[0:00] All
[0:07] right, we're gonna call the meeting to
order. Um, please stand for the pledge
[0:11] of allegiance.
[0:17] United States of America
for it stands nationy.
[0:26] Please remain standing for a moment of
silence.
[0:33] Thank you.
All right.
[0:37] Next item on the agenda, we have
resolution and proclamation for our
[0:40] valictorian and validatoran. Um, should
I read it down there or up here? Just
[0:46] think a microphone would be a little
better. So, I'm going to read it from up
[0:48] here. Um,
[0:53] all right. Going to read our resolution.
Um whereas Pier Pierce uh Pierce I'm so
[0:57] sorry is valid Victorian of the Char
regional high school class of 2025
[1:03] whereas is a student of the highest
caliber and whereas Pier will be
[1:07] attending ween college in Northern Mass
where she will be studying biochemistry
[1:11] with plans to attend medical school and
whereas has been involved with Girl
[1:16] Scouts and whereas was co-president of
the earth club and whereas Kira was a
[1:23] varsity soccer player for two years,
then volunteered to coach girls U1 team
[1:27] through Ocean State North Kingtown
soccer. And whereas every resident of
[1:32] the Cherokee community is extremely
proud of her. Now, therefore, it be
[1:36] resolved that the members of the town
council and the town of Richmond hereby
[1:39] congratulate Kira Pierce for her
outstanding academic and extracurricular
[1:43] achievements and wish her the best of
luck as she continues her education and
[1:47] pursues her dreams. Be it further
resolved that this resolution shall
[1:50] become a permanent part of the official
record of the town uh council of the
[1:54] town of Richmond given under seal of the
town of Richmond the 17th day of June
[1:58] 2025. Congratulations.
[2:08] I'll read the other one then we'll do a
motion to approval. Um
[2:13] whereas Maya Iskander, Salatoran of the
Charo Regional High School class of
[2:18] 2025, is a student of the highest
caliber and Maya is a member of the
[2:23] National Honor Society and whereas has
been captain of the girls volleyball
[2:27] team her senior year and whereas was
president of the VASA,
[2:32] the vocal athletes advocating against
substance abuse. And whereas Maya was a
[2:38] volunteer
uh dosent I don't thank you at the
[2:42] Misfit Aquarium. And whereas Maya will
study biochemistry with a Spanish minor
[2:48] on prehealth track at the University of
Florida. And whereas every resident of
[2:52] the Cherhill community is extremely
proud of her. Now therefore, it be
[2:55] resolved
uh that the members of the town council
[2:59] of the town of Richmond hereby
congratulate Maya Iskander for her
[3:03] outstanding academic and extracurricular
achievements and wish her the best of
[3:07] luck as she continues her education and
pursues her dreams. Be it further
[3:10] resolved that this resolution shall be a
permanent part of the official record of
[3:14] the town council of the town of Richmond
given under seal of the town of Richmond
[3:17] the 17th day of June 2025.
Congratulations.
[3:26] Now, could we please have a motion to
approve both of our resolutions? Uh,
[3:31] motion to approve the resolutions
honoring the charo validictorian and
[3:36] saludiatory.
Second. All right. Um, any council
[3:41] discussion? We'll go for I just want to
say it's been a while since I've been to
[3:46] graduation. And I went more than 10
years ago when my older kids were in in
[3:51] graduate from Charo and I loved it then
and I went this past year as a member
[3:56] council and it's just such a great
ceremony and very uplifting. So I know
[4:00] people don't like to go out on Friday
night but if you got nothing better to
[4:04] do next year on the night of graduation,
you should definitely go because it's
[4:07] it's it's great to see the the energy
and the pride that every student has on
[4:12] their face when they go up and and get
their diploma. So it's it is a great
[4:16] makes you feel good when you leave. So
awesome. Thank you. Right. So we'll go
[4:21] for a roll call vote. Councelor
Dinsmore, yes. Madnick, yes. Reynolds,
[4:25] yes. And Will Cox, yes. Congratulations
again.
[4:30] You just need the white version.
Yeah.
[4:46] [Music]
[4:54] Yeah, we're stand up picture.
Oh, you want
[5:00] you want to like present them?
[5:06] Oh, I didn't get a script before this.
You only graduate once. Congratulations,
[5:11] please.
[5:27] What I said, there council I should
know. That's what I meant.
[5:31] Um,
[5:34] but he's not here. Okay.
We really appreciate it. Congratulations
[5:40] again. Have a good night.
[5:47] You don't usually get invited to the
pictures.
[6:01] I can't hear.
[6:05] I don't want her to sit up. You can have
whatever you want. VIP.
[6:11] All right. Are we ready to continue on?
All right. Um, next we have the public
[6:17] hearings.
I have a motion to open a public hearing
[6:21] for the Preserve Property Management
Company.
[6:24] Uh motion to open the public hearing on
the outdoor entertainment uh license of
[6:29] Preserve Property Management Company LLC
for the clubhouse range and Hilltop
[6:35] Lodge.
Second. Have a motion or a second. Any
[6:39] council? Well, we'll just open the
public hearing. Councelor Gins, yes.
[6:43] Madnik, yes. Reynolds, yes. And Will
Cox, yes. All right, so we have our
[6:47] public hearing open. Any council
discussion before we go to the public?
[6:50] Yeah, just so they're we're requesting
waivers. We just had this come up at a
[6:57] previous town council meeting. The
waivers are only for religious,
[7:00] charitable, or civic organizations. So,
I know this is a unique situation.
[7:05] Preserve is a very unique business in
Richmond. How do we handle these types
[7:09] of things?
Past councils have um done a motion to
[7:15] approve without waiverss. There's never
been an issue there before, so I don't
[7:18] anticipate there being one again. So if
you wanted to do that motion, we could
[7:21] do it again.
So moved. Well, I meant like after we
[7:26] close the public hearing. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. When we get there.
[7:31] Getting ahead of myself here.
All right. Any other council discussion?
[7:36] Anybody from the public want to speak on
the preserve license?
[7:43] All right. Um have a motion to close
public hearing. So moved. Second. All
[7:48] right. All right, we got our motion, our
second. We'll go for our vote. Councelor
[7:50] Dinsour, yes. Madnick, yes. Reynolds,
yes. Will Cox, yes. Um, now we'll go for
[7:56] that motion, please. Councelor Maddick.
Yeah. A motion to um
[8:01] approve the outdoor entertainment
license for Preserve Property Management
[8:05] Company LLC, the Clubhouse Range and
Hilltop Lodge located at 87 Kingtown
[8:10] Road between the dates of June 2025 and
June 2026
[8:15] with dates varying by event.
I'll second it. Um, any further council
[8:22] discussion? All right, we'll go for our
roll call vote. Councelor Dinsmore, yes.
[8:26] Radnick, yes. Reynolds, yes. And Will
Cox, yes.
[8:30] Okay, on to our next public hearing. We
have an outdoor entertainment license
[8:34] for Richmond Smoke. Can I have a motion
to open this public hearing?
[8:41] All right. Go ahead. It's on the
designated uh hearing opener. Uh motion
[8:45] to open a public hearing on the outdoor
entertainment license of Richmond Smoke,
[8:51] 1219 Main Street. Um second. I'll second
it. And we'll go for a roll call vote.
[8:56] Councelor Dinsour, yes. Madnick, yes.
Reynolds, yes. And Will Cox, yes. Our
[9:01] public hearing is open. Any council
discussion before we go to the public?
[9:06] Nope. Um I had a note just to mention
that last year there was a noise
[9:11] complaint. I'm going to still approve
the license, I think. But, um, I just
[9:16] wanted to say to the public, if you have
an an issue with noise, there's a proper
[9:20] venue for reporting that. Um, so I'd
encourage you to do so because even if
[9:23] we issue these licenses, those
ordinance, noise ordinances are still in
[9:26] place. And I guess as a reminder to the
applicant as well, they're in place. Any
[9:30] other council discussion?
Council, I see. No, I was I was just
[9:35] going to add I was going to you
mentioned alluded to I was going to ask
[9:39] the chief if the if there had been noise
complaints, but you just covered that.
[9:46] All right. Anyone from the public have
anything they'd like to share? Sure. Go
[9:49] ahead, Mr. Benson.
[10:07] Uh Dave Benson, Wyoming, Rhode Island.
You've already alluded to this. Um
[10:13] I rise, Madam President, to speak
against this application. Uh I live
[10:18] about a thousand feet from the venue.
I live in a very quiet neighborhood
[10:23] called Canab Park. Many of you know it.
It's got about 35 homes.
[10:30] Uh it's very quiet except at this time
of the year when people mow their lawns.
[10:34] That's kind of the extent of the noise.
Um
[10:39] I and I don't presume to speak for
anybody but myself.
[10:44] I understand that the town ordinance
says that the noise limits are 75 dB at
[10:51] 200 ft. And looking online, I find that
that's about it was supposed to be about
[10:56] the noise from your vacuum cleaner.
Um, but the noise from the live concerts
[11:02] is annoying,
especially when it's added to the
[11:06] highway noise and the gunfire from the
preserve.
[11:10] I talked to the last council about noise
in general. Um, and I'll tell you the
[11:16] same story now that I told them. Uh, my
son lives in Pucket. He was down for
[11:22] dinner one night. It was a summer. Uh
there was quite a loud concert at that
[11:28] venue. Gunfire from the preserve, lots
of highway noise. And he said, "It's
[11:34] definitely quieter. It It's definitely
noisier here than it is in Pucket,"
[11:39] which kind of struck me.
Um some concerts are louder than others.
[11:45] I think after that one particularly
egregious concert, they managed to tone
[11:50] things down a little bit. Uh just
wondering if there's any way you can
[11:55] uh mandate some sort of monitoring of
the noise levels uh when these concerts
[12:01] take place. Thank you. Thank you.
Anybody else from the public like to
[12:06] speak? Go ahead.
Um when you get to the podium, please
[12:10] state your name for the record.
[12:18] Um, I'm Oriana Kenyon. I'm the general
manager over at Richmond Smoke. Um, I
[12:22] recently took over uh at the end of
February. Um, I have a couple of staff
[12:26] members here as well. Um, I would just
like to say that I do agree that last
[12:32] year it was
too loud for the community, but since I
[12:37] have taken over in charge, we have
changed the music genre exponentially,
[12:42] like not a lot of metal anymore. It's
been like country, bluegrass, you know,
[12:46] like things here and there. We are
trying to be respectful of the community
[12:49] and everything else and trying to, you
know, abide by everybody and try to make
[12:54] them happy as well because we do know
that, you know, sound travels and
[12:58] everything, but we we respect the
community and
[13:01] we just, you know, we keep that in mind
now. Yeah, I appreciate that. Thank you.
[13:10] Anybody else from the public or anybody
online?
[13:15] All right. We have a motion to close
public hearing, please. Motion to close
[13:18] the public hearing. Second. All right.
Our motion, our second. Uh, councelor
[13:22] Jensler, how do you vote? Yes. Madnik,
yes. Reynolds, yes. And Will Cox, yes.
[13:28] Um, okay. So, now could we have a motion
on the license? Motion to approve the
[13:33] outdoor entertainment license for
Richmond Smoke 1219 Main Street between
[13:39] June November Fridays, Saturdays, and
Sundays 1:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
[13:47] Second. All right. So, we have our
motion and our second. We'll go for our
[13:50] roll call vote. Counselor, can we just
Oh, further discussion. Yeah, I go
[13:54] ahead. I I just want to you did but I I
want to thank Miss Kenyon for for
[13:58] stepping up and let letting us know the
change in you know circumstances there
[14:03] and I would if you haven't already maybe
encourage you to exchange contact
[14:08] information with Mr. Bankston just so if
there is an issue you guys can can talk
[14:12] about it and uh you know maybe you could
check in with him just to check in just
[14:17] you know I but I appreciate you stepping
up and being here and wanting to make
[14:21] things uh you know good for everybody.
So, I appreciate that.
[14:28] All right. Any other council discussion?
All right. Um, councelor Dmore, how do
[14:31] you vote? Yes. Madnick? Yes. Reynolds?
Yes. And Will Cox? Yes. Um, all right.
[14:37] So, it's all for our public hearings.
Now, we have licenses.
[14:41] First one is an application from the
preserve Hilltop White Birch um for a
[14:46] one-year indoor entertainment license.
Motion to approve the indoor
[14:51] entertainment license for Preserve
Property Management LLC, the Hilltop
[14:55] White Birch, located at two Bumblebee
Lane for a one-year license.
[15:01] Second. All right, we have our motion
and our second. Any council discussion
[15:04] on this one?
All right. Um, we'll go for a roll call
[15:09] vote. Councelor Dinsmore, yes. Madnick,
yes. Reynolds, yes. And Will Cox, yes.
[15:13] Another out uh indoor entertainment
license. Uh, another for the preserve
[15:17] clubhouse double barrel. Motion to
approve the indoor entertainment license
[15:22] for preserve property management LLC
clubhouse double barrel at 87 Kingtown
[15:28] Road for a one-year license.
All right. Second. We got a motion. I
[15:32] second. Any council discussion on this
one? Madam Chair. Yes. Sure. So, I just
[15:36] want to note to the residents and the
audience that
[15:40] there's an interesting circumstance here
where the preserve is asking multiple
[15:45] licenses here for both outdoor and and
indoor entertainment licenses. And the
[15:50] reason they're asking for both is that
some of their indoor events may end up
[15:53] being outdoors. So
I know the the preserve it sometimes um
[15:59] you know can be polarizing in this town
but I just want to point out that they
[16:03] are requesting both licenses
for outdoor indoor indoor entertainment
[16:08] which is setting a good example I think
for the rest community case and indoor
[16:11] entertainment event does end up outside
they have the proper licenses in hand
[16:17] awesome
any further council discussion all right
[16:20] we'll go for our roll call vote
councelor Dinsmore yes madnick Yes.
[16:24] Reynolds. Yes. And Will Cox. Yes.
Thank you. Um, now we're on to our new
[16:30] hires.
We have first discussion and
[16:34] consideration of Brian Sheay for summer
camp director.
[16:39] Oh, I'm sorry. Assistant summer camp
director. I'm not liking my screen
[16:43] today. I'm going to blame everything on
that.
[16:46] Um,
I have a motion on this item. I'll make
[16:51] a motion to approve the the hiring of
Brian Sheay's assistant summer camp
[16:55] director. Second. Sure. We have our
motion, our second. Any council
[16:58] discussion on this one? Brian here. No,
he's not.
[17:06] All right. Um, so we'll go for a roll
call vote. How do you vote? Councelor
[17:09] Dinsmore, yes. Madnick, yes. Reynolds,
yes. And Will Cox, yes. All right. Now,
[17:14] we have discussion consideration of
hiring the summer camp counselors. Um,
[17:18] we can do this all in one motion, I'm
assuming and hoping. Thank you. Motion
[17:23] to hire the following summer camp
counselors.
[17:27] Erica Christensen, Julia Al Fontaine,
Amanda Moira, Isabelle Woody, Haley
[17:32] Silva, Joe Mcnite, Alexis Dugas,
Joselyn Pazuti,
[17:38] Elena.
Tried to practice that one. I apologize.
[17:44] Joseph Kuna, Audrey Oscorus,
Daffhne Grim.
[17:50] Second. Right. So, we have a motion or a
second. Any council discussion on hiring
[17:54] camp counselors
counselors here? No, they don't need to
[17:59] come. Kaitlin, do you want do you want
to say anything or um No. Okay.
[18:06] Question. No, I didn't know if you
wanted to say anything. That's No, I
[18:09] don't have any questions. They don't
want you to come here
[18:13] ready to say something and then they
didn't ask me. No, no, no. Even if we
[18:17] don't ask you, I mean staff always does
just say like raise they raise their
[18:20] hand if they're sitting out there and
they want to say something. So, um Okay,
[18:25] it's all good. So, we'll go for a roll
call vote. Councelor Densor, yes. Yes.
[18:30] Reynolds, yes. And Will Cox, yes. All
right. Uh discussion and consideration
[18:35] of hiring Arthur Burton as a DPW driver.
labor, truck driver, laborer. I have a
[18:41] motion on this item. A motion to
hire author Burton as DPW truck driver
[18:48] laborer. Second. Thank you. We got a
motion and our second. Any council
[18:51] discussion on this item? Mr. Burton
here.
[18:56] How you doing? Good. How are you? How
are you? Just always give the
[19:00] opportunity to people we're hiring or
appointing to say anything they want. We
[19:03] don't have to. It's not interrogation or
anything. No, I know. I I love Richmond.
[19:06] is a great town, beautiful people, and I
look forward to making a positive impact
[19:10] here.
Awesome. Great. Thank you.
[19:16] All right, so we'll go for a roll call
vote. Councelor Dinsmore, yes. Madnik,
[19:20] yes. Reynolds, yes. And Will Cox, yes.
Welcome to the party. Thank you.
[19:27] Appointments and resignations. We have
discussion and uh consideration request
[19:30] for a planning board appointment with
one vacancy. We have two applicants for
[19:33] this one. Uh Nancy Hess and Christopher
Serpia. I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing
[19:39] that. Um are applicants online or here?
NH.
[19:54] And um Christopher, if you're online,
please raise your hand, let us know
[19:57] you're there. Um, what I was thinking we
could do is hear from both applicants
[20:01] kind of like we did with other ones when
we have one position and two applicants
[20:04] and then we'll put a motion on the floor
for decision making
[20:10] here behind us. Nancy, you should have
audio.
[20:17] I'm going to face. Good evening.
[20:21] Good evening. We can hear you.
[20:27] Um, did you want to share a little bit
about why you're interested in the or
[20:29] coming back to the position? Um,
anything else you'd want to share with
[20:32] us is great as well.
Uh, sure. I've been a town resident for
[20:38] about 35 years. And of that time, I
think 20 or more, I have been a previous
[20:44] volunteer for the planning board. Uh,
with the recent brief hiatus, um, I
[20:49] think that's probably one of the longer
serving members. I am a professional
[20:54] planner. I worked for the federal
government, the private sector, three
[20:58] municipalities in Washington County, and
currently employed by statewide
[21:02] planning. So, I would like to return to
volunteering and helping my own
[21:08] community with my planning skills.
Awesome. Thank you so much, Erin. Did we
[21:14] find our other applicant on there?
[21:26] I don't have a raised hand unless it's
Miss Taylor Swift or resident Richmond
[21:31] resident GWP.
[21:35] You can chat if you can't raise your
hand. I would love to have Taylor Swift
[21:38] on our planning board, but I don't think
she's a Richmond resident.
[21:43] Maybe West will take her.
[21:48] All right. Um, so with him not being
here, we can't hear from him. I guess
[21:52] we'll go straight into our motions. Um,
did he say anything? Cuz sometimes
[21:57] applicants reach out in advance, say,
"Hey, something came up." Okay. Just
[22:00] making sure. All right. Motion to
appoint Nancy Hus to the planning board.
[22:04] Term expiring January 31st, 2026.
Second. All right. Any council
[22:10] discussion on this item?
[22:14] Yeah, sure. Go ahead, Mark. I just say
thank Nancy for coming back. I think,
[22:17] you know, she'd be a great addition. Her
experience obviously is speaks for
[22:20] itself and I think she'll be again a
great addition to the planning board.
[22:26] Again,
agreed. Yeah, for sure. Um, all right,
[22:30] we'll go for a roll call vote. Councelor
Dinsmore, no. Madnick, yes. Reynolds,
[22:34] yes. And Will Cox, yes. All right, on to
our next item. Discussion consideration
[22:39] for renewal for senior activities of
Joan Bergus for renewal to the senior
[22:43] activities committee. I have a motion to
approve this, please. So moved. Second.
[22:48] All right. Any council discussion
for renewal? They don't have to be here.
[22:52] I don't see her here.
All right. So, we'll go for a roll call
[22:56] vote. Councelor Dinsmore, yes. Madnick,
yes. Reynolds, yes. And Will Cox, yes.
[23:01] All right. On to we have Jacqueline
Lombardo. Request for renewal to the
[23:05] Senior Activities Committee with a term
expiring May 31st, 2028. Can I have a
[23:09] motion to approve this? So moved.
Second. All right. Uh any council
[23:13] discussion?
All right. Okay, we'll go for our vote.
[23:16] Councelor Dinsel, yes. Madnick, yes.
Reynolds, yes. And Will Cox, yes. Now we
[23:21] have discussion and consideration of
Jeffrey Noble's request for appointment
[23:24] to the finance board. He is here trying
to hide.
[23:29] If you don't mind just stepping up and
sharing a little bit of your interest in
[23:32] the finance board.
[23:38] Hi, Jeff Noble. Uh Richmond resident for
10 years. Um I already serve on the
[23:44] board of uh tax assessment review and uh
given the
[23:52] process of the last budget and the
referendum, not just like the results of
[23:56] the referendum, but also the process
seeing you guys up here going through
[24:00] line by line. You're doing a lot of
work. I thought maybe I could help out
[24:04] uh to alleviate that work by
volunteering for the finance committee.
[24:09] I also thought maybe um there's an issue
with communication, you know, as we've
[24:14] seen some misinformation came out about
the budget and I'd like to try and
[24:19] provide more information to the public
because this is truly a unique situation
[24:24] in my experience having lived several
different states and different even a
[24:29] different country you know a direct
democracy basically of approval of an
[24:34] annual budget and so
the executive authority for lack of a
[24:39] better term, actually rests with the
voters through the referendum. And it's
[24:44] difficult for voters to make informed
decisions unless they have all the
[24:48] facts. So, I'm hoping to take the budget
and help the finance committee
[24:54] make a better presentation to the public
so they can make informed decisions
[24:57] about what they're voting for and make
the town better. So, that's my spiel.
[25:03] That's awesome. Sounds like a good idea.
Any questions? Let's see. Anybody have
[25:07] any questions for Mr. Noble. All right.
Um, thank you. So, we'll go for a
[25:12] motion, please. Motion to appoint
Jeffrey W. Noble to the finance board
[25:18] with term expiring November 30th, 2029.
Second. All right. Any further council
[25:24] discussion?
All right. Uh, thank you for stepping up
[25:28] for another board. I look forward to
that idea actually have more information
[25:31] from the finance board to the public. I
think that'll be really helpful in
[25:36] future years just so people can learn
more about the process and get more
[25:38] information
before we start telling them to vote.
[25:42] Um, yeah. Thank you. We'll go for a roll
call vote. Councelor Dinsmore, no.
[25:47] Madnick, yes. Reynolds, yes. And Will
Cox, yes. Thank you.
[25:54] Um, we have a resignation of Christine
Donahghue from the dog park committee. I
[25:59] have a motion to accept. With regrets,
please. Motion to accept the uh
[26:04] resignation of Christine Donahghue from
the dog park committee with regrets.
[26:08] Second. Any council discussion? All
right. Um councelor Dmore, how do you
[26:13] vote? Yes. Madnik? Yes. Reynolds? Yes.
And Will Cox? Yes.
[26:20] I think we all want to skip this next
one. Say, did we have make a motion? We
[26:24] can't leave.
We even have our towns lister voting
[26:28] against it. Um all right. Uh motion to
accept Karen Pinch's resignation with
[26:33] regret. Second.
Any council discussion
[26:39] and with and with great thanks for her
many years and dedication to say our
[26:43] silence is sadness.
[26:47] Enjoy your retirement. Thank you.
All right. So we'll go for a roll call
[26:51] vote. Councelor Densmore. Yes. Madnick.
Yes. Reynold. Yes. And Will Cox. Yes.
[26:56] All right. On to our But you're not
leaving yet? No. No. No.
[27:02] On to the consent agenda. Do we have
anybody have anything they want to pull?
[27:06] Yes. 2C, please. 2C. The finance report.
Okay. Can I have a motion to pull the
[27:12] others?
Approve. Sorry. Yeah. Approve. Motion to
[27:15] approve the remainder of the consent
agenda.
[27:19] Second. All right. We have a motion or a
second. Any council discussion on these?
[27:25] All right. Um, council Moretti vote.
Yes. Madnick. Yes. Reynolds. Yes. And
[27:30] Will Cox. Yes. All right. What would you
like to talk about in the um finance
[27:36] director's report? All right. Bear with
me, Danielle. I got a couple questions
[27:39] coming at you and for the council. All
right. So, let me just uh scroll down
[27:43] here because there's a number of pages
on this. Um
[27:47] Danielle should know by now. I do read
these things.
[27:51] All right. So, I was looking at um the
income and
[27:58] we just got to find the right page here.
[28:04] Revenue. So, in miscellaneous income
year to date, it's 250,715.
[28:12] The projection and the budget was
136500.
[28:16] So, we've doubled the income. And then I
went and I looked down um further on in
[28:22] the detail for income and I saw that the
detail pay for police officers was way
[28:28] higher than what we expected. So I think
and and correct me if I'm wrong just if
[28:33] I'm understanding this, we get paid for
the detail pay and that detail pay then
[28:37] gets transferred to the police officers.
Yes, we pay the police officers after
[28:42] they do it immediately and then we get
reimbursed from the companies that do
[28:46] it. But if you look at the net here
detail revenue and then you look at the
[28:51] detail pay, you kind of have to subtract
those two, right? And that will give you
[28:56] what's left over. Okay. So there there's
no additional revenue coming into town
[29:00] for that. It's one to one. It's just
Yeah, we get monies for cruisers like
[29:05] the cruisers they do and we put that
aside into the um police
[29:13] for the capital purchase. Okay.
Um, just as a reminder, last time I was
[29:19] told that you were very quiet in the
meeting, so I can hear you fine. I don't
[29:22] know how you're coming across online on
Zoom and I'm all right. I just wanted to
[29:26] make sure.
Okay. And then I think we pretty much
[29:31] know what's going on here, but I just
want to bring it up. So, our legal
[29:34] services has almost doubled the
projections and there's um
[29:42] there's been quite a bit of litigation
and it took me a little bit of time to
[29:46] find it. Now I'm trying to find it on
the expenses which is we page four. Page
[29:51] four. Yeah. Yeah. So, litigation is
$106,000 over our projections. And in
[29:56] order to really understand it, you had
to really you had to go down into the
[30:00] actual expenses. And there were some
fees in there from attorneys I wasn't
[30:05] familiar with. And I know this is coming
at you cold, but do you recall
[30:12] um what that litigation was for that
litigation line item is well it's
[30:19] honestly so high because of the
preserve.
[30:22] Okay. So there we have different um
where is that? Where is it? Is the Is
[30:31] there a specific law from your Yeah. No.
Well, there was one in there. I I
[30:37] noticed I'm going to find it.
[30:46] Was it? I think that was a label. Yeah.
Ah, okay. Police. Yep. Okay. And then it
[30:55] looks like
on page two
[31:03] of
revenue. So summary of activity year to
[31:09] date
are we expected to have almost $491,000
[31:14] of
um increased revenue over expenses? Is
[31:19] that am I reading that correctly? the
summary of activity are we expecting we
[31:23] still have a whole month left and
everybody has to get their bills in by
[31:26] the end of okay June so so we won't know
for another month okay I was just
[31:31] looking at the projections and wasn't
sure if that number was going to No we
[31:35] still have several weeks
okay expenses and then if we scroll down
[31:41] into expenses for on page 10
hoping this is just a pass through but
[31:48] there is
[31:52] there is a charge for $120
for portable toilets for the food truck
[31:59] event on May 8th.
It's just a pass through. Yep. Okay. Uh
[32:04] we just got the check. We just put it
in. All right. It gives us a check the
[32:08] day of the event. Okay. I want to make
sure that we got reimbured because it's
[32:11] very clear in that pay it. Yep. Okay.
Thank you for your time. All
[32:20] Motion to approve item 2C. Second. Any
further council discussion on this item?
[32:26] All right. Councelor Jens, how do you
vote? Yes. Mick, yes. Reynolds, yes. And
[32:30] Will Cox, yes. All right.
Um, sorry, I'm going back to my agenda.
[32:36] We are on public forum. Um, the purpose
of public forum is to give members of
[32:40] the public an opportunity to address the
town council about items not on the
[32:43] agenda. We ask you to limit your
comments to three minutes. You have one
[32:46] opportunity to address the council
during public forum. This is out of
[32:49] courtesy uh for others who wish to speak
to ensure we have equal time for all.
[32:54] There will be a timer which will go off
when your three minutes are up so you
[32:56] know to finish. If you need more time,
we welcome you to submit your comments
[32:59] in writing to the town clerk to be
included as part of the record in the
[33:02] communication section of the agenda. Um
all comment should be directed to the
[33:07] president and not any other person
present. With that, do we have anybody
[33:10] who'd like to speak in public forum?
Sure. Go ahead, Mr. Ser.
[33:16] I'm just setting your timer.
I'm trying not to go over Bob say
[33:23] I just want to I know it's on the agenda
but it's already been voted on but I
[33:27] want to welcome Nancy Hess back and I
want to say how much we're going to miss
[33:34] this pinch. Um did a great job for the
town of Richmond. Um
[33:41] there's been some people that have stood
at this
[33:44] podium that have made condescending
remarks about
[33:51] the way this government is run against
people in this government and everything
[33:56] else. And it's funny, but they're not
here tonight. But I think that in this
[34:03] day and age with all the stuff that's
happened, this is the elected town
[34:07] council. If you've got a gripe with
them, bring it up. But to grandstand and
[34:14] make a big point about nothing, which
one in particular has done and then you
[34:21] go and you read some of the Westerly son
things and complains about them being,
[34:28] you know, other people being
condescending and everything else. I
[34:31] think all this stuff needs to stop.
Let's treat people with respect like
[34:36] supposed to you're inelected positions.
I personally think this is the best town
[34:41] council I've seen a long time. Thank
you. Thank you.
[34:47] Go ahead. I have to get up there. You
can stay there. Thank you. I just want
[34:53] to say that I've I'm an old lady and I
have been here since we've had town
[34:58] administrators. I've known them all and
I am so sad to see Karen leave. She's
[35:04] been an excellent one and I am very
sorry she's leaving. Thank you. You're
[35:10] very sweet.
Thank you.
[35:18] Anybody else from public forum? Anybody
online?
[35:22] Nope. All right, we will go on to
reports. Lady of the hour. It's me.
[35:31] All right. So, the first thing I want to
do is just share um some information
[35:34] about the community center that we're
sharing with Hopington. Um Hopington is
[35:40] currently renovating um a building that
was existing. They've gutted it. Um, I
[35:46] did tour it on uh May 23rd and Erin
actually has some photos that
[35:59] um Sam had just asked me to kind of
answer a few questions while I was there
[36:05] and one of them was like when is it
going to be done? So that'll be October
[36:09] or November of this year um if all stays
on target. Um, as far as what services
[36:15] they're going to provide, um, the state
actually had certain requirements in
[36:20] order to get the grant money. Certain
activities had to take place there. Um,
[36:25] that was, um, education,
uh, workforce readiness and health
[36:31] initiatives. Um, so at a minimum, those
things will take place there. Although I
[36:36] know they're also planning to do some
recreation activities there. Um, I did
[36:41] send you all today the uh memorandum of
agreement with Hopington. Just um I know
[36:48] you I don't think you were all here when
uh we signed to that. So, it's refresher
[36:53] for some and new information for others.
But we will have equal access to that um
[36:58] at resident prices. So, whatever Hington
residents pay, if anything, for a uh
[37:05] service, we would pay the same rate as
well.
[37:09] um and have equal access so they
wouldn't get priority over Richmond
[37:15] residents. Um
so um that's pretty much it on that
[37:20] unless anyone has any questions on it.
Were you able to I sorry I wasn't paying
[37:23] attention. Were you scrolling through
all the Okay, thanks. I do have a
[37:26] question. So one thing I read in that
contract is that it's only good for five
[37:29] years. Is there an opportunity you think
to extend that? I'm sure there would be
[37:33] an opportunity to reopen that
conversation. Yeah, that was something
[37:36] that we had questioned as a council. We
did not think it wasn't our favorite
[37:41] part of it. Um, but we were told by the
then solicitor that it was a part it was
[37:46] limited because of the grant. Um,
because I don't know it it made sense
[37:50] that they needed that to say it in order
for the grant process to go through.
[37:56] That was the reasoning we were given.
Fiveyear limit. Yeah. I'm hoping that
[38:00] towards the end of the five years we can
extend it. If I remember correctly, the
[38:04] five years is the time during which
those three activities have that are
[38:08] mandated by the state have to take
place. Um, which is, you know, what we
[38:14] gave our money for. So hopefully after
that time period, then we can
[38:19] renegotiate. I mean, we've lately had a
really good relationship with Hopington.
[38:24] Um, so I don't see any reason why we
wouldn't.
[38:30] Any other council questions or
discussions?
[38:33] All right. Someone from the public. Oh,
sure. Yes. Just wanted to ask you where
[38:38] is the building? Can you just um come to
the podium and state your name for the
[38:40] record? I was going to be the same
thing. Location, location, location.
[38:46] Julie, I'm just curious as to where the
building was. Are you familiar with the
[38:50] Crannle House? Yes. It's that building
kind of behind it. Um, so the the old
[38:57] house is kind of right on the street and
it's like kind of through the parking
[39:01] lot and right behind it. Very good.
Yeah. Thank you. And thank you for all
[39:05] your services. We're wonderful.
Appreciate it. It's a great area over
[39:09] there with all the basketball courts.
Yeah. Fields fields. Yeah. Right.
[39:15] Definitely.
All right.
[39:18] On to our next one. Second item I have
is uh an approval for an easement with
[39:23] Rhode Island Energy. Um, as you know, we
have the four log chlorination system
[39:27] that's going in on KG Ranch Road and
this is just um for the um for the power
[39:35] lines for that chlorination system.
Awesome. Can I have a motion on that?
[39:42] Uh
motion to approve the easement with
[39:46] Rhode Island Energy Naragans Electric
and Verizon to install utility pole at
[39:53] AP
uh 3V-2-00001
[39:57] AG Ranch Road. Second. Awesome. Any
council discussion or questions?
[40:03] All right, we'll go for our vote.
Councelor Dinsler, yes. Madnick, yes.
[40:07] Reynolds, yes. And Will Cox, yes. I
think that covers The next thing follow
[40:13] because you mentioned pole placement. We
may be able to. So the plan that was
[40:17] attached will be included in a typical
pole placement petition. However, um
[40:24] Verizon and Naragansa Electric who still
installs the poles for Rhode Island
[40:30] Energy hadn't submitted the placement in
time. However, it's understood that that
[40:35] is the location.
So you may be able to approve it
[40:39] conditional
approve it the petition even though we
[40:44] don't have a physical petition because
there is some time element to department
[40:48] of health and a consent. Okay. So if we
made a motion to approve with consent
[40:53] that you you give a final approval later
just to make sure it's matches what we
[40:58] have. Can we do that? Yeah. All right.
So I'm putting a motion on the floor.
[41:01] Motion to approve uh the pole placement
petition um with the condition of a
[41:06] final approval from our town
administrator. Second. Any council
[41:11] discussion?
All right, we'll go for a roll vote.
[41:14] Councelor Densler, yes. Adnick, yes.
Reynolds, yes. And Will Cox, yes. All
[41:19] right, one more item. Thank you. Yeah,
the last thing I have actually, we were
[41:23] going to have someone from GZA on the
call and I don't know if he's on. He
[41:28] sent an email um a little before 4 today
saying he had his daughter's dance
[41:33] recital, but he sent me a whole update
that I can read if he's not here yet.
[41:39] Okay.
Um so this is again an update for the
[41:46] environmental study that's going on at
for Richmond Townhouse Road. Um, so we
[41:50] said GZA environmental consultant was
contacted by the town to assist with the
[41:54] four Richmond townhouse road
redevelopment projects
[41:58] being funded by the US Department of
Housing and urban urban development. HUD
[42:03] requires an environmental review for all
funded projects. The environmental
[42:07] review is conducted to assess the
potential environmental impacts of a
[42:11] project that is funded by HUD. The
environmental review is a mandatory
[42:14] process before any funds can be spent on
the project.
[42:18] site is located directly across from the
town hall adjacent to Cherhaho
[42:22] furniture. Approximately 5.0
acre currently vacant property is mostly
[42:27] underdevelop undeveloped woodland with a
portion previously cleared and used as a
[42:32] staging area for the recent Ry dot
roadway improvement project. Propos
[42:37] proposed project is the development of a
community recreation space consisting of
[42:41] a pre-fabricated pavilion with ADA
compliant restrooms and accessible
[42:45] parking and associated septic and
utilities. The ER takes into account
[42:50] many factors including the surrounding
environment, natural resources, air,
[42:55] water, soil quality, and human health
among others. The ER is completed in
[43:01] sections for review by the HUD assigned
project manager. Once sections have gone
[43:05] through the pre-review process, they are
compiled and submitted to HUD for
[43:09] official approval. The pre-review
process is designed to streamline the
[43:13] approval process once officials
submitted officially submitted. We are
[43:19] currently in the pre-review process with
many sections with the HUD product
[43:22] project manager. Several community
notifications take place as part of the
[43:27] review. required notifications have been
sent to aerial uh area tribal
[43:32] communities, historic preservation
society, etc. So they are made aware of
[43:37] the project and for their comment. These
letters were sent on May 25th to various
[43:42] entities. They have 30 days to respond.
If no response, then we may proceed. As
[43:48] of 61725, we have not received any
responses.
[43:53] Currently waiting on HUD's pre-review of
several sections. They've expressed
[43:56] their apologies for the delay in review,
but they are currently severely
[43:59] understaffed with this project being
passed along to a West Coast
[44:03] representative.
Lastly, although the ER has not been
[44:06] finalized, the results of our review
find that we do not anticipate any
[44:10] adverse impacts that would require an
alteration the proposed project or
[44:15] standard away.
Sounds all good. Awesome. Anybody have a
[44:20] question on that?
All right. Thank you, Karen. Sure. All
[44:27] right. So, we'll go on to the chief's
report.
[44:31] Everybody, good evening. How are you
folks? How are you chief?
[44:37] I have to comment like everybody else.
To serve with Karen Pence for the last
[44:43] 10 years has been you really you are
somebody to be proud of and truly have
[44:49] integrity. I don't know how you keep
track of all the things that you juggle
[44:52] on a daily basis, but it's impressive.
You'll be missed and I wish you very
[44:57] happy retirement.
Uh, I just wanted to update you on Derek
[45:01] Adams. He's the patrol officer that we
hired back in January to fill one of two
[45:06] vacant positions. One of those was
tragically caused by the death of Sy
[45:11] back in October. He is everything that
we hoped he was going to be. He
[45:16] graduated high in his class. He was six
out of 44 when they add up all the
[45:21] points as to academics, athletic
performance. Um the director of the
[45:26] academy actually called me. We had a
conversation. He said, "You got a really
[45:31] good guy there. Good luck keeping him."
He said, "He's he's the kind of person
[45:35] he'll fit in any." And he he's very
attentive and he's been in FTO. So what
[45:40] happens is the academy goes on for about
five months. And when you graduate from
[45:44] that, you have about 14 weeks of field
training. senior officer who's been
[45:48] trained in observations of all the
requisite skill sets that you need. I
[45:52] mean, the most important thing is hiring
the right person that has the right
[45:55] personality, has integrity, cares about
the public, they're going to succeed
[45:59] because that's what the public wants and
they create less problems because in in
[46:04] his instance, he really treats people
respectfully professionally. But the FTO
[46:09] uh trainers are so impressed with him at
his level of attention to detail, taking
[46:15] notes while he's learning, trying to get
the best performance he can on himself.
[46:20] Just really impressive. So he's in a
position, probably has about 10 weeks to
[46:24] go depending on where he's at at that
time, but right now he's right on track.
[46:30] I'd like to thank the field training
officers behalf
[46:33] Taylor and Andy Bry filled in.
Awesome. Thank you so much. Thanks,
[46:39] Chief. All right.
Um, we're not in a public forum. We're
[46:44] adding to the town clerk's report. We're
on I wanted to follow the chief if you
[46:49] didn't mind. It has something to do with
the police department. Um, sure. Bravo.
[46:54] Um, I've been at the high school for
quite a while now. And the chief sent
[46:58] overman
Mike Ellis who just Today's the last day
[47:03] of school at Cherokee.
Patrolman Ellis was the SRO did a
[47:09] remarkable job for the high school. Not
only did he take care of the kids, but
[47:14] you found out that the kids approached
him and had conversations with him
[47:20] initiated by students. That's
unbelievably wonderful. That goes to the
[47:25] professionalism of him and also of our
chief for giving him to us. And I want
[47:30] to shout out to him. Perhaps the town
council in the future might want to have
[47:34] a commendation for this for this
gentleman. Thank you. Thank you. I
[47:39] agree. He's amazing. Excuse me. Do you
mind if we grab your name, sir? Your
[47:43] name for the record. Oh, Cardos of C do
River Junction. Robert, thank you.
[47:53] All right. On to our clerk's report.
Okay. So, um, based on last week's
[48:01] vote. I confirmed with Danielle in her
timelines and the board of elections and
[48:08] um I think we alluded that we could
probably have it July 1st. However,
[48:12] that's Fourth of July and I have
concerns of having enough pole workers.
[48:16] Um plus having a popular holiday
vacation might not be ideal for a vote.
[48:23] So, Tuesday, July 8th is what is
proposed and the voting hours the same.
[48:28] will be here at town hall from 8 am to
8.
[48:32] All right, that sounds good to me. Do we
have a motion to approve this date?
[48:36] A motion to uh set the date for the uh
Richmond budget referendum on July 8th,
[48:42] 2025, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Second. All
right, so we got our motion, our second.
[48:48] Any council discussion?
All right, roll call vote. Council
[48:52] Dinsour, yes. Fick, yes. Reynolds, yes.
And Will Cox, yes. I see you need us to
[48:57] approve the ballot question as well.
Yes. So I don't know if it's the
[49:01] preference of the council to have the
previous question
[49:06] which was um shall the Richmond
municipal budget for fiscal year 2526 as
[49:12] adopted by the town council
or should you want a new one that has to
[49:19] let the printer know. Okay.
I like it as is. Um anyway, my only
[49:26] thought was to add the word revised
since it was revised. So people
[49:30] understand it's different than it was
before. But that's six of one half does.
[49:34] I think at least it's clear that this is
a revised from the pre previous.
[49:40] I support that.
You want to put it into a motion? Sure.
[49:44] I make a motion to approve the ballot
question just to add the word revise to
[49:49] what
Erin just stated. Where would you want
[49:54] you to say the question like where do
you want it to say revised as revised by
[49:57] the Richmond Town the revised budget
adopted by Richmond Town Council?
[50:02] Perfect. The Richmond municipal budget
for fiscal year 2526 as revised and
[50:08] adopted by the town council be approved.
Sure. Second.
[50:12] Any council discussion on that? All
right. Council vote. Yes. Madnick. Yes.
[50:17] Reynolds. Yes. And Will Cox? Yes. All
right. Thank you, Aaron. on to our EMA
[50:22] director's report. Um, Nicholas, you are
here. Tried to hide, but we called you
[50:28] anyway. Um, thank you so much for
getting this to us. Yeah, I'll turn it
[50:33] over to you to share what you'd like to
share. Um, so just I met with uh Talia
[50:39] and Gary. Talia is our town planner.
Gary, our DPW director, reviewed the
[50:43] items that were presented as uh hazards.
There were 29 in total first in 2022.
[50:49] Um, I went through basically kind of sat
down with them to try to guess and I
[50:55] shouldn't say guess decide where we're
at on those items and move forward if we
[51:00] need to move forward on them. Um, I sent
the memo to Karen. I believe she
[51:05] forwarded on to all of you as well. Um,
basically we just I laid out every
[51:11] question um in reference back to the
hazardification plan to try to get um
[51:17] you guys as much information as
possible.
[51:19] Uh most of the items are either in
progress, have been completed, or have
[51:24] been addressed based on where they're
going to be in their progress. So for
[51:30] that much, it's pretty much up to date
now. Awesome. Appreciate it. Any council
[51:36] questions? Yes. Sure. Go ahead,
councelor Madnick. Bear with me. This is
[51:40] going to be a while because I read
through this whole thing. It was very
[51:42] important that um we went through this.
So, I'm basically going to go down the
[51:47] same numbering scheme that you provided
us based on the actions in the hazard
[51:50] mitigation plan. I don't expect you to
know the answers to these questions, but
[51:54] perhaps you can look into them and get
back to the council so we can decide um
[51:59] how to take action. Very similar process
to how we went through the comprehensive
[52:04] community plan. Um it's important that
we go through these and understand what
[52:08] needs to get done and how the council
can help facilitate this because this is
[52:12] really important to town residents. make
sure that we can um protect our town and
[52:16] protect the safety of everyone that
lives here. Um okay, so um number one
[52:23] which is the
uh implement the mitigation strategies
[52:27] identified to reduce flood vulnerability
and routine damages in the lodge
[52:32] neighborhood. So there is a grant um
through the natural resources
[52:36] conservation district that was um
implemented to and awarded to study the
[52:42] flooding in Valley Lodge. Do we know
what the status of that study is? Do we
[52:46] have any results on that? I do not. Um I
can try to get answers on that. U
[52:52] respectfully though with the with the
agenda item like listed as a hazard
[52:56] mitigation update, right? Should we be
getting into specifics of specific areas
[53:00] in particular? I know people from Valley
Lodge get very upset and not upset like
[53:04] passionate about their area. I would
just want to just proceed with caution
[53:08] with getting too far into it. I don't
know. That could just be me because the
[53:12] agenda item does just say um I'll go to
it because I have my notes up and it's
[53:18] not fair that I can ask questions that
we ask. No, no, no. I'm not saying it's
[53:22] not fair you can't ask questions.
Nobody's saying you can't ask questions.
[53:25] It just says EMA director's report
annual hazard mitigation plan review. I
[53:28] just with um the first question being
about Valley Lodge, it just gives me a
[53:32] little bit of pause just because I know
that a lot of people would want to be a
[53:36] part of that conversation um and be
notified of it. That's my concern. But I
[53:40] think that would be a concern I guess
for the solicitor to I think help us out
[53:44] on
Sure. Go ahead. No, I I think the the
[53:48] question is what's the status of the
study? That's
[53:52] not what are we going to it's not a what
are we going to do about it. It's what's
[53:55] the status of this study. And I think
that's that's fair. Exactly. Why I'm
[54:00] saying when we go forward proceed with
caution and just give what we know, what
[54:05] we don't know, and we'll come back later
with it actually being noticed on the
[54:08] agenda.
Um, sure. Go ahead, Karen. I have some.
[54:11] She might have an answer. Actually, just
this week got uh an announcement from
[54:16] NRCS about a stakeholders meeting
related to this PL 566 um project. And
[54:25] that meeting is July 1st at 10:00 a.m.
at our community center in the second
[54:32] floor of the police station.
[54:37] I can share that. with you all. That'll
be good to share everywhere. Yeah. I
[54:42] mean, I think we should put it on the
website and Facebook page as well.
[54:56] Okay, I can uh I can move on. Um so I'm
just going to skip to the ones that have
[55:00] been completed that are in progress. So
number three in the hazard hazard
[55:04] mitigation plan is elevate the road beds
at Mechanic Street and Switch Road at
[55:08] Diamond Brook, Pineh Hill at Metobrook,
and Pineh Hill at Whitebrook. So it says
[55:13] it's in progress. Um do you know which
portions of the road beds have been
[55:16] elevated or um tended to? Uh I don't off
the top of my head. Um I have that
[55:22] conversation with Gary and I honestly
don't remember off the top of my head.
[55:25] Okay. Um if possible, do you think you
can Yeah, I can work with Gary and get
[55:29] you that to the council. Okay.
Um for numbers four, five, and six on a
[55:35] hazard mitigation plan, it had to do
with um potential acquisition of highly
[55:40] floodprone properties, there are federal
um programs that allow for um purchase
[55:47] of homes that keep getting flooded out,
but there's been no parties interested
[55:50] in that. So, I just want to make that
statement. Um number seven is storm
[55:54] water management improvements and that
address runoff from 195 and three. Um,
[56:02] and I'm going to tie this in with number
eight, which as well, which is upgrading
[56:06] Colulberts to manage summer runoff for
one uh route 138. So, I guess the
[56:10] question for you, Nick, is do you think
it's worthwhile to set up a meeting with
[56:14] Ry dot to talk about this? And if any
action has taken place and how we can
[56:19] work together to try to mitigate it.
Yeah, absolutely. Um, I I don't have any
[56:24] contacts with Ry. I'm still obviously
very new trying to get my feet wet with
[56:28] every department in the state. Um, but
I'm going to This was just to get you
[56:33] guys a report of where we were at from
what the information I was able to
[56:37] gather in the couple short months.
Absolutely. This, like I said, this is
[56:41] great. Now that we have it, we can start
taking actions to try to move this thing
[56:46] along. Um, that's what we're here for.
So, number nine is interesting. It's
[56:51] update design storm precipion
precipitation amounts to for subdivision
[56:55] design. I know that Talia's here, so she
might pipe in with this one, but I don't
[57:02] believe that the town manages or
regulates a storm water precipitation
[57:06] amounts has to do with RIM with the um
Rifties permits. Um does the town have
[57:12] any input or control over how these
storm water management precipitation
[57:16] calculations are performed? I'm not sure
on that.
[57:20] All would be the better one to speak on
that for sure. that
[57:25] I'm not prepared to apply on that right
at this moment in time. Okay.
[57:31] Um, all right. So, number 10 was hire a
grant administrator to be tracking,
[57:36] pursuing, and managing hazard mitigation
plan related grants. So, hazard
[57:41] mitigation is going to be another focus
of the grant writer position that we
[57:44] just removed from the budget. So this is
going to be delayed until
[57:48] the town is open to hiring a grant
writer to help with hazard mitigation
[57:52] programs. So another reason why a grant
writer would have been important
[57:56] position. Um
okay so moving on to
[58:02] number 11 and kind of number 11 and 12
has to do with stream and river
[58:06] flooding. So, it's uh coordinating um
with town and local agencies and the DPW
[58:13] to um determine if there's any blockages
or debris in some of our waterways. So,
[58:20] Nick, do you know if there's a an alert
system or some way that the residents
[58:25] that we can maybe publish that the
residents can reach out to DPW if there
[58:30] is a blockage that's creating flooding?
Uh usually anything that is discovered
[58:34] is usually just called into the DVW
directly and they report it that way.
[58:38] Okay. Um if it's a major event, we open
the EOC, the emergency operations
[58:42] center. It is staffed. We'll have
somebody there that takes those calls
[58:46] while Gary is on the road helping,
assisting in other ways because we have
[58:50] a small crew. We have to do with what we
can. Um but we do put somebody from EMA
[58:55] in the EOC to take those calls and try
to help in any way we can. Do do you
[59:00] think it's worthwhile to consider
putting something on the Richmond
[59:03] website about contacting DPW if there is
some kind of blockage? Uh potentially.
[59:09] Yeah. As as long as it's to it's address
it as major blockages that could
[59:14] potentially cause more flooding and
damage to other properties. I think
[59:18] that's the big thing. If it's a small
drain that's just a little puddle at
[59:22] this point during a major event that
might be end up further down the list
[59:27] than something that's majorly causing a
road to be closed or something like that
[59:31] where we have to address it right away.
All right. Um so moving on to numbers
[59:38] 14, 15 and 16 in the plan which have to
do with um wetland restoration
[59:45] um pursuing permanent land protection
for various parcels within within
[59:50] Richmond um that happen to have be high
priorities for for flooding. So um has
[59:56] the conservation commission been engaged
at all about progress on these and if
[1:00:01] there's any interest in moving forward
with some of these mitigation actions? I
[1:00:05] haven't heard yet on that. Okay. Um, do
you think you can reach out to them?
[1:00:11] Yes. And and ask if there's been any
move in and maybe we can have discussion
[1:00:15] as a council and a conservation
commission on what we can do about
[1:00:19] those.
Do you want to put that into a motion
[1:00:23] for coun uh for a direction to town
employee? Yeah, I just gonna kind of
[1:00:27] wait till the end. That was the first
direction I think I heard. Okay. All
[1:00:32] right. So, I will make a motion to um
request our EMA director to reach out to
[1:00:38] the conservation commission to discuss
items 14, 15, and 16 and their status in
[1:00:44] the hazard migation bud. Second. Any
further council discussion on that one?
[1:00:49] All right, we'll go for our vote.
Councelor Dmore, yes. Madnick, yes.
[1:00:52] Reynolds, yes. And Will Cox, yes. All
right, on to your next question. We're
[1:00:57] almost there. There's 29 of these, so um
just
[1:01:02] plus do we know on so number 17 is
implementation of the recommendations
[1:01:08] from the PL566 program but since we just
got some information that they're going
[1:01:12] to meet with us um I guess that's my
questions move but essentially what I
[1:01:16] was going to be asking is how any of
that was being implemented some of their
[1:01:19] direction but we haven't had anything
um
[1:01:24] number 18 is raising the retaining wall
around the pump station at Wood River
[1:01:29] Drive um do Do we know if
anything has any action that's been
[1:01:36] taken for that? If it's how it's being
funded because I don't remember seeing
[1:01:39] in the capital improvement plan. Um just
in conversations with Gary again, it's
[1:01:45] been in on the list of projects. Uh it's
not r if you
[1:01:53] following with what the hazard
mitigation had laid out. Um it was not
[1:01:57] labeled as a high priority item.
uh
[1:02:05] it's labeled as a low priority yet. So
that's why it hasn't been brought
[1:02:09] forward as far as that goes yet. Okay.
So that's just something we'll do when
[1:02:12] we have budget in time. Correct. Got it.
All right. Um
[1:02:20] Okay. For number 19, which is encourage
private owners to create emergency
[1:02:25] action plans. And what you reported to
us for number 19, this has to do with
[1:02:29] dams. Um, you said the Wood River Dam
has an e EAP emergency action plan that
[1:02:34] was submitted to Ry dot since it's a Ry
dot dam.
[1:02:39] So the the EMA completed an EAP for
uh the the dam Horseshoe Falls, but the
[1:02:46] owner is currently unknown. So, I
reached out to the state on this because
[1:02:50] um I did find our EAP that we had
created in
[1:02:54] 2022.
Um
[1:02:58] when I reached out, they do not um
because it's not considered a
[1:03:02] high-risisk dam, they do not feel that
it needs to be um gone into uh title
[1:03:07] searching and that because obviously it
has to be funded for for title
[1:03:11] searching. um in conversations with
other uh departments as well and we have
[1:03:17] no idea who the current owner is. Um the
previous owner was redacted I shouldn't
[1:03:22] say redacted crossed out at the time of
the EAP for the last known that we had
[1:03:27] and when reached out to he was not the
current owner. So okay so no but they
[1:03:33] claim it's low risk so it with or
without an owner shouldn't be be an
[1:03:38] issue for us. It's great. Um okay so
number 20 is assessing opportunities for
[1:03:44] dry flood proofing of the town hall and
then 21 is implementing dry flood
[1:03:48] proofing at town hall and this is to
protect um vital records. I know that we
[1:03:53] now have an online system. So, this
question is mainly directed probably to
[1:03:56] our admin and our account clerk. Is do
we still have a concern over protecting
[1:04:01] paper vital records in our basement? And
is there action that the council needs
[1:04:07] to consider protect them
or do anything about it? Who wants to
[1:04:13] take this one? You guys are smiling back
and forth at each other. See some eye
[1:04:16] rolls, too. Be a good one. Yeah, we lost
a lot of records
[1:04:20] um not land evidence in 2010 that
weren't required to be filmed. The
[1:04:26] records there is a um little
I have implemented a process to review
[1:04:34] the records in the locked area of the
basement to ensure that no more um
[1:04:40] records go on the floor and they're
raised. However, um we do have a
[1:04:47] secondary vault with a locking mechanism
that's raised for that is not currently
[1:04:52] being utilized. So, we do have a plan in
place to replace that as historical
[1:04:58] record funds become available. Um but we
need to go through everything and all
[1:05:03] departments need to um remove whatever
we can destroy that we don't need to
[1:05:08] retain. Um that needs to happen before
projected.
[1:05:13] But we need to retain records that are
permanent but not necessarily are all
[1:05:19] filmed. So that is a concern and plus
archive is saying that there's not
[1:05:25] currently a digital accepted practice to
remove those permanent records from a
[1:05:30] physical paper form because of the
changes in format like we used to have
[1:05:36] floppy discs and CDs and even scanning
and converting to PDF. So microfilm is
[1:05:42] really truly the only way that that
process is expensive and those are
[1:05:46] stored offsite. So I don't have concern
of land evidence and probate just that
[1:05:51] is filmed and not stored there but um
there's other permanent records that are
[1:05:56] not that will need to be addressed. Have
we had any flooding issues since 2010 in
[1:06:02] the basement? Not yet.
Aaron, is it um Rhode Island Foundation
[1:06:08] that provides the historical record
fund? There is there's a grant for the
[1:06:13] Rhode Island, but also through um
conveyance and taxes. It's state law
[1:06:17] that um funds be set aside for every
recording and a percentage of that goes
[1:06:22] towards technology and a percentage goes
toward historical records. And as that
[1:06:27] builds up, um it's, you know, recorded
in deeds. It's not a budgeted, it's not
[1:06:32] a um and it can only be used for those
two purposes. And so that project is um
[1:06:39] going to be quite expensive. So we're
not there yet, but it will the basement
[1:06:45] will be addressed before the upstairs
vault due to the need storage.
[1:06:51] So um because we have scanned maps and
done other projects, we've used
[1:06:56] historical funds and so we just need and
obviously recording is still flow in
[1:07:00] this economy. It is glad to see the
vault has been very busy the last few
[1:07:04] weeks. So that was a good sign that
people are um you know looking to
[1:07:09] record. So hopefully recording will
increase and we can get that.
[1:07:17] Right. That's all I got for that one.
All right. So, um, number 22 has to do
[1:07:22] with repair the perimeter fencing to
secure the Shanik Hill radio
[1:07:25] communication tower. Um,
you know, if that's been implemented
[1:07:32] that part of the Yeah. Yeah. So, that
that uh fencing is repaired if it does
[1:07:37] get damaged at all. It's just
unfortunately children get into the area
[1:07:42] and break fence sometimes. If it does,
it's discovered that it's fixed. Okay.
[1:07:47] Yeah. So that was part of the uh upgrade
and everything. Uh no that's the upgrade
[1:07:52] is separate. Okay. The the security is
totally separate from the upgrade of the
[1:07:56] town. Okay. Yeah. Didn't we we talked
about this recently that we got a grant
[1:08:00] for some additional uh cameras systems
for the town. That's part of the
[1:08:05] security measures. Well um we actually
we applied for one for cameras but I
[1:08:12] don't think we're going to get it
because we don't have the match.
[1:08:16] Um, but we have the
the USDA money for for the tow, right?
[1:08:24] That doesn't include any security
measures around it. I can't remember to
[1:08:29] tell you the truth whether cameras were
included in that specific grant or not,
[1:08:33] but there was a separate grant that we
had applied to Senator Reid for cameras
[1:08:38] here everywhere here. Undisclosed
locations. Yes. Thank you. You're
[1:08:44] welcome, Chief.
I was like, "Don't say too much."
[1:08:50] All right, almost done. Um, all right.
So, number 23 was um backup uh new
[1:08:56] backup generator for town hall. So, we
got that one. So, that's great. And
[1:08:59] then, so number four, number 24 and 25.
So, the first one is develop a Richmond
[1:09:04] debris management plan. The second one
is update the Richmond emergency
[1:09:08] operations plan and community
emermergency management plan. Um, I know
[1:09:12] that some of these emergency management
plans might have some safety issues,
[1:09:16] security problems, so you wouldn't want
to publish it. But generally for both of
[1:09:19] those items, are they published? And if
they are published, are they accessible
[1:09:24] to the public? Um, as far as the
emergency action uh operations plan, I'm
[1:09:29] not entirely sure on the two plans
themselves. I know there are certain
[1:09:35] parts of it that are supposed to be kept
back because of security reasons, safety
[1:09:39] reasons for everybody. Um I'm currently
trying to locate the most recent uh
[1:09:46] action plan. We're in the process of
obviously getting everything to me for
[1:09:52] um EMA.
The last update that I have been able to
[1:09:56] find in the EOC has been from 2011. Um
after talking with Josel, there was a
[1:10:01] more recent plan done. I'm just trying
to locate it. Um so that's in progress.
[1:10:07] Um, and once I do get the most current
one, it will be updated to today or when
[1:10:13] it gets done.
[1:10:18] All right, moving on. All right, so
number 27 28 have to do with um fire
[1:10:23] protection. So 27 is develop a wildland
urban interface fire plan or community
[1:10:28] wildfire protection plan and 28 is
improve emergency access to fire gates.
[1:10:34] So, we had a fairly large fire local to
us a couple years back, the Extorum
[1:10:39] Wildfire, and there was a new forestry
initiative that was um actually um
[1:10:44] chaired by our district representative
um Megan Carter. Do you know if 27 28
[1:10:50] are being addressed as part of that new
forestry initiative? So, I believe uh
[1:10:55] they are in there as well. Um I'm not
entirely sure how much of them is
[1:10:59] involved in it, but
from my understanding there's a lot
[1:11:03] going on uh from Representative Conside
as well as the chief of Richmond and a
[1:11:09] few other chiefs in the area that are
heavily involved with it.
[1:11:14] Okay. And then the final one has to do
with um increased public education on
[1:11:17] tickborne diseases. Um the conservation
commission is the lead on this.
[1:11:25] Do you know if
there's any um additional information
[1:11:29] published on our website about about
that. You said it was unknown. Yeah, I'm
[1:11:34] not I did a little bit of digging. I
couldn't find much. I know Department of
[1:11:37] Health has a little bit listed on their
website. Um other than that, I'm not
[1:11:42] sure on other resources we have, if we
have anything posted here or if we have
[1:11:46] anything. I didn't really find anything
on our website. So, well, might be worth
[1:11:51] considering. um URI just right down the
road. Of course, um they have something
[1:11:54] called a tick encounter and it's a
fairly straightforward website that you
[1:11:58] can go and click on. It'll tell you all
kinds of information about ticks, what
[1:12:02] kind of ticks we have, what kind of
disease they carry, and then how to get
[1:12:04] them tested. Um it might be worthwhile
to consider putting that a link to that
[1:12:09] on our website so people can look at
that in case they have any concerns.
[1:12:15] And that's all I got. So, I really
appreciate your time doing this and
[1:12:18] thank you for sitting here, everyone,
and listening to me drag on for 20
[1:12:22] minutes about it.
You're welcome.
[1:12:28] Nick, I I have in my file an emergency
operations plan that's dated 2016. The
[1:12:34] plan itself doesn't have a date on it,
but the date of the file is 2016. I
[1:12:39] think that was the that was just Yeah.
Okay. A review from the 2011.
[1:12:45] All right. Thank you again. Thank you.
Thanks, Nick. All right. Next, we have
[1:12:50] our land trust report. All right. Can
take the podium and share with us what's
[1:12:54] going on at Salia Preserve. Yes. All
right. Hi everyone. Suzanne Payton, um,
[1:13:00] current chair of the Richmond Royal
Preservation Land Trust. Um, yeah, I
[1:13:05] just wanted to give a quick update
because it's been a really long time
[1:13:08] coming. Um we have completed the parking
area for the sale of preserve the
[1:13:14] property just as I did submit the um the
final report from Horsesley Whitten
[1:13:19] which was the engineer that we had hired
to do the design for the parking area
[1:13:24] and then we went out to bid in the fall.
We hired um a construction firm Celitro
[1:13:29] Property Solutions. They've done the
construction. It was completed in May.
[1:13:34] We've submitted the the final
documentation for our our permit from
[1:13:38] Rhode Island DEM and so it's all
finalized. We just need to install the
[1:13:42] sign. We're working on the final sign
and then we're hoping to have like a
[1:13:46] groundbreaking or you know ribbon
cutting, I don't know, opening. Um but
[1:13:51] so just to give you an just everyone
broadly, the property is 112 acres. It
[1:13:57] doesn't have frontage on the it didn't
have frontage on the road. We have a
[1:14:00] ride of way through the adjacent
property to what's now the parking lot
[1:14:04] which you can see there which is at the
end of Chelsea Farm Drive. And so we'll
[1:14:08] have a trail head there. We had an Eagle
Scout back in uh 2022 construct a kiosk
[1:14:14] on the actual property which will be
just sort of down the trail a little
[1:14:18] ways. Um, and then we had another Eagle
Scout just this spring who constructed a
[1:14:25] beautiful bridge across a stream. And
we've got about a 1.7 mile trail that's
[1:14:30] already blazed and ready for the public.
Um, so as soon as we get a sign
[1:14:34] installed, we'll be ready to open it.
And this was funded through a trail
[1:14:38] grant from Rhode Island DEM. We
originally applied for the grant in
[1:14:42] 2020. Karen knows that there uh with the
permission of the town council. Um, the
[1:14:46] bid, the low bid was way above that. Um
when we finally got to that point um the
[1:14:52] grant was not awarded until 2022 and
then by the time we got all the design
[1:14:56] and everything done um so we asked for
another 40,000 and they gave it to us.
[1:15:01] They amended the grant, added an extra
40,000 and extended us through December
[1:15:06] of 2025 to complete all the paperwork.
So, we've been submitting um all of the
[1:15:11] documentation and they'll be reimbursing
us for I I was worried Dan was gonna
[1:15:16] bring that up that we've paid out uh
over $100,000 um but it will be
[1:15:22] reimbursed uh as soon as I get
everything into ecics um from from Rhode
[1:15:27] Island. And I think that's it. I just
wanted to it just we're excited. So,
[1:15:33] it's a beautiful beautiful property.
It's really gorgeous. really hilly.
[1:15:39] There's some beautiful big rocks with
moss all over them and it's it's just
[1:15:42] it's forested and gorgeous and yeah,
that's awesome. Thank you so much for
[1:15:46] all the work you put into that years and
years. The whole committee um put a lot
[1:15:50] of work our land trust uh put a lot of
work into it and I really appreciate,
[1:15:53] you know, you guys volunteering and
putting your time and effort into it. Um
[1:15:57] I have one question. Sure. Is it open to
the public? You know, we're here talking
[1:16:00] about it. If someone were to go there,
would they get in trouble? No, that's
[1:16:02] the whole
point is that it's open to anyone,
[1:16:07] everyone. Absolutely. Um, honestly, if
you drive there now, you can you can
[1:16:12] selfn
were we don't have the official sign up
[1:16:15] yet. So, and we Oh, we also had um Pete
Stson help us to create a trail map. So,
[1:16:22] he GPS the trail. We've got the map. We
need to have it printed and then posted
[1:16:26] on the kiosk. Um, so we're just doing a
few final things to make sure that the
[1:16:31] public sort of knows where they are and
it's well signed and all of that before
[1:16:35] we officially open it. But I think the
neighbors have figured it out.
[1:16:40] I see sign that there have been hiding.
People are hiking. The dog that there's
[1:16:44] the dogs are Yeah, people are walking
their dogs and and enjoying it locally.
[1:16:48] Good. Um, yeah. Good. Awesome. Thank you
again. Yeah, that's great. Thanks,
[1:16:52] Suzanne.
All right, on to new business. We're
[1:16:56] kicking it off with councelor Dinsmore's
request. Do you want to share a little
[1:17:00] bit and then give us a motion a request
or dis for discussion and consideration
[1:17:04] of approving a resolution opposing Rhode
Island General Assembly Bill H 543625
[1:17:10] and S uh 35925.
Um I just want to read the U
[1:17:19] resolution. Sure. and
[1:17:25] it goes
[1:17:29] state of Rhode Island, town of Richmond
on the subject of Rhode Island general
[1:17:32] assembly bills H5436
[1:17:37] 2025 and S3592025.
[1:17:41] Whereas the state of Rhode Island has a
written constitution and whereas article
[1:17:47] 14 of the Rhode Island Constitution
provides for a means to amend that
[1:17:51] constitution. And whereas House Bill
5436 and Senate Bill 359 seek to curtail
[1:17:58] the rights afforded by section 22 of the
Rhode Island Constitution such that
[1:18:04] their legal effect would be
substantively
[1:18:08] equivalent to an amendment of section 22
of the Rhode Island Constitution. And
[1:18:13] whereas should the general assembly and
the electors of Rhode Island wish to
[1:18:17] amend the Rhode Island Constitution, the
amendment process shall follow the rules
[1:18:22] long established in article 14, section
1 of the Rhode Island Constitution. And
[1:18:27] whereas Rhode Island House Bill 5436,
Rhode Island Senate Bill 359 seeks to
[1:18:33] bypass this amendment process.
We conclude that House Bill 5436 and
[1:18:38] Senate Bill 359 are extra legal by their
very nature.
[1:18:45] Therefore, we the town of Richmond
representing the residents of Richmond
[1:18:49] who seek to abide by the laws of the
state resolve to oppose the two proposed
[1:18:54] bills H5436205
and S3592025.
[1:19:01] We have further resolved that this
resolution be sent to the governor of
[1:19:04] Rhode Island, all members of the general
assembly of Rhode Island, Lieutenant
[1:19:07] Governor of Rhode Island, and the
attorney general of Rhode Island, and
[1:19:10] the town councils of all cities and
towns in Rhode Island.
[1:19:17] Get a motion for us.
[1:19:21] Um, make a motion to approve this
resolution.
[1:19:26] Propose the island general assembly bill
H 5436 2205 and S3592025.
[1:19:34] I'll second it. All right. So, we have
our motion, our second for discussion.
[1:19:37] We're going to do council discussion
first, then go to the public. Any
[1:19:40] counselors want to add anything? Do you
have anything you want to add? Councelor
[1:19:43] Dbor
got anything? Sure.
[1:19:49] Sure. Go ahead. His hand was up first.
Mark, I don't think he raised his hand.
[1:19:52] I heard your voice first. Go ahead,
Councelor Maddik. Well, I'm gonna
[1:19:55] actually I'm gonna let Mark go first.
I'm going to yield my time to him. Mark
[1:19:58] is an attorney. Like to hear what his
perspective is on this or I say All
[1:20:02] right. Go ahead, Councelor Reynolds.
Well, I mean, my perspective isn't a
[1:20:05] legal one. Uh, I I I do not support
either of these bills. I think they're
[1:20:10] overly broad. I think their definition
of what an assault weapon is is uh is
[1:20:16] too broad. Um I think it
infringes too too heavily on legitimate
[1:20:24] uses of weapons for hunting and and
sport and other reasons. So for that
[1:20:28] reason, I don't support them. The issue
I have with this the language of the
[1:20:33] resolution is we're essentially saying
we think it's unconstitutional. I don't
[1:20:37] know if it is or it isn't. Uh I don't
support it whether it's constitutional
[1:20:42] or not. I don't support it. Um them I
should say there's two bills. Um so I
[1:20:48] mean I again it's six of one half dozen
of another I guess but I would prefer a
[1:20:54] resolution that just simply states you
know we don't support these bills. We
[1:20:58] think they're overly broad and um you
know something that you know kind of my
[1:21:04] keep it simple uh mantra. Go ahead,
councelor Mandex. All right. I'm gonna
[1:21:09] make make two points here. One's going
to be part of what Mark just said. I
[1:21:13] just want to point out that so far in
the six, seven months we've been here,
[1:21:17] councelor Dinsmore has brought in front
of this council as the lone Republican
[1:21:22] two divisive topics, immigration and
firearm legislation.
[1:21:28] It It's just disappointing that we're
here discussing these things that the
[1:21:33] council has very little influence in.
And I I would expect that we bring more
[1:21:38] meaningful ideas to the table that we
can do something about as as a town.
[1:21:42] Can't really do much about this. Even if
we adopt the resolution we all agree
[1:21:46] with here, the GA and the Senate are
going to do what they're going to do. I
[1:21:50] don't know if these resolutions have
much effect at all. Um I just think as a
[1:21:55] council we can do more meaningful
things, more constructive things that
[1:21:58] help the town. Focus on the stuff that
we all know that that will help.
[1:22:03] Economic development was a big one. Um,
but these two things, immigration and
[1:22:08] firearms,
it there's a lot that goes into them and
[1:22:11] we can discuss until we fall asleep
tonight and there's going to be people
[1:22:15] on either sides of the discussion and
they get really heated and I I
[1:22:19] personally don't like having those
things because of how emotional we get.
[1:22:22] With that said, I agree with what uh
Council Reynolds said. I would suggest a
[1:22:27] resolution that's in in opposition of
the House and Senate bill
[1:22:32] very simply um but removes the
constitutional legality and amendment
[1:22:36] sections in here because I'm not an
attorney. I'm not a constitutional
[1:22:39] attorney. None of us are. And I don't
think it's for this council to discuss
[1:22:45] what like extra legal means. So I echo
what um council Reynolds said. I don't
[1:22:51] agree with the way that the House and
Senate bills are written as is. Um I
[1:22:57] think they're way too broad. I think
they're virtually uninforcable
[1:23:01] and they're going to end up being
challenged in court and they're going to
[1:23:03] go nowhere. So
I agree with um Council Reynolds in
[1:23:11] pushing, you know, forward with a
different resolution, not this one
[1:23:15] specifically.
Okay. Right. Um so you had your chance.
[1:23:19] I'm going to go and then we'll go back
to you for a second. Bite of the apple.
[1:23:22] Um, so I'm going to say I agree with
both of you. Um,
[1:23:27] I
I find I find that our resolutions do
[1:23:32] have effect. I like to think they do. I
like to hope they do. Um, when we send
[1:23:35] them up to the state, I do think that
there's a good a voice if all the
[1:23:40] communities come together and we're all
sending the same resolution up that
[1:23:42] they're looking at it. At the very
least, our representatives is looking at
[1:23:45] it. And with this particular bill, we
already know that Rep. Cotter has voted
[1:23:49] against the bill. We already know that
Senator Morgan's going to do so soon if
[1:23:52] it gets to the Senate floor. So, if we
would be talking to all the other
[1:23:56] senators, which they should be listening
to their community, not necessarily
[1:23:59] ours, but I do believe that there's a
strength in numbers where if you're
[1:24:02] getting the same resolution from
multiple municipalities, it does have a
[1:24:07] lot of weight and it can make them
rethink what they're doing. Um, but this
[1:24:12] isn't the same resolution, so it would
be very different. Um, I agree with some
[1:24:17] of the amendments, the floor amendments
that some of the the House Republicans
[1:24:21] put on the floor. Um, including I didn't
like there was one issue with the bill
[1:24:25] where if you had a certain gun, you
couldn't like it's it's no longer legal.
[1:24:30] And I don't know much about guns. I'm
going to throw that out there. I shot a
[1:24:32] gun once in my life thanks to a friend
last year. So, I'm not as educated as I
[1:24:37] should be on this, but if you had one of
the guns that they're saying you ban,
[1:24:41] but you're allowed to have it because
your grandfathered in. You couldn't
[1:24:44] drive to your friend's house to use it
together. You have to go to one
[1:24:47] location, which the Senate Republicans
are saying that the only location is Big
[1:24:51] River Management Area. Too restrictive
to me. Like, you can't go to your
[1:24:55] friend's house. I just think like in our
community, that's what our constituents
[1:24:59] want. They want to go to their friend's
house. if you have a smaller property
[1:25:02] and you have someone who has a bigger
one to be able to shoot recreationally,
[1:25:04] you should.
Um, there's a few other floor amendments
[1:25:08] that the Republicans made that I did
agree with. Um, so I think I'm a little
[1:25:13] bit more moderate as councelor Madnik
said, you know, we're bringing up very
[1:25:17] political issues. We're a little more
moderate with this one where I don't
[1:25:20] believe we should be just banning things
just for the sake of banning them. You
[1:25:23] know, we should have regulation when
needed, but we shouldn't just be
[1:25:28] outright banning something. So, I don't
agree with either bill. I don't agree
[1:25:31] with um the amendment because actually
we should be any resolution we have
[1:25:35] should have a sub a at this point for a
house bill. Um
[1:25:39] and but I also think that this
resolution doesn't really reflect what
[1:25:44] we want it to reflect because
like was already said, we're not
[1:25:48] constitutional attorneys. Um, and I do
think it's a little too late in the
[1:25:52] season in the session because now by the
time we amend a resolution and get it to
[1:25:58] the Senate, get it to our
representatives, it's it's almost over.
[1:26:01] Um, this bill is going to be heard in
the Senate on Thursday or tomorrow, I'm
[1:26:05] sorry, tomorrow. Yeah. And it's already
passed the House. So, I just feel like
[1:26:08] it's a little too late. Um, and
actually, I know this was given to us by
[1:26:11] a constituent. I have a lot of respect
for that constituent. And I told him
[1:26:14] this directly, you know, I don't want to
bring this to council because I don't
[1:26:17] want it to create a polarizing issue.
we're all getting along so well. Um the
[1:26:20] community is getting along way better
than I've seen in the past with
[1:26:23] councils. So I wanted to keep that
momentum going. So um I told him
[1:26:27] directly I wasn't going to do it. But I
did actually submit written testimony in
[1:26:31] opposition to um these bills and sent it
to my senator and my representative. So
[1:26:38] I would encourage anybody else to do the
same. I think that's all I have to say
[1:26:41] hopefully. Council, you had more you
want to add? Yeah, I just want to say
[1:26:45] that I hear your feedback and that uh
that's the reason why I brought it
[1:26:47] because I was approached by Gary. So
that's why
[1:26:54] May I speak? Sure. We'll go for a uh
comments from the public. Sorry, I just
[1:26:59] had some water. Please state your name
for the record.
[1:27:03] Chambers from Richmond.
First, while I'm up here, I want to
[1:27:07] thank you, Karen Pinch, um, for your 10
years of honorable service as town
[1:27:12] administrative to Richmond, and you've
been supportive and a friend to the
[1:27:18] Richmond Historical Society. Um,
whenever we've had a question or a
[1:27:22] problem, you're go to and you've been a
consistent model of expertise, kindness,
[1:27:30] and grace under pressure, which I can't
even imagine. and I aspire to be Karen
[1:27:34] Pinch and I wish you all happiness in
your retirement. Thank you. I'm speaking
[1:27:41] tonight to ask the Richmond Town Council
to reject the resolution proposed by
[1:27:45] Council Dinsmore.
I don't know if people even know what
[1:27:49] these two bills I'm sorry talking to
you. Thank you. Um
[1:27:54] that they're talking about are. It's
called um
[1:28:01] the Rhode Island Assault Weapons Ban Act
of 2025.
[1:28:07] This bill has
been worked on for over 12 years since
[1:28:13] Sandy Hook. So every year it's been
amended, worded, taken um Rhode
[1:28:20] Islanders
um input into account to make it legal.
[1:28:29] They know what they're doing up there.
Half of those legislators are lawyers,
[1:28:33] right?
Um,
[1:28:40] got to find my place. Okay. Um, and what
the bills do
[1:28:46] is to seek to restrict the manufacturer,
sale, purchase, and possession of
[1:28:51] assault weapons. You may say, "Oh, they
don't describe it well." You know,
[1:28:57] there's so much gunsplaining that goes
on when these hearings are on.
[1:29:04] in the bills, it tells you what they
consider an assault weapon. So, people
[1:29:10] do not just say, "Okay, yeah, this is an
assault weapon." They know what they're
[1:29:13] talking about. Um, assault weapons are
exceptionally deadly firearms common
[1:29:18] place in mass shootings.
A poll conducted in February 2025
[1:29:25] indicated that 64% of Rhode Islanders
support a ban on the sales and
[1:29:29] manufacture of assault weapons. We're
not just talking people in the city, the
[1:29:34] big city.
I live in Richmond
[1:29:38] and I'm sure 64% of people in Richmond
may not have as big mouths as the people
[1:29:43] who are supporting guns anywhere and
everywhere,
[1:29:47] but I'm sure at least 64% would agree
that
[1:29:51] a civilian should not have a weapon
capable of mowing down dozens of people
[1:29:57] in a matter of minutes
in their gun safe or laying around their
[1:30:04] house. Assault
weapons are weapons of warfare and do
[1:30:09] not belong in the hands of civilians.
And I know the chief probably doesn't
[1:30:13] want to comment, but what I have heard
at testimony is police officers do not
[1:30:19] want civilians
with easy access to assault weapons.
[1:30:26] And they're not for hunting. You can't
use them for hunting. It's illegal to
[1:30:30] use them for hunting because you would
end up with this big of a piece of a
[1:30:35] deer once you shot it.
Thankfully, the House bill has passed
[1:30:41] already, and we await a vote this week
on the Senate bill. Passage of these
[1:30:46] bills into law would protect Rhode
Islanders by reducing the likelihood of
[1:30:50] mass shooting injuries and deaths via
assault weapons.
[1:30:55] The Richmond Town Council needs to focus
on issues that will improve our town's
[1:30:59] economic viability and community spirit
and to support common sense gun laws
[1:31:05] rather than tear them down with this
harmful, divisive, and meaningless
[1:31:10] resolution.
Voting against the assault weapons ban
[1:31:13] bill does not demonstrate a concern for
keeping communities and children safe,
[1:31:18] promoting safety, or preventing
violence. It indicates the exact
[1:31:23] opposite.
And I have to say I'm really
[1:31:26] disappointed that the three Democratic
um town council members are okay with uh
[1:31:35] this resolution. Maybe not as how it's
stated about the legality of it, but
[1:31:42] assault weapons should not be in
civilian hands. And I apologize for my
[1:31:46] allergies.
If you must pass a resolution, if that's
[1:31:51] that's your goal tonight, I suggest it
be a resolution and recognition. Do you
[1:31:57] know what this month is? June is
National Gun Violence Awareness Month.
[1:32:03] That would be a valuable resolution to
pass or at least to acknowledge the
[1:32:09] importance of gun violence awareness and
how it affects every one of us. Thank
[1:32:13] you. Thank you. Anybody else would like
to speak? All right.
[1:32:19] And we have two online. All right. After
Julie will go online, then we'll shift
[1:32:22] back to in person. Julie was Richmond.
Uh I'll be very brief. There's a lot of
[1:32:27] arguments on both sides, but the basic
fact is this law as written does not
[1:32:32] describe an assault weapon. It describes
a lot of legally carried, legally
[1:32:37] purchased guns. And to pass this bill,
the Rhode Island would criminalize a lot
[1:32:45] of citizens that have them legally, use
them legally.
[1:32:50] And I think it's it's just bogus.
Um,
[1:32:57] if this bill were accurate in what it
says and did include only assault
[1:33:02] weapons, that may be a different story.
But as written, it does not. Thank you.
[1:33:08] Thank you. Anyone want to give questions
to somebody online, please?
[1:33:20] Hello. Can you hear me? People like
sorry
[1:33:33] Parker, you should have permission.
[1:33:48] will come back to you.
[1:33:55] Gary, we'll come back to you just in
case you didn't hear her.
[1:34:03] Buttonwoods Motorcross, you should have
permission. Please state your name for
[1:34:07] the record. Jordan Carlson, Richmond
resident.
[1:34:15] You can go ahead. All right. I just
wanted to state for the record that uh
[1:34:20] you know the Constitution is one of the
most important documents that we have.
[1:34:24] And you know, in in light of the I saw a
lot of no kings protests, I just want
[1:34:31] people to be reminded that the reason
that we got rid of the king in England
[1:34:35] was because of a small tax and because
of the banning of firearms. So if you
[1:34:41] really want no kings, I suggest that you
respect and admire, you know, the second
[1:34:48] amendment as it was written to never be
infringed. And I would also say it's
[1:34:53] very important to adopt resolutions to
show the general assembly what the true
[1:34:58] fabric of Rhode Island is, which is, you
know, the Gatsby was burned here and
[1:35:02] this this country was founded in this
state. So to infringe on anybody's
[1:35:07] rights because you're afraid of getting
shot means you should probably just, you
[1:35:10] know, not live in America because guns
are one of the most founding things that
[1:35:15] we have.
[1:35:18] Thank you. Thank you.
Did we get Mr. Parker back?
[1:35:28] DWP
have permissions
[1:35:47] if you're having like connect. Oh.
You should have permissions. Is he
[1:35:58] say if he's having connectivity issues,
he can call in who? Gary, I'll prompt
[1:36:03] you to unmute and so just respond to
that.
[1:36:08] It come up
[1:36:13] um lower. I don't Are you on an iPhone?
[1:36:20] Um,
[1:36:28] the calling number. Oh, I think it's
nine or on the lower screen, you should
[1:36:34] see a mute microphone button. ask.
[1:36:41] That's ter.
[1:37:01] Put the phone number in the chat box,
but may not get kicked out.
[1:37:08] I'm really still glad we allow the
accessibility of this option even when
[1:37:12] it fails. So Gary, you're on an iPad. I
can see you.
[1:37:28] So there should be a microphone icon in
your meeting controls and it has a red
[1:37:32] line through it. Just tap it to unmute.
[1:37:38] Now try it.
[1:37:56] Okay. Now tap it one more time.
[1:38:07] Yes, it's still Can you
just kidding? I just te You want a chat
[1:38:14] and I can read it? Okay,
that that sounds like good. So, he's
[1:38:18] going to put his chat into the chat and
we're going to move on to in-person
[1:38:22] um people. You can go ahead. Um Mr.
Stoner,
[1:38:27] you do. Thank you so much for your
patience, too, everybody.
[1:38:30] Garrett Stoner from the town of
Richmond. Um, I appreciate councelor
[1:38:34] Madnik's comments. I too wish that this
agenda item were not on the agenda. I
[1:38:39] don't think this is a town council
appropriate agenda item. Uh, and this
[1:38:45] conversation uh reminds me of the
divisiveness of this issue. But, um, you
[1:38:53] got me at the Rhode Island assault
weapons ban 2025. I've worked in public
[1:38:59] schools for over 40 years and I can't
count the number of children and
[1:39:05] adolescents who would not come to school
for days after school shootings. I can't
[1:39:11] count the number of children that I've
had to talk to and help with problems
[1:39:16] related to fears and anxieties.
There's simply no reason for assault
[1:39:21] weapons unless we're in some kind of a
war, in which case they'd be in the
[1:39:25] hands of soldiers.
Period. I'm sick of the conversation.
[1:39:30] I'm sick of the arguments and there's no
reason for these guns. I I can
[1:39:35] appreciate I don't know what the bill
says to be honest with you. I don't know
[1:39:39] which one which ones belong. I
appreciate the comment. I can't speak to
[1:39:43] that. But I'm I'm kind of sick and tired
of people being killed by assault
[1:39:48] weapons in this country. And uh and this
issue is too divisive. But at the same
[1:39:55] time, uh, we have to start somewhere and
we're not doing anything. We're just
[1:40:00] we're not moving forward. We're we just
continue to, uh, look at look at it and
[1:40:06] kind of with awe. You know, there was a
speaking of no kings, a woman was
[1:40:12] walking around with a sign at the No
Kings protest in Providence on Saturday
[1:40:17] and it said, "If you don't like
abortion, look away like you and ignore
[1:40:22] it just like you ignore school
shootings." And that's what we're doing.
[1:40:26] We ignore school shootings. They largely
take place with assault weapons and
[1:40:32] there's nothing you can say that can
justify them. So, if you approve this,
[1:40:38] take my name off the town Richmond uh
town of Richmond residence because
[1:40:43] you're not representing me in doing so.
Thank you. Thank you.
[1:40:49] Did we have anybody else in person or
online?
[1:40:58] Was Mr. Parker?
No, I'm not. Hey, when that happens, um
[1:41:02] is Mr. Parker's testimony like in the
chat. He's going to he's going to try
[1:41:07] and call in. Okay.
I feel bad cuz he I know he was the
[1:41:12] resident who asked us to put this on the
agenda. Um and he mentioned last after
[1:41:16] last meeting that he may be away and
we'll try to zoom us, but um we may have
[1:41:20] to take his written word and put it on
the communication section of the next
[1:41:25] agenda because I don't want to tie up
too much time.
[1:41:30] Should
[1:41:33] I Did we lose him again?
[1:41:39] Yeah, he said.
All right, we'll go on to our next uh
[1:41:44] new item with my apologies. Thank you
for being understanding and thank you
[1:41:48] everybody for your patience. Um all
right, so on to Oh, I'm sorry. We have
[1:41:53] an action item on this council. Oh, we
have the motion on the floor, right? And
[1:41:57] you seconded it. My apologies. So, any
further council discussion?
[1:42:04] I guess I guess I do. We want to amend
it to be more simple or do it's I don't
[1:42:09] want to spend a lot of time on this
either. I think we have, you know, town
[1:42:12] things we should be dealing with, but I
I think we amend it to be very simple. I
[1:42:18] I pulled up and I had looked at um a
bunch of resolutions from other towns.
[1:42:21] Some of them are actually way more
detailed than this. I don't think that
[1:42:25] they're useful. Um, but I think and I've
and I've got the bill up and I've read
[1:42:30] the bill a couple times and there are
things in it that I agree with. There
[1:42:33] are things in there I don't agree with.
Um, there are things that people have
[1:42:36] said tonight that I agree with. There
are things that people said that I don't
[1:42:38] agree with. Um, it's a very complex
situation.
[1:42:43] I do hear what everyone is saying. I've
got kids in school. Like, I get it. But
[1:42:48] the way that this bill is currently
written and there's a and I will just
[1:42:52] read a a part of it. And again, I'm I am
not um I'm not an attorney, but when I
[1:42:58] read it,
um there is a part in here.
[1:43:03] Let me just find it. One second.
[1:43:08] So, it's it's essentially going to um
prohibit a semi-automatic pistol that
[1:43:13] has a fixed magazine capacity exceeding
10 rounds.
[1:43:18] I've I've handled these pistols. I've
shot these pistols. I know people that
[1:43:23] have them, my neighbors. I I don't see
how you can enforce this.
[1:43:29] And and I and all the amendments that,
as you stated, that some of the other um
[1:43:37] legislators had um submitted got turned
down. They didn't even really have a
[1:43:42] discussion about the the merits or
drawbacks of the amendments. So,
[1:43:47] I don't like the way that some of this
is written in here. Um it doesn't mean
[1:43:52] that I'm for assault weapons or against
assault weapons. So to Mark's point, um
[1:43:58] I would like to have a simple resolution
that just states that the Richmond Town
[1:44:02] Council opposes these two
um bills in the House and Senate as they
[1:44:09] are written.
Meaning I want them to go back and keep
[1:44:13] working. Yeah.
Do you want to put that in to a motion
[1:44:17] to amend the motion on the floor
or would you like to withdraw your
[1:44:20] motion so we can make that?
I can I can ask him to I'll make a
[1:44:25] motion to amend it. That's what I'm
saying. All right. So, I'll make a
[1:44:28] motion to amend the
[1:44:33] motion to approve the resolution as is
um to simplify what has been presented
[1:44:38] to us to state that the Richmond Town
Council um does not support House Bill
[1:44:45] 5436 and Senate Bill 359
as written.
[1:44:53] I'll second it. Um,
any council discussion on the amendment
[1:44:58] to the motion?
I'm fine. Fine. Awesome. Because I'll
[1:45:04] say I I agree as well. I have kids in
the district. I know what it's like to
[1:45:06] have watch your kids grow up in a
in in that area where they they're
[1:45:13] having lockdowns all the time. We want
to stop that. We want to have our
[1:45:16] schools be safe. But I agree that this
bill is overreaching and it's not well
[1:45:20] defined. And that example you gave was
perfect. Thank you for giving it because
[1:45:24] like I said, I don't know enough about
guns to to know the specifics of which
[1:45:29] are and aren't. But as I'm learning, I'm
um which I think we all should be open
[1:45:33] to learning. As I'm learning about it,
I'm like, this is just what
[1:45:37] our neighbors have. This is just what
average citizens have. And I just don't
[1:45:41] think that um it should be taken away.
And I think that they should have more
[1:45:45] of a conversation up at the state house
and not just not even consider the the
[1:45:50] resolutions this year. you know, um
there wasn't much opposition to like
[1:45:54] stated reasons as to why they opposed
those amendments and nobody stood up
[1:45:58] that I saw on the Senate floor or the um
House floor and said anything. So, um I
[1:46:05] agree. So, anybody else? We'll go for
our roll call vote. Councelor Dinsworm,
[1:46:10] yes. Manick, yes. Reynolds, yes. And
Wilcox, yes. So, now we have our amended
[1:46:15] motion on the floor and we'll go to vote
for that. Um how do you vote? Councelor
[1:46:19] Dinsworm, yes. And yes, Reynolds, yes.
And Will Cox, yes.
[1:46:24] All right.
So, we will go on to discussion
[1:46:29] consideration of a zone change for
residential from residential zone two to
[1:46:35] public and governmental hub at four
Richmond Townhouse Road and
[1:46:41] authorization for the clerk to advertise
for public hearing. So, can I please
[1:46:44] have a motion to authorize the town
clerk to advertise this for a public
[1:46:49] hearing?
So moved. Second. Awesome. Um I believe
[1:46:54] we talked about this in the past. I'm
just going to give a brief update. I
[1:46:57] think it was this council. Um where we
want to change the property across the
[1:47:02] street from residential to governmental
because we own it and we're doing work
[1:47:07] to it and there's some other reasons as
I believe as well. Um let us know if you
[1:47:12] have questions and we'll bring it up at
the public hearing.
[1:47:16] So we'll go for a roll call vote. If
there's no further council discussion,
[1:47:19] councelor Jensen, yes. Madnik, yes.
Reynolds, yes. And Will Cox, yes. All
[1:47:25] right. Request of councelor Madnick for
discussion to create and install
[1:47:28] permanent signs at the Richmond Transfer
Station recycling area. I would request
[1:47:33] um and make a motion that we move this
to the July meeting. I would like to
[1:47:38] have this discussion while council
Councilman Pomeano is here since he's
[1:47:44] been kind of leading this effort. Um, I
will add that um, this came out of my
[1:47:49] own experience at the transfer station
and I went and I saw a full hose reel,
[1:47:55] like the reel and the hose sitting on
top of one of the recycling bins and I
[1:48:00] was like that that's going to get
rejected and that's going to be I don't
[1:48:03] know $500 down and the numbers I think
last I knew were $1,500 in the first
[1:48:09] quarter strap like debt out of $6,000
for a year and it's like we're
[1:48:14] squabbbling. pulling as a council over
budget items that are way less than
[1:48:17] that. And it's like
I want to I like to have this discussion
[1:48:22] with um with Jim here, but if you guys
will humor me
[1:48:30] as a motion to move on new business L3
to the July
[1:48:37] um 15th meeting. Second. All right. Any
council discussion?
[1:48:43] We'll go to vote. Councelor Dinsmore.
Yes. Madnick. Yes. Reynolds. Yes. And
[1:48:46] Will Cox. Yes. All right. Next on the
agenda, we have to form a administrator
[1:48:52] search committee as required by article
4 section 1C of the town charter with an
[1:48:56] appointment of the town council member
to serve pursuant to the charter.
[1:49:00] So we should have a discussion I think
on what we want to do as far as the
[1:49:05] search committee and then make some
motions to put that into action.
[1:49:13] Yeah. you want to I I have a couple
ideas I'll throw out. I was thinking we
[1:49:16] could um I wanted to actually postpone
the appointment of a town council member
[1:49:22] to the next meeting just because again
council promis not here tonight. Um and
[1:49:27] also just advertise to our next meeting
and members of the public, people who
[1:49:32] are interested can apply. Use the form
online to apply for any board or
[1:49:35] commission. just check the other line
and
[1:49:38] uh it doesn't say other the blank line
that you check the box next to and write
[1:49:42] it in. Um and we'll review those
applicants at that time at the next
[1:49:48] meeting.
Anybody have anything they want to add?
[1:49:52] Oh, I think that makes that makes sense.
Put it out there so people who are
[1:49:55] interested can can apply and then we can
look at them and make a decision at the
[1:50:01] next the July meeting.
[1:50:07] All right. Do we want to set any
criteria tonight as far as how big we
[1:50:10] want this group to be, anything like
that, or do we want to see what we get
[1:50:14] and go from there?
We want to set any kind of expectations.
[1:50:20] I'd hate So, I' I'd hate to say it's
going to be three or five and then get
[1:50:25] four or six good people, right? Want to
have to exclude somebody. So, I'd rather
[1:50:31] let's leave it open. If we get 10, then
we're going to have to say, "Okay, we
[1:50:35] got to we're going to pick five." So, I
think that's going to have to be kind of
[1:50:40] the first decision we make depending
upon how many applications,
[1:50:44] you know, um, you know, whether we're
going to limit the number, um, depending
[1:50:49] upon the number of applications we get.
Um, so, so I', like I said, I'd hate to
[1:50:55] say it's going to be four and then get
five good applications. So, I think we
[1:51:00] can I think we can leave it open
unless anyone thinks about I agree.
[1:51:07] Makes sense to me. My concern was that
we do get 10 and then, you know, I have
[1:51:11] obviously wouldn't want a group that
big. That's my opinion, but um I can see
[1:51:15] wanting to keep it open so we can be
flexible at the next meeting, right? And
[1:51:18] I'd hate to say we're going to have five
and then we only get four applications
[1:51:22] and Right. You know, you know, I but I
agree. You don't want it too big. I
[1:51:27] wouldn't I couldn't see it being
more than five just because of the
[1:51:32] number of people. But five's a good
number. Yeah. You know, that's a goal,
[1:51:36] but I don't think we should set it as
the Okay.
[1:51:40] You know,
yeah, I think I think three is too
[1:51:44] small. Five is Yeah. is a good goal.
You get some people with different
[1:51:50] backgrounds, different demographics.
they have something to bring to the
[1:51:53] table and I think that's that's a
reasonable size, but I'd like to see
[1:51:58] who's who's interested in this. Okay.
Anything else anybody wants to add?
[1:52:05] All right. Um, we should do a motion to
ask our town staff to advertise the
[1:52:11] position or the openings on the town
administrator searchhiring committee.
[1:52:18] So moved. Thank you. include the
deadline for
[1:52:24] yes whatever it is be very clear about
what the deadline is for applications to
[1:52:29] be in the hands of whoever they need to
be in the hands of July 9th
[1:52:35] I don't think I need to amend the motion
you guys just know to do that the
[1:52:38] advertisement do you want to do the 8th
to make sure it's in on time because you
[1:52:42] need it by 4 p.m. July 9th that's a
typical agenda deadline so
[1:52:49] case there's in the last minute. I'm I'm
okay with that. Someone missed deadline.
[1:52:52] What? Not so sad, I guess.
All right. So, I did get a second on
[1:52:57] that, right? Council Mandic, you
seconded it. No, I'm I made a motion to
[1:53:02] move it.
Oh, okay. I'll second it. And we'll go
[1:53:05] for our roll call vote. Councelor
Dinsmore, yes. Madnick, yes. Reynolds,
[1:53:09] yes. And yes. All right. uh request of
Chris Fox, executive director of Wood
[1:53:16] Pocket Tuck Wild Watershed Association.
Thank you for your patience, by the way.
[1:53:22] Thanks for having me. Um you should get
a gold star for for getting that name
[1:53:27] right because not many people do. Your
name? No, the name of the association.
[1:53:32] Oh, I I try to work with them sometimes.
They gave me a hat. I know.
[1:53:38] Uh I'm the director of the Wood Pocket
Tuck Waterhed Association. And I can
[1:53:41] only say it that fluently because I have
to say it a thousand times a week. I
[1:53:44] appreciate being here. I'm here because
uh the town of Richmond owns a culvert
[1:53:49] on Hillsdale Road that is a bit of a
flooding nuisance. I know it's a
[1:53:53] nuisance for Gary at DPW when it over
tops the road. The road has to be closed
[1:53:58] causing subsequent damage to the side of
the road. Uh from our organizational
[1:54:02] standpoint, it is uh what's called
perched covert pipe pipes which means
[1:54:07] it's a pipe system with water that flows
out which prevents any wildlife that
[1:54:13] reside in the river from moving up or
down from that location. Technically
[1:54:17] they could go down if they go through
the pipes and fall out like a nice water
[1:54:20] slide but otherwise they're not getting
back up the river again. So our interest
[1:54:23] in this project was to restore
connectivity to the Beaver River at that
[1:54:28] location. Back in February of 2024, the
previous council here authorized our
[1:54:34] organization to serve as the project
manager to replace the Hillsdale Culver.
[1:54:39] Since then, we retained the engineering
firm of Fuss and O'Neal to develop a
[1:54:43] design and a wetland permit application
for the replacement of the Culver. To
[1:54:48] date, we've spent about $200,000 of our
grant funding to develop this design.
[1:54:53] The design's been created in
consultation with the council's
[1:54:56] designated town staff members and the
design is now ready to be packaged into
[1:55:01] an application to alter a Rhode Island
freshwater wetland. The design is a
[1:55:05] packet that I supplied to you folks. Um,
as the property owner, only the town can
[1:55:11] sign and submit the application. This is
one of the few places in the project
[1:55:14] where I can't represent you. Um, so I'm
here tonight simply to um secure the
[1:55:20] council's approval of the submission of
the wetlands permit application and to
[1:55:24] designate a staffer to sign the
application on the town's behalf. I
[1:55:28] think in my request I had put Karen down
as the person name but that was or
[1:55:33] really
so it might be prudent to either not
[1:55:38] designate a specific person or designate
maybe town administrator because we're
[1:55:43] expecting submission to happen sometime
in the next 30 days. I'm not sure when
[1:55:47] Car's last day is but hopefully we can
get in the door before she goes. I'm not
[1:55:51] exactly sure we'll be able to
Okay. Um,
[1:55:58] so when we do a motion, we usually
authorize you to sign. We can just skip
[1:56:00] that part and I can sign, right? That
might be cleaner just because there's a
[1:56:05] lot of moving parts. All right. Um, all
right. Do we have any motions to throw
[1:56:10] on the floor?
Uh motion to authorize
[1:56:15] uh the submission of the application to
RIM
[1:56:20] for the Hillsdale Road Culver
Replacement Project
[1:56:24] be signed by the council president
second. Right. Any further council
[1:56:29] discussion or questions on this?
Yeah, just maybe this is out of bounds
[1:56:35] and you can uh correct me, but do we
know the one the timeline and then is
[1:56:39] hill going to be shut down while this
is? Yes. So, we have not secured
[1:56:44] construction funding yet. Anticipation
is construction funding is based on a
[1:56:49] bidding competitive bidding process.
It's probably going to be somewhere
[1:56:52] between 800,000 and a million. If I can
raise a million dollars on behalf of the
[1:56:57] town of Richmond between now and July
1st of 26, we hope to start construction
[1:57:01] in July of 26. It's being carefully
planned such that road closure would not
[1:57:07] occur during the school year so we
wouldn't affect bus routs. Uh road
[1:57:11] closure would be for approximately four
to eight weeks depending on weather and
[1:57:17] it would be posted on the road months in
advance the project is coming. the road
[1:57:20] closure is happening and there will also
be a provision for traffic to U-turn and
[1:57:24] turn around when met with that closure
and obviously we'll be working with
[1:57:29] chief fire chiefs making sure
everybody's aware of the closure and
[1:57:33] alternate routes for responding to
emergencies
[1:57:37] and sometimes when there's closures it
ends up on notify me which I love to
[1:57:41] plug when I can and tell people to go
online and sign up for notify me it's
[1:57:45] super easy
um any other questions
[1:57:50] All right. So, we'll go for our roll
call vote. Councelor Dinsmore, yes.
[1:57:52] Madnick, yes. Reynolds, yes. And Will
Cox, yes. Thank you again so much for
[1:57:56] your help and securing that for the
town. Thank you.
[1:58:02] All right. So, we have communications,
petitions, proclamations, and
[1:58:04] resolutions. We have a motion file.
Well, does anybody have anything to pull
[1:58:07] first? I'm sorry.
All right. Motion to file. Second. All
[1:58:12] right. Go for a vote. Councelor
Dinsmore, yes. Madnik, yes. Reynolds,
[1:58:16] yes. And Will Cox, yes.
All right. Now we're going on to
[1:58:20] executive session.
My turn. Yeah. Motion to move into
[1:58:28] executive session pursuant to RAI
general laws 42-46582
[1:58:33] regarding litigation 36 and 37 Woodro
Bounder dispute and pursuant to general
[1:58:39] laws 42465 A5 regarding potential
acquisition of real property. Second.
[1:58:46] All right. We go for a roll call vote.
Councilmore, yes. Madnick, yes.
[1:58:50] Reynolds, yes. And Wilcox, yes.
That was some nice timing on your end.
[1:58:55] That was good.
[1:59:13] You're good. Thank you. Um, can we
please have a motion to exit executive
[1:59:18] session? Motion to exit executive
session. Second. Motion in a second. Um,
[1:59:22] how do you vote? Councelor Dinsmore,
yes. Madnik, yes. Reynolds, yes. And
[1:59:26] Will Cox, yes. Motion to Can I please
have a motion to seal the minutes of our
[1:59:30] executive session? Motion to seal the
minutes of executive session.
[1:59:35] Okay. Um, councelor Dmore, how do you
vote? Madnik. Yes. Oh, no. Isn't here. I
[1:59:40] know who else made it. Reynolds.
Yes. And Wilcox. Yes. Um, so we've
[1:59:46] closed, we've sealed, and we made two
votes in executive session. The first
[1:59:51] was made by myself and I believe
seconded by Councelor Reynolds. I didn't
[1:59:55] write down who seconded it. Y. Okay,
good. um to the motion was to authorize
[2:00:01] the town administrator to engage Al
Dioro to draft a legal description to
[2:00:04] effectuate the settlement of the Wood
River I'm sorry Wood Road alleged
[2:00:10] encroachments that was unanimously
approved by all council members. We also
[2:00:14] had a motion to approve the signing of
the purchase and sales agreement by the
[2:00:18] trustees of the land trust and other
documents to effectuate the land trans
[2:00:23] the land transfer. Um, we had councelor
Dinsmore abstain, madnick approve, rs
[2:00:30] approve, and myself approve.
Think we got through everything we
[2:00:34] needed to. I think so. We'll do a motion
to adjurnn. So moved. Second. Council
[2:00:40] yes. Magnetic. Reynolds. Yes. And
Wilcox. Yes. All right. Right.