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Freshman, coffee, tea, snack, I'll help yourself over on the table to the left, or you're right, depending on how you look in.

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That was so generous of you, Charlie. So it was generous of you.

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That's the end of our budget.

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I bought a lot of tickets.

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That's right. Good morning everybody. Good morning everybody.

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Thank you so much for joining us today on Saturday, please storm Saturday.

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This has always been a really good get together and discussion with our state legislators

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where we can kind of set out what we are, what we plan and hope to go to the gardener

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from the upcoming legislative session.

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So, before we get started, I want to go around and introduce who we have here today.

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I'll start out our table over here. We have Senator Don Oyer, Representative District 13.

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Senator Lou Deparma, Representative District 12, Representative Lauren Carson.

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I'm a fighting 75th.

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And Martin Habney, representing the District 73.

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So, thank you all so much for being here this morning.

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and look forward to have a great discussion.

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We do have our council here today.

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Unfortunately, council calling could not be here today.

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We do do family commitments, but we have the rest.

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We have Stephanie Spice, Alan Pinnock,

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Side Comce Vorobong, Gina Palatano, Lynn Segley,

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and myself, and we also have our city manager,

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Colin Kennedy, where we're in the back.

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my career low deputy city manager, city solicitor,

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Chris Bion, a wonderful city clerk,

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Laura Swiss, thanks for coming here this morning, Laura.

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And then we have Peter Batista, who's representing

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from our lobby in front of him.

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So we will get some public input as we go along as well.

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But we want to kind of get through some of these topics first.

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We have a general outline of some of the things we want

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to hit today.

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In these outlines, I didn't get too specific

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into many of the questions that were put forward by the council counselors, because we would

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be here till four o'clock or so. But we do have a lot of robust conversations and questions

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to hit and a lot of topics to hit. So if there is something that does come up, as to the counselors

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feel free to ask any questions same with our legislative team in case there is something that

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not be on here that we want to hit. There are a couple things that are very kind of just

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gaining speed right now. I know that we're going to start off with a legislation. For instance,

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the bill that Senator, I'm sorry, Representative Carson, just put through recently about the

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Berthing Center, so we'll be hitting on that as well. But what I'd like to start off with is

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start off with our school regionalization since that's been a major topic with new port

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and middle town as well. And during our conversations with middle town, one of the things

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is how are we going to attack it from a legislative standpoint, if we do end up going

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through the whole process. So I like to start off on that note and then we can kind of

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go off on any kind of education, or use

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directives that anyone wants to talk about as well.

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So one quick question, and I'll start with

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any one of the reps going to answer.

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For when we get to a legislative

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legislation part of regionalization,

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I know it back in 2022, we have one of the original

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forms, where do we stand on that as far as

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What is still, what is still active on that regionalization?

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I mean on the regionalization legislation,

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or do we have to do a completely new legislative ask?

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Is that the put the question on the ballot?

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Yeah, we have to do it again.

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So there's nothing that's from the previous.

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Not that I know of.

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I mean we'd have to create a whole new question on a whole new year

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with whatever language you want.

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I mean we can pull up the old bill, right?

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And would you guys have and mimic that to some extent?

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because that was a pretty well written bill from what I remember.

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And then we'll pass it,

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we'll go through municipal government in the house,

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and then it'll all on the ballot,

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with a resolution in advance.

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We foresee any issues from the state level

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where because we've done it before

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and it has failed at the municipal level,

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let alone go through.

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With a resolution, we generally just go with what the municipalities want.

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I mean, you know, if you've decided,

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if you've added it, you've asked for it, you've voted on it.

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We're not going to challenge that.

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Any more fancy counseling?

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I'm in relation.

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Actually, could I.

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Thanks, Mr. Mayor.

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We'll just to just a flag on that.

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There was discussions when that resolution went through previously.

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There's certain assumptions that get made.

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I think from the city about reimbursement and I will admit that I have not.

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followed every twist in turn of the recent conversation, so I'm not sure whether that's that,

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but I will say that there is another education funding conversation that is before the assembly,

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and so the reimbursement rates, like that all ties in to the whole education funding conversation.

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And so I know that when I put in that legislation a few years ago, there was an ask to kind of

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how to find certain reimbursement rates to ensure

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that that was going to follow through.

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And I will say that I have also heard from other regional

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as districts, frustrations about at what point

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do they get certain enhanced reimbursement rates.

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And so I think that reimbursement rate question

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could receive pushback.

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So I think that there's something that you're fortunate

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enough to be represented from the by the two finance chairs. So not to throw them under the

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bustle on this but I think that's that's the thing is don't make assumptions that certain

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reimbursement elements can be written into the statute and make it all the way across the finish line.

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So Dawn are you saying that talking about housing aid or other types of aid such as transportation?

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Well I think either and I know that the conversation gets a little bit convoluted

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But I think that there's, like, I think the broader general assembly is not going to want to see a

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regionalization resolution that is going to

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codify changes to the overall funding formula. That's what I'm saying.

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Okay, so let me say push back.

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When we did Rogers, we have fulfilled, I believe,

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everything to get the 52.5. So why would we get pushback now?

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I don't believe you would. I think we had, I'll say robust conversation in

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centred finance regarding the structure because when you say regionalization to

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folks they expect everything's coming together and not in one place but everything's

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being pushed together. As opposed to the structure you're looking at is

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and administrations coming together, right?

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The, what regards to the structure you're looking at

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is regionalizing the entire district.

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Schools are where they are, basically.

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Rogers is where it is, and it's to completion process,

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middle town with the middle high school.

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It's the Litz process, through completion,

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much further back than Rogers was,

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with regards to the upgrade to the middle town

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high school to be the elementary school, the lower school level, that will be in process

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after, but from the perspective of what was in the language before, in I've got which

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time it was now.

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But I think though the 2022 was having a integrating at the single school system level basically.

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But they re birth their perspective that remained consistent, that was there, but the folks

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were looking at it from perspective of that it was from what they're familiar with as

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a real leads to.

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I'm sorry, it's on it, but I know there's only a handful of people from the public, but

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if we can just keep our comments down, you will get a chance to come up and make comments,

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But as we go along, the little, the, the, the, the, the side comments snickering are, are not what we're going to have, okay? Thank you.

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So the, uh, when people are familiar with this,

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Terraho, they're familiar with the pot against that level where they have, basically,

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three leaders of district, they have the elementary.

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And both districts, and then they have a high school that's been integrated, so there's another leader at that level.

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This, this is a different structure. That's all. So for them, it's, it's what,

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and obviously Bristol Warren, that's what they've known from decades, because it hasn't

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happened in a long time to where we are now, that's all.

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And so from the regional, the regionalization,

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boom, this or what a regionalization that's in the statute that bends that to you forever

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about the 2% per grade, I believe, is the number, and I look that this probably two weeks ago again,

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that's been statute for a long time.

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There's nothing in anybody's looking to change in that, so that expects to remain.

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When we had us, I'm sorry, when we had our discussion, our last meeting with Middletown and

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Ride was there. One of the things that they brought up was, regardless of that, and I'll use

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a transportation aspect, they said we could get $1.3 million. But that wasn't guaranteed because

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It could be a change in federal funding for that,

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or a budget change from the state level.

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I thank you.

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Transportation is separate.

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Looking at what the Senator Royer indicated,

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the Rhode Island Foundation put forward a proposal.

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A lot of work to go through and understand that appreciate

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what we do with that.

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Congress in Sicilian, your David Sicilian, CEO,

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they do some temporary work.

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We're going to figure out what we do

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that given the cost of that, but as it stands today, right?

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What anything from a federal side is basically on the table, nobody knows where it's going

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necessarily across the board, from the state perspective, we have control of that.

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What we do with that determines based on what we hear the Chairman, Abni and I here in

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committee, what the public breaks forward, et cetera.

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So there's something that I don't want to say are constant.

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Everything can change anywhere,

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right?

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Regionalization does take for the voters to decide in middle time a new part, but from Rhode Island general

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all perspective, those things can change, but they would get to take the act of bill being passed.

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But it seems unlikely that the statute would change for the two percent per grade.

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Correct. No, I've not seen any bill with regards to the two percent per grade.

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Regionalization bonus, I've not seen anything in anybody's bills,

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anybody put in, I look quickly, look through what's at finance yesterday, but anything can come in

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if I had to think about whether that changes or not, I don't think so. But then again, who knows what's

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going to, will somebody put something in between now and when the majority of our bills are bills

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in the center expected to be in by, in first, this should be, this should be,

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this should actually

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So we asked a question here.

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So Senator, that's a 2% bonus because of regionalization.

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Okay, because there is a bill on that.

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I spoke last night with one of my colleagues and she has a bill

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through raise it to 6%.

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And she tells me that there's a lot of enthusiasm for that,

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particularly in the western part of the state.

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That was just less.

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I heard greed.

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I'd got the bill last night at 9 o'clock and I just flagged it

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and I thought I would share it with you folks and I just looked at it.

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I hadn't even read it.

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And I was like, gee, we're meeting with him tomorrow.

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So, there's two things, there's six, and maybe associated with the, what the additional bonuses,

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because the initial bonus for regionalization is 2% the first year I believe, and the additional 1%

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citizen towns get too handle bringing things together, because it's a cost, right?

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Maybe, we know this in business, and then another year, 1%, Senator Figillag has had a bill for that for,

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I've been there 18 years to make it consistent.

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The 2% per grade is on housing aid, peace.

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I think the 6% more might be on the regionalization,

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because if you get 6% per grade,

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you realize, well, great.

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The state's going to give you one to back.

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You're going to pay nothing.

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One of the things that I'm sorry.

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One of the things that I've said in our meeting

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is that we can sculpt to this bill the way that we want, for instance, if we want to fully

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regionalize, and if we want, we can do whatever we want, essentially, so I just want to

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make sure that that was...

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Sure.

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Got any gore.

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Got any gore?

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Got any gore?

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Got any gore?

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Got any gore?

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Who sets the rates?

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Rates for which we, for the regionalization bonus or whatever?

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That's in statute.

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That's in what I want general law. 2% per grade.

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How does it come about? I mean, if it from the school authority talking to the legislators and the 2% per grade for the housing costs is in statute.

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So whatever your cost are, you'll get 2% more so for instance.

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The entire system was regionalized with somebody, right? The additional, and you regionalized all grades.

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13 times 2 is another 26 percent. If you regionalized 9 and 4, 13, yeah. K through high school, you would have got another 26 percent on the reimbursement for Roger's high school, basically.

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But because there was a regionalization bonus is applied because it's a regionalized with anything.

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It's that the rate you got a 52 and a half.

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But going back to my show to the language about what you do, what you can do with regionalization,

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what the law says.

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There's certain things the law says about how it should be structured.

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Based on numbers of students, all those kinds of things in the government side of things.

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And I've shared this with the folks in Middletown and others, and I think I think I'd get a good plan back in 2022, with regards to shared leadership on the government side, a flop on another flop, an alternate on the finance side, and then go back the other way, that would bring what you'll be going through around general law for the regional school district, because that's not what's there now.

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It's the case where it provided makes sense.

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This is what I've said to the little time as well.

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It makes sense when I'm violating any other law,

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the general somebody's likely to move forward

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with allowing you to do that because I think to do.

231
00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:29,540
Right, it's not like the case where you can't do it

232
00:16:29,540 --> 00:16:30,740
because it's in the Constitution

233
00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:34,320
and you gotta go change the voters have to change that law.

234
00:16:34,980 --> 00:16:36,620
And also makes sense, so it's the right thing to do.

235
00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:39,400
So it helps with regards to what you think,

236
00:16:39,580 --> 00:16:41,160
what you said, I think your question is

237
00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:44,160
with regards to what the language could the language be,

238
00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:49,740
on visualization, it's up to what you, and little town wanted to be. But there's a reason.

239
00:16:50,460 --> 00:16:51,100
Mr. Chair.

240
00:16:51,540 --> 00:16:59,480
No, I just had a couple of questions. So if our ask is, say, 80% reimbursement. That's not guaranteed,

241
00:16:59,740 --> 00:17:00,820
because is that correct?

242
00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:05,360
You can't really ask for 80, but you can ask for everyone, whatever you want.

243
00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:10,000
Yes. Right. It's got to be guided by how you get there.

244
00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:18,660
Okay, and how does the, I guess the funding formula or special Ed funding play into any of this?

245
00:17:18,820 --> 00:17:21,800
It's separate. And we won't go through some of that.

246
00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:23,460
We've got there's some additional numbers.

247
00:17:23,900 --> 00:17:26,420
But that's all separate or just staying from this.

248
00:17:26,820 --> 00:17:28,260
Okay, thank you.

249
00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:37,700
You just clarify that because Rogers is getting 52.5% net because we have certain bonus points.

250
00:17:37,700 --> 00:17:39,600
Otherwise it starts out at 35.

251
00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:51,240
and then we get bonus points for doing extra environmental things and then on top of that is the 2%

252
00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:59,940
per grade that is in statute. Would be, would be correct. So that's how we get to the 80 percent

253
00:17:59,940 --> 00:18:08,180
is roughly fulfilling those enhancements and then the 2% by statute. Correct. Okay.

254
00:18:08,980 --> 00:18:22,780
That doesn't quite add up to 20, 80, but you could get there by there's another, whether you could get there or not, there's another piece that would have gotten the other 5% that's how you would have gotten to the eight to a half bite.

255
00:18:23,120 --> 00:18:23,660
One way to write.

256
00:18:23,660 --> 00:18:39,420
When we, but I just want to make sure that when we say the 80%, we have to fulfill things to get the 80%, but it's certainly doable, especially on a project like Rogers, because we fulfilled all of those enhancements.

257
00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:39,700
Correct.

258
00:18:39,700 --> 00:18:40,220
Thank you.

259
00:18:40,220 --> 00:18:45,340
The basis 35, some other school districts get a lot more because of other things that they

260
00:18:45,340 --> 00:18:46,200
have.

261
00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:49,800
Questions on the council?

262
00:18:50,120 --> 00:18:50,820
No, no.

263
00:18:51,060 --> 00:18:51,680
No, no.

264
00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:52,220
I have.

265
00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:53,260
That's calling.

266
00:18:53,460 --> 00:18:54,420
You want to come up.

267
00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:54,800
I know you.

268
00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:57,180
I have questions representing the school committee.

269
00:18:59,460 --> 00:18:59,680
Hi.

270
00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:00,520
Good morning, everybody.

271
00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:02,880
That's calling school committee.

272
00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:13,680
I just wanted to clarify a couple of lawyers that can't look at this as a fear

273
00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:21,540
full exercise. We've been talking about regionalization, right-picked at a 1990's. Not new

274
00:19:21,540 --> 00:19:29,800
information. It's time to move forward. I attended the Rhode Island Foundation event on Thursday

275
00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:37,140
and I talking about their proposed new funding formula. Newport is going to hurt a lot unless

276
00:19:37,140 --> 00:19:42,800
we do something creative outside of what we've been doing for all these years.

277
00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:49,780
Currently, as it stands, if this goes through, we would lose $7 million dollars, $7 million

278
00:19:49,780 --> 00:19:57,840
in our budget, because our property tax is so, we have such a large property tax with $10 billion

279
00:19:57,840 --> 00:19:58,620
or something.

280
00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:06,400
That's a bad news.

281
00:20:06,660 --> 00:20:22,880
The good news is we have the funding formula as proposed states that the state will start picking up things like special education, transportation, multi-language learner things, equities, equitable learning.

282
00:20:24,360 --> 00:20:31,480
That's the good news, we may even make money out of this because we spend so much in our budget on all of those things.

283
00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:35,560
We spend several million dollars on out of district placements with our children.

284
00:20:36,100 --> 00:20:37,700
Now, that's a really big heartling.

285
00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:40,920
We could get another child tomorrow or another million.

286
00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:49,120
So the state is, Rhode Island Foundation is realizing that those are costs that municipalities really can't afford.

287
00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:54,080
The money should be going in the classroom, educating the kids, that's where the money should be spent.

288
00:20:54,700 --> 00:21:00,080
So on that note, they talked a lot about consolidation and unifying our districts.

289
00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:02,160
It's an emotional subject.

290
00:21:02,700 --> 00:21:03,720
We can all agree on that.

291
00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:08,080
But if we don't do it, we're going to continue pulling money out of those classrooms.

292
00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:15,320
So if we do do it and consolidate and unify academically,

293
00:21:17,580 --> 00:21:18,740
Athletically, extracurricularly.

294
00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:25,220
We're helping our children prepare for this world that we all know is very complicated.

295
00:21:25,940 --> 00:21:30,300
So I really, really hope for you and all of your colleagues up in Providence.

296
00:21:31,020 --> 00:21:39,120
Read the document, get behind it, and all of you start thinking about the bonuses that will affect our children.

297
00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:44,540
Because if we don't start thinking outside of the box and getting past all of the scary stuff,

298
00:21:44,540 --> 00:21:48,840
We're not doing anybody any favors, especially the kids, thanks.

299
00:21:50,740 --> 00:21:51,360
Thank you.

300
00:21:51,500 --> 00:21:51,820
I've done.

301
00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:56,520
I just, I felt like I needed to clarify my comments.

302
00:21:57,360 --> 00:22:01,060
Which was not based off of emotion, but I think what part of the discussion,

303
00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:06,360
like discovered, is that there are different elements of the funding formula.

304
00:22:06,900 --> 00:22:10,660
And I just want to make sure that folks understand what your proposal,

305
00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:13,140
and I think this is what Senator DePama was indicating,

306
00:22:13,140 --> 00:22:18,680
is how your proposal is framed is actually what affects the reimbursement rate.

307
00:22:19,380 --> 00:22:25,300
So it's not something that you can just say we want 100% reimbursement, we want 80% reimbursement.

308
00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:30,320
You have to frame that within the statutory framework of the reimbursement.

309
00:22:30,340 --> 00:22:32,020
So that's what I was trying to clarify.

310
00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:37,420
And I do think that there's a lot of confusion about what elements go into that and what elements don't.

311
00:22:37,860 --> 00:22:42,760
So it really is just like a math problem and making sure that we're doing the math.

312
00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:46,680
and that's aligning with what the funding formula actually is.

313
00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:48,200
So, thank you.

314
00:22:48,820 --> 00:22:52,780
Yeah, I think one of the reasons why it was important to have

315
00:22:52,780 --> 00:22:58,720
ride in our last regionalization meeting with middle town was to try to get a little clarity

316
00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:06,780
to what those numbers are and they were very specific by saying these are not specific exact numbers.

317
00:23:06,780 --> 00:23:09,300
they can change, there's a lot of different reasons.

318
00:23:13,340 --> 00:23:19,800
Again, this is statute and the 2% per grade is in statute.

319
00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:22,180
It's all of the other things.

320
00:23:22,660 --> 00:23:24,920
This 35% is the base.

321
00:23:25,100 --> 00:23:26,980
So that's already taken care of, right?

322
00:23:27,380 --> 00:23:31,100
It's all that sort of squishy middle that we're worrying about,

323
00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:34,940
but we're not worried about the 2% per grade at this time.

324
00:23:34,940 --> 00:23:37,300
at this time.

325
00:23:37,500 --> 00:23:38,400
Mr. Chair.

326
00:23:38,740 --> 00:23:39,080
Yes, council.

327
00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:40,640
I appreciate the clarification.

328
00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:46,020
It's a lot of what's circulating throughout the community is we're going to get 80%.

329
00:23:46,020 --> 00:23:48,020
That is the asset is what we're going to get.

330
00:23:48,360 --> 00:23:50,920
So I appreciate the clarification on that.

331
00:23:50,940 --> 00:23:51,860
Is your mic on?

332
00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:52,940
It is.

333
00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:55,720
Just to confirm,

334
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:57,920
what I would say is,

335
00:23:57,960 --> 00:23:59,420
the person said,

336
00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:01,600
the counselor is exactly said,

337
00:24:02,100 --> 00:24:02,680
it's in the raw.

338
00:24:04,700 --> 00:24:11,900
Mario from Ryder is phenomenal. He knows his stuff full. You call him up about something.

339
00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:18,580
Give me three seconds. Let me go verify it. What he's, you can take what he says here to the bank.

340
00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:23,680
So to speak with regards to what's there, but that's based on how the structure of

341
00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:28,420
Bringing two school systems together as a relates to Rhode Island General.

342
00:24:31,290 --> 00:24:40,670
Can I just mention the Rhode Island Foundation had recommended the East Bay area schools

343
00:24:40,670 --> 00:24:51,330
because Newport, Middletown, Portsmouth, Bristol, because of in their minds a higher income

344
00:24:51,330 --> 00:24:51,850
medium.

345
00:24:53,890 --> 00:25:00,930
And, you know, that I'm really surprised they would come out like that considering

346
00:25:01,430 --> 00:25:09,330
the problems in the issuance that the educators and the families have been facing in this

347
00:25:09,330 --> 00:25:13,090
area, if they need to balance this.

348
00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:16,860
Thomas Combs of Obama.

349
00:25:17,580 --> 00:25:22,900
That's entirely changed gears, but for a specific ask, learn through 65 program put forth by

350
00:25:22,900 --> 00:25:29,440
governor has been included in his budget. In Newport, it has been highly impactful. We saw

351
00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:34,240
that chronic abs and, uh, chronicly abs and students who participate in the program saw

352
00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:40,240
nearly 70% reduction in their, their chronic abs and Tism. Uh, it's integrated intentionally

353
00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:44,960
between our schools who are active partners in the program with our community partners who have

354
00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:49,000
gone above and beyond and providing their support. But to know, any consideration you can provide

355
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:50,880
to continuing funding for that program.

356
00:25:51,360 --> 00:25:51,980
It's greatly appreciated.

357
00:25:52,140 --> 00:25:54,020
We have a resolution from last year.

358
00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:55,840
If necessary, we'll introduce another resolution,

359
00:25:56,120 --> 00:25:57,520
just voicing our support for that program.

360
00:25:59,020 --> 00:26:00,460
Good to know, thank you.

361
00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:03,420
Just my question.

362
00:26:04,780 --> 00:26:06,540
Just thinking about what Zy was just talking about.

363
00:26:07,340 --> 00:26:09,080
So it's been a line in school and out of school.

364
00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:11,020
And I have for multiple years.

365
00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:15,320
So traditional schooling doesn't work for all kids.

366
00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:17,080
So we have those kids that are in the shadows.

367
00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:22,160
that sometimes can fall through the cracks and some are programming and after school programming

368
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:30,000
becomes really important to those kids in their success. So is there any conversation at all

369
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:36,580
about sustaining funding for after school programming, some are programming, or any of those

370
00:26:36,580 --> 00:26:41,220
extra programs or initiatives that support kids and families?

371
00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:47,180
I think the counselor had it with

372
00:26:47,180 --> 00:26:53,340
to not has it for more than 365 perspective. I'd have to go, I went to the entire budget

373
00:26:53,340 --> 00:26:57,580
last Friday. We're now going through looking at the agencies and what they have in there. So

374
00:26:57,580 --> 00:27:03,920
over and above the more than 365, I'm not certain what additional there is in there. Do you think

375
00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:09,580
we could get that data on the 365 program? Yes, I want you to send that to us in case we need it.

376
00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:11,840
Yeah, we have a wonderful case study that was done and we can provide.

377
00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:18,720
Maybe at some point later, if we just talk general budget for the state perspective, I think

378
00:27:19,300 --> 00:27:23,200
it's, I think it'd be informative and enlightening, you may not.

379
00:27:30,010 --> 00:27:30,410
Okay.

380
00:27:33,030 --> 00:27:35,930
I'm actually, maybe this is a good time with jumping to that, Senator DePom, and then you

381
00:27:35,930 --> 00:27:37,930
want to talk about the state budget.

382
00:27:38,690 --> 00:27:38,850
Sure.

383
00:27:39,770 --> 00:27:43,310
The last Tuesday, we had a Senate briefing.

384
00:27:43,310 --> 00:27:47,590
We're providing the Senate briefing to the Senate on the impact of HR1.

385
00:27:47,930 --> 00:27:53,970
The HR1 is the official name for the one big beautiful bill act, which I won't use anymore, but it's HR1.

386
00:27:55,410 --> 00:27:59,810
There's a few critical pieces to HR1 that affects all of us,

387
00:27:59,810 --> 00:28:02,030
affects people in Newport, affects people in the entire state.

388
00:28:02,670 --> 00:28:09,410
Let me just put it in the context of HR1 over 10 years.

389
00:28:09,910 --> 00:28:16,550
And you can read this, I verified this metiplycisi, seeks to take one trillion dollars.

390
00:28:16,850 --> 00:28:17,090
One trillion.

391
00:28:17,150 --> 00:28:18,250
Why are I talking to billion anymore?

392
00:28:18,870 --> 00:28:20,210
One trillion on a Medicaid.

393
00:28:21,190 --> 00:28:22,650
One trillion on a Medicaid.

394
00:28:22,850 --> 00:28:23,870
We have a bunch of different things.

395
00:28:23,970 --> 00:28:25,210
We won't go into the details there.

396
00:28:25,570 --> 00:28:26,430
One trillion on a Medicaid.

397
00:28:26,890 --> 00:28:30,750
About upwards of 200 million out of a snap.

398
00:28:30,990 --> 00:28:34,590
So I'll blend all the nutrition assistance program from my known as food stamps.

399
00:28:35,150 --> 00:28:36,070
200 million.

400
00:28:37,910 --> 00:28:39,010
That's country-wide.

401
00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:45,460
$1.2 billion, $1.2 trillion, $2 trillion out of it.

402
00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:51,420
At the same time, raises the debt, $4 trillion, by some it looked, and I look at it once

403
00:28:51,420 --> 00:28:54,600
in a while because if you want something to do when you're spare time and put something

404
00:28:54,600 --> 00:29:01,260
on your phone, go look at the national debt as it rises, virtually seconds by $100 to $1,000.

405
00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:07,960
It's at $38 trillion, okay, that backdrop at the macro level affects Rhode Island.

406
00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:12,180
There's really four areas, macroears that affect what I would have three, one is on the

407
00:29:12,180 --> 00:29:16,820
area of SNAP, supplemental Trish and Assistance Program, that could cost, and minimal cost

408
00:29:16,820 --> 00:29:23,900
what I would have on another $9 million for administrative costs, potentially upwards of 50 million

409
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:30,300
dollars. Anyway, because of the error rate, not because of put aside all that people talking

410
00:29:30,300 --> 00:29:36,020
about fraud wasted abuse, that's not it, it's about underpaying or overpaying lieu we're

411
00:29:36,580 --> 00:29:41,660
that's what that is. And right now our error rates over 10% right now if it happened tomorrow

412
00:29:41,660 --> 00:29:47,080
we'd be paid required to pay $15 million more roughly. Some states tell you six from

413
00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:52,640
on to under six it's zero. If you're Alaska and you're able to get that carve out, they're at a

414
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:56,620
24% they would pay nothing for a few years. That's snap.

415
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:15,260
Any, there's premium tax credit. What happened at the, with the government shutdown, then it went back, and the, there were about 40 something thousand folks in Rhode Island that will be impacted, or are impacted already right now.

416
00:30:15,420 --> 00:30:29,260
I think, in the January, it's the time frame for it, that to the tune of about $16 million costs that the individuals would have to bear,

417
00:30:29,260 --> 00:30:32,620
because that was coming from the advanced premium tax credit.

418
00:30:33,220 --> 00:30:36,960
We're looking to try and mitigate some of that, not all of that.

419
00:30:37,220 --> 00:30:41,340
So that's people that if you take somebody who's on

420
00:30:41,340 --> 00:30:45,180
Social Security, and that's all they get in Medicare, let's say.

421
00:30:45,540 --> 00:30:45,920
Well, security.

422
00:30:47,500 --> 00:30:51,540
And over $1180 a month, $1180 a month, this one person makes.

423
00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:57,220
Food, electricity, gas, heating, housing.

424
00:30:58,900 --> 00:31:01,380
Maybe they, oh, let's talk health insurance.

425
00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:06,860
Yeah. Yeah. One of those is going to give. So we need to figure out how do we help mitigate

426
00:31:06,860 --> 00:31:12,760
some of them. The third piece is on the Medicaid side of things. That's to the 200,

427
00:31:13,340 --> 00:31:20,240
100 plus a million that, oh, by the way, the budget as proposed does nothing to them. Nothing.

428
00:31:21,340 --> 00:31:25,420
Nothing to them. You read, you read appendix B of the budget and you look at the chart for

429
00:31:25,420 --> 00:31:27,760
five-year deficit, you'll see that.

430
00:31:28,100 --> 00:31:30,800
So it's things like work requirement or community engagement.

431
00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:36,460
There's a pencil positive to that, I think, where there could be some nonprofit agencies

432
00:31:36,460 --> 00:31:40,900
that might be able to get some volunteer hours for some folks, but it's 80 hours per month.

433
00:31:41,140 --> 00:31:42,940
If you don't do that, you're off.

434
00:31:43,660 --> 00:31:46,840
We also have to do redetermination, eligibility, twice a year.

435
00:31:47,500 --> 00:31:48,820
We already do that for some things.

436
00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:53,240
From Medicaid, it's going to cost people, that's more money to do that.

437
00:31:53,240 --> 00:32:00,400
So in the backdrop of all this, we're looking at how do we address what's the government

438
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:04,880
proposed and we start hearings on Thursday on the budget for the chairman will be starting

439
00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:05,500
on the House side.

440
00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:10,200
We have a race to the finish, if we get to the end of April, then we start meeting on a regular

441
00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:10,500
basis.

442
00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:15,360
But that's part of the things what we're looking at in the backdrop of all this.

443
00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:17,220
That's looming out there.

444
00:32:17,220 --> 00:32:19,680
The other piece that's not in the budget,

445
00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:23,700
that's not even in Pendict B on the five-year deficit

446
00:32:24,220 --> 00:32:25,980
is language we pass in the general assembly

447
00:32:25,980 --> 00:32:27,180
last year on primary care.

448
00:32:27,580 --> 00:32:29,100
We all know about the issues of somebody

449
00:32:29,100 --> 00:32:30,460
trying to find a primary care doctor.

450
00:32:31,140 --> 00:32:33,060
We put some things in the budget this year

451
00:32:33,060 --> 00:32:36,900
to help mitigate or humiliate some of that.

452
00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:42,080
But we also put in a formal comprehensive regular rate review

453
00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:43,560
on primary care.

454
00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:44,700
That was underway.

455
00:32:45,260 --> 00:32:46,100
It's underway now.

456
00:32:46,100 --> 00:32:48,880
It will not impact this budget because we don't have the facts of the data.

457
00:32:49,180 --> 00:32:53,460
Will we do something? I like to think we will, uh, almost like Wacomol,

458
00:32:53,580 --> 00:32:56,020
where first Wacomol will pop them all up and we'll hit that mole.

459
00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:59,920
But that's not going to come until next year. That's not in the budget either.

460
00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:04,400
And when we did health and human services, three years ago, or two years ago,

461
00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:08,940
that was that cost us, we did the whole thing. We put in $60 million dollars.

462
00:33:08,980 --> 00:33:13,520
We were getting it to get about $150, $160 million, or $70 from the federal government

463
00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:18,200
because it's a like a two to one three to one kind of match because of all the rates, it's not just 50%.

464
00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:20,240
We did L on one.

465
00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:24,980
I'm expecting the primary care, maybe because something is where you're done, not to quite.

466
00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:28,180
We'll be more, but we're already doing something there.

467
00:33:28,380 --> 00:33:30,260
That's not in the five year budget as well.

468
00:33:30,940 --> 00:33:34,940
So we need to factor all those things in as we put this bug together going forward.

469
00:33:36,020 --> 00:33:37,780
Just a day to put it.

470
00:33:37,780 --> 00:33:44,240
this chair. Um, you. Um, so I did, I brought up the the Cliff effect or the benefit

471
00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:50,640
with last year also. So is there any policy that any of you know of that's being put forward

472
00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:57,960
to help our families? Um, so they're not penalized for earning more income or trying to get

473
00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:05,300
themselves out of these situations that they're in? I'm not aware of any, but you bring up a

474
00:34:05,300 --> 00:34:10,040
It calls for excellent issue, but it's so big years ago, we had somebody doing analysis on it because

475
00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:12,600
Rhode Island does have a cliff and a bunch of different things.

476
00:34:12,860 --> 00:34:15,660
You get to that certain point and that benefit goes away.

477
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:19,400
We don't have a sliding scale on the way down, right?

478
00:34:19,500 --> 00:34:25,560
There was a mom and new port 10 years ago, a son got to have a job in the summer, told

479
00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:29,620
the son, you cannot take that job, you cannot, you take that job, we lose our benefits.

480
00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:31,020
That's just ludicrous.

481
00:34:31,020 --> 00:34:39,040
So, we need, so part of that's on our side, we need potentially made CMS or some other things to give us leeway to do some of these things.

482
00:34:39,620 --> 00:34:42,600
We need to get to more of that that may manifest itself this year.

483
00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:54,540
I haven't seen any legislation but looking at doing all that and trying to have some kind of scale on the way down to zero as you get to a certain income was pretty sizable.

484
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:57,000
We may have to do this in bite size chunks.

485
00:34:57,000 --> 00:34:59,220
I don't know any.

486
00:35:00,180 --> 00:35:06,240
Just in my other capacities, chair of the workforce board for the state right now, while there are many horrendous things that are coming through.

487
00:35:06,340 --> 00:35:11,480
Often this administration, one of them is looking specifically at how they mitigate the impact of the benefits cliff.

488
00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:20,400
So there are provisions to allow for us to continue providing supportive services for up to a year as an individual transitions into a new type of employment.

489
00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:24,200
It means we're productive. So that is one of the positive things that is on the horizon.

490
00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:25,280
It's not well-funded.

491
00:35:25,420 --> 00:35:28,580
It's not well-described yet, but it is very much a focus of the workforce board.

492
00:35:28,660 --> 00:35:28,880
All right.

493
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:29,520
Thank you, Zen.

494
00:35:33,740 --> 00:35:40,480
Um, one of the issues I know that's being discussed at the state level, um, in Newport,

495
00:35:40,700 --> 00:35:46,760
we just, uh, last we were able to pass the cruise ship to be, that we got an increase on, uh,

496
00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:53,200
basically up to $20 a person, where they come on shore, not, um, the governor's now proposing

497
00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:55,580
to increase that to $30.

498
00:35:59,240 --> 00:36:03,560
What is, in any of you can answer this, what are your thoughts on this?

499
00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:04,770
I'm completely opposed to it.

500
00:36:05,380 --> 00:36:07,080
I'm completely opposed to it.

501
00:36:07,340 --> 00:36:11,020
It's going to raise, well, first of all, the money is dedicated to RIPTA.

502
00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:12,700
There's a tremendous need for RIPTA money.

503
00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:14,040
So it's not about RIPTA funding.

504
00:36:14,460 --> 00:36:18,380
It's about dipping into a revenue source that has traditionally belonged to the municipality.

505
00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:20,200
I'm completely opposed to it.

506
00:36:20,220 --> 00:36:21,800
It's only going to raise a million dollars.

507
00:36:22,180 --> 00:36:25,560
That's what I saw, unless the two finance chairs have different

508
00:36:25,560 --> 00:36:30,780
information. A million dollars in the entire budget is not a lot of money. I don't think,

509
00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:35,840
and to dip into a municipal revenue source as we did with the Taylor Swift X, I think is just

510
00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:41,420
really dangerous procedure. I'm going to argue against that for sure.

511
00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:47,000
Yeah, and I just, I also want to say, like, I know that the city spent a lot of time and was

512
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:53,680
trying to be very thoughtful about how to approach that, looking at the market and what the region,

513
00:36:53,680 --> 00:37:00,380
the regional rates were because we also want to maintain that business, that business

514
00:37:00,380 --> 00:37:07,020
opportunity, and that economy that we have here. So I'm also opposed to it. It's

515
00:37:07,020 --> 00:37:12,140
it's unfortunate, an unfortunate piggyback on what I think was really good and thoughtful

516
00:37:12,140 --> 00:37:17,840
work by this council that I was happy to support. But I saw that proposal and thought it

517
00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:21,040
absurd, so I won't be supporting that.

518
00:37:25,720 --> 00:37:26,220
Yeah,

519
00:37:40,340 --> 00:37:40,840
please.

520
00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:41,060
Yeah.

521
00:37:57,510 --> 00:37:59,550
One nuance to note in one question.

522
00:37:59,590 --> 00:38:02,730
First is obviously the differential between a fee and a tax.

523
00:38:02,730 --> 00:38:08,650
That cruise ship fee was directly related to our needs to operate the harbor on the waterfront and offsetting those.

524
00:38:08,990 --> 00:38:12,530
It was not a general revenue raising tool as it was intended.

525
00:38:13,390 --> 00:38:17,230
So, if there's any technical aspect of that that's worth considering, we'd urge it to do that.

526
00:38:17,370 --> 00:38:19,390
The second is a more general framing question.

527
00:38:20,210 --> 00:38:25,910
At the local level, we are suffocating for revenues, as you know, well, property tasks is our primary tool.

528
00:38:26,550 --> 00:38:31,110
Some of these other fees that we have that we are very thankful for your assistance with,

529
00:38:31,110 --> 00:38:35,750
help alleviate that as well and we want to thank you obviously for your work as well in the hotel

530
00:38:35,750 --> 00:38:40,470
tax issue. But we try and be creative. You can see behind us right now. I think some of the

531
00:38:40,470 --> 00:38:45,490
administration's efforts on future creativity around new revenue sources but our experience

532
00:38:45,490 --> 00:38:49,730
last session and around things like the parking taxes we come up with a new idea whether it's

533
00:38:49,730 --> 00:38:54,250
the cruise ship would be increased or the parking tax and the state of here so look at and say

534
00:38:54,250 --> 00:39:00,250
that's a great idea. We're going to take that money and we're left short over and over again managing

535
00:39:00,250 --> 00:39:03,330
You know, continuous flow of unfunding mandates at the local level,

536
00:39:03,590 --> 00:39:06,380
fewer fewer resources in a constant encroachment by the state,

537
00:39:07,250 --> 00:39:09,230
the available revenue sources that we have.

538
00:39:09,970 --> 00:39:14,750
And so the top thing about that is that it hampers our appetite for creativity,

539
00:39:15,490 --> 00:39:17,450
for working on some of these issues at the local level,

540
00:39:17,890 --> 00:39:20,810
when our fear is that idea gets scooped every year.

541
00:39:21,570 --> 00:39:24,610
I just don't know if there's anything any of you can do to push back on that

542
00:39:24,610 --> 00:39:28,370
when those ideas come up, we're trying to keep staff thinking proactively here,

543
00:39:28,490 --> 00:39:29,350
but it makes it very difficult.

544
00:39:30,250 --> 00:39:35,610
It would be great if you guys considered a resolution to oppose that cruise fee, that would be very helpful.

545
00:39:36,610 --> 00:39:40,070
But I was with the speaker last night and had a conversation about it.

546
00:39:40,250 --> 00:39:44,470
I just think that stepping into a municipal source of revenue, it's our money.

547
00:39:44,910 --> 00:39:46,390
And it's not even raising a lot of money.

548
00:39:46,670 --> 00:39:50,350
Like if it was raising $20 million for RIPTA and they really need the money badly,

549
00:39:51,010 --> 00:39:52,490
you know, I'd look at it a little bit differently.

550
00:39:52,850 --> 00:39:54,250
It's only a million books.

551
00:39:55,610 --> 00:40:00,690
Do they charge the airlines and say, I wonder the same thing one?

552
00:40:00,950 --> 00:40:01,570
Do they?

553
00:40:01,810 --> 00:40:02,670
For landing fees?

554
00:40:02,890 --> 00:40:04,210
I wanted the same thing.

555
00:40:05,490 --> 00:40:09,850
So the only, trying to address a couple of them, also, have you looked at the airport stuff?

556
00:40:09,990 --> 00:40:14,010
They call a, um, in time at the fee.

557
00:40:14,170 --> 00:40:16,630
I've got this, it's three-letter, Akron McKettie.

558
00:40:16,730 --> 00:40:24,230
So every, the way cost them, uh, kept, uh, reasonable, long, uh,

559
00:40:24,230 --> 00:40:27,510
to be attractive to bring planes to Rhode Island

560
00:40:28,330 --> 00:40:31,190
is for a cost per employment, that's what it is.

561
00:40:31,250 --> 00:40:33,730
Cost per employment, meaning just like the cruise fee.

562
00:40:33,950 --> 00:40:35,150
Every person that gets on a plane

563
00:40:35,150 --> 00:40:36,590
and every person that gets off a plane,

564
00:40:36,910 --> 00:40:39,270
the airline pays a cost, pays a fee

565
00:40:40,050 --> 00:40:41,990
to the airport corporation for that.

566
00:40:42,310 --> 00:40:44,230
So they do have something similar

567
00:40:44,230 --> 00:40:47,650
and it's one of these they've been trying to keep reasonable.

568
00:40:48,190 --> 00:40:50,470
Not well, reasonable enough so that more planes

569
00:40:50,470 --> 00:40:53,270
will come here because at the end of the day,

570
00:40:53,270 --> 00:40:58,510
That's a cost, right, that more people come, the more they pay in and on.

571
00:40:58,710 --> 00:41:07,460
With regards to the, when I saw the piece in, I think in meeting with the director,

572
00:41:08,500 --> 00:41:13,020
at least the rant, I've got the head of the, head of rifter, excellent director there. I'm glad

573
00:41:13,020 --> 00:41:20,780
he's there. When he briefs us, I think it was about, wasn't even in the center of finance. It was

574
00:41:20,780 --> 00:41:25,540
the general briefing about the impact, I think it was a new port, I think, when they did

575
00:41:25,540 --> 00:41:31,520
it across the state, the impact of transportation they provide from the cruise ships.

576
00:41:31,700 --> 00:41:40,400
I've got, is it free, the, they rent bus week now, the ship that's buses, the ship that's

577
00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:44,500
charter buses there, all of them, but I thought that there was also some other transportation

578
00:41:44,500 --> 00:41:50,220
I was provided to places other than that, so I think there might be another piece of it.

579
00:41:50,220 --> 00:41:55,320
I concur the million dollars is this is a small piece of that

580
00:41:55,320 --> 00:42:01,400
Especially when you look at it in the context of other money being provided to ripped a this year what we did last year

581
00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:02,620
What will be provided?

582
00:42:02,780 --> 00:42:09,500
There are other ways to figure out how to get ripped out what they need as opposed to adding another $5 on this and as

583
00:42:10,260 --> 00:42:14,960
Peter indicated he's spot on when we looked at this in the past and in fact when

584
00:42:15,900 --> 00:42:19,500
This got raised, I think when I first got put in place,

585
00:42:19,500 --> 00:42:22,080
I got raised to $3.00, Gene will remember,

586
00:42:22,280 --> 00:42:24,080
you probably only wanted to counsel then,

587
00:42:24,780 --> 00:42:26,580
when two set of presidents, previous tree supply,

588
00:42:26,640 --> 00:42:28,500
the weed was there, we made it,

589
00:42:28,680 --> 00:42:30,660
I didn't say anything about age, I just said she's been here.

590
00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:32,620
If you can be young, I didn't go there.

591
00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:36,700
But it was the case where you needed to be 18 months out,

592
00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:38,840
because if you're looking to take a cruise today,

593
00:42:39,400 --> 00:42:40,520
it's, they've really got the costs.

594
00:42:41,060 --> 00:42:44,200
So if, if, if it was going to be done,

595
00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:47,980
It had to be something that was going to be done January of like 28.

596
00:42:49,880 --> 00:42:54,320
Yeah, there are other way, I'll just say it, there are other ways to get ripped of what they need.

597
00:42:54,780 --> 00:42:56,940
And I think the governor put money in there.

598
00:42:57,100 --> 00:43:00,500
Some of the things will change, I think, about the governor's put some stuff in it.

599
00:43:00,500 --> 00:43:02,000
It's got to go through the here, you know.

600
00:43:02,540 --> 00:43:07,340
So also cruise ships are booked two years in advance.

601
00:43:08,560 --> 00:43:12,200
So that really kind of sprues up the...

602
00:43:14,080 --> 00:43:19,800
The only, it's a good point to make, so somebody said, okay, just move it out two years

603
00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:20,340
there.

604
00:43:20,700 --> 00:43:23,340
So, we don't want that either.

605
00:43:24,060 --> 00:43:30,240
And then there's a couple other points from our side as a local side that we look at,

606
00:43:30,240 --> 00:43:35,140
you know, our hardware masses are here today to talk about it, but there's been a lot

607
00:43:35,140 --> 00:43:41,080
of work put in, as great as a tourist destination that new port is, we really don't allow

608
00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:47,620
cruise ships in the heart of the summer. So, adding this other V is going to for either

609
00:43:47,620 --> 00:43:54,160
force us to a, start bringing them in and June July August when we prefer to not want

610
00:43:54,160 --> 00:44:01,400
to not want another 5, 6,000 people coming in the town. I mean, we always want people in the

611
00:44:01,400 --> 00:44:05,820
town don't get me wrong, but that's not when we need it. We need it in the spring.

612
00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:10,020
We need

613
00:44:10,020 --> 00:44:14,500
the ships they're going to say well why are we going to go to a new point if you're basically

614
00:44:14,500 --> 00:44:21,740
but taxing us, taxing us, taxing us for doing this. So we try to find that balance with

615
00:44:21,740 --> 00:44:28,600
that industry and I think we've done a really good job at it. The other part of it is the state

616
00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:37,060
and RIPTA, they're taking lines away from Newport, they're trying to. So now they want to take

617
00:44:37,060 --> 00:44:41,200
our money that we're bringing in a new board, give it to RIP that's not even helping

618
00:44:41,200 --> 00:44:46,640
new board at all, and that's what I find more disturbing, I think, really than anything

619
00:44:48,820 --> 00:44:49,320
else.

620
00:44:49,460 --> 00:44:55,540
Uh, question, uh, so, okay, so now it's $20 and it would jump to $30, right?

621
00:44:55,880 --> 00:44:58,100
But a new board would still keep that $20.

622
00:45:00,780 --> 00:45:05,140
And dollars to us is a lot compared to the state.

623
00:45:05,920 --> 00:45:10,220
I think chairholder pointed this out to, I'm speaking on behalf of the Harbormaster.

624
00:45:11,600 --> 00:45:16,020
There are natural abs and flows in terms of demand for cruise ship appetite right now.

625
00:45:16,340 --> 00:45:23,120
We're seeing a slight long term decline in that demand. So increasing those fees will only further exacerbate that decline in demand.

626
00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:33,960
And we designed that increase in fees in large part to help us with taking the barriers for the party part of Paul Cat and Harbor Master building project.

627
00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:39,900
That was always dependent largely on cruise ship fees to some extent more in fees, but a big portion of that was cruise ship fees.

628
00:45:40,200 --> 00:45:42,660
So if that demand goes away, so does that funding source.

629
00:45:43,220 --> 00:45:47,220
But this is for all those reasons he is adamantly.

630
00:45:48,180 --> 00:45:51,440
And the fee was up to 10 each way.

631
00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:52,400
That means right, yeah.

632
00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:54,700
Maximum, you could make $9.99.

633
00:45:55,080 --> 00:45:56,740
You could make a five, six dollars.

634
00:45:57,280 --> 00:45:58,440
Whatever you choose.

635
00:45:59,460 --> 00:46:00,200
Just before we move on,

636
00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:05,460
just to talk about the additional aid to cities and towns.

637
00:46:05,740 --> 00:46:09,300
So we thank you to the equipment I have on folks.

638
00:46:10,260 --> 00:46:14,720
I know Sean Brown, the maintenance folks from Newport that came to testify on the hotel tax.

639
00:46:15,400 --> 00:46:16,180
That was a big deal.

640
00:46:16,600 --> 00:46:20,220
The chairman will tell you, there's a big deal, we have lots of conversation with regards to it,

641
00:46:20,480 --> 00:46:24,580
because if you think about the last time the hotel tax was changed, I'll go back.

642
00:46:24,800 --> 00:46:27,080
I think Gene was on the council, I'll just get it.

643
00:46:27,120 --> 00:46:34,400
No, it's been that additional 1% for a long time, a long time.

644
00:46:34,460 --> 00:46:38,160
That's significant amount of money, millions, for a new part, by the hotel tax.

645
00:46:38,160 --> 00:46:44,240
could basically it goes up 40 percent. If you think about the 1% and the other money from the 5%

646
00:46:44,800 --> 00:46:49,060
to 1% and the 1.25, it's a little more than 40 percent. That's a big deal. A little

647
00:46:49,060 --> 00:46:55,500
town as well. So thank you for bringing that forward Chairman and I we had many conversations with regards

648
00:46:55,500 --> 00:47:04,140
to how do we do this? And it has, we don't change local tax things in which we don't want to,

649
00:47:04,300 --> 00:47:07,140
right? You don't want to do that. But then again, the folks that are going to pay this,

650
00:47:07,140 --> 00:47:09,900
most more often than not are not from here, right?

651
00:47:10,220 --> 00:47:12,800
Some of our residents of constituents will pay this,

652
00:47:12,860 --> 00:47:15,440
the vast majority in paying one additional percent

653
00:47:16,520 --> 00:47:20,920
on a room that's $200 or $500 and some worth $1,000,

654
00:47:24,440 --> 00:47:27,240
it's money, but it's in the noise, compared to what they,

655
00:47:27,380 --> 00:47:28,940
what you might see in other cities and towns

656
00:47:28,940 --> 00:47:30,920
that we've all been to and have this and that.

657
00:47:31,060 --> 00:47:34,460
So that's a big addition to the coffers of the job.

658
00:47:34,900 --> 00:47:36,440
So thanks for supporting it.

659
00:47:36,440 --> 00:47:39,740
Thank you.

660
00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:47,840
So on this, I want to just take a quick opportunity for Chief John Lee, if you want to come up here for a moment.

661
00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:53,630
Coming in front of the council is a,

662
00:47:55,230 --> 00:47:59,150
some verb John Lee conveyance tax, if you will,

663
00:48:00,130 --> 00:48:02,250
in Newport that would discuss,

664
00:48:07,030 --> 00:48:13,610
taxing any sale of property over a certain amount of them out was going to be in order to

665
00:48:13,610 --> 00:48:17,070
help alleviate some resiliency and sustainability funding.

666
00:48:17,330 --> 00:48:21,130
So I want to give you a moment to talk about that a little bit, you know what?

667
00:48:21,350 --> 00:48:21,530
Yeah.

668
00:48:21,970 --> 00:48:26,530
Thank you very much for this opportunity and what we're going to talk about today is something

669
00:48:26,530 --> 00:48:31,110
that may have a multi-generational effect in the quality of life in Newport and our residents

670
00:48:31,770 --> 00:48:36,770
I like to also, the quick apology to the council because this is a concept we talked about

671
00:48:36,770 --> 00:48:42,430
two years ago, as a broad idea, we came back last year, for a little more meat to it.

672
00:48:42,590 --> 00:48:47,890
But we were tasked with, it was a little bit cumbersome, it could be streamlined a bit, and

673
00:48:47,890 --> 00:48:52,370
a team was put together that it hasn't been working, a team that Lauren Carson's on, Chris

674
00:48:52,370 --> 00:48:58,290
Bean is an wonderful job, Theresa Creen has taken the lead on it, and a variety of staff

675
00:48:58,290 --> 00:49:02,430
we're kind of working together to try to make this a little more appropriate a little bit

676
00:49:02,430 --> 00:49:07,370
more clear to understand. So, but by apology to the council is, I know this day is for you to

677
00:49:07,370 --> 00:49:11,670
present to the our legislative team what your goals are and now you're going to be hearing about

678
00:49:11,670 --> 00:49:16,110
something that may seem a little bit of a surprise. So, that's my intention is just to kind of

679
00:49:16,110 --> 00:49:21,050
give an overview of this whole idea is for you to bring your thoughts and wishes forward to the

680
00:49:21,050 --> 00:49:26,850
legislative team, but I'm here to describe a little bit about this about. So, the resilience of

681
00:49:26,850 --> 00:49:34,010
ability fund is the idea is to make us the city more resilient, more to enable us to

682
00:49:34,790 --> 00:49:39,770
combat the changing funding sources by the federal level. So we run for the slide. I think

683
00:49:39,770 --> 00:49:44,130
that'll probably go fairly smoothly. There's eight quick slides. I promise not to talk as

684
00:49:44,130 --> 00:49:47,390
much as I usually do. So if we could advance to the next slide, please.

685
00:49:53,120 --> 00:49:53,560
That's right.

686
00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:57,500
But we do awesome. I'm not afraid of a clicker.

687
00:50:00,840 --> 00:50:00,840
Yeah.

688
00:50:10,180 --> 00:50:13,360
And I'll admit right off the bat that done. If you're hearing this for the very first

689
00:50:13,360 --> 00:50:21,260
It could sound a little bit scary, but it's actually fairly simple process and it's not a burden on the average new port of this isn't a burden on whatsoever.

690
00:50:23,020 --> 00:50:26,140
So the resiliency and sustainability trust, what's the fund?

691
00:50:27,060 --> 00:50:34,160
It's a fund for sustained revenue source to help protect our coastlines and our properties against them forces and other nature.

692
00:50:34,160 --> 00:50:42,760
The creation of this fund is going to make us less dependent upon the uncertain revenue sources such as grants or federal funding.

693
00:50:43,080 --> 00:50:55,140
It's going to enable us to take charge of our own destiny in many ways to establish a fund dedicated for the protection of our coastline and tackling the many resiliency challenge we have like watershed issues in our neighborhoods.

694
00:50:58,560 --> 00:51:04,760
What this also does kind of like the cruise ship, the cruise ship, the barking fees, it's a predictable funding source.

695
00:51:04,760 --> 00:51:09,560
So, it's a source that we can look at to the future when we're making up a budget and we can forecast.

696
00:51:09,860 --> 00:51:11,720
This is the amount of money we expect to come in this year.

697
00:51:11,940 --> 00:51:16,200
This is the amount of money we can anticipate spending on some of these projects that we have.

698
00:51:16,320 --> 00:51:19,580
At the present time, uncertain funding for.

699
00:51:20,100 --> 00:51:22,300
And it's also something that could be bonded against in the future.

700
00:51:24,080 --> 00:51:26,080
These are just kind of the obvious impacts.

701
00:51:26,380 --> 00:51:30,460
Newport throughout the city, we're struggle with residential flooding.

702
00:51:30,460 --> 00:51:35,280
we have challenges with the ocean rise, we have challenges with rainwater, these pictures

703
00:51:35,280 --> 00:51:41,080
were taken two years ago in January at a storm that we had that affected us in such a

704
00:51:41,080 --> 00:51:47,460
way that it allowed us to go after to FEMA to get disaster reimbursement for such damages.

705
00:51:48,360 --> 00:51:53,100
So this type of storm can happen at any time. This one was two years ago affecting all portions

706
00:51:53,100 --> 00:51:59,420
of the city. Also areas that are coastline, it's not just our sea walls,

707
00:51:59,420 --> 00:52:18,180
But our attractions as well, so protecting, having a fund that we can protect the new port and our shoreline from a erosion will only protect our property values and our future as a tourist destination, which is a considerable revenue source for the state.

708
00:52:19,480 --> 00:52:28,040
The proposal is dedicated fund to identify, it's going to be a fee on property tax sales,

709
00:52:28,860 --> 00:52:32,920
the property tax affected by this are commercial properties, and residential properties

710
00:52:32,920 --> 00:52:37,300
who are not using the properties committed to use their properties as a long time residents,

711
00:52:37,560 --> 00:52:38,980
whether it's through rental or ownership.

712
00:52:39,360 --> 00:52:42,320
This fee does not apply to any of the items at home in Newport right now.

713
00:52:42,320 --> 00:52:48,900
And again, if you're buying a home and you're committed to make it your home for five years,

714
00:52:49,160 --> 00:52:54,080
if you qualify for the second tier tax system, you will not have to pay this rate at all.

715
00:52:54,540 --> 00:53:02,200
This is focused at the property sales that are either commercial or more recreational or investment related,

716
00:53:02,520 --> 00:53:07,380
not for properties that are purchased for long-term housing.

717
00:53:10,520 --> 00:53:16,360
This is a good tool. It's a one-time fee. It's not a forever fee. It's not the Taylor Swift tax.

718
00:53:16,580 --> 00:53:20,720
Not everybody's paying. It's a fee. It gets paid every year. It's a one-time fee if you're buying into this.

719
00:53:21,040 --> 00:53:28,480
If you're buying into coming to Newport, you'll be buying into a community that's dedicated to protect our property values and our coastline and our way of life.

720
00:53:29,560 --> 00:53:35,180
What's nice about this particular fee, it's scaled up, so it's property values go up the fee will go up every year.

721
00:53:35,180 --> 00:53:38,500
It creates a predictable bonding revenue source.

722
00:53:39,060 --> 00:53:44,700
What's not said in this size is this type of fee system has been used by

723
00:53:44,700 --> 00:53:47,400
block island and little counted before the years.

724
00:53:47,760 --> 00:53:51,040
Block island uses it for land preservation and open space.

725
00:53:51,360 --> 00:53:55,360
Little content uses it for agricultural needs to preserve that culture that they have.

726
00:53:55,840 --> 00:53:58,540
We've had the benefit of during our meetings.

727
00:53:59,180 --> 00:54:02,800
We had individuals like Senator Oyer came in, gave us some really good insights.

728
00:54:02,800 --> 00:54:15,140
We had Amy Land who was the town manager from New Shore and from Block Island and she gave us a wonderful insights on this and 40 years later Block Island finds themselves in a situation where they're

729
00:54:15,140 --> 00:54:20,900
They've pretty much solved their open space and they're coming up with new ways to use the monies that are coming in the funds that are coming in.

730
00:54:21,080 --> 00:54:27,040
So we think of this as a future investment in our future, our children's future, the future new port.

731
00:54:27,040 --> 00:54:33,180
Wonderful would it be 40 years from now to have a funding source where the thing in what yet we could use this for we've solved all of our problems

732
00:54:33,180 --> 00:54:37,960
We've said ahead of the game as far as resiliency goes and now we have an opportunity to do even more

733
00:54:40,580 --> 00:54:46,060
The projected revenue amounts so these numbers that we see here are based upon last year's

734
00:54:47,320 --> 00:54:53,140
Property sales for commercial properties and properties that don't qualify for the lower tier tax rate

735
00:54:53,140 --> 00:54:57,160
So you can see there's over $560 million worth of property sales.

736
00:54:57,500 --> 00:55:04,200
So what we're asking here, we're proposing and hopefully the council will ask for, is the opportunity

737
00:55:04,200 --> 00:55:09,180
to be enabled to do exactly what little content and the bulk island are doing.

738
00:55:09,400 --> 00:55:15,280
It's been enabled to charge up to 5%. Each of those communities annually take a look at their rate

739
00:55:15,280 --> 00:55:20,960
and they adjust it to their needs. Newport happens to have a very high need for this sort of work

740
00:55:20,960 --> 00:55:22,480
to be done these sort of projects,

741
00:55:22,880 --> 00:55:24,200
but each year you'd have the opportunity

742
00:55:24,200 --> 00:55:25,980
to just it up or just it down.

743
00:55:26,260 --> 00:55:28,880
So the ask is to be enabled up to 5%

744
00:55:28,880 --> 00:55:32,760
not particularly to go for the city to go right to 5%.

745
00:55:32,760 --> 00:55:36,780
But the numbers look like this at 560 plus million dollars.

746
00:55:36,920 --> 00:55:41,680
Obviously 1% is 5.6%, 3% is 16.8 million dollars.

747
00:55:42,000 --> 00:55:46,760
And if we went to the 5%, that's a 28 plus million dollar

748
00:55:46,760 --> 00:55:49,320
from a revenue source coming to the city in Newport

749
00:55:49,320 --> 00:55:56,220
that does not create an additional burden on the property tax rate, so that's a solid plus for this.

750
00:55:57,440 --> 00:56:02,760
Why it's targeted? Well, the higher commercial properties and the investment properties

751
00:56:02,760 --> 00:56:08,120
are higher in cost, so that'll naturally draw in more revenues results of their sales.

752
00:56:09,100 --> 00:56:13,500
The year-round owner occupied, I'm just going to underscore that. The owner home in Newport,

753
00:56:13,740 --> 00:56:17,660
and it's your home, this doesn't affect you. If you're buying a new port in your home,

754
00:56:17,660 --> 00:56:22,520
into a house in Newport, and you're committed to make it your home or somebody else's home,

755
00:56:22,860 --> 00:56:27,840
year round, this is not going to affect you. These are the folks that are buying homes as second homes,

756
00:56:28,080 --> 00:56:32,720
buying homes as recreational homes, buying homes as money sources, or buying commercial property.

757
00:56:36,020 --> 00:56:47,420
This project, as property rates go up, the round of revenue goes up. It's pretty clear and pretty

758
00:56:47,420 --> 00:56:48,300
as brief as we could.

759
00:56:49,000 --> 00:56:50,460
It's a long-term asset protection.

760
00:56:51,280 --> 00:56:52,720
The fundraising and the resiliency plan

761
00:56:52,720 --> 00:56:54,560
is actually infrastructure, investing

762
00:56:54,560 --> 00:56:55,780
in our infrastructure and investing

763
00:56:55,780 --> 00:56:57,920
in the property values for the city of Newport

764
00:56:57,920 --> 00:57:01,060
and keeping the burden on the residents lower.

765
00:57:01,460 --> 00:57:03,580
The convenience tax is market-based, it's targeted.

766
00:57:03,660 --> 00:57:05,480
It's a targeted way for the pay for this.

767
00:57:06,380 --> 00:57:09,380
And the reality of it and what is the cost of inaction

768
00:57:09,380 --> 00:57:10,600
is not a cost of more overall.

769
00:57:10,900 --> 00:57:14,520
But prompting me to get interested in this is two years ago

770
00:57:14,520 --> 00:57:16,560
when we had the, well, four years ago,

771
00:57:16,560 --> 00:57:19,020
We had a portion of the Cliff walk slide off.

772
00:57:19,900 --> 00:57:22,780
And the challenges have coming up with other funding

773
00:57:22,780 --> 00:57:24,520
source to take care of a problem that's

774
00:57:24,520 --> 00:57:26,700
right in our backyard, jumped right out to me.

775
00:57:26,880 --> 00:57:29,020
Two years ago, we had the challenges of the storm

776
00:57:29,020 --> 00:57:30,140
that we saw in the slides.

777
00:57:32,160 --> 00:57:35,560
The projects that we were ready to go on and funded for,

778
00:57:35,720 --> 00:57:38,220
we were able to move forward and get FEMA reimbursements.

779
00:57:38,600 --> 00:57:40,300
Projects that were not funded for,

780
00:57:40,540 --> 00:57:43,280
we're still working to get those FEMA reimbursements.

781
00:57:43,560 --> 00:57:45,280
But we had to wait for money to be set aside

782
00:57:45,280 --> 00:57:50,580
in the capital budget. So that whole process could fall outside of the period of performance

783
00:57:50,580 --> 00:57:55,980
that FEMA allows us to have to go after reimbursements. So having a fund like this would

784
00:57:55,980 --> 00:58:03,580
help us come up with a resource of dedicated fund to put aside for variety of uses, but

785
00:58:03,580 --> 00:58:07,920
a portion of that to be set aside for emergency functions. So it wouldn't have to tap into the

786
00:58:07,920 --> 00:58:13,520
rainy day fund. It would already be established in a resiliency fund. So that's kind of a

787
00:58:14,280 --> 00:58:25,960
I know it's a lot, and again, I apologize to the council members who may be here in this for the first time and not add a lot of time to look at this version of something we talked about last year.

788
00:58:27,860 --> 00:58:28,820
Thank you.

789
00:58:29,120 --> 00:58:29,720
Mr. Chair.

790
00:58:30,140 --> 00:58:30,260
Council.

791
00:58:30,700 --> 00:58:32,440
So I have a couple of questions.

792
00:58:32,840 --> 00:58:37,320
This won't prevent us from still going for federal funding or grants.

793
00:58:37,340 --> 00:58:39,340
This is just in addition to that, correct?

794
00:58:39,340 --> 00:58:43,720
100% right and what it does do that's a positive is that the matching funds that we're now

795
00:58:43,720 --> 00:58:48,420
obligated to raise for these grants that come in it's going to give us a pool of money to have those

796
00:58:48,420 --> 00:58:54,780
matching funds already on it. Would this impact anybody who lives in a flood zone and their insurance

797
00:58:54,780 --> 00:59:00,240
would with that cause any issues? It's certainly won't cause any issues what it can

798
00:59:00,240 --> 00:59:08,260
the goal is to tackle these reoccurring resiliency problems. So by investing and protecting our

799
00:59:08,260 --> 00:59:13,800
lines for a different investing in redirecting the watershed from such as Elizabeth Brook

800
00:59:13,800 --> 00:59:19,800
isn't investment in protecting those properties. The connection between the insurance

801
00:59:19,800 --> 00:59:26,100
rate and having this fund, we're actively investing in right now. I've reached out to the

802
00:59:26,100 --> 00:59:31,000
Rhode Island Interlocal Trust to have their underwriters take a look at what benefits,

803
00:59:31,240 --> 00:59:35,480
potential insurance benefits, a community with plans such that this pit expect to receive.

804
00:59:35,480 --> 00:59:42,040
Okay. And would this deter anybody from selling their homes? How would this impact?

805
00:59:42,300 --> 00:59:45,800
Because I'm hearing a lot of scuttled about how it's going to impact the real estate industry?

806
00:59:46,380 --> 00:59:47,520
Yeah, it's a good point.

807
00:59:47,680 --> 00:59:49,180
And again, it's a new concept for a lot of folks.

808
00:59:49,620 --> 00:59:53,160
So it shouldn't be, it can be some miscommunication, some confusion.

809
00:59:53,860 --> 00:59:56,640
So this is like, I know the definition whether we call it a fear call.

810
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:07,260
Tax, but this fee is will be applied to the purchaser of a property, not the seller of a property.

811
01:00:09,060 --> 01:00:13,360
That's like any, it's almost like a tax for a taxes paid by the buyer, not the seller.

812
01:00:13,740 --> 01:00:22,940
So it's the purchaser's obligation to pay this fee. So it would impact you if you were selling it, and it would impact you if you were buying a home and you wanted to make it, buying a house and you wanted to make it your home.

813
01:00:23,140 --> 01:00:26,080
And you committed to do that for the next five years.

814
01:00:26,080 --> 01:00:32,140
Mr. Councillor. Just out of fairness to our delegation that's here in the council with a pretty big agenda.

815
01:00:32,460 --> 01:00:35,440
I really appreciate the work that has gone into this.

816
01:00:36,100 --> 01:00:39,240
We have had no chance to vet this proposal as a council body.

817
01:00:39,680 --> 01:00:41,660
We have no supporting studies on this yet.

818
01:00:41,720 --> 01:00:43,340
We have no feedback in the community.

819
01:00:44,160 --> 01:00:46,820
And so I think this definitely merits that to have a consideration.

820
01:00:47,600 --> 01:00:49,880
But we have a very short period of time with our state legislators.

821
01:00:50,340 --> 01:00:54,420
I would respectfully ask that we table this for future discussion and move into the balance of our agenda.

822
01:00:55,020 --> 01:00:56,660
Could I ask that's one question?

823
01:00:57,320 --> 01:01:00,040
This would need legislative approval if the council passed.

824
01:01:00,400 --> 01:01:03,960
In absolutely, and that's what the, and again, I apologize for the short notice.

825
01:01:04,620 --> 01:01:07,600
During our discussions with our planning team,

826
01:01:07,600 --> 01:01:10,600
Senator Oyer brought up the timeline.

827
01:01:10,700 --> 01:01:13,360
If this were to get introduced this year, and the Senate timeline,

828
01:01:14,240 --> 01:01:20,340
there's a date and march that, if you back away from council approval and a resolution to support,

829
01:01:20,340 --> 01:01:25,760
all of a sudden we find ourselves in February and so the process got under way a little

830
01:01:25,760 --> 01:01:26,240
bit quickly.

831
01:01:26,520 --> 01:01:31,660
I agree 100% Council of the Crompsy Barvon, an opportunity for you to hear a little bit

832
01:01:31,660 --> 01:01:32,320
more about it.

833
01:01:32,560 --> 01:01:38,280
Has more questions, but the whole request here and the hopes to bring it forward today was

834
01:01:38,280 --> 01:01:43,600
it would require enabling legislation and support of our legislative team and honestly

835
01:01:43,600 --> 01:01:47,880
I'm not full and it'll be a bit of a battle to get it past some of the folks that may

836
01:01:47,880 --> 01:01:53,460
be, uh, staunchly against anything that affects real estate sales, uh, real after just

837
01:01:53,460 --> 01:01:57,380
convince them to show them the facts and maybe assure them that this will be an investment

838
01:01:57,380 --> 01:02:00,880
in property values, but I'd apologize for taking too much time.

839
01:02:02,480 --> 01:02:02,960
Thank you Chief.

840
01:02:03,220 --> 01:02:04,020
Maybe just a quick follow.

841
01:02:04,620 --> 01:02:08,960
I believe Senator Orger, I think I signed on to it on Tuesday or Thursday.

842
01:02:09,660 --> 01:02:17,180
She has legislation that would enable all cities and towns to create a, conveyance fee,

843
01:02:17,180 --> 01:02:22,780
convenience tax. No, the specifics of it. So, should be something you might want to look at, to see how does it

844
01:02:22,780 --> 01:02:27,080
part of it, to what you're looking at. So, great. Thank you, Tom. Thanks for this opportunity.

845
01:02:27,880 --> 01:02:31,740
Just to just to clarify, I don't think that was my legislation, but there are, I know that there are.

846
01:02:31,740 --> 01:02:35,200
Senator Gooh. Senator Gooh. Yeah, I think that was Senator Gooh's legislation.

847
01:02:35,300 --> 01:02:40,240
I'm sitting next to Senator Gooh, you're today, but I sit next to Senator Gooh in the Senate on the other side.

848
01:02:40,240 --> 01:02:46,320
So. Yes. Sorry, but. Thanks. Thanks.

849
01:02:47,500 --> 01:02:48,060
All right.

850
01:02:50,140 --> 01:02:53,620
We're going to move over to us community health.

851
01:02:54,840 --> 01:02:57,300
And I'll, we're going to start off.

852
01:02:57,400 --> 01:03:01,240
I want to give Lauren Carson opportunity to talk about the,

853
01:03:02,080 --> 01:03:04,900
the birthing center in the bill that you have introduced.

854
01:03:05,740 --> 01:03:08,360
Yesterday was maternal health day in the state of Rhode Island.

855
01:03:08,360 --> 01:03:13,480
And so I put in a resolution yesterday, and that's why I introduced my two bills just today.

856
01:03:13,940 --> 01:03:19,220
For folks that don't know, there is a growing organizing effort in the community.

857
01:03:19,900 --> 01:03:21,820
Actually, the chief is very involved in that.

858
01:03:21,820 --> 01:03:23,000
I'm grateful to him.

859
01:03:23,440 --> 01:03:26,780
And Senator Palma is very engaged in it, and we're meeting every Monday night.

860
01:03:27,120 --> 01:03:28,900
And we're trying to, and Steph and Zai.

861
01:03:29,400 --> 01:03:36,660
And we're trying to figure out how to harness the energy, the emotions, the political practicality,

862
01:03:36,660 --> 01:03:39,180
and the challenges in keeping the birthing center open.

863
01:03:40,540 --> 01:03:46,380
So I think that when I researched with, we have a small steering committee that meets every

864
01:03:46,380 --> 01:03:51,520
Monday night and we researched what Brown would have to do if they actually wanted to close

865
01:03:51,520 --> 01:03:59,080
the birthing center and there is statute for when a health institution closes a portion

866
01:03:59,080 --> 01:04:06,160
of their health service programs and what I put in this week was, way the statute currently

867
01:04:06,160 --> 01:04:09,260
reads, much of that work is done in the regulatory process.

868
01:04:09,480 --> 01:04:12,960
It's like, OK, if you're going to close A, B, and C, you got to do A, B, and C, but go over

869
01:04:12,960 --> 01:04:14,780
to health and make it happen over there.

870
01:04:14,860 --> 01:04:17,200
I mean, that's this sort of an abbreviated version of that.

871
01:04:17,460 --> 01:04:22,140
So what I did was I put in a bill that would put in statute that if you want to close a

872
01:04:22,140 --> 01:04:25,760
birthing center, you got to do a whole lot of things, including, as I say, bring them

873
01:04:25,760 --> 01:04:26,300
on this passport.

874
01:04:26,560 --> 01:04:30,580
I mean, they really have to look at five years of independent, audited financial data.

875
01:04:30,720 --> 01:04:31,860
They have to get equity questions.

876
01:04:32,000 --> 01:04:32,940
You have to look at Medicaid.

877
01:04:32,940 --> 01:04:38,080
you have to look at the capacity for other hospitals to absorb this transportation that would

878
01:04:38,080 --> 01:04:43,420
all be public. One of my concerns has been that this process with Brown has not been very

879
01:04:43,420 --> 01:04:50,860
public. After we went through the last summers fiasco with them, they kind of went dark. We do

880
01:04:50,860 --> 01:04:59,680
have the community advisory panel. They met once. They will meet four times between November and April

881
01:05:00,240 --> 01:05:05,680
24th. I know that is my son's birthday. The second meeting I believe is this week coming.

882
01:05:06,200 --> 01:05:12,420
As you will know, those folks signed confidentiality agreements. So there's limited information that we're getting out of those meetings.

883
01:05:13,260 --> 01:05:20,160
The cap has a variety of people on it. Community members as well as health professionals and health administrators. That's all been made public.

884
01:05:21,040 --> 01:05:27,380
My sense of it is that this is going to come to a little bit of a head or it's going to get louder

885
01:05:27,380 --> 01:05:34,500
and more vocal somewhere between about March 15th and May when they finish their work, when the

886
01:05:34,500 --> 01:05:41,620
legislation is heard, when the community rises up, letters and meetings, you know, we don't have

887
01:05:41,620 --> 01:05:47,060
all of the strategy mapped out now, but there's the potential to meet with the president again.

888
01:05:47,060 --> 01:05:52,320
I know that members of the City Council have done that, meet with Brown again, those ideas

889
01:05:52,320 --> 01:05:53,700
are still kind of information.

890
01:05:54,160 --> 01:05:59,000
But I think the most important thing right now is to build on this community momentum.

891
01:05:59,500 --> 01:06:03,240
We've been able to bring in a wide variety of organizations that care about this.

892
01:06:03,440 --> 01:06:06,100
Thanks to Harp, we got the Hibernian Women.

893
01:06:06,160 --> 01:06:07,220
We have the NAACP.

894
01:06:07,880 --> 01:06:09,040
We have the League of Women voters.

895
01:06:09,120 --> 01:06:10,460
We have the SCIU.

896
01:06:10,780 --> 01:06:12,200
We have the AFLCIO.

897
01:06:12,260 --> 01:06:13,320
We have Planned Parenthood.

898
01:06:13,540 --> 01:06:16,160
These are all folks that are watching this.

899
01:06:16,160 --> 01:06:21,660
We're going to start a bi-weekly newsletter, which is starting about two weeks, which will be very abbreviated.

900
01:06:21,860 --> 01:06:25,440
You all will be on it, it'll just be this is what's happening. It's not going to clog your inbox.

901
01:06:26,360 --> 01:06:31,160
So, there's a lot going on here, I think, and there's a lot of enthusiasm.

902
01:06:32,400 --> 01:06:36,260
Newport partnership for families has stepped up. They're putting resources into this.

903
01:06:36,620 --> 01:06:41,200
They're going to work with the has to engage the north end, which I think is a critical part of this conversation.

904
01:06:41,900 --> 01:06:59,040
And I'm leaving that to the director over there, the two organizations that sort of their job and they're going to figure out, you know, because it's going to be practically impossible for women in the north end who are pregnant with a small child who start bleeding to get over to another hospital.

905
01:06:59,280 --> 01:07:01,240
That's just, there's going to be fatalities here.

906
01:07:01,240 --> 01:07:02,000
It's not going to work.

907
01:07:02,700 --> 01:07:04,900
So anyway, we haven't forgotten that population.

908
01:07:05,100 --> 01:07:07,780
I think it's really very important part of this effort.

909
01:07:08,360 --> 01:07:09,800
So it's moving quickly.

910
01:07:11,840 --> 01:07:14,460
And I'm very committed to it.

911
01:07:14,920 --> 01:07:18,100
I don't really know if we'll win this.

912
01:07:19,320 --> 01:07:22,440
I think that we have some inside tracks

913
01:07:22,440 --> 01:07:23,680
which stay at the hospital.

914
01:07:24,940 --> 01:07:28,680
I think that some weeks it's like,

915
01:07:28,780 --> 01:07:30,280
oh my goodness, they don't wanna shut it

916
01:07:30,280 --> 01:07:31,540
and some weeks we're not sure.

917
01:07:32,100 --> 01:07:35,080
So I'm not real sure what's gonna happen here.

918
01:07:35,820 --> 01:07:45,460
Um, Lauren, do they ever consider the impact of the physicians on the, you know, the OBGYNs

919
01:07:45,460 --> 01:07:46,140
on the island?

920
01:07:46,280 --> 01:07:47,440
I don't know if it's on or not.

921
01:07:48,140 --> 01:07:54,460
Um, if they, um, do they, because what, would we lose those doctors because that is really

922
01:07:54,460 --> 01:07:54,860
important?

923
01:07:55,020 --> 01:07:57,620
I mean, considering you have monthly visits at least.

924
01:07:58,340 --> 01:08:01,720
You'd have to go and you'd have to get to Providence for those monthly visits or wherever

925
01:08:01,720 --> 01:08:02,160
you go.

926
01:08:02,160 --> 01:08:08,700
The other issue is you may see that South County has opened up an office across the street from the hospital.

927
01:08:09,240 --> 01:08:18,100
I mean, clearly, business-wise, they see an opportunity to recruit patients to come from the Queen of Ireland to go over to South County Hospital,

928
01:08:18,300 --> 01:08:19,920
which is not good for our efforts.

929
01:08:21,560 --> 01:08:24,440
And they've bought full-page ads in what's up, nope.

930
01:08:25,900 --> 01:08:28,580
They have their own problems in South County Hospital.

931
01:08:29,820 --> 01:08:33,600
So there's a lot of moving parts to this thing, Lou, I don't know if you want to add things.

932
01:08:33,720 --> 01:08:35,580
I know that you have a lot to say on this also.

933
01:08:37,000 --> 01:08:38,820
The other data point, one spot on that.

934
01:08:38,820 --> 01:08:46,580
I've had conversations and continue as I had since the, this manifested itself last year with the,

935
01:08:47,760 --> 01:08:52,800
President CEO of Brown University Health and others at Health, Brown Health, just to impress upon him,

936
01:08:52,900 --> 01:08:56,880
fund him and then the importance of keeping the birthday center.

937
01:08:56,880 --> 01:09:03,680
They're listening, they're hearing, we're still awaiting, as Lauren said, what happens to your sooner than later?

938
01:09:03,760 --> 01:09:10,860
I think something's going to happen sooner rather than later, but I'm not aware of, I didn't sign an NDA.

939
01:09:11,260 --> 01:09:20,020
So I don't have any access to any data, but one light, but I'd like to believe that they're listening and hearing the importance of this, and I'll just make the right decision.

940
01:09:20,840 --> 01:09:27,440
Last thing, the Brown Budget starts October 1st, so they'll probably move into their budget

941
01:09:27,440 --> 01:09:32,500
cycle, probably March or April, so that's just a date to keep in mind.

942
01:09:34,720 --> 01:09:39,300
I just want to start by thanking a specifically representative Carson, Anacena de Pama,

943
01:09:39,880 --> 01:09:43,940
for all of the work that you've been putting in on this issue, well supported by Senator

944
01:09:43,940 --> 01:09:50,220
and Chairman Abni. What's very helpful to us right now is anything we can do to stress

945
01:09:50,220 --> 01:09:55,580
to brown health that the birthing center is not a service line to be looked at from a

946
01:09:55,580 --> 01:10:01,520
profit and loss perspective, but a foundational program. Newport hospital without the birthing

947
01:10:01,520 --> 01:10:04,900
center would be like dunked donuts without donuts, it would be like Amazon without books.

948
01:10:05,540 --> 01:10:11,040
We understand the profit and loss aspect of this, but this is a core part of why these

949
01:10:11,040 --> 01:10:16,840
community institutions enjoy things like tax exemption enjoy things like the partnership that they have with their public safety department.

950
01:10:17,900 --> 01:10:24,820
And we will be supportive of the legislation or at least we'll be asking the council to that you're putting in representative Carson.

951
01:10:25,220 --> 01:10:31,000
And if there's anything else that we can be doing at the state house more broadly speaking, the provision of primary care.

952
01:10:31,660 --> 01:10:38,800
I can't speak for the entire council, but I know in like conversations with my colleagues, this is something we as a body or very passionate about deeply.

953
01:10:39,300 --> 01:10:42,600
And we appreciate the opportunity to support the good work that you're doing at the State House office.

954
01:10:42,660 --> 01:10:43,200
Well, two comments.

955
01:10:43,360 --> 01:10:49,440
I think that the legislation will sort of force an open dialogue on this at the State House,

956
01:10:49,460 --> 01:10:51,840
because we're sitting here saying what is Brown doing.

957
01:10:52,940 --> 01:10:54,600
I did put in a second bill.

958
01:10:55,820 --> 01:11:00,800
And the right, the Department of Health received a five year grant from the federal government from

959
01:11:00,800 --> 01:11:07,420
and infant health care, and they're in the third year of that, and that's a program that's very

960
01:11:07,420 --> 01:11:12,000
interesting, looking at how effective is our maternal and infant health care in the state,

961
01:11:13,160 --> 01:11:18,260
how are low-income people service, what kind of training goes into the folks that work in

962
01:11:18,260 --> 01:11:23,080
birthing centers and pediatricians, and so I've put in a bill to make that permanent that we constantly

963
01:11:23,080 --> 01:11:28,220
monitor infant health care. So it's just another bill to start attack on, to have a second hearing

964
01:11:28,220 --> 01:11:31,140
on to really raise the issue of maternal health and infant health.

965
01:11:31,500 --> 01:11:33,040
So the two went in together this week.

966
01:11:33,200 --> 01:11:33,360
So what?

967
01:11:34,020 --> 01:11:37,100
Lauren, would it help if Council put forth a resolution

968
01:11:37,100 --> 01:11:39,680
and support of the bills that you're, okay?

969
01:11:40,600 --> 01:11:44,100
And then the other question that I have that is coming up in

970
01:11:44,100 --> 01:11:49,280
conversations with Brown Health is the reimbursement rates

971
01:11:49,280 --> 01:11:52,580
and how that's impacting losing certain programs.

972
01:11:53,780 --> 01:11:55,440
How does that play into things?

973
01:11:55,440 --> 01:11:57,100
Is that being worked on?

974
01:11:58,680 --> 01:12:01,600
Wait, like I said, there's a lot of moving parts to this thing.

975
01:12:01,840 --> 01:12:03,600
There's the emotionality on the ground.

976
01:12:03,740 --> 01:12:05,580
There's the historical commitment to the hospital.

977
01:12:06,300 --> 01:12:09,500
There's brown health and whatever they're doing and how they're making investments.

978
01:12:10,020 --> 01:12:12,480
There's the politics of legislative oversight.

979
01:12:12,700 --> 01:12:16,300
There's the big backdrop of Medicaid money that he spoke of.

980
01:12:16,440 --> 01:12:17,980
There's going to be their request for money.

981
01:12:18,320 --> 01:12:22,600
Like I said, it's going to really heat up, I would think, maybe Senator DePom, I can agree

982
01:12:22,600 --> 01:12:25,440
between after March 15th and to like the end of April.

983
01:12:25,440 --> 01:12:28,500
that's going to be the time that I think we really have to watch.

984
01:12:28,620 --> 01:12:30,780
I don't know what you think about that, Lou, we're doing.

985
01:12:31,560 --> 01:12:37,480
Yeah, your comment is actually exactly where I was, where I was going to comment because

986
01:12:37,480 --> 01:12:41,320
I think that this issue around the Burthing Center.

987
01:12:41,740 --> 01:12:46,720
And again, Kudos to Rup Carson for really helping elevate and use all of her experience

988
01:12:46,720 --> 01:12:48,820
to help drive this conversation.

989
01:12:50,000 --> 01:12:53,500
But this is Canary in the coal mine on healthcare issues.

990
01:12:53,500 --> 01:13:00,300
And, you know, I had been hearing rumblings since I've been in office about the efforts and

991
01:13:00,300 --> 01:13:03,920
desire to consolidate services, move certain services off the island.

992
01:13:04,920 --> 01:13:12,360
And, you know, like, size, you know, analogy, Newport Hospital was always looked at as a community

993
01:13:12,360 --> 01:13:13,120
health center.

994
01:13:13,180 --> 01:13:15,080
It wasn't looked at as a hospital.

995
01:13:15,720 --> 01:13:22,160
And that, you know, that has been the way that that facility has been approached and considered.

996
01:13:22,860 --> 01:13:28,660
Unfortunately, with the monopoly that exists in the healthcare industry, what they're looking

997
01:13:28,660 --> 01:13:34,400
at on their end and similar to Senator DePama, I have not signed an NDA and I have not looked

998
01:13:34,400 --> 01:13:38,680
at services, but I know how businesses work, right, and they look internally at efficiencies.

999
01:13:39,160 --> 01:13:42,860
And one of the things that's a handicap for us here in Rhode Island is so many of these things

1000
01:13:42,860 --> 01:13:44,440
are based off of federal standards.

1001
01:13:44,980 --> 01:13:50,440
So when you're looking at services and needs of services, the fact that Rhode Islanders are

1002
01:13:50,440 --> 01:13:55,900
to crossing a bridge and with good reason because we want the services in our community, but then

1003
01:13:55,900 --> 01:14:02,300
you have federal regulations and guidance that's developed around states that you do drive

1004
01:14:02,300 --> 01:14:08,420
30, 45 minutes for a doctor's appointment. I mean my parents live in Wisconsin and my mom goes

1005
01:14:08,420 --> 01:14:13,280
to her cardiac care appointment 45 minutes away from her house. And so that's a standard around

1006
01:14:13,280 --> 01:14:18,540
the country, but the reality is that doesn't work in Rhode Island and we all know that. But this

1007
01:14:18,540 --> 01:14:26,240
is a canary in the coal mine issue and it has to do with the consolidation of services that they're all looking at the reimbursement rates.

1008
01:14:26,680 --> 01:14:34,580
One of the things that I've been vocal about in the assembly is that that reimbursement rate process that we do in Rhode Island

1009
01:14:34,580 --> 01:14:43,060
we're allergic to administrative law. And so we do not empower agencies to do things on a regular basis.

1010
01:14:43,060 --> 01:14:48,460
Part of the reason we're behind on the reimbursement rates is because we have to pass the legislation

1011
01:14:48,460 --> 01:14:56,220
Every time we want to change the reimbursement rates, and that's not easy even the easiest thing that you would think everyone would agree on

1012
01:14:56,720 --> 01:14:59,980
takes years to get across the finish line, and so you know

1013
01:15:00,000 --> 01:15:14,260
You know, to start doing a reimbursement rate assessment is like a two-year process. Meanwhile, our neighboring states do that by virtue of the administrative bodies that control those control and set those reimbursement rates.

1014
01:15:14,260 --> 01:15:23,820
So, I believe that I would, I would like our administrative agencies to be able to do those studies and do those reimbursement rate settings.

1015
01:15:24,420 --> 01:15:26,360
Of course, that has a state budget impact.

1016
01:15:26,620 --> 01:15:34,380
And so my colleagues in the assembly may not agree with me on empowering the executive branch administration in that way.

1017
01:15:34,400 --> 01:15:39,620
But that's part of the reason, the entire structure of how we set those reimbursement rates.

1018
01:15:39,620 --> 01:15:45,140
In my opinion, is inherently flawed and puts us behind our neighboring states on a regular basis.

1019
01:15:46,100 --> 01:15:55,780
So we've, we've, we've, we have been, though that being said, we have had a plan and there's kind of an ongoing rolling plan of addressing those reimbursement rates, a slew of which we did last year.

1020
01:15:55,820 --> 01:15:59,800
I'm sure another set will be up for discussion this year.

1021
01:16:00,200 --> 01:16:08,700
But again, this is a canary and a coal mine issue, and I think we all need to be concerned about the whole scope of community services offered at Newport Hospital

1022
01:16:08,700 --> 01:16:11,660
and making sure that we're pressuring Brown Health

1023
01:16:11,660 --> 01:16:13,380
to preserve those services on island.

1024
01:16:13,800 --> 01:16:15,300
Yes, so I'm sorry.

1025
01:16:15,960 --> 01:16:17,660
Those reimbursement rates issue.

1026
01:16:17,800 --> 01:16:20,800
That is that is going to continue to cripple us in many ways,

1027
01:16:20,960 --> 01:16:24,140
especially because our neighboring states are doing it

1028
01:16:24,140 --> 01:16:25,080
vastly differently.

1029
01:16:28,260 --> 01:16:31,660
And there's a quinnick island because we are on an island.

1030
01:16:31,720 --> 01:16:35,100
Does that make us a little bit more unique than say other states

1031
01:16:35,100 --> 01:16:37,400
at the national level?

1032
01:16:40,220 --> 01:16:44,700
And fortunately, in that really with how the rules are laid out.

1033
01:16:45,780 --> 01:16:46,400
Thank you.

1034
01:16:46,480 --> 01:16:50,320
If we just talked about piggybacking out with Senator Oyer said on the fine and seek side of things,

1035
01:16:51,560 --> 01:16:53,540
we got to where we did, where we had we.

1036
01:16:53,800 --> 01:16:56,680
Down in the University of Health got to where they did, and I think they made this public.

1037
01:16:56,700 --> 01:16:57,700
I know I have it somewhere.

1038
01:16:58,900 --> 01:17:06,220
The New CEO came in, and they looked at their closet expenses, their budgets, that they've had over the last decade.

1039
01:17:06,220 --> 01:17:12,640
it wasn't just one year and no one can operate that way. Nobody. But guess what? They did.

1040
01:17:14,590 --> 01:17:19,310
Somebody comes in now and says, we need to do something about this. No, we don't like the

1041
01:17:19,310 --> 01:17:25,020
it. What what they came up with doesn't operate. As a way we'll save not a lot of millions of dollars

1042
01:17:25,610 --> 01:17:30,890
but every piece adds up to how do I close that gap and said it's because it's the dollars and

1043
01:17:30,890 --> 01:17:36,270
cents issue period. The dollars and cents issue. Why is it a dollars and cents issue? But that's

1044
01:17:36,270 --> 01:17:42,850
root cause at the very bottom. In Rhode Island, our, go back to reimbursement rates. I don't

1045
01:17:42,850 --> 01:17:45,010
want to go through a long, funny out of, I was going to make sure we all understand

1046
01:17:45,010 --> 01:17:49,070
that appreciate it, but as you said, counselor with regards to reimbursement rates and

1047
01:17:49,070 --> 01:17:55,670
Senator Royer, there's really three set of payers. There may be four. The fourth one is very

1048
01:17:55,670 --> 01:18:01,870
small. There's Medicaid, right? And get the report every month we have over, about a third of

1049
01:18:01,870 --> 01:18:09,110
when there's one Medicaid, a third, over 300,000 people run Medicaid, 300,000, then we have

1050
01:18:09,110 --> 01:18:14,310
the Medicare, and then we have private pay, private insurance, and we may have some people that

1051
01:18:14,310 --> 01:18:18,370
aren't, they just pay the wrong, they don't have insurance. I like to think that's very small,

1052
01:18:18,710 --> 01:18:22,860
but there's a portion of folks that don't want it to. Whatever they say, I'll just pay it on my own,

1053
01:18:24,010 --> 01:18:30,590
comparison with Massachusetts, because we've never, ever, ever had a informal regular rate review

1054
01:18:30,590 --> 01:18:36,030
want our rates on Medicaid period until two years ago on the health and service side and

1055
01:18:36,030 --> 01:18:37,230
we've purposely broke them up.

1056
01:18:37,450 --> 01:18:40,810
We purposely did, because we tried to do it all at once, it'd be spreading the pain

1057
01:18:40,810 --> 01:18:43,270
of butter for a little bit for everybody and we wouldn't have got there.

1058
01:18:43,530 --> 01:18:46,190
I think we addressed the health and services in fact in the governor's budget.

1059
01:18:46,950 --> 01:18:48,510
I think we're going to do more than what he's recommended.

1060
01:18:48,710 --> 01:18:49,590
He's recommended the rates.

1061
01:18:49,730 --> 01:18:53,230
We do have to share and have the next year it's like, no, we need to do this and do it

1062
01:18:53,230 --> 01:18:53,410
right.

1063
01:18:53,590 --> 01:18:55,650
So we addressed the health and services side.

1064
01:18:56,210 --> 01:18:57,290
Health care we did not.

1065
01:18:57,910 --> 01:19:06,150
That's what we did last year. And we plugged the dice a little bit with regards to, we had a assessment fee that we all pay.

1066
01:19:06,310 --> 01:19:12,250
And our insurance, it's going through Medicaid reimburse, approval now, $4 per month, every person who has insurance.

1067
01:19:13,110 --> 01:19:15,450
That's helping us pay for some of the primary care stuff.

1068
01:19:15,750 --> 01:19:18,430
But the challenge becomes Massachusetts has done it.

1069
01:19:19,270 --> 01:19:21,470
Continually, as Senator Royer said, all the states do.

1070
01:19:21,930 --> 01:19:23,490
So Medicaid's higher there.

1071
01:19:23,490 --> 01:19:32,250
Medicare is a little higher there because it's region, and private pays a little less. So when Rhode Island, private insurance had to pick up the balance of some of this.

1072
01:19:33,130 --> 01:19:38,350
That complicates the situation. Why did Brown agree to buy steward health in mass?

1073
01:19:38,650 --> 01:19:39,930
And not, or anybody.

1074
01:19:40,550 --> 01:19:43,570
State of Fathom, unbogger Williams, and we can't let them call us. We can't.

1075
01:19:43,850 --> 01:19:47,990
The number of people that go there and the impact on the system would be catastrophic. Why did they do that?

1076
01:19:48,150 --> 01:19:51,970
The state puts them money in and all by the way, the reimbursement rates are there.

1077
01:19:51,970 --> 01:19:57,890
going back to the root cause of the issue, but I think it goes also the budgeting that was done

1078
01:19:57,890 --> 01:20:02,750
over the last 10 years that Brown University Health or Life span has come home to Roost,

1079
01:20:03,110 --> 01:20:07,510
but it's categorically a dollars and a sense issue. It shouldn't be, and we've got to make certain

1080
01:20:08,150 --> 01:20:12,190
that this pressing center remains open, period, and move it forward. But it goes back to

1081
01:20:12,190 --> 01:20:16,310
person or bates. Thank you. Do you? I'm sorry. Good. Sorry.

1082
01:20:18,330 --> 01:20:20,270
For a representative of course, I'm just a real quick question.

1083
01:20:21,990 --> 01:20:29,610
You talked a little bit about the guard rails in your bills that you put in prior to any facility being able to close.

1084
01:20:30,430 --> 01:20:34,670
Is one of those guard rails in equity study? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Absolutely.

1085
01:20:35,730 --> 01:20:42,170
I'm just curious, you know, we know about declining enrollment in the school, so there's declining birth rate as well.

1086
01:20:42,170 --> 01:20:48,270
But we're going to be having no workers come and I think we're having more Navy personnel come.

1087
01:20:48,550 --> 01:20:53,410
Do you think that that could have an impact on their decision to keep the birthing center open?

1088
01:20:53,970 --> 01:21:00,070
So the letter I've written to them incorporated by 1800 folks coming between Noah and the Coast Guard.

1089
01:21:00,330 --> 01:21:06,550
There's also a can't find an hour why have I said to give it to the John Fernandez when I met with him personally as well as Dr. Teddy.

1090
01:21:06,550 --> 01:21:13,610
The agreement center to read when he was chair, so I should be able to find it if I can't, when he was chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

1091
01:21:15,310 --> 01:21:18,430
And it's not the whole NDA, not the whole National Defense Authorization Act.

1092
01:21:18,650 --> 01:21:22,290
But there was a piece in there that talked about partnerships between the military activities.

1093
01:21:22,750 --> 01:21:32,670
And a categorically says in there, in the block, naval facilities in Newport would be arrived with Newport Hospital.

1094
01:21:32,670 --> 01:21:36,390
then say specifically the birthday, as you said, you're going to be connected because

1095
01:21:36,390 --> 01:21:37,370
the Naval Hospital is not there.

1096
01:21:37,370 --> 01:21:41,090
It wasn't very, very longer as well as the new one did.

1097
01:21:41,390 --> 01:21:45,830
You're going to help facilitate some of that.

1098
01:21:46,230 --> 01:21:48,610
So those pieces are a part of it.

1099
01:21:48,690 --> 01:21:49,290
Well, okay.

1100
01:21:49,450 --> 01:21:50,630
We have our eye on that.

1101
01:21:50,630 --> 01:21:52,630
You know, the steering committee that's doing this.

1102
01:21:52,850 --> 01:21:57,210
And we've got a little pieces from low and a little piece from someone else.

1103
01:21:57,930 --> 01:22:00,370
So we, and then someone knows a doctor over there.

1104
01:22:00,370 --> 01:22:05,050
I, as I'm sitting here, I'm remembering that, you know, I'm going to make some calls over there.

1105
01:22:05,550 --> 01:22:12,750
We haven't really coherently pieced together the message about what the exact relationship is between the Navy and the hospital and the impact.

1106
01:22:13,130 --> 01:22:15,530
But you know, it is another variable in here.

1107
01:22:15,730 --> 01:22:16,090
It's really right.

1108
01:22:16,090 --> 01:22:22,270
The other thing I think is important is just our level of poverty and subsidized housing.

1109
01:22:23,090 --> 01:22:25,390
We have people who don't have transportation.

1110
01:22:25,390 --> 01:22:31,130
we have. So I think that all of that needs to be looked at as well. Thank you.

1111
01:22:31,670 --> 01:22:34,740
Thank you. Don't say it.

1112
01:22:34,880 --> 01:22:40,900
You know, I had a question. I didn't. Like, I, if we're moving on from the first, no, what

1113
01:22:40,900 --> 01:22:45,540
I'll be like? Okay, I just really think it's important to talk a little bit about housing

1114
01:22:46,840 --> 01:22:53,000
considering what council assembly was just saying. So I'm just wondering if what the state is doing

1115
01:22:53,000 --> 01:22:58,120
the session to increase affordable housing and help cities prevent displacement.

1116
01:22:58,640 --> 01:23:06,340
And then the second part of that is, is there any progress being made on eviction prevention

1117
01:23:07,000 --> 01:23:13,540
and right to council when it comes to our residents who might be struggling and need support?

1118
01:23:15,540 --> 01:23:18,640
There's been legislation introduced in that.

1119
01:23:19,180 --> 01:23:22,420
I know that that has been reintroduced in the Senate.

1120
01:23:23,560 --> 01:23:25,900
I believe companion bills in the House.

1121
01:23:26,280 --> 01:23:30,040
I think there's questions about the funding source for that.

1122
01:23:30,500 --> 01:23:32,120
And then I also think.

1123
01:23:32,580 --> 01:23:36,960
I think there's been some, yeah, just some questions about that.

1124
01:23:37,240 --> 01:23:39,140
And push back quite frankly from the landlords.

1125
01:23:39,860 --> 01:23:40,340
Yes.

1126
01:23:40,720 --> 01:23:44,420
Is there anything that we can do on our side to help?

1127
01:23:44,920 --> 01:23:45,140
Yeah.

1128
01:23:45,240 --> 01:23:50,220
I think anytime there's bills or issues that you support having a supportive resolution

1129
01:23:50,220 --> 01:23:57,320
come from the council is, you know, that's very helpful as well as, you know, having folks reach

1130
01:23:57,320 --> 01:24:03,180
out to us and let us know that you're supportive as well as having, you know, it's hard to

1131
01:24:03,180 --> 01:24:06,760
track up to the state house, but obviously that's always ideal to, is to come and provide

1132
01:24:06,760 --> 01:24:07,200
testimony.

1133
01:24:07,200 --> 01:24:11,440
And even if you can't come up, providing written testimony is always helpful too.

1134
01:24:11,820 --> 01:24:17,200
Oftentimes on issues like this, on many bills, we have thousands of bills every year,

1135
01:24:17,280 --> 01:24:21,160
and some of them are really good issues that nobody weighs in on.

1136
01:24:22,020 --> 01:24:26,740
We all get the emails too, so even if you can't make it up there, sending a quick note,

1137
01:24:26,760 --> 01:24:27,740
it doesn't have to be long.

1138
01:24:28,280 --> 01:24:28,800
Thank you.

1139
01:24:29,100 --> 01:24:29,760
Mr. Chair.

1140
01:24:30,600 --> 01:24:32,120
I have a couple of housing.

1141
01:24:32,420 --> 01:24:33,020
Are we on the house?

1142
01:24:34,780 --> 01:24:42,760
With the rising cost and energy rate, is there anything that is being done to bring more forms of energy to the island?

1143
01:24:44,200 --> 01:24:44,740
More options?

1144
01:24:47,570 --> 01:24:48,530
More options?

1145
01:24:49,270 --> 01:24:53,030
Are you guys voting on the gas moratorium or did you vote on it?

1146
01:24:54,880 --> 01:25:02,980
I mean, there's, there's a, there's a, I have many issues with the governor's budget and his,

1147
01:25:03,100 --> 01:25:10,960
his, that elements that he's trying to do around energy are actually going to throttle the ability

1148
01:25:10,960 --> 01:25:17,060
for us to get additional energy sources. He, he talked about it in his budget address. He talked

1149
01:25:17,700 --> 01:25:24,640
about wanting to create a clean energy economy, but at the same time, his budget completely guts

1150
01:25:24,640 --> 01:25:29,360
the Renewable Energy Standard, which is the thing that creates the Renewable Energy Market.

1151
01:25:30,440 --> 01:25:35,240
And actually I was talking to Senator Palmo about this before we started, which is that

1152
01:25:35,240 --> 01:25:36,120
Renewables are cheaper.

1153
01:25:36,360 --> 01:25:43,860
So if we want cost-effective and reliable, we need a diversity of energy sources in the grid.

1154
01:25:44,780 --> 01:25:52,700
And so that being said, I actually have legislation to try to address the cost issue and

1155
01:25:52,700 --> 01:26:00,680
the legislation that I have is essentially to give the utility a budget and they have to do a

1156
01:26:01,540 --> 01:26:07,240
basically they have to do their capital plan, it's their infrastructure, their infrastructure,

1157
01:26:07,600 --> 01:26:17,080
docket every every couple of years, because of the aging infrastructure that infrastructure maintenance

1158
01:26:17,080 --> 01:26:25,120
has skyrocketed and so but I put a bill in basically to give them a budget cap on what that is

1159
01:26:25,120 --> 01:26:30,200
and the analogy that I use as I say if you told the construction company is guess what we have

1160
01:26:30,200 --> 01:26:36,560
the worst roads and bridges in the world and we want them to be improved like oh they'll fix them

1161
01:26:36,560 --> 01:26:43,640
they'll fix them and we want people to look for that bill right now the utility doesn't necessarily

1162
01:26:43,640 --> 01:26:49,040
have a cap on what their proposal is that they put in front of the Public Utilities Commission

1163
01:26:49,040 --> 01:26:57,740
for that infrastructure dot-it. They basically just have to justify it and then it's up to the

1164
01:26:57,740 --> 01:27:03,080
PUC, the kind of reverse engineer and like poke holes in it. But what my bill does is essentially

1165
01:27:03,080 --> 01:27:10,230
say, no, no, no, you can only increase your budget by a certain percentage every time you

1166
01:27:10,230 --> 01:27:19,830
to introduce this bill, because what that does is it puts the owners back on the utility to really be smart and strategic about what infrastructure investments they're making.

1167
01:27:20,230 --> 01:27:28,630
What are those critical upgrades that need to happen and what modernization features need to go in that to meet other policy goals.

1168
01:27:28,910 --> 01:27:33,530
So that's one of the things that I think will help address that issue.

1169
01:27:33,530 --> 01:27:45,930
And also I think continuing to push to make sure that the renewable energy projects aren't stopped in their tracks every other week by federal administration.

1170
01:27:47,350 --> 01:27:47,850
Yeah.

1171
01:27:47,850 --> 01:27:54,050
I'm glad you brought up energy because there are a lot of different moving parts in the budget on energy policy.

1172
01:27:54,570 --> 01:28:01,250
We all know that, you know, energy is expensive and it's a priority for our constituents.

1173
01:28:02,230 --> 01:28:09,470
I know for in the house there's a group of us trying to like figure out the total impact of this piece that the governor's recommended in that piece.

1174
01:28:09,610 --> 01:28:13,110
I think we're going to hear a whole lot about it. I think that Senator Oyer is right.

1175
01:28:14,270 --> 01:28:19,090
I think that we're going to hear a lot more about energy, energy policies over the next few months.

1176
01:28:19,090 --> 01:28:39,490
And it's a matter of really, for me, and my colleagues in the House, it's a matter of dig it in and trying to like create a grid of how which I use kind of a curious word to use, but a grid of how all these programs in the governor's budget work and what the impact is going to be and then how we address that as to two chambers.

1177
01:28:41,190 --> 01:28:42,150
Thank you.

1178
01:28:43,590 --> 01:28:51,290
All right, I'll turn it over to some North End District Report.

1179
01:28:51,770 --> 01:28:55,890
A couple of things. One is the transportation issues we're having.

1180
01:29:04,310 --> 01:29:09,470
First I have to thank you for passing so quickly. This is going okay.

1181
01:29:10,590 --> 01:29:18,010
The cell phone legislation last year. I was so happy that you were able to get it through

1182
01:29:18,010 --> 01:29:23,890
one session. That was wonderful. And it's made a huge impact at our schools in our schools.

1183
01:29:25,290 --> 01:29:30,730
We need to broaden the conversation about mental health with our K-12 population, not just here

1184
01:29:30,730 --> 01:29:34,310
in Newport, but throughout the state. There's so many issues that are happening.

1185
01:29:34,850 --> 01:29:40,750
I can speak to as happening in Newport. We've all heard about the violence that we had last fall.

1186
01:29:41,130 --> 01:29:47,350
That's just a little piece of the underlying culture climate issues that student mental health

1187
01:29:47,350 --> 01:29:55,430
is being affected in their acting out in that way. Our attendance has a lot to do with student engagement,

1188
01:29:56,210 --> 01:29:58,950
and that is also connected to mental health.

1189
01:30:01,070 --> 01:30:16,950
So, I guess my ask is what's going on at the State House to address funding and a broader conversation about K-12 mental health and kids don't vote.

1190
01:30:17,990 --> 01:30:29,110
So, oftentimes that their voices are heard. So, I'm speaking for the children that we lost in 14 months to suicide to very young teenagers.

1191
01:30:29,110 --> 01:30:34,250
I'm speaking to the children who are just disengaged from their learning.

1192
01:30:34,450 --> 01:30:39,370
We have survey works, which is the ride, sort of, you know, survey appearance and students

1193
01:30:39,370 --> 01:30:39,910
and teachers.

1194
01:30:40,370 --> 01:30:45,090
And if you take the time to look through some of that data, you will see there's a tremendous

1195
01:30:45,090 --> 01:30:50,970
amount of disengagement and a tremendous amount of issues with culture climate that affect

1196
01:30:50,970 --> 01:30:51,430
learning.

1197
01:30:52,250 --> 01:30:56,930
So is there anything going on at the state level in this session about funding more funding

1198
01:30:56,930 --> 01:30:57,790
for mental health?

1199
01:30:59,170 --> 01:31:04,210
So I'll talk to what has been done and I expect what will continue to do there's a program

1200
01:31:04,210 --> 01:31:08,170
That's been very effective ninety percent effectiveness. I think in that neighborhood maybe ninety two

1201
01:31:09,050 --> 01:31:11,190
Specifically, it's MRSS mobile response

1202
01:31:12,450 --> 01:31:15,170
Stabilization services. I think I got that right or stabilization supports

1203
01:31:16,010 --> 01:31:23,670
About five million dollars. We've put into that several years ago. We now need to figure out how to ensure we have a way that as well as something called

1204
01:31:23,670 --> 01:31:32,430
B. H. Link, they sort of somewhat go together, but the mobile response stable support services as a means for schools.

1205
01:31:32,870 --> 01:31:38,190
It's for children to call the various agencies that can do it and get there within the hour, not.

1206
01:31:38,630 --> 01:31:39,530
Lou has an issue.

1207
01:31:39,930 --> 01:31:42,010
We can see him in three days.

1208
01:31:42,550 --> 01:31:50,110
This is funding that will help the local district have more connectivity with the local agencies.

1209
01:31:50,110 --> 01:31:54,850
Because right now, I have found that that connectivity is severed.

1210
01:31:55,010 --> 01:31:59,390
I would ask about, ask the school system about how many times they have called or contacted

1211
01:31:59,390 --> 01:32:04,510
folks, which regards to the MRSS services and those are one of the areas as well.

1212
01:32:04,590 --> 01:32:08,910
Those are pretty much, like I said, evidence-based, so this facts data and context about

1213
01:32:08,910 --> 01:32:15,050
why they work, tides, family services, I think it's tides, family services, as well as

1214
01:32:15,050 --> 01:32:15,850
family service over there.

1215
01:32:15,850 --> 01:32:20,130
I want to bend the two that ran that pilot, and they are connected throughout the state.

1216
01:32:20,290 --> 01:32:23,510
I think the city of Newport, the school system of Newport, probably, has been involved

1217
01:32:23,510 --> 01:32:25,050
with them from what I know.

1218
01:32:25,130 --> 01:32:28,330
The other piece is the certified community behavioral health centers.

1219
01:32:28,830 --> 01:32:32,590
Chairman Ebene and I and others have been involved with that, put that in place, Chairman

1220
01:32:32,590 --> 01:32:33,490
about two or three years ago.

1221
01:32:33,970 --> 01:32:37,930
I think that, excuse me, I'm sorry, but I think that we have a lot of these agencies that

1222
01:32:37,930 --> 01:32:38,410
are out there.

1223
01:32:38,410 --> 01:32:39,490
I know that they're well funded.

1224
01:32:39,910 --> 01:32:43,650
My concern is the connectivity to the local, I think they're there.

1225
01:32:43,650 --> 01:32:50,670
the conversation that we have at a state level to engage our local LEA's more with these agencies

1226
01:32:50,670 --> 01:32:54,470
because often they're siloed. Lots of funding is put in them, but I don't see that they're

1227
01:32:54,470 --> 01:32:58,910
connecting to the... I think they are, but in the recent case of the CCBHC, there's eight of them.

1228
01:32:58,910 --> 01:33:03,110
Maybe a lot more help in this. There's eight of them in the state. Most closest one is the

1229
01:33:03,110 --> 01:33:09,130
New Park County Community Mental Health MRSS statewide. We'll take that back and maybe have the

1230
01:33:09,130 --> 01:33:15,170
conversation with those agencies to make sure that the cities and towns are, that's the issue. That's what I'm hoping for.

1231
01:33:15,350 --> 01:33:20,050
That's more just a broader conversation. We're all stakeholders in this. Our kids are suffering.

1232
01:33:21,090 --> 01:33:23,170
The other thing is to share about made while I'm here.

1233
01:33:24,390 --> 01:33:28,350
You're going to be talking about economic development on the agenda.

1234
01:33:28,990 --> 01:33:31,250
So, you can tell that comes up.

1235
01:33:32,110 --> 01:33:38,470
Okay, I just wanted to let everybody know and I would very much appreciate some helps in general assembly.

1236
01:33:41,390 --> 01:33:42,930
The Newport City Council.

1237
01:33:44,070 --> 01:33:51,250
Newport School Committee has voted unanimously to organize a workforce development advisory committee.

1238
01:33:52,030 --> 01:34:00,050
So that's excited because our kids need to start being prepared, our K12 students need to be prepared for jobs that are right here right now.

1239
01:34:00,050 --> 01:34:07,050
This Friday, our director of your tech at NAC, at Ron Beyond,

1240
01:34:07,270 --> 01:34:10,810
that on had a virtual call with people from electric boat.

1241
01:34:11,370 --> 01:34:14,850
Electric boat is desperate.

1242
01:34:15,090 --> 01:34:16,110
I don't know what the writer is.

1243
01:34:16,130 --> 01:34:19,890
They're just dying for more kids to apply for their

1244
01:34:19,890 --> 01:34:21,890
apprenticeship program.

1245
01:34:22,170 --> 01:34:24,930
We had a long lecture from a gentleman who's

1246
01:34:24,930 --> 01:34:28,890
worked at EB for a very long time at our last school committee meeting,

1247
01:34:28,890 --> 01:34:30,830
telling us, shame on us for not preparing

1248
01:34:30,830 --> 01:34:32,930
more kids for work at EV.

1249
01:34:33,890 --> 01:34:39,270
I guess, last year they had to recruit 700 of the state workers

1250
01:34:39,270 --> 01:34:40,830
and this year it will be a thousand.

1251
01:34:41,690 --> 01:34:43,410
So this is not just a new port issue.

1252
01:34:43,530 --> 01:34:44,490
It's a statewide issue.

1253
01:34:44,690 --> 01:34:47,190
We need to start talking earlier about

1254
01:34:47,190 --> 01:34:50,050
career tech opportunities and EVs

1255
01:34:50,050 --> 01:34:53,370
and no brainer because those contracts are for 30 years.

1256
01:34:53,530 --> 01:34:55,350
Those submarine contracts are for 30 years.

1257
01:34:55,870 --> 01:34:57,750
But we also have to start talking about

1258
01:34:57,750 --> 01:34:59,570
are we preparing kids for the jobs?

1259
01:34:59,750 --> 01:35:02,370
And I know side, we talked about this

1260
01:35:02,370 --> 01:35:04,210
at the Governor's Workforce meeting.

1261
01:35:05,230 --> 01:35:06,950
There are so many opportunities here in Rhode Island

1262
01:35:06,950 --> 01:35:10,510
in the Blue Economy, in healthcare, in cyber.

1263
01:35:11,050 --> 01:35:14,410
What are we doing as a state, as a state, general assembly,

1264
01:35:14,890 --> 01:35:16,410
to start broadening that conversation.

1265
01:35:16,750 --> 01:35:19,710
So it reaches into the LAs, to start talking about how we

1266
01:35:19,710 --> 01:35:23,650
can do more to prepare our kids, the saucekills,

1267
01:35:23,930 --> 01:35:25,370
showing up confidence.

1268
01:35:25,370 --> 01:35:28,770
all the things that you need in adaptability, flexibility.

1269
01:35:29,330 --> 01:35:33,890
What are we doing to talk to the kids about the opportunities that our state is desperate for workers?

1270
01:35:35,050 --> 01:35:39,710
And then we have the hard skills, the academics, the basic reading, the basic math, the basic science.

1271
01:35:40,010 --> 01:35:41,790
We're falling behind on all of that.

1272
01:35:41,930 --> 01:35:47,710
So I'm just hoping that you as legislators can bring this message to your colleagues to say,

1273
01:35:47,930 --> 01:35:49,870
we need to start focusing more on K-12.

1274
01:35:51,310 --> 01:35:51,370
Thanks.

1275
01:35:51,370 --> 01:35:55,500
Thank you.

1276
01:35:56,120 --> 01:36:00,400
All right, so we'll go to just kind of turn the attention towards.

1277
01:36:03,010 --> 01:36:05,050
I know we just discussed the economic and business development.

1278
01:36:05,310 --> 01:36:10,870
I know Council on the Palatana wanted to bring up some state funding on the water and sewer issues.

1279
01:36:11,550 --> 01:36:11,930
Start there.

1280
01:36:12,310 --> 01:36:12,890
Okay, yes.

1281
01:36:13,150 --> 01:36:14,190
Thank you.

1282
01:36:16,030 --> 01:36:23,590
Newport for years has had a problem with funding for both the water and the sewer from the Rhode Island

1283
01:36:23,590 --> 01:36:33,090
infrastructure bank, which actually can forgive loans and also perhaps forgive interest payments.

1284
01:36:34,670 --> 01:36:41,430
Newport is asking the state to make an affordability a priority when creating infrastructure

1285
01:36:41,430 --> 01:36:51,870
funding for compliance programs. We need grant support and principle forgiveness linked to the

1286
01:36:51,870 --> 01:36:58,990
complete the required projects without making basic water and wastewater service too expensive

1287
01:36:58,990 --> 01:37:06,390
for many residents. The lead service line replacement highlights this issue. Currently new

1288
01:37:06,390 --> 01:37:14,350
port services not only new port but naval station new port, middle town and wholesale water

1289
01:37:14,350 --> 01:37:23,790
to Portland. Newport has a high share of lower income household. However, the very high income household

1290
01:37:23,790 --> 01:37:31,990
raised the medium, which hides the true number of lower income residents. Formal is based on

1291
01:37:31,990 --> 01:37:39,210
medium income, do not show what many residents can truly afford. When affordability tests use

1292
01:37:39,210 --> 01:37:46,610
the medium, projects may seem affordable on the paper, but not actually affordable to the people.

1293
01:37:48,030 --> 01:37:54,070
This matters because the lead service line replacement is mandatory and tying them.

1294
01:37:54,810 --> 01:38:01,150
The cost of the lead program by itself would make total water and wastewater bills too high

1295
01:38:01,150 --> 01:38:03,190
for lower income household.

1296
01:38:06,520 --> 01:38:10,720
This doesn't even include the other cost of the required infrastructure

1297
01:38:10,720 --> 01:38:18,860
If nothing changes, service costs will make the rates go faster than the incomes can keep up.

1298
01:38:19,400 --> 01:38:26,740
Newport has completed the Lev service line inventory, designed a full replacement program

1299
01:38:26,740 --> 01:38:35,200
that includes private sidewalk, exploring PUC rates to allow Rhode Island infrastructure

1300
01:38:35,200 --> 01:38:42,460
Thank low interest loans to move forward and actively managing rates to limit annual

1301
01:38:42,460 --> 01:38:44,420
entry increases.

1302
01:38:46,040 --> 01:38:52,080
Long-based solutions only spread the cost over time, they don't actually lower it.

1303
01:38:52,300 --> 01:38:57,740
Eligibility rules based on medium income, overlooked communities like Newport.

1304
01:38:57,740 --> 01:39:04,360
Pro-rated assistance doesn't address the fact that this is a system-wide program.

1305
01:39:05,180 --> 01:39:12,240
Raising rates to recover costs puts the biggest burden on those least able to pay.

1306
01:39:12,240 --> 01:39:39,940
For years, we have asked the state to consider us as a tier one, like the other larger cities across Rhode Island, and we're a tier three, and they keep denying us, but we have families here that are not going to be able to afford the increases that are required.

1307
01:39:39,940 --> 01:39:45,140
to really provide the right source of water and wastewater treatment.

1308
01:39:46,720 --> 01:39:48,760
And this goes over years.

1309
01:39:49,300 --> 01:39:54,040
The director has been relentless in sending letters,

1310
01:39:54,260 --> 01:39:57,100
which I have copies of to the state.

1311
01:39:57,460 --> 01:40:01,000
And it just seems like they overlook the fact

1312
01:40:01,000 --> 01:40:03,300
we have a lot of families living here.

1313
01:40:03,480 --> 01:40:05,600
We've gone to a lot of changes over the year,

1314
01:40:05,700 --> 01:40:09,020
particularly with the Airbnb coming in

1315
01:40:09,020 --> 01:40:16,840
people, suddenly, our homes, our worst choice, what they were five years ago.

1316
01:40:17,800 --> 01:40:23,720
So it really has created a problem, we really need their help, and we need your help

1317
01:40:23,720 --> 01:40:33,400
to perhaps join us with the Rhode Island infrastructure bank and understanding why they

1318
01:40:33,400 --> 01:40:40,720
will not change us so that we can access loans so we can access money from the Rhode Island

1319
01:40:40,720 --> 01:40:43,100
infrastructure bank like other communities.

1320
01:40:44,000 --> 01:40:49,860
The service we applied is throughout the island and after all these years I really don't

1321
01:40:49,860 --> 01:40:50,480
understand.

1322
01:40:51,420 --> 01:40:56,160
So, Councillor, when you say tier one versus tier three, what are those tiers?

1323
01:40:56,400 --> 01:40:57,560
What are those tiers?

1324
01:40:57,620 --> 01:40:58,480
I don't, I'm not familiar with it.

1325
01:40:58,480 --> 01:41:06,480
Here one is the one that they accept for, if they put in for loan support and loan forgiveness,

1326
01:41:07,080 --> 01:41:14,380
that they get higher rating on those ones, but they don't, for some reason they don't

1327
01:41:14,380 --> 01:41:22,600
and the most important, the track that we want to start on is 405, which is actually the

1328
01:41:22,600 --> 01:41:31,180
that has the most lower-income residents who could really, yeah, I mean, we've got to improve

1329
01:41:31,180 --> 01:41:37,300
our water and our sewer, but there's a once that could least afford the increase it.

1330
01:41:38,000 --> 01:41:42,980
Now, and we need to sell the states help with this.

1331
01:41:43,500 --> 01:41:44,600
Is that how you're?

1332
01:41:46,420 --> 01:41:52,580
I thought that the city had recently gotten an infrastructure grant as well as some federal funds

1333
01:41:52,580 --> 01:41:58,920
around the web service line replacement, I know it's never enough, but I would be happy to work

1334
01:41:58,920 --> 01:42:05,220
with you in the administration, because I think if we can identify points of failure in what

1335
01:42:05,220 --> 01:42:11,500
the formula and assessment is that if that is going to require legislative tweaks, I'm happy

1336
01:42:11,500 --> 01:42:16,720
to introduce that and help work with you to identify what those are and look at introducing

1337
01:42:16,720 --> 01:42:24,940
any legislative fixes because I appreciate your point. So happy to work with you on it.

1338
01:42:25,000 --> 01:42:36,020
You know, we just can't afford all the increases that are coming forward without some help from

1339
01:42:36,020 --> 01:42:43,980
something like the Rhode Island and the structure bay. Yeah, I also, I think that I don't believe

1340
01:42:43,980 --> 01:42:52,240
that are allowed to use the fees that we capture to replace lead lines.

1341
01:42:52,840 --> 01:42:57,040
So that would have to come out of the general budget.

1342
01:42:58,120 --> 01:43:00,960
So I think that's true.

1343
01:43:01,440 --> 01:43:11,580
And so that makes it even harder for us to be able to fund these unfundable thoughts.

1344
01:43:12,240 --> 01:43:12,900
Don't slide.

1345
01:43:13,780 --> 01:43:21,120
We've invested heavily in our staff capacity here at the city to start to look at the route challenges we have with regards to affordability.

1346
01:43:21,500 --> 01:43:33,540
Much of that comes down to the disconnect between the reality which ironically enough the federal government realizes in its classification of areas of the state of high levels of poverty and how the state is looking at it through its formulas.

1347
01:43:34,260 --> 01:43:39,900
Newport is one of three communities in the state that qualify under HUD's distrust cities metrics.

1348
01:43:40,540 --> 01:43:45,500
It's us central falls and when socket I don't think that's what most people think of when they think of newport.

1349
01:43:46,300 --> 01:43:53,260
And I know that we're very thankful for our staff efforts to figure out what those formulas are that need to be tweaked and how to address them.

1350
01:43:53,480 --> 01:44:02,900
But as you can see even from the most recent we were in report from the around foundation that gap between the perceived wealth levels in newport and the actual challenges that we have here on the ground.

1351
01:44:04,300 --> 01:44:07,740
and we just appreciate any flags you have on that front.

1352
01:44:08,220 --> 01:44:09,340
For areas where we could be focusing,

1353
01:44:09,640 --> 01:44:12,240
we have the staff capacity to dig in to make that case.

1354
01:44:12,940 --> 01:44:15,140
And as Councillor Paltano eloquently put it,

1355
01:44:16,000 --> 01:44:19,240
we are very dedicated to advocating for former lake solutions

1356
01:44:19,240 --> 01:44:22,600
that help support us beyond the windfalls of grant allocations

1357
01:44:22,600 --> 01:44:25,240
for which we are very thankful but cannot rely on consistently.

1358
01:44:30,600 --> 01:44:33,060
All right, so the next hour I just want to bring up

1359
01:44:33,060 --> 01:44:36,820
and this again goes towards the north end where we're going to be looking

1360
01:44:36,820 --> 01:44:45,840
for your help, especially at the state level, with our conversations with, especially the

1361
01:44:45,840 --> 01:44:54,640
Department of Transportation as about one, the transportation issues that we have, the traffic

1362
01:44:54,640 --> 01:44:59,980
issues that we have with animal calphus road due to the realignment.

1363
01:45:02,320 --> 01:45:10,000
And also the landscaping plan that was supposed to happen as still has yet to happen in the north end.

1364
01:45:11,440 --> 01:45:16,080
One of the things, so we went in front of the state traffic council a few weeks ago.

1365
01:45:17,540 --> 01:45:27,300
And we need to have more conversations with the middle town as far as class 7 truck traffic through Animal Calpis, which is a highly residential area.

1366
01:45:27,300 --> 01:45:37,540
I know Senator DePama, you set the letter in to the STC against new points request for traffic calming.

1367
01:45:38,540 --> 01:45:50,740
So if you wouldn't mind just take a minute just to kind of explain that and do you have any ideas or steps we can take to work with middle town to try to find out a

1368
01:45:50,740 --> 01:45:55,600
up with some sort of proposal, compromise, and how we can kind of mediate that kind of traffic

1369
01:45:56,340 --> 01:45:59,560
through a residential area and the schools on air of Animal Calibus.

1370
01:45:59,800 --> 01:46:04,800
So, did you just, did you just, the comment with regards to what the letter said?

1371
01:46:06,260 --> 01:46:11,300
It was basically just a request, I don't know, having, in front of Facebook, they just read it.

1372
01:46:11,960 --> 01:46:18,880
They SDC just read it just about that you were asking, you were in opposition to having

1373
01:46:19,720 --> 01:46:22,160
the SEC, okay, the track of the coming measure,

1374
01:46:22,380 --> 01:46:26,940
the animal campus, which were looking for a weight restriction

1375
01:46:27,520 --> 01:46:32,380
on average, so that might, I can send the T effect.

1376
01:46:32,540 --> 01:46:37,160
I think I got the letter in probably five minutes before they,

1377
01:46:38,400 --> 01:46:40,300
you were about to finish conversation out of it.

1378
01:46:40,320 --> 01:46:41,420
I had planned on doing it ahead of time,

1379
01:46:42,800 --> 01:46:47,460
but those who hadn't read the report that came out by DOT last November,

1380
01:46:47,460 --> 01:46:56,960
November 15th, I think it was last year. There was to pay the letter, but that was a whole bunch of stuff attached. One thing they indicated was they evaluated the

1381
01:46:59,880 --> 01:47:01,280
I kicked these act were situation,

1382
01:47:02,500 --> 01:47:07,160
neighborhood or whatever as being similar, meaning admiral kelp is to

1383
01:47:07,600 --> 01:47:09,700
Connieton Highway. So

1384
01:47:09,700 --> 01:47:15,240
Anybody knows me and I said it before and I'll say it here. I talk about facts, data, and context.

1385
01:47:15,240 --> 01:47:21,120
So, in fact, it was just the opposite of your comment with regards to, I want to see the facts,

1386
01:47:21,240 --> 01:47:27,240
data, and context of how they came up with the issue of, so it was an opposition to,

1387
01:47:27,240 --> 01:47:30,240
okay, an opposition to what DOT was saying.

1388
01:47:31,240 --> 01:47:34,980
You're saying, or an opposition to, or a request to, just the opposite.

1389
01:47:35,240 --> 01:47:42,300
Okay, so the DOT came in, and basically said there's similar, so there's no reason to change anything

1390
01:47:42,300 --> 01:47:50,840
thing between the two rows. My letter to them was two sentences. Please provide the fact

1391
01:47:50,840 --> 01:47:55,600
stayed in context with regards to how you came up with that decision, because that's

1392
01:47:55,600 --> 01:48:00,180
the decision basically said, we don't need to change anything because they're equivalent.

1393
01:48:01,540 --> 01:48:12,280
The one basic thing between Adam McElfus and Coddington is not a single. Not a single resident

1394
01:48:13,780 --> 01:48:17,800
I've lived here 43 years, I'm not from here, but I've lived here 43 years, but I've driven

1395
01:48:17,800 --> 01:48:23,020
down Coddyton Highway quite a bit in the only houses that are on Coddyton Highway, are those

1396
01:48:23,020 --> 01:48:27,020
that are up near West Main Road, and the back of the houses, and so they're on the back,

1397
01:48:27,220 --> 01:48:31,100
the front, their entrance and driveways access to the house, because you know, access to

1398
01:48:31,100 --> 01:48:31,420
the back.

1399
01:48:31,540 --> 01:48:36,200
I think there's three, maybe four, where back of Newport, Bank Newport.

1400
01:48:36,200 --> 01:48:43,400
So I said, I'd like to see how you came up with this decision of saying the requirement to say they can go both ways.

1401
01:48:44,740 --> 01:48:49,000
So I must certain how you got the impression that it was against the request.

1402
01:48:49,280 --> 01:48:51,660
It was, show us the data, how you made that decision.

1403
01:48:55,140 --> 01:48:59,940
I'm very thankful you're here to clarify that and I suspected in a hearing that,

1404
01:48:59,940 --> 01:49:04,380
fact that you are articulating is the case because the key differential that you always

1405
01:49:04,380 --> 01:49:11,700
frame things on is context. And as presented by RIDOT, both routes go past schools. There's

1406
01:49:11,700 --> 01:49:17,640
a big difference on the route up Admiral Kelfis, which has elementary school children crossing

1407
01:49:17,640 --> 01:49:25,400
the street every day versus the other school campus on Coddington, which was CCRI. And

1408
01:49:25,400 --> 01:49:29,480
at the end of the day, when you look at how that vote broke out, every particular safety

1409
01:49:29,480 --> 01:49:34,500
official on the state traffic commission voted in favor of reports requests.

1410
01:49:35,320 --> 01:49:41,540
One of the swinging pieces of evidence as presented by state DOT was your letter that they

1411
01:49:41,540 --> 01:49:46,340
did not provide in full insight from saying that the Chairman Finance Committee and Senator

1412
01:49:46,340 --> 01:49:52,040
for this district opposes new reports request, which I, you know, as I suspected, as

1413
01:49:52,040 --> 01:49:55,540
over your view of articulated, is completely inaccurate as to what right where

1414
01:49:55,540 --> 01:49:58,220
David was and what would be very helpful to us.

1415
01:49:58,220 --> 01:50:02,860
I'll send you a comment that a determination was made that was heavily weighted by a

1416
01:50:02,860 --> 01:50:05,300
misfortune of your letter would be a request.

1417
01:50:05,640 --> 01:50:08,160
The state traffic commission, they reconsider their vote on this.

1418
01:50:08,260 --> 01:50:12,560
They had one member that was missing that would have been the swing vote and I know you would

1419
01:50:12,560 --> 01:50:15,160
be really appreciative if you would want to put in that request.

1420
01:50:15,580 --> 01:50:17,380
I will send you the letter.

1421
01:50:17,380 --> 01:50:22,700
Hopefully when I get home, I'll send it to you and I guess that was no more than two sentences.

1422
01:50:22,700 --> 01:50:26,580
Because at the end of the day, I know what I know, which isn't much.

1423
01:50:26,820 --> 01:50:27,740
And I know what I don't know.

1424
01:50:28,220 --> 01:50:30,760
And what I don't know, I'm going to ask for the facts, the data,

1425
01:50:30,900 --> 01:50:31,520
and the context.

1426
01:50:32,560 --> 01:50:35,870
And I've even seen the videos of trucks that turn on to Admiral Kelfis,

1427
01:50:37,720 --> 01:50:40,840
that either one hit the sign that's there, the metal sign that's there,

1428
01:50:41,240 --> 01:50:43,940
or number two hit the utility pole.

1429
01:50:44,080 --> 01:50:45,700
That's not, there's no utilities on it.

1430
01:50:45,820 --> 01:50:50,520
But it's utility pole that supports or reinforces the guy wire

1431
01:50:50,520 --> 01:50:57,040
And you can see it you can see the notches in here and I can say I don't fly by there all the time because I got a be careful

1432
01:50:57,040 --> 01:51:02,060
I'm not gotten caught yet. I don't want to get caught by your speed camera. That's

1433
01:51:02,060 --> 01:51:06,280
But no, I'll kidding aside. It's the case where any truck that

1434
01:51:07,060 --> 01:51:11,080
And they were turned I wanted trucks I was turning down there. It was a truck with carrying cars, right?

1435
01:51:12,040 --> 01:51:16,920
It's why anybody would turn down that road. I would go to absolutely after way. I know it's always about time and all that

1436
01:51:16,920 --> 01:51:19,280
But it's the I will send you copies. I'll get it to the

1437
01:51:21,960 --> 01:51:26,960
You'll have it, so you can see it, like I said, it was two cents, maybe one.

1438
01:51:27,300 --> 01:51:29,780
I want to see the facts at the data in the context.

1439
01:51:30,280 --> 01:51:35,480
And what I called out was the actual section, and it was on the bottom of the first page,

1440
01:51:35,540 --> 01:51:39,320
3rd to 4th paragraph that said, these neighborhoods are equivalent.

1441
01:51:40,780 --> 01:51:46,240
And again, this is not like to put you on the spot by any means.

1442
01:51:46,240 --> 01:51:51,120
But it's just a matter of, okay, we went up, yeah, but we went up there, we stayed our case.

1443
01:51:51,520 --> 01:51:55,100
It was a two-two split boat. Unfortunately, it was one member not there.

1444
01:51:55,140 --> 01:51:57,160
That could have swayed the boat one way or the other.

1445
01:51:57,920 --> 01:52:00,780
But it's a matter of, okay, we went there, we know what happened.

1446
01:52:01,600 --> 01:52:08,740
How do we move past that to continue to, you know, keep that fight in order to get that traffic situation clear?

1447
01:52:08,880 --> 01:52:15,220
Because it's, I don't understand how it was a split boat, but that's, I have too much common sense, but

1448
01:52:16,900 --> 01:52:23,420
What we want is I think a stronger input from our legislative team on this to talk to whether it's

1449
01:52:23,420 --> 01:52:30,900
DOT or I don't know if you go right to the SDC as well or any other agency body that can be like

1450
01:52:30,900 --> 01:52:35,340
yeah this is the way it should be because when you come off the bridge and you come all the way down

1451
01:52:35,340 --> 01:52:41,760
and you get to Almakapas the science say truck go left on cutting and that is a industrial

1452
01:52:41,760 --> 01:52:46,520
as opposed to adult health, which is a highly residential room.

1453
01:52:48,220 --> 01:52:48,540
Yeah.

1454
01:52:50,880 --> 01:52:51,520
Yeah.

1455
01:52:53,380 --> 01:52:53,900
I moved.

1456
01:52:54,660 --> 01:52:54,980
I moved.

1457
01:52:56,600 --> 01:53:01,440
The main point was the class seven trucks, the 18 wheelers.

1458
01:53:01,820 --> 01:53:03,440
They can't make that turn.

1459
01:53:03,620 --> 01:53:04,600
By the way, just great.

1460
01:53:05,560 --> 01:53:08,880
The having ruined this from having spent a lot of time with my colleagues on roadworks.

1461
01:53:08,880 --> 01:53:16,460
class 8 in the barber, those that have a detachable cab, which is, is there a problem?

1462
01:53:17,060 --> 01:53:22,120
The smaller trucks, you know, the bins and those sort of things, that was fine.

1463
01:53:22,500 --> 01:53:33,560
But we've seen for ourselves so many different accidents, the pole, and they had explicitly stated the pole, is leaning.

1464
01:53:33,560 --> 01:53:39,700
what is because it was hit. I think the biggest problem was that when we embarked on this,

1465
01:53:41,500 --> 01:53:48,200
we didn't take into account Middletown and we should have spoke. Because in there I could

1466
01:53:48,200 --> 01:53:52,780
say I represent both of you and I represent both of you and sometimes I'm going to be Oria sometimes

1467
01:53:52,780 --> 01:54:03,360
against you or against both of whatever based on but the facts and the data and context have to

1468
01:54:03,360 --> 01:54:09,380
say that that decision is right or wrong. So I'll be following up on the facts data in context.

1469
01:54:10,020 --> 01:54:17,030
So just a suggestion to be thinking about even as this moves forward. One thing that would

1470
01:54:17,030 --> 01:54:21,850
be to reduce a limited or restrict class eight vehicles from that road. I mean, anything with a

1471
01:54:21,850 --> 01:54:26,870
debt taxable cab just like we did with regards to road works in the state polling plant.

1472
01:54:26,890 --> 01:54:34,590
It's class eight and above. So some of the heaviest vehicles we don't

1473
01:54:34,590 --> 01:54:36,130
I'm sure some of us have done this.

1474
01:54:36,430 --> 01:54:40,850
I've been to that corner heading up the hill to turn, go across the road or to turn West

1475
01:54:40,850 --> 01:54:45,690
up on to what's made and I'd backed up because nobody was in front of me and here comes

1476
01:54:45,690 --> 01:54:46,430
this car cut.

1477
01:54:46,690 --> 01:54:47,450
Huge truck.

1478
01:54:47,530 --> 01:54:53,430
One other suggestion is I think this is easy to do is to move back that white line where people

1479
01:54:53,430 --> 01:54:53,870
can go.

1480
01:54:53,950 --> 01:54:56,170
That would help mitigate some of that.

1481
01:54:56,190 --> 01:54:57,890
I think that could be done sooner than later.

1482
01:54:58,150 --> 01:55:03,230
I'm not saying that's the answer, it's addressing a symptom, but it could help mitigate

1483
01:55:03,230 --> 01:55:09,070
you're a millionaire, so I was going to hit that pole that transformers coming down.

1484
01:55:09,350 --> 01:55:15,190
They had talked about doing some sort of mitigation measures there, but it's still not

1485
01:55:15,190 --> 01:55:20,090
enough as to what's happening with all of the residences there.

1486
01:55:20,930 --> 01:55:24,250
What would be the process for us to go through this again?

1487
01:55:24,370 --> 01:55:28,710
We have to submit another resolution or what should we do?

1488
01:55:29,610 --> 01:55:30,590
I don't know, I can find out.

1489
01:55:30,590 --> 01:55:35,450
But clearly, the facts, the data, and the context have to tell.

1490
01:55:35,710 --> 01:55:37,250
I would say it tells the story.

1491
01:55:37,410 --> 01:55:41,070
We need to know what the story is, which regards to how they made the decision

1492
01:55:41,070 --> 01:55:42,190
saying there were quite a one.

1493
01:55:42,250 --> 01:55:43,890
So they can go either way.

1494
01:55:44,450 --> 01:55:44,590
Missed.

1495
01:55:46,130 --> 01:55:46,570
Sorry.

1496
01:55:46,770 --> 01:55:50,430
I would just again reiterate, you are and have consistently been a strong,

1497
01:55:50,430 --> 01:55:55,450
ration-based champion for our communities, that your word was misconstrued

1498
01:55:55,450 --> 01:56:00,570
by a major state agency to sway decision ultimately against this

1499
01:56:00,570 --> 01:56:04,010
community. I think I had that kind of. When it's intent was probably just to be a neutral

1500
01:56:04,010 --> 01:56:09,590
fact finding exercise, I think it is a miscarriage of the legislative process here,

1501
01:56:09,650 --> 01:56:15,910
of the rulemaking process, and I think deserves reconsideration or request from you for reconsideration

1502
01:56:15,910 --> 01:56:22,270
of this issue given the use of your statement. I think that this would be much appreciated by this

1503
01:56:22,270 --> 01:56:30,890
candidate. I will vote. I'll certainly look at it. Like I said, it needs to be, I will

1504
01:56:30,890 --> 01:56:33,550
drive this by the facts data and context of the situation.

1505
01:56:36,380 --> 01:56:38,320
This is before me. We talked

1506
01:56:38,320 --> 01:56:43,640
about, and I think, constantly brought this up three years ago. But up two years ago,

1507
01:56:43,760 --> 01:56:49,020
we brought it up again today. How did we put up, sort of, sort of sink a pin in the landscape

1508
01:56:49,020 --> 01:56:54,400
of the North End. What? Where are we? What needs to happen? In fact, I spoke with the director

1509
01:56:54,400 --> 01:56:57,940
already yesterday about some things. What needs to happen? This just gets us done.

1510
01:56:58,400 --> 01:57:03,060
I can have information on that. Monday, there's a group of us meeting with the right

1511
01:57:03,060 --> 01:57:07,880
dot about the landscape and plan. It has been, it's 10 o'clock. If you want to zoom,

1512
01:57:08,020 --> 01:57:12,190
you're more than welcome to join it. It has been largely driven as everybody knows by

1513
01:57:12,190 --> 01:57:14,450
I'm Warren Cronin and she's an open space commission.

1514
01:57:16,110 --> 01:57:19,190
We have information in our hands, Scott Wheeler has it

1515
01:57:19,190 --> 01:57:20,810
that RIDOT did have a plan.

1516
01:57:21,050 --> 01:57:22,570
They did hire landscape architect.

1517
01:57:23,030 --> 01:57:25,950
We have the documents that say RIDOT's going to do this.

1518
01:57:27,530 --> 01:57:31,070
I understand for more rain, although she has told me

1519
01:57:31,070 --> 01:57:33,490
that she believes they had the money to do it.

1520
01:57:33,730 --> 01:57:36,270
And it's a high priority for the tourism community

1521
01:57:36,270 --> 01:57:37,450
to welcome you into the city.

1522
01:57:37,550 --> 01:57:40,210
It's a high priority for residents in the city to get that place.

1523
01:57:40,210 --> 01:57:43,550
I also think that there was a walking tour done of that area.

1524
01:57:43,950 --> 01:57:48,150
I think by the tree up in space commission with Lily Dick and there were like 40 trees that were dead.

1525
01:57:48,390 --> 01:57:55,490
Well, I'm told. We wanted to get a meeting with RIDOT in November and we got it tomorrow.

1526
01:57:56,010 --> 01:58:00,790
What I understand is they've hired a new architect, a new landscape architect.

1527
01:58:01,270 --> 01:58:04,410
We were supposed to meet with them about three weeks ago, just after the holidays,

1528
01:58:05,030 --> 01:58:09,910
and they asked, or maybe in December, and they asked us to postpone it until they could get the

1529
01:58:09,910 --> 01:58:16,430
landscape architect in place. So Monday morning's question is, okay, what's the plan? Where is it?

1530
01:58:16,450 --> 01:58:20,450
And when are you doing it? I mean, it's really not a complicated meeting. We're going to meet these

1531
01:58:20,450 --> 01:58:28,090
new people, I guess, whoever they are, and have some more information on. Mayor, just to, I'll just say,

1532
01:58:29,330 --> 01:58:35,590
haven't been around when the whole challenge was made, not with a red realignment with with Broadway.

1533
01:58:37,530 --> 01:58:43,270
It's, this is similar situation with Broadway with regards to we're still figuring it out.

1534
01:58:43,810 --> 01:58:45,950
Just tell us what you want, and we'll get it done.

1535
01:58:46,270 --> 01:58:50,130
The challenge is if it's a moving target for whatever reason,

1536
01:58:50,890 --> 01:58:52,690
not going to get done until someone says,

1537
01:58:53,210 --> 01:58:54,470
we're good with it.

1538
01:58:54,730 --> 01:58:56,110
Just let us know when you're good with it.

1539
01:58:56,290 --> 01:58:59,390
We can help the four of us and others can help facilitate getting there.

1540
01:58:59,690 --> 01:59:02,030
But until then, so if I call the director of ED,

1541
01:59:02,310 --> 01:59:03,450
on my way home and said director,

1542
01:59:03,450 --> 01:59:09,070
we need help on the landscape plan. I suspect he'll say to me, which plan is that? And I'll

1543
01:59:09,070 --> 01:59:17,290
say you're right. I don't suggest let us know. I know we're kind of getting through

1544
01:59:17,290 --> 01:59:18,550
end of the time as well.

1545
01:59:18,990 --> 01:59:20,550
What's that?

1546
01:59:20,670 --> 01:59:21,830
We still have my comment.

1547
01:59:22,110 --> 01:59:25,450
I would like to make to back to Admiral Calpis Road.

1548
01:59:25,750 --> 01:59:26,270
Yeah, absolutely.

1549
01:59:28,410 --> 01:59:34,390
So thank you for confirming what some folks thought about your letter.

1550
01:59:34,690 --> 01:59:39,250
The only thing I wanted to do was also you mentioned facts, data, and context.

1551
01:59:40,050 --> 01:59:47,270
A lot of our residents from Admiral Calpis Road got up and went to testify at the

1552
01:59:47,270 --> 01:59:53,990
up and give testimony. So I do think lived experience and community engagement also has to be

1553
01:59:53,990 --> 01:59:59,970
part of the decision making when we're talking about things like health and safety and we keep

1554
02:00:12,500 --> 02:00:24,340
So I just want to give each of the leaders, though, I just want to encourage that we continue listening to our residents who have put us in these positions.

1555
02:00:25,080 --> 02:00:25,880
Thank you, Councillor.

1556
02:00:26,940 --> 02:00:33,920
So I just want to give each legislators the chance to make some final comments for

1557
02:00:33,920 --> 02:00:35,240
we and our meeting today.

1558
02:00:35,360 --> 02:00:37,980
So I'll start with Senator Oyer, you don't mind?

1559
02:00:40,530 --> 02:00:41,190
Thank you.

1560
02:00:41,550 --> 02:00:47,150
I also, I just wanted to highlight one other piece of legislation that I'll probably work with

1561
02:00:47,150 --> 02:00:50,390
administration and I'm doing an assessment on.

1562
02:00:50,390 --> 02:01:00,670
It's a bill that I put in for a couple years real estate transfer on death deed, what it's trying to do is create a streamlined process to transfer real estate.

1563
02:01:01,230 --> 02:01:11,390
Not everybody, as we were talking about the disparity, everyone talks about and thinks about the high value property owners, but we also know that there's a lot of families who've been here for a really long time.

1564
02:01:11,390 --> 02:01:21,830
You know, who's, who's properties, you know, they, they may not have the means to hire attorneys and do full estate plans and trust and things like that.

1565
02:01:22,170 --> 02:01:29,490
But it wouldn't just affect Newport. It would be statewide legislation. It's the uniform law commission recommends doing it.

1566
02:01:29,490 --> 02:01:37,850
And it really is something that will help working class folks in addressing what happens to their primary home as after they pass away.

1567
02:01:38,550 --> 02:01:47,750
And so I will work there, there's likely a minor budget impact, but I can work with the administration to make sure you will understand what that means on a local level.

1568
02:01:48,110 --> 02:01:54,630
But I do think it is one of those just a really good, a really good initiative to help working class folks.

1569
02:01:54,630 --> 02:02:04,450
So, but I'll side say, as all of the headlines have said, this is a tough budget year, as well as the pressures from the federal government.

1570
02:02:05,450 --> 02:02:11,350
So, just continue to work with us and let us know what your needs are and look forward to continuing to work with y'all.

1571
02:02:11,350 --> 02:02:19,230
Yeah, because that, that has an effect on a lot of new porters, especially with the new called the Taylor Swift tax.

1572
02:02:19,630 --> 02:02:25,130
You know, if you inherit a house that was, now it's about, you know, it might be worth $6,000,000,

1573
02:02:25,130 --> 02:02:28,460
and now it's about, yeah, a million just because of the property that's around it.

1574
02:02:28,910 --> 02:02:31,590
And now you're paying that extra, that extra price.

1575
02:02:33,600 --> 02:02:34,160
Senator Obama.

1576
02:02:38,580 --> 02:02:38,680
The right.

1577
02:02:39,080 --> 02:02:40,800
I'm going to read the right or two, and I'll forward two.

1578
02:02:40,800 --> 02:02:48,160
is we waive. They're Mr. Raymond and Commission members. So as I said, two sentences. The first

1579
02:02:48,160 --> 02:02:53,120
in the included memo, which is the memo from Sean Raymond, the following statement is made,

1580
02:02:53,360 --> 02:03:00,000
in quotes, if class seven and above trucks are restricted to Admiral kelp's road, all the heavy traffic

1581
02:03:00,000 --> 02:03:07,840
would be redirected to a roadway that also has some more risk factors, such as pedestrian and bicycle

1582
02:03:07,840 --> 02:03:19,080
use. They have a separated bike path. Share use path, right? The element doesn't. A school

1583
02:03:19,080 --> 02:03:24,800
CCRI, okay? In residential homes, along the route.

1584
02:03:25,780 --> 02:03:27,560
On over there, on the road, though.

1585
02:03:28,340 --> 02:03:34,600
Dr. Quote. Second statement. Second sense. Please, would you provide the list of comparative

1586
02:03:34,600 --> 02:03:38,720
facts used to substantiate the aforementioned statement.

1587
02:03:39,280 --> 02:03:41,140
They didn't say the second part.

1588
02:03:41,440 --> 02:03:43,920
They didn't say the second part.

1589
02:03:43,920 --> 02:03:44,740
Context is important.

1590
02:03:47,960 --> 02:03:52,440
I know nothing other than looking at things from a fact-sated context perspective.

1591
02:03:52,500 --> 02:03:56,100
We may not agree in the end on the solution, but we're going to agree on the fact-sated context.

1592
02:03:56,240 --> 02:03:57,520
So we will verify that.

1593
02:03:58,560 --> 02:03:59,080
Just be a reader.

1594
02:03:59,220 --> 02:04:03,520
I'm going to mention earlier so you have your legislative champion here.

1595
02:04:04,380 --> 02:04:05,900
and Rob is Peter.

1596
02:04:06,300 --> 02:04:08,020
Peter has, like some others,

1597
02:04:08,380 --> 02:04:09,620
he has a particular piece of marble,

1598
02:04:09,660 --> 02:04:11,560
he gets to sit on, meaning one of the stairs.

1599
02:04:11,600 --> 02:04:13,440
We don't have chairs for people to sit on.

1600
02:04:13,660 --> 02:04:14,920
He's there, he's around.

1601
02:04:15,580 --> 02:04:17,900
We know him, we know he represents you well.

1602
02:04:18,560 --> 02:04:21,180
I would leverage Peter to the greatest exam possible,

1603
02:04:21,660 --> 02:04:23,100
and also with Peter with the work

1604
02:04:23,760 --> 02:04:25,340
with the league of cities and towns.

1605
02:04:25,340 --> 02:04:27,920
So we talked earlier about the conveyance taxing.

1606
02:04:28,020 --> 02:04:30,440
Like I said, not Senator or your but Senator Goose,

1607
02:04:30,480 --> 02:04:31,820
it's taxing me, in the Senate.

1608
02:04:31,820 --> 02:04:36,700
But the more you can do in leveraging, you may not be able to because they're going to say,

1609
02:04:36,800 --> 02:04:38,740
yeah, no, we don't want to do that over here.

1610
02:04:39,060 --> 02:04:45,400
The more you can do that with regards to the league on some things, the better it becomes

1611
02:04:45,400 --> 02:04:47,120
because they're strength in numbers.

1612
02:04:48,060 --> 02:04:52,020
And I said this to middle town, we had the legislative agenda with them in December.

1613
02:04:52,780 --> 02:04:56,420
Myself and the delegation of Contributor and Meeting Monday night, hopefully we'll be able

1614
02:04:56,420 --> 02:04:57,340
to get out from Monday night.

1615
02:04:57,500 --> 02:04:58,200
I think that's the case.

1616
02:04:58,200 --> 02:04:58,900
Maybe not.

1617
02:04:59,820 --> 02:05:07,640
But same thing will occur there with regards to the league can bring together a comprehensive

1618
02:05:08,460 --> 02:05:09,960
perspective of cities and towns.

1619
02:05:10,620 --> 02:05:15,900
Cities have much different perspectives sometimes than towns, so they may not want to go on

1620
02:05:15,900 --> 02:05:19,000
onto something, but I will represent to the greatest extent possible.

1621
02:05:21,720 --> 02:05:26,600
And one last thing I mentioned from a budget perspective, there are not things that the governors

1622
02:05:26,600 --> 02:05:32,820
included in this year's budget that we need to make certain we do include in preparation for the

1623
02:05:32,820 --> 02:05:38,700
out years. So I won't go down a particular path of something but if there are revenues that are

1624
02:05:38,700 --> 02:05:43,820
generated, the things that we do, they have to be done in context of what may manifest itself

1625
02:05:43,820 --> 02:05:53,180
in 2027, 2028, 2029. I will never want to support something that solves a problem today and say,

1626
02:05:53,180 --> 02:05:58,760
We'll look at that other thing tomorrow, knowing it's right on our doorstep with the caveat

1627
02:05:58,760 --> 02:06:02,720
of some risk and opportunities and probability that it might be a way to adjust something,

1628
02:06:03,020 --> 02:06:07,400
but it's got to be real. It can't be make believe. So there's going to be some hard decisions,

1629
02:06:07,580 --> 02:06:13,540
but we know some challenges we have as we talk to all your primary care education, et cetera.

1630
02:06:16,160 --> 02:06:20,280
The first comment that I want to make is I want to encourage the council to look at a resolution

1631
02:06:20,280 --> 02:06:23,780
to support putting $5 million in the green bond for four

1632
02:06:23,780 --> 02:06:28,360
atoms. I know that the trust had been working with DEM and the

1633
02:06:28,360 --> 02:06:32,100
governor's office through last summer and there was the first

1634
02:06:32,100 --> 02:06:36,300
goal they needed for you know basically maintaining the place.

1635
02:06:37,520 --> 02:06:41,260
First it was 10 million then it was 5 million and I was told in the fall

1636
02:06:41,260 --> 02:06:45,820
yes looking good it's in there then it was 2.5 million and now it's zero. So that

1637
02:06:45,820 --> 02:06:48,640
has been completely cut out of the budget. I think that it's a high

1638
02:06:48,640 --> 02:06:54,160
priority for this city. I think the money should go to DEM. I think the money should go to DEM

1639
02:06:54,160 --> 02:06:58,300
because there are two different specific needs out there. The first need is around maintenance of the

1640
02:06:58,300 --> 02:07:03,540
fort and the second is around some money that the the festival foundation needs to spend

1641
02:07:03,540 --> 02:07:07,500
particularly on security. I spoke to them this week. They're very concerned about security,

1642
02:07:07,600 --> 02:07:12,440
particularly in light of the Browns shooting. So if it goes to DEM, I think then they can distribute it

1643
02:07:12,440 --> 02:07:17,520
between the two organizations and I've encouraged Paul Marshall to come before you and talk to you

1644
02:07:17,520 --> 02:07:22,980
about this. I think it's really important. The second thing is that I kind of feel like

1645
02:07:22,980 --> 02:07:29,240
it's an unusual year for Newport. We always have challenges, and we always have to really

1646
02:07:29,240 --> 02:07:34,580
fight our way through the state processes. But I think that we're not getting the money for

1647
02:07:34,580 --> 02:07:40,300
four to atoms. They're tapping into the cruise ship money, the Taylor Swift tax, which is laws

1648
02:07:40,300 --> 02:07:46,080
tapping into property taxes. We have this education foundation, the Rhode Island Foundation funding

1649
02:07:46,080 --> 02:07:48,620
for a meal a question and we have the birthing center.

1650
02:07:48,900 --> 02:07:51,640
I mean, these are five things that are really compounding.

1651
02:07:51,780 --> 02:07:53,260
I think life in Newport.

1652
02:07:53,840 --> 02:07:57,700
And I'm going to really encourage the Council to stay very active

1653
02:07:57,700 --> 02:08:00,400
and really work with Peter, work with us,

1654
02:08:00,740 --> 02:08:02,660
pass some resolutions, give us the tools,

1655
02:08:03,160 --> 02:08:06,260
and I think we'll be out there working on this stuff for you.

1656
02:08:07,300 --> 02:08:08,580
Yeah. Thank you, Rhett.

1657
02:08:08,780 --> 02:08:09,860
We have to let them go.

1658
02:08:11,060 --> 02:08:12,760
Thank you very much.

1659
02:08:12,760 --> 02:08:22,280
I first want to say that I agree with all my colleagues about Peter, who is a great advocate for what he does.

1660
02:08:22,740 --> 02:08:29,520
I've done Peter years before he became an advocate here, so it's not just because he's from a new board, from other ways,

1661
02:08:29,900 --> 02:08:32,500
because that's what help us in making our decisions.

1662
02:08:34,600 --> 02:08:42,220
These kind of falling to me are good because it gives me a chance to really hear what those of us who live here on the ground

1663
02:08:42,220 --> 02:08:49,420
have to go through. And it's not easy. You know, there's this dialogue that if anything is

1664
02:08:49,420 --> 02:08:55,800
bad, I need more money and I don't have it. Let's go to the state to get it. Well, you know,

1665
02:08:55,920 --> 02:09:00,480
I wish you were like that because it's all of a lot of problems, but it's not like that.

1666
02:09:00,660 --> 02:09:10,520
So I'm just here to say that as I said, each 20 times, the more we see people from, in this case,

1667
02:09:11,360 --> 02:09:17,620
newport, advocating for something, and then coming up and advocating is one thing to put in

1668
02:09:17,620 --> 02:09:22,900
a bill or whatever you want to put in. You can put in on bigger those, but that's not what

1669
02:09:22,900 --> 02:09:28,840
gets it seen on the floor and get it through the committees. So the committee process that the

1670
02:09:28,840 --> 02:09:35,520
state does have is an important one for us here in town to think about attending, particularly

1671
02:09:35,520 --> 02:09:39,980
when it's something that has to do with Newport, and I've seen some of us up there

1672
02:09:39,980 --> 02:09:51,580
then. But there's always, there's always a person or a group who will see the same issue

1673
02:09:51,580 --> 02:09:59,480
that we see differently. And unfortunately, in the house, I think incentive, they may have

1674
02:09:59,480 --> 02:10:02,540
more representatives than we do.

1675
02:10:02,840 --> 02:10:11,300
So I agree with the chairman that our asks have to be pretty tight, so that we can

1676
02:10:11,300 --> 02:10:17,200
throughout our system make sure that something gets to a committee and gets to the floor.

1677
02:10:17,520 --> 02:10:23,140
Many times things don't even get to the committee, or without that it's difficult for things

1678
02:10:23,140 --> 02:10:23,640
to happen.

1679
02:10:23,640 --> 02:10:38,280
So, you know, I don't say very much in these because I don't want to make a promise that I can't keep knowing that things change all of the time, all of the time they change.

1680
02:10:38,820 --> 02:10:50,920
So, thank you for inviting me here every year here, but it gives me chance to say, hey, participate upstate. It's hard. I have to get in the car and drive upstate every day too.

1681
02:10:50,920 --> 02:10:55,300
You know, and that's, it's just a 30-something miles away, but this is us.

1682
02:10:55,300 --> 02:11:03,460
This is what we live in and how we do it, but just, but the absence of seeing a lot of us

1683
02:11:03,460 --> 02:11:09,340
participate upstate is a reason that people don't know you and people know if people get to know

1684
02:11:09,340 --> 02:11:15,320
you by interacting with you at those meetings. So, I take all of those, I learn.

1685
02:11:15,980 --> 02:11:31,800
You know, we've got 75 members in the house and what, 38, 38 in the Senate, but to a lot of people that we have to go back and to convince that vote for me for support this for me.

1686
02:11:31,960 --> 02:11:33,360
And I'll support something for you.

1687
02:11:33,500 --> 02:11:34,840
I mean, that's where it happens.

1688
02:11:34,920 --> 02:11:37,080
And that's where the advocates come in.

1689
02:11:37,420 --> 02:11:38,840
So keep up to the good work.

1690
02:11:39,100 --> 02:11:41,220
You got a lot of information today.

1691
02:11:41,220 --> 02:11:52,000
But you got to remember we just got the governor's budget. I mean, we just got it. What I don't know what 10 days ago and and that's the first

1692
02:11:52,400 --> 02:11:55,820
That's the document that I have to live by and

1693
02:11:55,820 --> 02:12:00,760
Chairman de Plum and I spend a whole lot of time people probably think with brothers

1694
02:12:00,760 --> 02:12:02,760
We spend a whole lot of time together

1695
02:12:02,760 --> 02:12:07,180
Sifting through that we don't make this stuff up. That's what I'm saying

1696
02:12:07,180 --> 02:12:10,820
So when you see something you don't like that is not really enough

1697
02:12:10,820 --> 02:12:17,040
But through Peter and trust me, he knows how to walk into both of our offices because he does it all at a time

1698
02:12:17,040 --> 02:12:20,300
And we and we get things down so I appreciate that. Thank you

1699
02:12:21,320 --> 02:12:21,840
Any questions?

1700
02:12:23,240 --> 02:12:24,540
Yes, can I just say something?

1701
02:12:24,920 --> 02:12:27,600
There is a night among here that I just want to just

1702
02:12:28,660 --> 02:12:35,300
Highlight the ripped a new port gateway visitor center concerns it was going on there. Yeah, well, uh, they

1703
02:12:35,300 --> 02:12:50,140
You know, we appreciate what Ripped is done with this bus that is sponsored by Ripped and discovered new port, but, you know, they ripped a closes the restrooms at like noon so that the drivers can go to lunch.

1704
02:12:50,920 --> 02:13:03,620
So there's no, there's, and then they're adding fees to the buses that are the tour buses, so it's just something that I would like to discuss with all of you more.

1705
02:13:03,620 --> 02:13:07,880
And I think we need to get discovered new port in on the conversation too.

1706
02:13:08,100 --> 02:13:08,620
Thank you.

1707
02:13:10,240 --> 02:13:13,180
And we have a meeting with them with RIPTA.

1708
02:13:14,020 --> 02:13:16,760
There's a we are going to talk about that in an executive session.

1709
02:13:17,040 --> 02:13:19,160
On Wednesday and probably have more information.

1710
02:13:19,540 --> 02:13:19,720
Right.

1711
02:13:21,100 --> 02:13:22,140
Any other emails?

1712
02:13:23,660 --> 02:13:24,660
Just want to say thank you.

1713
02:13:24,980 --> 02:13:25,920
We know how busy you are.

1714
02:13:26,080 --> 02:13:27,340
We know you're in the busy season.

1715
02:13:27,520 --> 02:13:28,820
We know how hard you work for us.

1716
02:13:28,980 --> 02:13:30,920
And your doors are quite literally always open.

1717
02:13:30,920 --> 02:13:36,160
I stayed at the state, I wandered into the chairman's office, and we don't take that for granted.

1718
02:13:36,320 --> 02:13:39,980
We also don't take for granted the work that you've done to have the positions you do with

1719
02:13:39,980 --> 02:13:40,340
the leadership.

1720
02:13:40,720 --> 02:13:42,020
We value that very much.

1721
02:13:42,340 --> 02:13:44,040
Mayor, I also want to thank you for pulling this together.

1722
02:13:44,120 --> 02:13:49,040
I know it's quite a bit of work on both you and Lisa from the team, the rest of the city's team.

1723
02:13:49,260 --> 02:13:51,100
And also our partners from the schools who took time.

1724
02:13:51,240 --> 02:13:52,640
I see Dr. Flowers is here.

1725
02:13:52,780 --> 02:13:53,420
I see our superintendents.

1726
02:13:54,180 --> 02:13:58,900
And of course, we have a scope and remember, Colin, we really appreciate your partnership

1727
02:13:58,900 --> 02:14:01,860
and working with us on this and turning out on a Saturday morning for our next storm.

1728
02:14:04,320 --> 02:14:09,720
Yeah, so again, thank you guys so much. It's always a pleasure to get to do this and

1729
02:14:10,240 --> 02:14:14,520
there are a lot of things we didn't hit on and there's always going to be more things and we

1730
02:14:14,520 --> 02:14:19,660
appreciate having the open communication and we'll continue to play in Peter. Thank you so much again

1731
02:14:19,660 --> 02:14:26,380
for your huge help. And that's one of which I want to say if we can hope everyone gets through the

1732
02:14:26,380 --> 02:14:33,620
snowstorm, impending snowstorm is as best as possible and we'll do this again soon, I hope.

1733
02:14:33,780 --> 02:14:34,300
Thank you.

1734
02:14:34,400 --> 02:14:35,560
Thank you.

1735
02:14:35,560 --> 02:14:36,060
You're welcome.