years.

[1:16:05] I don't know where that came from.

[1:16:12] You know, that it truly, we would anticipate that it would become a signature

[1:16:18] characteristic piece of this community in the future,

[1:16:22] and right now is a difficult time, but once the hurdles are gotten over

[1:16:28] once the town has made all the decisions they need to make, and the agencies

[1:16:31] that have gotten involved in all the citizen volunteers, what run didn't mention earlier when

[1:16:35] you start talking about the people who are involved in this. We have our context. We have

[1:16:39] engineers, we have bank trust officers, we have history professors, we have accounting professors,

[1:16:44] we have old town managers, old recruits, we have some council members from in and out of Rhode Island

[1:16:50] in New York, in other places. We have a group of people who have the capacity to operate

[1:16:57] of facility like this and business experience in backgrounds as well, legal backgrounds as well.

[1:17:03] The people involved and all the other volunteers who were willing to spend time and effort,

[1:17:09] it's a tremendous group and they do have the skills to do the things that perhaps a town

[1:17:14] is never designed to do. A town is designed to do certain things and they do it well. They

[1:17:21] are not designed to run facilities like this. In a way, this needs to be run if we're going

[1:17:26] have it sustainable and not become dependent on the taxpayer to keep it an operation.

[1:17:31] Thank you.

[1:17:32] Thank you, Dick.

[1:17:33] Mr. Meyer?

[1:17:35] Please go up to the microphone.

[1:17:37] You need to, for our recording of the minutes of the minute.

[1:17:42] My question is Dick, how many of those towns that you mentioned that have properties like such as historical properties?

[1:17:50] Well, any of them purchased by the town or they don't go native as it taxed, right?

[1:17:55] Well, I have one of them here that was in Bristol, it had to do with it's operated by a nonprofit.

[1:18:03] The town bought it with a 1.5 million dollar bond issue, 83% approval rate, and there were some other grants and other things involved in that as well.

[1:18:10] So, yes and no, there are probably every financial arrangement you can imagine at one time or

[1:18:16] another has been used to acquire and preserve historic properties, but yes, towns do by them.

[1:18:23] Thank you.

[1:18:24] Is there anyone else who would like to speak on this subject?

[1:18:31] Yes sir, please go to the microphone.

[1:18:39] My name is Reeves C. Black.

[1:18:40] I had an intended to speak, but I think their passion on both sides that I'd like to address.

[1:18:48] We, too, moved into Rhode Island into Charles County, bought property 20 years ago, and thought

[1:18:54] enough of the community to make it our retirement place.

[1:18:57] We don't go and claim Florida Resonance.

[1:18:59] We want to be in Charles County.

[1:19:02] And I always look for what is added value to a community.

[1:19:07] Yes, it is an expensive proposition.

[1:19:10] however, if you spread it out over the course of many years, I know that $18 a year or is still

[1:19:18] $18 a year, but I'm willing to do that for the added value. One of the great things about

[1:19:24] this community is the low tax rate, and people like Charles Town and like purchasing here because

[1:19:30] of the low tax rate. I think that it's worth a little bit of our investment to add value to this

[1:19:38] community. If you're a business person and you own a restaurant or you own a real

[1:19:42] tea business, you expect people to come and buy stuff. And if you don't have a

[1:19:49] village, center, or an added value institution that you can depend on, those

[1:19:55] people aren't going to come to Charles Town, they're going to go to other

[1:19:57] communities. So if I own a bakery, or if I own a restaurant or I own the

[1:20:02] market or any other market. I would like to have people come to me because this town has added value.

[1:20:10] I believe that this would be a good investment for the town to give us some of this thing that we need for the culture of our community.

[1:20:17] Thank you.

[1:20:23] Thank you.

[1:20:23] Is there anyone else who would like to speak this evening?

[1:20:28] If that is the case, I'd like to entertain a motion to adjourn.

[1:20:32] Second it.

[1:20:35] All in favor?

[1:20:36] Thank you very much.

Town Council Budget Public Hearing

Agenda

Transcript