[0:00] today is Tuesday October 1st it is now
[0:02] 6:25 p.m. Town council meeting in town
[0:04] council chambers 1170 Main Street West
[0:07] War Island J lead us in
[0:14] prayer we ask for the wisdom to make
[0:16] good decisions to speak with confidence
[0:19] and listen with compassion and to work
[0:20] together to create a better way of life
[0:22] for the people of West wck
[0:24] amen you Len to pledge allegiance I
[0:27] pledge allegiance to the flag of the
[0:29] unit States of America and to the
[0:32] Republic for which it stand one nation
[0:35] under God indivisible with liberty and
[0:38] justice for
[0:47] all before we get started just make sure
[0:49] you're speaking into your mics clearly
[0:51] as I said in last meeting um people
[0:53] online cannot hear
[0:56] us roll call councilman Dennison here
[0:59] councilman lardi here councilman Messier
[1:03] here Council vice president Williamson
[1:05] here council president Goin here for is
[1:11] declared consent agenda approval of the
[1:13] minutes from the September 17 2024 Town
[1:16] council meeting move approv the consent
[1:18] agenda second move in second any
[1:20] discussion hearing none all in favor I I
[1:23] opposed eyes have it ordinances first
[1:27] reading of ordinance 202 24-18 amending
[1:29] section two general purposes section
[1:31] three definition section four division
[1:33] into District section five use
[1:35] regulations Section 18 power of the Town
[1:37] Council to establish a zoning border
[1:39] review and adopt zoning ordinance move
[1:41] the ordinance second move second this is
[1:45] the same ordinance I presented two weeks
[1:48] ago however in view of the discussion
[1:52] regarding the mandates that were being
[1:54] forced upon us from the state especially
[1:58] particularly the adus I have removed
[2:01] those however I have sent you an email
[2:03] last week requesting that
[2:06] those be reconsidered and placed back in
[2:09] the a ordinance uh it's I stated my
[2:13] reasons in the email to you it's just
[2:17] makes makes it much more difficult for a
[2:19] matter to come in where we have to make
[2:21] Bob or Marilyn and I have to make a
[2:24] decision that involves an accessory
[2:27] dwelling unit it's not in our own
[2:29] ordinance we got to go look to the State
[2:32] statue we may miss it uh there's that
[2:35] problem in in addition what bothers me
[2:38] is that if it's a matter being brought
[2:41] to us with an attorney and I say to the
[2:44] attorney look our ordinance doesn't
[2:46] follow state law the attorney's probably
[2:48] going to say oh okay but if I got to try
[2:50] and explain to the lay person that even
[2:53] though what you read in the ordinance
[2:55] says what you read that's not real is
[2:59] something else so I'm asking that the
[3:03] council amend the matter for second
[3:06] hearing and allow me to put back in the
[3:09] material that was that I had removed
[3:12] regarding the accessory dwelling
[3:16] units any questions for Al no I I think
[3:20] actually it makes sense um we certainly
[3:23] aren't looking to make your job hotter
[3:24] or the planner's job hotter or Bob
[3:27] asin's job hotter as uh housing and I
[3:30] can understand and as you explained to
[3:32] us when we first looked at the
[3:36] issue state law is going to win the day
[3:40] and for us to have different set of laws
[3:42] and rules on our books just complicates
[3:44] matters I think for you and I think
[3:46] that's what you're saying out I think
[3:47] the action taken two weeks ago well it
[3:50] spell it informed the state it said
[3:52] something I said look we don't want you
[3:54] shoving all this stuff that's no good
[3:56] for our town down our throats and you
[3:59] spoke you piece now let's move forward
[4:02] with it yeah and our last meeting or or
[4:04] that meeting when we discussed that um
[4:07] you know I was concerned my question to
[4:08] you is this going to be a burden to
[4:10] anybody in this building to deal with
[4:13] and at that time I wasn't aware that it
[4:16] was going to be such a burden to deal
[4:17] with it so you know now that you've made
[4:20] that clear and we've made our point to
[4:22] the state hopefully they receive that
[4:24] point and I see where you're coming from
[4:26] now thank you and and I appreciate you
[4:28] taking the time to bring it back
[4:30] to make make things easier here in town
[4:32] hall I would ask for a motion that it be
[4:34] amended for me to reinstate the state
[4:38] mandates I'll make that motion second
[4:42] mooving
[4:43] seconded um that's just a motion this is
[4:46] just a vote on that motion all in favor
[4:48] I I opposed eyes have it any other
[4:52] questions for Al on the ordinance any
[4:54] public comment on the
[4:56] ordinance hearing none I'll take a roll
[4:58] call vote Jay yes Jason yes Mark yes
[5:02] Mary Beth yes and I vote yes thank
[5:09] you um since Al is here can we move
[5:13] three to
[5:15] two because then we because he has to
[5:18] leave make a motion to move number three
[5:21] up second mve seconded sorry G3 to
[5:25] clarify G3 G3 sorry you want to read
[5:29] three
[5:31] first reading of an ordinance amending
[5:32] chapter 11 motor vehicles and traffic
[5:34] Article 2 operation adding section 53
[5:38] penalties for violations to the code of
[5:40] ordinances of the town of West bway move
[5:42] the ordinance second after you pass the
[5:45] low speed ordinance the chief and I
[5:47] realized we had said no no low low speed
[5:51] vehicles on certain streets but we
[5:53] didn't put any punishment in and what
[5:55] the chief and I asked is that you add a
[5:58] $100 fee per
[6:00] off offense that's the only
[6:03] change any questions for Al on this Al
[6:06] do you think $100 per offense is the way
[6:08] to go or would you think escalating it
[6:12] just my discussions with the chief and
[6:14] you can correct me if I'm wrong we're
[6:16] not anticipating a great deal of
[6:19] activity on this we I think the chief
[6:22] feels every now and then you may had
[6:24] somebody doing it
[6:28] but that's why we F could just uh put
[6:31] the word out there and I think that
[6:32] anybody and with the chief that anybody
[6:35] who's out there in a low speed vehicle
[6:37] and gets nail for 100 bucks it's going
[6:39] to think twice about doing it again
[6:43] okay any questions for Al any public
[6:47] comment on this
[6:48] ordinance hearing none I'll take a roll
[6:50] call vote Jay yes Jason yes Mark yes
[6:54] Mary Beth yes can I vote yes thank you
[6:57] thanks have a good night Al thank you
[6:59] thank you
[7:04] all first reading of an ordinance
[7:06] relating to homeless encampments move
[7:08] the ordinance second moov and second
[7:10] discussion um before we get into a
[7:13] public discussion on this um we had a
[7:15] lengthy three and a half hour discussion
[7:18] on this the last council meeting so just
[7:20] try to avoid being repetitive if you do
[7:22] have a comment um and I'm going to start
[7:24] off with the town manager
[7:30] good evening as you recall at our last
[7:33] meeting um the solic and I were directed
[7:38] to put together ordinance
[7:42] recommendations to handle the the
[7:45] council's directive on handling
[7:49] encampment issues targeting the date of
[7:53] December 2nd so our solicitor took the
[7:56] first stab at this draft that we're
[7:58] looking at tonight
[8:00] and distributed it as the agenda was put
[8:04] forth I felt it was important um since
[8:07] the solicitor did
[8:09] that that he had reasons setting it up
[8:12] the way he did um with certain sections
[8:15] and certain verbage and I wanted him to
[8:16] have the opportunity to uh present those
[8:19] reasonings um before we started
[8:23] circulating um some suggestions and
[8:26] amendments I know that I spent some time
[8:28] on it um I did not change his format I
[8:31] just looked at it from my perspective um
[8:34] and sent that to all of you to help
[8:36] Foster some continued discussion
[8:39] tonight but before if you don't mind
[8:41] since one of the Amendments um before we
[8:44] get into the ordinance part is talking
[8:47] about the encampment response team that
[8:51] I thought was important and I think is
[8:52] an important part of this process
[8:56] because in my mind we all understand
[8:59] that we're not legislating or arresting
[9:02] ourselves out of a significant issue
[9:06] that's not only born in west wck but
[9:09] Statewide and nationally so I just kind
[9:11] of wanted to reinforce the fact that we
[9:14] did uh formalize an encampment Response
[9:18] Team internally that comprises um the
[9:22] town's EMA director under the leadership
[9:25] of Chief Aron the police department the
[9:27] fire department's EMS services the
[9:29] highway department Pride Behavioral
[9:32] Health and members of our social network
[9:36] with the Health Equity Zone amongst
[9:38] others and we started a more formalized
[9:41] process of going out to the various
[9:44] encampments identifying their locations
[9:47] their conditions the folks that are
[9:49] there um reinforcing the in what the
[9:54] opportunities are and in some cases the
[9:57] lack thereof to to find out how can be
[9:59] of assistance to get them um to proper
[10:04] shelter because in my mind this
[10:08] encampment issue should be bifurcated
[10:12] it's not just a homelessness problem or
[10:15] UNH housee problem it's that separate
[10:18] from some issues that we're
[10:20] experiencing in and around encampments
[10:23] and it's not just a homelessness issue
[10:27] the be the issues around encampments is
[10:29] more some criminal and inappropriate
[10:31] behavior the health and safety and
[10:35] sanitation issues in those areas um the
[10:38] enjoyment of our park and town owned
[10:41] property for others um and when there
[10:45] are issues our First Responders have
[10:47] some significant challenges in getting
[10:49] there safely and getting people in need
[10:52] of services out safely so it it's a much
[10:55] broader issue um so I wanted to allow
[10:57] Chief Veron a few minutes just to kind
[11:00] of explain um what the encampment
[11:03] response team did they did their Maiden
[11:05] T if you will um last week and he can
[11:09] explain a little further on that process
[11:11] because I think it's important to
[11:12] understand that the town is is
[11:15] compassionate and wants to do the right
[11:18] thing um this is in my in my estimation
[11:22] more important and it's a continuation
[11:23] of stuff that we've really been doing
[11:25] now for months if not years but it's
[11:28] just a little more formalized Chief
[11:31] right thank you so the team got together
[11:34] uh we had a meeting and we set some
[11:36] goals um the goals were to um use the
[11:39] community param medicine to assess any
[11:41] medical needs
[11:44] um we had U members from Thrive
[11:46] Behavioral Health that were there for
[11:48] outreach and
[11:49] counseling um the local heads the Health
[11:53] Equity Zone uh to give survey
[11:56] questions uh westwall police
[11:59] uh to get an accurate count and identify
[12:03] uh the population and to photo document
[12:07] the
[12:08] areas um we ided uh specific encampments
[12:12] and mapped them uh DPW was there they
[12:15] assess the area for
[12:17] cleanup uh whether we'd be able to do it
[12:20] or if we might need a private contractor
[12:22] in some cases um to do that um we also
[12:28] um provided uh the verbal uh first
[12:31] notice of um any action that might
[12:34] happen on December
[12:36] 2nd so th those were our goals going out
[12:41] um so the Thursday September 26th uh the
[12:45] team met at 6 o'clock in the morning at
[12:47] DPW headquarters on junior street and we
[12:51] started uh from there on a walking area
[12:57] um know walking from there so present
[13:00] we're uh Wendy budro from the Health
[13:02] Equity Zone she is the uh Community
[13:04] organizer and food access assistant we
[13:08] had the housing lead uh housing first
[13:11] lead case manager from Thrive Behavioral
[13:13] Health trip Mccreary and joining later
[13:16] was a pair recovery specialist from
[13:18] Thrive uh
[13:20] rivka uh DPW director Jeff calwell uh we
[13:24] had two westw police officers and the be
[13:29] uh behavioral navigator from the westw
[13:32] police um our coordinator for the mobile
[13:36] Integrated Health Community param
[13:37] medicine uh also came along so we had
[13:40] quite a few people uh as we proceeded uh
[13:44] we visited 12 separate sites um and we
[13:48] had personal interactions with the
[13:50] individuals and each of those sites and
[13:52] all of those interactions were
[13:56] positive um team was well well received
[13:59] everybody was respectful and
[14:03] um you know we had
[14:05] a good
[14:07] interactions uh the total number of
[14:10] individuals that were identified were 44
[14:14] in those 12 different
[14:16] areas um we distributed Nan um from
[14:21] Community param medicine uh when we team
[14:24] up with the Outreach and they they go
[14:26] kind of on out a weekly but there were
[14:28] probably about 20 kits handed out last
[14:32] week of
[14:33] notan um the cleanup assessment was uh
[14:37] completed by director
[14:38] Caldwell uh he put a rough number of
[14:42] about
[14:43] 22,000 to clean up all 12 different
[14:47] sites
[14:49] um is that is that for us to clean for
[14:52] DPW to clean that up 22,000 so um you'd
[14:56] have to ask the director I got that
[14:57] number but I'm sure he could answer
[15:00] exactly what how that breaks down um the
[15:03] ongoing work that we're looking now
[15:05] after this right we visited everyone uh
[15:07] but some of the things that we want to
[15:09] look for going forward um include
[15:12] confirmation of the populations that are
[15:14] on the state coordinated entry system so
[15:16] now we've identified as a municipality
[15:19] the individuals we can check and make
[15:21] sure that they are all on the
[15:22] coordinated entry system so Thrive is
[15:25] going to be doing um assisting us uh in
[15:29] handling that we're also reaching out to
[15:31] the westw housing authority to see how
[15:34] many of the 44 are on their list okay to
[15:38] see what what Avenues might be um
[15:42] another thing that um while we were're
[15:44] doing our um tour through the
[15:46] encampments we did find several hypmic
[15:49] needles um they were properly taken and
[15:52] um disposed of uh we obtained shops
[15:57] containers
[15:59] and we're going to be putting those out
[16:02] into into the um areas and uh hopefully
[16:06] reduce the number of needles there are
[16:08] on the areas or anywhere
[16:12] else
[16:15] um and part of what the community
[16:17] paramedicine would like to do going
[16:19] forward also would be make sure that
[16:20] there were Primary Care um you know um
[16:25] providers with each of the um
[16:28] encampments
[16:29] uh
[16:31] individuals so those are some of the
[16:33] things that we're looking forward going
[16:35] forward any questions for the chief how
[16:38] does that work as far as um because you
[16:40] said you picked up several needles are
[16:43] you talking you know three four or there
[16:46] was there were um about a dozen maybe a
[16:49] little bit more than a dozen but in that
[16:50] that area in those in those 12 were
[16:53] mostly they weren't in each site by any
[16:55] means they were just a couple of the
[16:56] sites that um
[16:59] and how how does the sharps container
[17:01] work is that like um it's a red hard
[17:03] plastic container that when um the
[17:06] needle is used they can place it in the
[17:08] needle when you go into the doctor's
[17:09] office you containers so those are what
[17:13] they are so who's going to retrieve
[17:14] those in when as it was just put out at
[17:17] the sites and left there and then no
[17:19] that we'll we'll retrieve them and and
[17:21] dispose of them
[17:25] properly thanks as I mentioned this was
[17:28] just the
[17:29] the made um tour if you will it'll be a
[17:33] a scheduled thing that we'll probably do
[17:36] at least every other week and we'll
[17:38] increase it based on need and and amount
[17:41] of contacts and the feedback we get um
[17:45] on what they experience and do their
[17:46] after action
[17:48] reports and how long does it will you
[17:50] will it take for you guys to figure out
[17:52] who are those people are on in the
[17:54] coordinate entry or where they are on
[17:56] the list like how long has that process
[17:58] take
[17:59] I'm not 100% sure but I I would think it
[18:02] would be in in a few days okay so days
[18:04] days as opposed to weeks yes okay
[18:07] yes but just being on the list doesn't
[18:10] mean that that may take quite a while
[18:13] and and it's a very intricate system um
[18:15] people who are awarded vouchers
[18:17] sometimes can wait 12 to 24 months and
[18:20] sometimes longer before they get housing
[18:22] even when they get the voucher but
[18:24] different things affect where they're
[18:26] they're ranked on that list right where
[18:28] they're paid I know veterans are
[18:29] definitely given priority are there
[18:30] other things that come into play as far
[18:32] as moving somebody up the list there is
[18:34] so the length of time that you've been
[18:35] out um health issues um all play a role
[18:39] so there is a system there are other
[18:41] people in the room that could talk much
[18:42] better about that than I but um you know
[18:46] how long you've been out and uh on the
[18:48] the coordinated entry system so the
[18:50] Outreach workers have to have contact
[18:53] with the
[18:54] individuals um and they need to update
[18:56] every 90 days if they don't they get
[18:59] dropped off of the list so if they don't
[19:00] have a contact in 90 days they get
[19:02] dropped off the list they go back to the
[19:04] ground zero even if they were out for 18
[19:05] months they lose one they're back at at
[19:08] Zero from what I understand that's my
[19:10] understanding of it does something like
[19:13] What's Happening Now affect that
[19:14] list it
[19:16] may it may it may it may affect their
[19:20] their so there are other people that can
[19:22] talk better about that than
[19:25] I thank you Chief y
[19:31] I'll defer to the solicitor to expand
[19:33] upon his initial draft thank you Mr
[19:37] manager um what I tried to do was a
[19:40] concerted effort to
[19:42] avoid conflict as to what certain
[19:45] communities had done in the past but
[19:47] obviously we cannot please everyone so I
[19:50] believe you all received a letter today
[19:52] from the ACLU I did have a nice
[19:54] 10-minute conversation with step Brown
[19:56] today and I asked and invited him to
[19:59] provide us with any um assistance that
[20:02] he could but I tried to break it down
[20:05] into about 10 different parts number one
[20:08] is the recognition and the
[20:10] responsibility of this issue or problem
[20:12] that faces the town of West War secondly
[20:15] was to determine the health safety and
[20:18] Welfare of all of its
[20:20] citizens third the burden presented to
[20:22] the town and its
[20:24] employees number four the financial
[20:26] burden it presents to its taxpayers
[20:29] number five the dangerous elements that
[20:32] exist within the encampments before we
[20:35] even get to issues pertaining to
[20:36] behavior or criminality those elements
[20:39] are
[20:40] fire garbage environmental because
[20:44] there's sooner sooner or later demm is
[20:46] going to have to address what's going on
[20:48] on the river banks and what's being
[20:50] placed into the river by the occupants
[20:53] of the camps obviously the criminal
[20:56] element issues pertaining to San itation
[20:59] Clean Water and
[21:01] Sewer I was cognizant of the fact and I
[21:05] wanted to make it clear that just the
[21:08] fact of sleeping outside in and of
[21:11] itself is not a crime however criminal
[21:14] Behavior just like in any society will
[21:16] not be tolerated at all I was given a
[21:19] directive that legal notice was to be
[21:21] made to the existing
[21:23] occupants um indicating that the
[21:25] encampments shall be eliminated as of
[21:28] December 2nd
[21:30] 2024 West War shall attempt to assist in
[21:34] any type of Rel excuse me relocation or
[21:37] assistance to those occupants however
[21:39] that's going to be based upon monies
[21:41] received from either the state or
[21:42] federal government because as as Council
[21:45] knows there's no supplemental money in
[21:47] this year's fiscal budget to address
[21:49] these issues so if Jeff Caldwell is
[21:52] telling you right now there's a $22,000
[21:55] cleanup cost for the 12 sites happening
[21:58] once if it happens again and again and
[22:00] again because the sites are filled up
[22:02] there's just going to be an additional
[22:03] expense not to cut you off but just to
[22:05] add to that point that's 22,000 that's
[22:07] also taking the guys off of the street
[22:09] doing other jobs throughout the rest of
[22:10] the town too but the the my 10th point
[22:14] was the public has a continuing duty to
[22:18] notify Public Safety in the town of West
[22:20] War as to what is going on being silent
[22:24] does not help the issue so if you see
[22:26] any type of criminal activity you should
[22:28] report it because as this Council has
[22:30] been made aware several times in the
[22:32] past say five years um the westw police
[22:36] department do respond they do
[22:37] investigate and if necessary they do
[22:39] make arrest so uh the format of this
[22:43] starting off with the Preamble and then
[22:46] getting into some definitions and then
[22:47] getting into some just notice uh issues
[22:50] as it pertains to what can uh be
[22:54] addressed regarding some of the criminal
[22:55] activity and some of the other Behavior
[22:58] uh is really as as it indicates it's a
[23:01] draft so for those that want to make
[23:04] changes whether you want to reduce the
[23:07] uh with the content or you want to
[23:08] increase the content it doesn't make a
[23:10] difference to me I did put in um two
[23:14] issues as it pertains to um information
[23:17] we have received one from the federal
[23:19] government the document that's entitled
[23:21] 19 strategies for communities to address
[23:24] encampments humanely and effectively and
[23:26] the second one is uh the Rhode Island
[23:29] homeless Bill of Rights which was passed
[23:32] in
[23:34] 2012 um so those documents are going to
[23:36] be utilized along with the task force or
[23:41] uh in order to come up with uh the
[23:44] corrective action plans which are going
[23:45] to be moving targets because things are
[23:47] going to be changing especially now
[23:49] since the weather's getting colder and
[23:50] Winter's coming so um again it's a work
[23:54] in progress uh any modifications
[23:56] obviously will be uh put into writing so
[24:00] at the second reading or at the first
[24:01] amended reading because we basically
[24:03] plan this out uh going backwards from
[24:06] the December 2nd Date you're going to
[24:08] have two additional meetings after this
[24:10] one one will be the second meeting in
[24:11] October and the first meeting in
[24:14] November after the election would be the
[24:16] date that if everything's U finalized
[24:19] that would be the passing uh of the
[24:21] second reading and then within 20 days
[24:23] or December 2nd it would go into effect
[24:26] so if there's any questions right now
[24:27] about the ordinance I would be happy to
[24:29] try to answer them any question from the
[24:31] council Tim the town manager or the fire
[24:35] chief I will open this up to the public
[24:38] any comment or
[24:40] concerns I don't want to cut everybody
[24:42] off I think this young lady had her hand
[24:44] up first
[24:46] though hi my name is G La
[24:50] um I've been going through uh I cook at
[24:54] my house I cook at the house I'm staying
[24:57] at and it's not my home but I cook there
[24:59] and I Fe I go to the church and I feed
[25:01] the Homeless every Tuesday Sunday I in
[25:05] my church we feed in my chest we feed
[25:08] them on Sunday um I've been around
[25:11] everywhere and I explained to them that
[25:15] the problem that you people are having
[25:17] is because of the neat there's it's not
[25:20] neat it's dirty it's garbage is it's
[25:23] terrible so I recommended last time I
[25:26] Was Here If instead of
[25:29] paying $10,000 a year to have one one
[25:33] person in jail
[25:35] because they may get riled up they're
[25:37] getting riled up by the police
[25:40] already um one of my
[25:43] friends the police officer went up to
[25:45] him and said I want to see your shoes he
[25:48] said for f he says I want to see your
[25:50] shoes so he says all right so we checked
[25:53] out shoes he said no you ain't the one
[25:55] who robbed jenden why I I don't
[25:58] understand why they're getting them
[25:59] miled up all right maybe that's not
[26:02] important to anybody but it's important
[26:03] to me I'm trying to get them where
[26:05] they're cleaning up the place
[26:08] and uh we're trying to have them have
[26:12] bags now why can't they have bags in a
[26:15] garbage bucket whatever pale and then
[26:19] when it's time for them to pick up the
[26:20] garbage why can't they just come pick up
[26:22] the garage why we all work together
[26:24] instead of I mean if you had a child and
[26:26] you were sick and tired of his drugs and
[26:29] his drink and you threw him out would
[26:31] you want him somewhere I mean in a tent
[26:35] but would you want that tent knocked
[26:38] down if they just clean up can we just
[26:41] work together I mean I don't think
[26:43] that's so
[26:45] hard I wouldn't want my child out there
[26:48] and um just because I can't handle the
[26:51] drinking and the drugs I don't want him
[26:53] having his tank now that's all they got
[26:55] so that's going to make a problem and
[26:57] then having
[26:58] police officers harassing them enough is
[27:01] enough come why we just work
[27:04] together that's all I got to say I will
[27:06] I will speak on my behalf I think we
[27:10] have
[27:10] tried um in the encampments we've worked
[27:14] with paloski Street we've worked and
[27:17] they just go from one side of the town
[27:19] to the other to the other they leave the
[27:21] same mess every I've been going around
[27:23] and they've been cleaning it they have
[27:25] it's all clean it's two tents again we
[27:29] we went over this for hours last time
[27:31] when you were here you know when people
[27:33] are in their backyard who are living on
[27:37] East Main Street as an example and they
[27:39] can't sit in their backyard without
[27:41] somebody doing something back there
[27:43] illegally yelling profanities or saying
[27:46] nasty things to their children it it's
[27:48] it becomes a bur and it is a problem the
[27:52] behind the
[27:53] school that that should be being be
[27:56] harassed we
[27:58] unfortunately with this far away from
[28:00] the school unfortunately with any
[28:02] ordinance we cannot say not behind Maisy
[28:05] Quinn not behind Morgan it all has to be
[28:08] addressed exactly but this is like H way
[28:12] into the woods and then it comes down
[28:14] and it's like a city and it's they're
[28:17] cleaning up I seen it today I went over
[28:19] there today check up on them and uh it's
[28:22] looks nice actually and I us in a
[28:25] garbage bag so they are trying
[28:29] thank you thank
[28:32] you she she's next and she's raised her
[28:37] hand just state your name and address
[28:39] for the right my name is Alyssa um I
[28:42] live in Bristol and I'm here tonight
[28:45] because this specifically affects myself
[28:49] and my children we have both been
[28:52] homeless um it's important to me I also
[28:56] volunteer for the coalition
[28:58] and I speak on it's it's important to me
[29:03] because each one of us are so close to
[29:07] being a paycheck away from homelessness
[29:10] I am in the middle of fighting an act of
[29:12] eviction at home I am a domestic abuse
[29:16] Survivor and I
[29:20] um I was fortunate enough to secure a
[29:23] Housing Voucher um given my
[29:25] circumstances at home and I you probably
[29:28] none of you know this but when you're on
[29:32] the housing Choice voucher and you
[29:33] receive Section 8 if you um have
[29:38] something happen to you I'm going
[29:40] through an act of eviction and it's
[29:42] illegal but if you are evicted from your
[29:45] home you lose that voucher and you end
[29:48] up back on the streets so a lot of these
[29:50] people who are in these
[29:52] encampments are facing those
[29:54] circumstances and they have nowhere else
[29:56] to go and I pose you this question
[29:58] I know that it's unsightly I know that
[30:00] you don't want to see it where else do
[30:03] you want them to
[30:07] go you all have homes to go home to I'm
[30:11] fortunate enough to have my home right
[30:13] now but I could lose it at any moment I
[30:16] lived in a shelter for a year with my
[30:18] children a year and I wrote this very
[30:22] fancy Bill and legislation that I wanted
[30:25] pass and when I contacted the co ition I
[30:28] found out that had already passed um and
[30:31] I'd like to share it with you all and I
[30:33] think that you guys know the statistics
[30:35] but just to have it in your
[30:38] face it's important these are difficult
[30:41] realities to acknowledge as it forces
[30:43] people to reimagine their ideas
[30:45] surrounding homelessness it brings the
[30:47] issue closer to your doorstep as it
[30:49] should it affects every single one of us
[30:52] and it could be closer than we'd like to
[30:53] consider in 2019 a widely cited report
[30:56] from the brokerage firm Charles and
[30:58] Schwab found that 59% of Americans were
[31:01] just one paycheck away from homelessness
[31:03] a reality compounded by more recent
[31:05] economic losses caused by covid this is
[31:07] an uncomfortable real reality for many
[31:10] let us not be fooled homelessness ends
[31:12] when someone is in a home let's start by
[31:15] removing the obstacles and get closer to
[31:18] that Reality by working together
[31:20] homelessness is a symptom of a traumatic
[31:22] event the loss of a job the inability to
[31:25] pay for needed health care costs
[31:27] domestic abuse abuse or Mental Health
[31:29] crisis why are we looking to pass
[31:31] legislation that would further
[31:32] traumatize the most vulnerable
[31:34] population in our community and in the
[31:38] world we should be working together to
[31:40] remove these barriers identify the need
[31:43] and care for those in the community but
[31:45] yet we are criminalizing these
[31:46] experiences with this proposal and these
[31:49] folks are being further traumatized and
[31:51] impacted their ability to overcome the
[31:53] overwhelming obstacles that they are
[31:55] already faced with it's damaging and
[31:58] traumatizing and least people with no
[32:00] choice no voice and no
[32:03] shelter having a safe and decent place
[32:06] to live is really a fundamental right
[32:09] every one of th these folks in the
[32:10] encampment is being told by this
[32:15] legislation that they have no rights and
[32:18] they're being taken away the decision
[32:20] would also lead to Fuller further
[32:22] polarization within the community
[32:23] between the police department and this
[32:25] atrisk community
[32:28] in 2022 60.6% of homeless people were
[32:32] cisgender men compared to 38.3% of
[32:35] cisgender women around 1.1% were
[32:38] Americans non-binary or questioning in
[32:41] which 57% of unsheltered women report
[32:43] that domestic violence was the immediate
[32:45] cause of their
[32:46] homelessness other adults are now the
[32:49] fastest growing age group of those
[32:50] experiencing homelessness composing
[32:52] nearly half of the homeless population
[32:54] according to an October 2023 Department
[32:57] of Health and Human Services HHS report
[32:59] more than 20% of all unhoused people
[33:01] have a serious mental health condition
[33:04] according to an article posted by the
[33:05] National Alliance on Mental Illness
[33:07] lastly of the 16.5 million veterans in
[33:10] the US there is an estimated 37,000
[33:13] homeless veterans in 2020 and around
[33:15] 15,000 living completely unsheltered
[33:18] these are our veterans these are the
[33:20] people that fought for our
[33:23] country in January of 2023 there were
[33:26] 7.4 increase in the number of veterans
[33:29] experiencing homelessness from 2022
[33:32] according to case studies we over to our
[33:34] society at large to be in charge of the
[33:36] world and ensure a better future for all
[33:38] of our neighbors our friends and our
[33:40] foes we all deserve a hand up and the
[33:43] opportunity to succeed let's be the
[33:45] change that we want to
[33:49] see thank you thank
[33:55] you good evening um I'm Vincent marzulo
[34:00] from 28 Crossland Road West Warwick uh
[34:03] former national service uh director for
[34:07] the federal government for 31 years also
[34:10] deployed uh more than a half a dozen
[34:13] times to oversee humanitarian relief
[34:16] work around the country with hundreds of
[34:18] national uh service members um I spoke
[34:22] the last time we gathered to discuss
[34:25] this issue and on some Sunday um I took
[34:29] the liberty of getting on my bike going
[34:31] on the bike path to do a informal
[34:34] assessment um I'm shocked but not
[34:37] unsurprised to hear the chief indicate
[34:39] that there are at least a dozen sites I
[34:43] visited two one directly in back of
[34:46] Oregon uh in back of the uh on the side
[34:50] of the uh uh skateboard park and it
[34:54] seemed to be clean I I didn't I was by
[34:56] myself I didn't make any direct contact
[34:58] with anyone there um but it looked
[35:02] orderly and um I didn't see any illegal
[35:05] activity at that time I continued down
[35:08] the bike
[35:10] path and I was shocked that directly in
[35:15] back of the West Warwick Mana where the
[35:18] Housing Authority is located off the
[35:21] bike path is another encampment with I
[35:25] don't know at least two I think three
[35:28] T but maybe about eight people one t had
[35:33] an elderly woman over 70 years of age
[35:36] who looked like she was in serious
[35:38] mental uh in in serious health condition
[35:43] as well as her 46 year old son both in
[35:47] the tent laying there trying to rest
[35:50] okay I Al I talked to one of the other
[35:53] individuals there who was looking and
[35:56] and asked if if she could get
[35:58] Rehabilitation or drug treatment help
[36:01] and another gentleman and and a
[36:03] Gentleman who indicated he was a veteran
[36:07] 52 years old who does not have a drug
[36:09] problem but he's got an alcohol problem
[36:12] and he would like help
[36:15] so yes this is complicated and we need
[36:20] all Hands Medical
[36:23] Logistics you know and support case
[36:27] management housing to deal with this and
[36:30] I'm still not sure whether the town has
[36:32] asked for support from the league of
[36:34] cities and towns and the state
[36:36] delegation to really tackle this because
[36:39] all the municipalities are becoming
[36:42] overwhelmed with this issue our
[36:44] solicitor made reference to the letter
[36:47] that was transmitted this afternoon uh
[36:50] to all of the members here that letter
[36:53] was not only transmitted by the ACLU it
[36:56] was transmitted by of Rhode Island
[36:58] Housing advocacy project which I
[37:00] volunteer and and um assist with the
[37:04] Rhode Island Coalition for the homeless
[37:06] which many years ago I provided national
[37:09] service members to in order to begin
[37:11] them to start their effort better Better
[37:14] Lives Rhode Island which is a Case
[37:17] Management Service Organization for the
[37:19] homeless as well as the ACLU I'm not
[37:22] going to read the whole letter there's
[37:23] one paragraph though which sort of
[37:26] summarize summarizes a sentiment that a
[37:29] lot of people had have when they
[37:33] attempted to read this proposed
[37:36] ordinance and I'm still not sure what
[37:40] today's item is whether this is really a
[37:42] first reading of the proposed ordinance
[37:46] because if this is the proposed
[37:48] ordinance we have some serious problems
[37:50] just let me read this one paragraph from
[37:53] the ACLU finally purely on a drafting
[37:56] level we find that the ordinance is
[37:59] extremely difficult to follow it's
[38:01] confusing and re and repetitive wording
[38:04] along with its perplexing inventory of
[38:08] dozens of state statutes and United
[38:11] ordinances leaves a reasonal person
[38:15] without a clear understanding of exactly
[38:18] what is prohibited indeed the ordinance
[38:22] is so broadly worded it would appear to
[38:25] subject to penalties a dve dri who pulls
[38:28] their car over on the side of the road
[38:31] to nap before continuing on their way
[38:35] so you know this document H however you
[38:40] are classifying it tonight God help us
[38:43] if it ever becomes an ordinance as my
[38:47] old buddy and God Rest his soul Joe
[38:50] penger would say this has become a
[38:52] lawyer's dream apparently where they're
[38:55] just spending hundreds and hundreds of
[38:57] ours to come up with verbiage and
[39:00] language whether it really meets the
[39:02] true test of the law and allows us to
[39:05] deal with this in a more responsible and
[39:08] humane way
[39:11] so I I suggest this thing as the letter
[39:15] indicates be withdrawn and and be
[39:17] reworked if it's really going to be
[39:20] entertained and be done much more
[39:22] thoughtfully and seriously there's
[39:25] there's too much missing from this do
[39:27] document that's only going to invite
[39:30] legal challenges and embarrassment to
[39:33] this community and we should attempt to
[39:36] address this problem in a more
[39:38] collaborative way with Community
[39:40] religious organizations and the support
[39:43] of of our state delegation and the
[39:45] governor they have continued to walk
[39:48] away from this Duty and as some of you
[39:51] might may now know we are in discussions
[39:54] with attorneys to obtain a RIT of
[39:56] mandate fam in order to order and direct
[40:00] the inter agency Council on homelessness
[40:03] which has failed in its responsibility
[40:05] for eight years in dealing with this
[40:08] issue to do their job those individuals
[40:11] 18 of them including the lieutenant
[40:13] governor are identified in that law and
[40:16] they have a duty as a result of their
[40:18] oath to fulfill them that mandate which
[40:22] was to develop a state strategic plan
[40:24] and end homelessness in Rhode Ireland
[40:27] they walked away from it in 216 and now
[40:30] we have the result of this and and we're
[40:33] expected in individual municipality by
[40:36] municipality to have to deal with it
[40:38] it's outrageous you should join us in
[40:41] the community in seeking the rid of
[40:43] mandamus so that the state officials who
[40:46] are required to address this thing in a
[40:49] more resourceful way do it instead you
[40:53] know where's the leadership and where is
[40:55] the real we can't criminalize a way out
[40:58] of this you don't have the cops you
[41:00] don't have the EMT guys I mean th I mean
[41:03] this is nice but it's not going to get
[41:05] us there it's only going to complicate
[41:07] things and we're going to wind up
[41:09] looking like
[41:10] buffoons and we shouldn't be there I
[41:13] mean we should set an example with the
[41:15] new housing secretary with the governor
[41:18] when he comes back from vacation he
[41:20] should be here dealing with this how
[41:21] does the answer to the people who are on
[41:23] the bik pad
[41:25] tonight doesn't happen
[41:27] you know so I I just ask again that the
[41:30] better angels that we have inside of us
[41:32] that we deal with this in a more
[41:34] responsible way thank you for your time
[41:36] thank you VIN I I kind of have to Echo a
[41:39] lot of the sentiments from Vinnie That
[41:41] We're Not Gonna rest our way out of this
[41:43] and even if even if this was the
[41:45] ordinance that we used it's really not
[41:47] enforceable it's almost like some of
[41:49] those ordinances to to do we have enough
[41:52] we don't really have enough manpower to
[41:53] go out there and
[41:55] really to really eliminate all the tents
[41:58] in the entire town I just don't think
[41:59] it's really possible to do I mean if
[42:02] somebody wants to correct me if I'm
[42:03] wrong I don't I don't think we have
[42:04] enough even if even if we wanted to I
[42:06] don't think it's possible first let me
[42:08] speak on you know we talked about the
[42:10] task force and the Chief came up here
[42:12] and said you know doing the actual tour
[42:15] of the sites they're able to find out
[42:19] what's needed the town is more involved
[42:22] than ever now we have been very involved
[42:25] over the past year and a half for two
[42:27] years where we were having conference
[42:29] calls on almost every Monday I know Mary
[42:31] Beth and myself were on there trying to
[42:33] come up with Solutions so the town is
[42:35] very passionate and and very concerned
[42:38] about the person who's living in those
[42:41] encampments and we want to make sure
[42:43] it's safe we want to make sure it's
[42:44] clean we want to make sure the
[42:45] neighborhoods is safe and clean for the
[42:48] the residents who are living here so
[42:51] it's it's not a time where we just say
[42:54] get them out and we don't want them here
[42:56] we as a department heads and and task
[42:58] force and all the groups that are trying
[43:00] to help are getting closer and closer to
[43:02] figuring it out now is December 2nd a
[43:05] deadline we would like to set that date
[43:07] we set that date but if there's
[43:10] individuals that need help with
[43:11] alcoholism and all that let's try to get
[43:14] them that help that's the first step you
[43:16] know it's not just drugs and alcohol
[43:19] it's it's abuse it's whatever it may be
[43:21] but every person and we said it here
[43:23] last time has their own story but
[43:27] there's different stories and different
[43:29] circumstances and there's going to be
[43:31] people who don't want the help and
[43:33] that's where we need to really push back
[43:35] if somebody doesn't want the help and
[43:37] doesn't want and wants to live on Town
[43:40] property and destroy it then they should
[43:43] not be welcome that's that's what we
[43:45] were saying three hours in three and a
[43:48] half hours last
[43:49] meeting also all all encampments are
[43:51] really not created equally I think that
[43:53] some of these issues out there are
[43:55] terrible and it's it's also dangerous
[43:57] for our police fire if we expect our DPW
[44:00] to go out there and clean it it's it's
[44:03] going to be a
[44:05] mess and I and I just want to State you
[44:08] know and Jay you said it numerous times
[44:11] every time we talk about this We Kick
[44:13] the Can down the road we ignore it we
[44:15] don't do nothing about it we just sit
[44:17] here and discuss it well we finally said
[44:19] we're going to do something about it and
[44:22] now some people want to kick the can
[44:24] down the road so we can be here next
[44:25] year doing the same conversation
[44:29] why can't you just do what I asked like
[44:31] give them bags it's cheaper and let them
[44:34] clean it and put it in the bucket we've
[44:35] given dumpsters we've given bags we've
[44:37] given well let's let let's do it again
[44:40] let's try it
[44:42] again and you did say last week that
[44:45] they would be arrested you did say that
[44:48] last week I specifically said I don't
[44:50] want to see anybody get arrested because
[44:51] if that person has an opportunity to get
[44:53] a job and if that wre is going to stop
[44:55] them from getting a job what disservice
[44:57] did we I was here last
[45:01] week no I'm telling you what I said if
[45:04] nobody wants to vote it was said that
[45:06] they would get arrested they could be on
[45:07] the property and it's up to the building
[45:09] or the the landlord to get them up but
[45:12] if they do something crial they're going
[45:13] to get arrested two different situations
[45:15] but they're pushing them to get they're
[45:16] pushing them they're talking about two
[45:17] different situations this is Town
[45:19] property we're talking about this
[45:21] ordinance now if they're on private
[45:23] property it's up to the main lord of the
[45:24] building it's not up to this Council to
[45:26] deal with right the council is
[45:28] responsible for Town property okay if
[45:31] they're on private property that could
[45:33] be a trespassing order that could be
[45:35] something else that has nothing to do
[45:37] with us so yes they could be asked to
[45:39] leave or if they're on private property
[45:41] with permission there's actually nothing
[45:43] the town could do at that point that's
[45:44] right so that's what I tried to explain
[45:47] I don't want to see one person get
[45:48] arrested and not have an opportunity to
[45:50] get a job because of that arrest I
[45:53] unless unless that they're doing
[45:55] something that's Al not just for being
[45:58] homeless exactly but right now they're
[46:00] getting pushed and I don't think it's
[46:02] fair they're getting harassed and I feel
[46:04] like they getting harassed till December
[46:06] 2nd where they're going to be all ready
[46:09] all aggravated and then they're getting
[46:11] ready to G to fight back and I told them
[46:13] don't fight I know one situation about
[46:15] sneakers a kid was playing down at um
[46:18] the basketball courts down in N uh River
[46:22] Point River Point he turned around his
[46:24] sneakers were gone they filed the police
[46:26] report so yes they probably were looking
[46:28] for the kid sneakers that were playing
[46:29] basketball and he turned around to find
[46:31] them going can I tell you the story that
[46:33] the police officer said to him somebody
[46:35] was stealing somebody stole it gendrin
[46:38] that's why he wanted to check out a
[46:39] sneaker I know the guy personally he's a
[46:42] friend of mine he called me up and told
[46:44] me about it he's getting harassed by the
[46:45] cops I said what for he said the cop
[46:48] came up to him and asked him he want to
[46:49] see his sneakers he said what for he
[46:51] said I just want to see a sneaky said oh
[46:53] check he checked the sneaky said no
[46:55] that's not you he say so happy goes
[46:57] because somebody stole at
[47:00] gendrin that's what the story was
[47:03] because it happened to
[47:04] him I'll bring him in you can ask I'm
[47:08] good thank you any other public comment
[47:11] just state your name and address for the
[47:13] record uh Sarah Tucket Rhode Island um
[47:17] obviously I don't live in West Warwick
[47:19] but I have worked in West Warwick for
[47:20] many years doing Street Outreach um I no
[47:23] longer conduct Street Outreach in a
[47:25] professional way but like to come out my
[47:27] personal time when I can um just to
[47:29] qualify um I know a lot of the concerns
[47:32] around the encampments have to do with
[47:34] legal illegal activity uh issues of
[47:38] Sanitation disruption noise you name it
[47:42] um and I just can't help but think of
[47:45] the obvious with that is that those all
[47:47] go away when people get housed right
[47:49] you're seeing all that take place
[47:51] outside because they have nowhere else
[47:52] to go um and like the other folks who so
[47:55] gracefully spoke before me um if you
[47:59] keep pushing people around that's still
[48:00] not going to solve the problem you're
[48:02] just moving them to a different block or
[48:04] a different neighborhood where the same
[48:05] exact issue is going to repeat itself in
[48:08] Forever um with no real solution I'm not
[48:11] in favor of this ordinance it doesn't it
[48:14] doesn't create any positive avenues for
[48:17] people to Access housing it's vague and
[48:20] it's approach in saying that the council
[48:22] or the town will work with individuals
[48:25] um even if the town were to work with
[48:27] individuals to locate and find shelter
[48:30] or housing they merely do not exist in
[48:32] our state they are not to the capacity
[48:33] that we need them um I know a lot of
[48:36] folks are talking about substance use
[48:38] and alcohol use um yeah it's true that
[48:41] some people are not interested in
[48:42] treatment because every time they go to
[48:43] treatment they come back out and they
[48:46] have to live in a tent in the woods so
[48:48] for me I'm a person in recovery if I was
[48:51] living outside number one I would
[48:52] absolutely be drinking to numb that pain
[48:56] um and two I went to treatment what is
[48:58] the point what is the point of me
[48:59] turning my life around when I'm going to
[49:01] have to go back outside into a tent um
[49:04] and then regards to the needles there
[49:06] are needle exchange programs that come
[49:08] into West Warwick and dispose of those
[49:09] needles um in my experience when going
[49:11] out there um I have not ever seen it to
[49:14] be a major problem in the town of West
[49:16] Warwick I'm sure someone has seen once
[49:18] in their life before but I've never seen
[49:20] it be a large problem um tonight I
[49:23] haven't heard any real solutions to the
[49:26] problem and how to address the housing
[49:28] issue in West Warwick and what we're
[49:30] actually going to do before December 2nd
[49:32] because I can guarantee you nobody's
[49:34] going to get house between now and
[49:35] December 2nd they probably won't even
[49:37] find sustainable shelter most shelters
[49:40] are shortterm or for intermediate you're
[49:44] only in there overnight and then you're
[49:45] out in the morning um so none of these
[49:47] really feel like it's going to get to
[49:49] the issue and we're going to keep
[49:50] spinning our Wheels over and over again
[49:52] and you're going to have a higher crime
[49:53] rate in West Warwick because you're
[49:55] going to keep arresting people that have
[49:56] no else to go I know you said you don't
[49:58] want to arrest people but that's
[49:59] ultimately what ends up happening um and
[50:03] I would just like to see people get
[50:04] housed it's not um these are everyone's
[50:07] neighbors whether you want to admit it
[50:08] or not these aren't people coming from
[50:09] different towns most of these people are
[50:11] from West Warwick themselves um and I
[50:14] would like to see better support of our
[50:16] neighbors um and that's all I have to
[50:18] say thank you thank you
[50:24] sir d62 Avenue we're losing track of the
[50:29] entire topic here the topic is the
[50:31] health and well-being of our citizens
[50:32] and our children these people are living
[50:34] in camps at fields at places where
[50:38] children play we're losing track of the
[50:40] entire situation okay yes I'm
[50:43] compassionate they're homeless they need
[50:44] a place to live they don't need a place
[50:46] to live where children are at play where
[50:48] families are trying to do family
[50:49] activities I experienced a situation
[50:51] last week I'm working at my building
[50:54] behind Riverpoint I hear sirens and
[50:56] sirens and Sirens I'm like man that
[50:58] place on fire I go back there cuz I hear
[51:01] the air brakes I sit in my truck and I
[51:04] watch it's a Saturday you got families
[51:08] on the softball field you got families
[51:09] in the playground you got families on
[51:11] the soccer field and you got apparatus
[51:13] all around that place because somebody
[51:15] OD that's what the situation is here and
[51:18] that's what these people are missing
[51:19] number two all these advocates in here
[51:21] listen to them they're from Pentucket
[51:23] they're from Smithfield they're from
[51:25] here they're from there how about coming
[51:27] from West War none of them from West War
[51:30] if they're so worried about what's going
[51:31] on in West War take them home with you
[51:34] it's that easy bring them to your
[51:35] community they're not all bad people I
[51:38] get it
[51:40] however I know not one of you will
[51:42] probably take a walk through River Point
[51:44] right now without an officer or somebody
[51:47] that's going to stand up to help protect
[51:48] you I'm gonna tell you that right now
[51:50] I'll go through there if you want to
[51:51] come with me it's a mess they're losing
[51:54] track they're trying to throw dust at
[51:56] you guys guys the dust is it's a safety
[52:00] factor for the people of this community
[52:02] the children of this community you have
[52:05] a river walk down there that the town
[52:07] invested money in for families to go
[52:09] enjoy for kids to ride their bikes you
[52:12] can't do that right now and then the
[52:14] island you need to literally take a
[52:17] bulldozer and push that over because
[52:19] you're not going to put your DPW guys
[52:21] down there and I'm going to tell you
[52:22] Hazmat people are probably not going to
[52:23] want to go down there either
[52:27] it's a mess that's what this is about
[52:29] this is about what they're doing to our
[52:31] community what they're doing to our town
[52:34] facilities not what they're doing living
[52:36] in their tent sleeping whatever I get
[52:39] that everybody's down and out once in a
[52:40] while or most people that's what they
[52:42] got to do they do it's not those people
[52:44] that are causing this
[52:46] problem it's people that don't want the
[52:50] help it's people that want to do drugs
[52:52] it's people that want to whatever they
[52:55] don't want the help I'm in employer they
[52:57] don't want a
[52:58] job it's not it's not difficult it's not
[53:01] difficult they're our select few yeah
[53:04] there's I know the family they're
[53:05] talking about behind uh The Manor the
[53:09] kid worked for me back in the
[53:11] days very good kid got caught up in
[53:16] drugs that's where he ended up we tried
[53:19] helping him time and time again he
[53:21] worked for me at least six to seven
[53:23] times different
[53:24] occasions didn't want to help
[53:28] but I gave him a job until he couldn't
[53:30] handle the job no more until he started
[53:32] bringing it to the job when you bring it
[53:34] to the job and it's in my truck you
[53:36] don't have a
[53:38] job that's what this is about this is
[53:40] not about all the homeless us feel bad
[53:43] for them yeah we feel bad for the ones
[53:45] that are legitimately homeless and down
[53:47] and out and need the help we can't feel
[53:49] bad for all of them but it's the bad
[53:52] ones that are not making it easy for the
[53:54] good ones and you have to do it as a
[53:57] Full Slate you can't pick and choose now
[54:00] the
[54:01] ordinance I mean for me if I'm going to
[54:03] write an ordinance or law I'm not going
[54:06] to Target the homeless and put it in Ro
[54:08] you encampments is a different word it
[54:10] should have been encampments on every
[54:12] line item not homeless homeless you're
[54:14] targeting A specific
[54:17] group he gets paid good money you should
[54:19] have known
[54:21] that right you're targeting a group
[54:24] that's why they're all here that's why
[54:25] you got the media here because you're
[54:26] targeting a group you're not targeting
[54:29] camp
[54:31] sites now I don't know how you
[54:35] backpedal you put it out to the public I
[54:37] would never put out the public either
[54:40] until the draft was R through and
[54:43] probably Homeless was taken out because
[54:45] now now you're kind of stuck so as a
[54:47] taxpayer and a business owner in this
[54:49] town I still got to deal with it at
[54:50] River Point because they're going to win
[54:52] and you're going to
[54:54] lose that's all I got to say thank
[54:59] you my name is Umberto goes I'm from
[55:01] Texas I'm not from here uh I came here
[55:04] for my lady she's from here family's
[55:06] from here I only came here just to as
[55:08] for her father hand in marriage things
[55:10] didn't turn out all right kicked me out
[55:12] into the
[55:13] streets I live for a while slept at the
[55:16] 24-hour 24/7 laund I don't know if y'all
[55:18] know where that is down over there where
[55:19] is that I don't know the address I'm not
[55:21] from around you but I sleep for about
[55:23] almost a month because I didn't know
[55:25] where else to go if it it wasn't for the
[55:26] head helping me out I wouldn't have a
[55:28] tent I wouldn't have where I could be
[55:29] comfortable to sleep after I come out of
[55:31] work from Aloha Pizza I work at Aloha
[55:32] Pizza try and make some money get some
[55:34] food I don't have food stamps I don't
[55:36] know how to even go about that to me
[55:38] that was only a a female thing but now I
[55:40] I guess it's both I don't know I don't
[55:42] know these things nobody tells me these
[55:44] things nobody teach me so I just go with
[55:46] work get your money get food survive I
[55:50] understand everybody has issues with
[55:51] some homeless men and women that don't
[55:54] want the help I understand that there's
[55:56] very understanding but the ones that do
[55:58] like May said earlier when they notified
[56:01] to saying hey you guys got to clean up
[56:03] your act you can walk where where we are
[56:07] we have a very clean area now you
[56:09] mentioned about having issues about
[56:11] garbage about 22,000 or something like
[56:13] that it's like she said or someone else
[56:15] said why not ask us to clean it up you
[56:17] can ask us and we'll we'll help whoever
[56:20] group goes to help up and clean up for
[56:21] free I mean we don't I only work some
[56:24] days I have some other days that are off
[56:25] and I can help clean clean up Wendy has
[56:28] asked me a few times hey can you clean
[56:29] this heyle clean that I got you Wendy I
[56:31] cleaned the TR the needles that were
[56:33] under the train I cleaned those the
[56:34] trash that was under the train I cleaned
[56:36] those not asking for money not asking
[56:37] for anything else just hey let me know
[56:40] some of us want to get out of this
[56:42] situation we don't like it but if you're
[56:45] attacking on or saying hey camping is
[56:49] not allowed in public property that's
[56:52] all the camping which you stay or said
[56:55] permission from for a public uh property
[56:59] if you have permission from public
[57:00] property you can be there is that right
[57:02] private private private but did you say
[57:04] public early or no okay so how do you
[57:05] even go about any of that I mean where
[57:07] it's like they said the problem is
[57:08] goingon to be going somewhere else I'm
[57:10] not asking to I I I'm not very familiar
[57:12] with all this I'm not ready with that
[57:13] more I'm not even from here but if I'm
[57:15] GNA get told hey I'm sorry you need to
[57:18] leave I'm from Texas I don't even know
[57:20] where to go you know I I we're stuck out
[57:23] here because the situation just threw us
[57:25] at hand you know
[57:27] um I've been homeless for a while that
[57:29] really all that is to it if it wasn't
[57:30] for Wendy helping me with a tint a
[57:31] blanket and you know some extra clothes
[57:33] period of clothes I didn't have money to
[57:35] wash uh my clothes yet I was sleeping in
[57:36] the
[57:37] laundromat I appreciate that I don't
[57:40] even know what really is the real issue
[57:41] if you just need someone to clean up
[57:42] some trash just talk to us some of us
[57:44] are just going to be like you know what
[57:45] yeah some of us will say no I understand
[57:48] that but some of us that do want to make
[57:50] hey let's help each other out then okay
[57:52] help each other out hey can you go to
[57:54] this Camp I know it's not your Camp can
[57:55] you clean it up just let me know hey I
[57:58] work Wednesday I can't do it Wednesday
[57:59] but I could do it Friday hey I work
[58:01] Friday I could do it Sunday if I'm not
[58:02] working Sunday or I'm not helping or I'm
[58:03] not doing anything else you know what I
[58:05] mean that if we can come in
[58:07] understanding like hey you know what
[58:08] there's a trash over here and if it
[58:10] continues to make a trash then you know
[58:11] what fine whoever is staying there penal
[58:14] gets the penalty of hey you know what
[58:16] you there's just trash everywhere you
[58:19] know not everybody's doing this but you
[58:20] all are I mean come on if you guys got
[58:22] you know maybe a week or two he's not
[58:24] clean then go go ahead and do what you
[58:26] need to do but to the ones that are
[58:28] trying their best the ones that sleep
[58:29] outside when it's cold the ones that are
[58:31] trying to get food the ones that are
[58:32] tired of camp food okay they're trying
[58:36] they didn't they didn't even tell us
[58:37] they told us about a day and actually
[58:39] the day before they told us I started
[58:41] cleaning asked my li baby I started
[58:43] clean just because I didn't do anything
[58:45] I didn't have any work I said you know
[58:46] what I'm bored I don't do anything else
[58:48] I only smok marijuana I don't touch
[58:49] nothing else I don't like I don't got I
[58:52] got way too much responsibility for that
[58:53] but it's like they mentioned some do
[58:55] want the help some don't want the help I
[58:58] understand that that's a very delicate
[58:59] balance but all I'm here for is just to
[59:02] explain my situation and some that
[59:04] relate to it that hey you know what this
[59:06] is you were just put in a bad situation
[59:07] at a bad time and you're just trying to
[59:09] do your best to get out of it like I
[59:10] said I work at a l hot pizza I I I only
[59:12] work a couple days maybe anytime they
[59:14] call me hey we need an extra person I'll
[59:17] go you know I I do my best I try to
[59:19] clean up around as much as I can it is a
[59:21] pin ands I admit but it has someone has
[59:24] to do it and if y'all don't talk to us
[59:26] we don't know nothing you know you don't
[59:28] you know what we don't even know each
[59:30] other you can come up to me hey can you
[59:32] don't mind cleaning this and this and
[59:33] that I'll do it but if they keep doing
[59:35] it then penalize them I know you're from
[59:37] Wendy because I adopted the spot where
[59:39] the Caboose was and she told me you
[59:41] cleaned out from underneath it because I
[59:43] thank you because usually it's it's
[59:44] usually myself and my wife and my kids
[59:46] that are under there clean I just worry
[59:48] about kids too trying to climb on the
[59:49] train thank
[59:51] you you can I'm gonna let her go
[59:54] next just just state your name for the
[59:57] record that's hi I'm Sophia years old
[1:00:00] I'm Sophia sorry I'm 10 years old um
[1:00:03] when I was four years old I had to go
[1:00:06] into a homeless shelter because our
[1:00:09] landlord uh she didn't like us because
[1:00:14] of um my brother's dad my stepfather um
[1:00:20] we had to go into the family shelter and
[1:00:23] when I was 5 years old we moved out into
[1:00:25] br so um and it was brought to my
[1:00:30] attention that um the police have been
[1:00:34] tearing apart uh tents for the um that
[1:00:38] homeless people sleep in and I didn't
[1:00:42] like that because um I like to help the
[1:00:46] homeless and I have a quote no act of
[1:00:50] kindness no matter how small it is is
[1:00:53] ever
[1:00:54] wasted thank you you thank
[1:00:58] you joh 62 Angels
[1:01:02] Avenue that gentleman right here I'm
[1:01:04] offering you a job right now you come
[1:01:07] and see
[1:01:09] me I'll give you a job you show that you
[1:01:13] want some
[1:01:14] help now the rest of your Advocates here
[1:01:17] can anybody tell
[1:01:19] me John address address the council a
[1:01:22] you and then you can I'd like to know
[1:01:24] how many of the these
[1:01:26] Advocates have a track record of helping
[1:01:30] somebody and like you said and I said it
[1:01:32] last week I'm so tired of we just always
[1:01:35] do kick it down the
[1:01:37] road we need to do something like my son
[1:01:40] said this has nothing to do with the
[1:01:42] homeless quote this has to do with the
[1:01:45] protection of the town and the people in
[1:01:49] the
[1:01:50] encampment we've all said including our
[1:01:53] officials it is dangerous it's un
[1:01:56] safe it's your responsibility to make it
[1:02:00] safe the only way you can make it safe
[1:02:02] is they can't live there okay it's a sad
[1:02:05] fact of
[1:02:06] life but like this gentleman here and
[1:02:10] like my son told you we've hired so many
[1:02:13] people for different reasons you try to
[1:02:15] give them a chance some of them make it
[1:02:17] to the Finish Line some of them make it
[1:02:19] to the first
[1:02:20] paycheck some of them die on
[1:02:23] you but you can't put them all in one
[1:02:27] group all right and there is a very
[1:02:29] large group okay and I'm no social
[1:02:32] worker that just don't want the
[1:02:36] help they don't want it you've said it
[1:02:38] other people have said it but the
[1:02:40] advocation that goes here they roll it
[1:02:42] up in one ball I don't think that's very
[1:02:44] professionalism of them they have to
[1:02:47] have the knowledge if they're in the
[1:02:49] field that there are areas that you are
[1:02:52] never going to save and when the priest
[1:02:54] was here the other day I said that that
[1:02:56] God can't save him at this point we can
[1:02:58] only save what is savable like I believe
[1:03:02] this gentleman is just by listening to
[1:03:04] him okay and I have no problem putting
[1:03:06] them on my payroll but if he fails me I
[1:03:10] have no problem getting rid of
[1:03:12] them but at least I was able to give him
[1:03:14] a chance I've had him come through well
[1:03:18] you never going to do anything with them
[1:03:20] never and we have to face that fact it
[1:03:23] might be sad but you got to face it help
[1:03:25] who can get help the rest of them it's a
[1:03:29] it's collateral damage what do you want
[1:03:31] to do with it unless you want to take
[1:03:34] them home you want to take them home you
[1:03:35] want to put them in your houses I think
[1:03:36] these Advocates the way they talk they
[1:03:38] should take them home because they're
[1:03:40] saving the world but how come we got
[1:03:41] this
[1:03:45] problem
[1:03:52] D she can disrespect me all she wants
[1:03:56] but that's all I've got to say I really
[1:03:57] would like to see this resolved but we
[1:04:00] need to stick with what we started off
[1:04:02] to do the town you cannot be responsible
[1:04:05] for these lives or someday we're going
[1:04:09] to have one hell of an inant I pray to
[1:04:11] God it never
[1:04:12] happens because it's well known of the
[1:04:16] dangers if something happens
[1:04:19] there reliable thank you if it continues
[1:04:23] in the crowd I want to have whoever is
[1:04:24] doing it please leave
[1:04:28] my name is Anna KY I live on West Street
[1:04:31] and we have all these activists back
[1:04:33] there like they they they claim to be
[1:04:35] social workers or whatever but they had
[1:04:38] they have failed I mean the chief said
[1:04:40] he went back there found two people
[1:04:43] right away that need detox but the other
[1:04:47] issue is a lot you you should think
[1:04:50] about the children we've heard from a
[1:04:52] child there are children in West Warwick
[1:04:54] also do you know the age restriction to
[1:04:58] give out free needles do you know
[1:05:01] anybody know I bet you know because you
[1:05:03] don't miss a Thundermist meeting do you
[1:05:05] do you do you know there's no age
[1:05:09] restriction how many feet do they have
[1:05:12] to be from a school to give out needles
[1:05:15] there's no restriction there's none and
[1:05:19] and these people are getting all their
[1:05:20] free needles and they're going to stay
[1:05:23] in that situation but that's the future
[1:05:25] of the children too when I was younger
[1:05:27] in the 80s we didn't get needles so we
[1:05:31] didn't use needles the only people that
[1:05:33] use needles were Vietnam bets that
[1:05:37] nobody would bother but they're making
[1:05:39] it like oh look Joy let's put little
[1:05:41] Rainbow stickers on it and there's no
[1:05:44] age restriction you cannot let the town
[1:05:47] go like this because of the kids plus
[1:05:50] there was somebody here one day saying
[1:05:51] that some rapist on thatth comes out
[1:05:55] near Ma quinnn and it seems like that
[1:05:58] the they should be outside with protest
[1:06:01] signs not in here but you need to worry
[1:06:04] about the people it is sad homeless
[1:06:07] people is sad but they haven't triaged
[1:06:09] them separated veterans drug addicts
[1:06:12] they haven't done that and now it's all
[1:06:14] on us on the town we have to do
[1:06:18] that you have to worry about the
[1:06:20] children that live in the town they
[1:06:22] shouldn't be walking down the path with
[1:06:26] somebody on math that rapes people in
[1:06:28] the woods like what is this the whole
[1:06:31] conversation is about The Advocates that
[1:06:33] came from Bristol and everywhere like
[1:06:36] you need to worry about our kids you
[1:06:37] need to find out what are the age
[1:06:39] restrictions can we make laws about that
[1:06:42] that in the town of West Warwick you
[1:06:44] don't give kids needles you it was on my
[1:06:47] street West Street as far as I know we
[1:06:49] don't have a c encampment but there were
[1:06:50] needles on our
[1:06:52] street and that those things it's never
[1:06:55] going to get better unless you end that
[1:06:57] and they're not going to solve the
[1:06:59] problem because they'll lose
[1:07:01] funding thank you excuse me I'm just
[1:07:04] gonna say a few words off the cuff here
[1:07:08] I have been cyclically homeless since
[1:07:11] 2019 and I have lived in every single
[1:07:15] town in this state okay for all those
[1:07:20] naysayers and live in Bristol and I
[1:07:22] might present like a very
[1:07:26] nice person in my very nice hair in my
[1:07:31] Tiffany's Jewelry but there's a reason
[1:07:32] for that I am the face of
[1:07:35] homelessness
[1:07:37] okay so I am an advocate and I help
[1:07:40] people on a daily basis whether it's
[1:07:43] navigating the HUD system looking for a
[1:07:46] place to sleep getting a woman who was
[1:07:48] just beaten into uh Lucy's Hearth
[1:07:52] because she doesn't have a place to stay
[1:07:54] with her children that's what Advocates
[1:07:56] do they don't come up on stage and offer
[1:07:58] people jobs because they want to be
[1:08:00] martyrs so I am here because
[1:08:04] homelessness is an issue and I'm very
[1:08:07] concerned that passing this legislation
[1:08:09] is going to follow suit for every other
[1:08:12] community that wants to turn a blind eye
[1:08:15] to what is going on in this state that's
[1:08:18] why I'm here that's why I'm concerned it
[1:08:20] affects every single one of us every
[1:08:22] single
[1:08:23] person my children and I have been
[1:08:27] devastated and like I
[1:08:30] explained I volunteer for the Coalition
[1:08:34] but the Coalition has just rescinded a
[1:08:37] job offer for a community-based
[1:08:40] program that I was looking for and when
[1:08:43] they res sended that job offer I went to
[1:08:47] um Warren Buffet house DHS uh the
[1:08:51] woman's Resource Center all and Lucy's
[1:08:54] Hearth all with in that week because I
[1:08:56] had no gas in my car um no internet
[1:08:59] service no cell phone service every
[1:09:01] single Financial organization with my
[1:09:04] nice clothes and my nice jewelry turned
[1:09:07] me away and my family every single one
[1:09:10] of those organizations and if they're
[1:09:11] turning me away and my family who are in
[1:09:14] need who is who who's not needing these
[1:09:19] programs so that's just all I have to
[1:09:22] say it needs to be we need to work work
[1:09:25] on a program as a community I think that
[1:09:27] gentleman who came up here was like it
[1:09:30] was mind-blowing to me to listen to his
[1:09:32] story he came here from Texas and he's
[1:09:37] doing his job like if you want to see
[1:09:39] community at its Forefront that's where
[1:09:42] you should go those people are working
[1:09:45] together they're cleaning together
[1:09:46] they're cooking together they're they're
[1:09:48] working as a as a
[1:09:50] unit it's not all they're shooting up
[1:09:54] and
[1:09:55] swinging needles around it's work work
[1:09:58] as a community to try to find a
[1:10:00] resolution that's what we should be
[1:10:01] doing here not just getting upset and
[1:10:05] really like try to found a foundation to
[1:10:07] try to work as a community I heard
[1:10:09] something about there's a field in the
[1:10:10] back that was by the young woman uh
[1:10:13] there's a field in the back what about
[1:10:16] like proposing somewhere that someone
[1:10:20] where people can go and have some type
[1:10:22] of community where they can come
[1:10:24] together we can
[1:10:26] set up space for them so that they don't
[1:10:28] feel like they have to be pushed from
[1:10:30] one place to another where they're not
[1:10:32] in maybe peripheral vision but we can
[1:10:35] work on this it's not kicking the can
[1:10:37] down the road but it's not criminalizing
[1:10:39] the people who are here and living they
[1:10:41] still have to live and yes I do help the
[1:10:43] homeless and I lived in Providence my
[1:10:46] entire life I'm not
[1:10:48] uncomfortable this is what I
[1:10:52] do all right um I just want to
[1:10:56] reiterate and I want to just have this
[1:10:57] another three-hour meeting tonight over
[1:11:00] this subject so please just I want to
[1:11:03] cut the comments down if you've been up
[1:11:05] already this will be the last time this
[1:11:07] will be the last time I apologize I just
[1:11:09] wanted to correct some
[1:11:11] misinformation um particularly around
[1:11:13] needle exchange uh the reason with the
[1:11:16] needle exchange the comment about the
[1:11:18] 80s and having a restriction on needle
[1:11:22] exchange services we don't want to do
[1:11:24] that again because in the ' 80s we had a
[1:11:26] problem with an HIV epidemic we're
[1:11:28] trying to avoid that the reason why
[1:11:29] we're not in an HIV epidemic is because
[1:11:31] we have needle exchange programs and
[1:11:33] other communicable diseases so I just
[1:11:35] want to nip that in the bud before that
[1:11:37] snowballs into anything else ever again
[1:11:40] um and I just want to reorient this
[1:11:42] conversation because some people are
[1:11:44] speaking about other human beings like
[1:11:46] their subhuman and throwaway and
[1:11:49] monsters as someone who did work here
[1:11:51] and did help a lot of people I could
[1:11:53] show you my wrap sheet you'd probably be
[1:11:54] impressed um people who are serving the
[1:11:57] community aren't doing nothing so I
[1:11:59] don't know where that piece of
[1:12:00] information came from they are working
[1:12:02] very hard for very little money and a
[1:12:04] lot of times volunteer a lot of folks
[1:12:06] here who are advocating are volunteer
[1:12:08] who don't get paid anything so I want to
[1:12:10] clarify that too because it's
[1:12:11] disrespectful to the people out here who
[1:12:13] are trying their best to solve for a
[1:12:15] problem that would also benefit everyone
[1:12:17] in this
[1:12:19] community it's we can't talk about
[1:12:21] people like their throwaway these are
[1:12:23] human beings there are some people in
[1:12:24] this audience today who are experiencing
[1:12:26] homelessness and you are dogging them
[1:12:28] like they don't matter or they don't
[1:12:29] deserve a home because they use drugs
[1:12:32] also just because someone use drugs does
[1:12:33] not mean they don't deserve a home I
[1:12:36] don't know where you would get that
[1:12:37] logic from they're not like I said
[1:12:39] subhuman treat people with
[1:12:52] respect Dennis canel lris Avenue West w
[1:12:56] um I'm I'm coming up here because I've
[1:12:59] been homeless I was homeless in my teen
[1:13:01] years for two years uh let me tell you
[1:13:04] it wasn't because of Advocates helping
[1:13:06] me out because I had plenty of people
[1:13:08] that wanted to help me when I was
[1:13:10] younger and I didn't want to hear it
[1:13:12] from any of them I wanted to do my own
[1:13:14] thing and if it wasn't for me helping
[1:13:17] myself I would have never gotten out of
[1:13:19] that
[1:13:22] situation I'm also a disabled vet
[1:13:26] I'm not 100% disabled so let me tell you
[1:13:28] I'm living on a a minimal
[1:13:31] income everyone keeps on talking about
[1:13:33] it's a homeless issue it's a homeless
[1:13:35] issue no it's a housing issue we have we
[1:13:37] have problems with all of these multif
[1:13:40] family houses being sold out to all
[1:13:42] these large congruent of population that
[1:13:46] has the money to uh get housing voes for
[1:13:48] all these migrants coming into this town
[1:13:51] how many of our students are now Spanish
[1:13:56] speaking where's that money coming from
[1:13:58] we have to take this out of our tax time
[1:14:01] my taxes just went up guess what so did
[1:14:03] my mortgage me as a disabled vet living
[1:14:06] off of my payment guess what I'm having
[1:14:09] to cut more and more things out of my
[1:14:11] life and I'm not I'm just barely eating
[1:14:14] I'm not even leaving my house because I
[1:14:16] can't pay for the gas it it's ridiculous
[1:14:20] I mean I understand people people go
[1:14:22] through hard times and but drugs are not
[1:14:26] the answer and if you're staying on the
[1:14:28] streets because you're doing drugs
[1:14:31] you're never going to want to help
[1:14:33] yourself because you are constantly in
[1:14:35] that state of euphoria you are
[1:14:37] constantly trying to get away from the
[1:14:39] life that you're in that you don't want
[1:14:41] to take part in that's what you're
[1:14:44] doing
[1:14:47] and trust me I I've had friends that
[1:14:50] have died from drugs I've had friends
[1:14:51] that have come back from drugs and it's
[1:14:55] never an easy thing now that it's
[1:14:58] becoming more and more prominent of the
[1:15:01] mental issues that we're having in
[1:15:03] today's society people don't know
[1:15:05] whether they're a girl or a boy people
[1:15:08] boys dressing as girls girls I mean
[1:15:10] girls have dressed as boys for decade
[1:15:12] but I mean it's we're so off of the
[1:15:16] factual tracks that we're just coming up
[1:15:20] with excuses at this
[1:15:22] point and I don't see anything happening
[1:15:26] I I loved it I keep on you
[1:15:29] man I text you all the
[1:15:31] time okay uh uh about all the yes
[1:15:35] alcohol bottles and stuff along that
[1:15:36] line let me tell you if they're out
[1:15:38] there to commit crimes they're out there
[1:15:41] to commit crimes where the police are
[1:15:43] out there to protect the people from the
[1:15:46] crimes and
[1:15:55] we do need to do
[1:15:57] something uh I'll agree just pushing
[1:15:59] them from place to place isn't going to
[1:16:01] help
[1:16:01] anything um but what we need to do is we
[1:16:06] need to get with the higher ups over in
[1:16:07] the uh state house and tell them they
[1:16:10] need to stop uh sending all their
[1:16:11] migrants to us so that we can actually
[1:16:13] have some housing for us because when
[1:16:15] you stop putting 30,000 people in a
[1:16:19] society of 60,000 people guess what
[1:16:23] you're going to displace a third of
[1:16:24] those
[1:16:28] is it our
[1:16:29] job to take care of the world or is it
[1:16:32] our job to take care of our communities
[1:16:33] and
[1:16:36] ourselves oh I will say this on the
[1:16:38] council's behalf it's our job to protect
[1:16:41] this
[1:16:42] community considering we pay taxes that
[1:16:44] is correct a
[1:16:47] and what what another thing that the
[1:16:49] migrant influx is also doing is taking
[1:16:52] away our lower jobs hold on sir I just
[1:16:54] want to stop you there as far as going
[1:16:56] about the migrant community and so on
[1:16:57] and so forth that's that's maybe a
[1:17:00] national issue and I know it was brought
[1:17:02] up here last time that in West War I'm
[1:17:05] not sure how many migrants are in here
[1:17:07] causing homeless in West War I I'm not
[1:17:09] sure so and and I can't answer that
[1:17:12] question but I have I I know for a fact
[1:17:15] homeless has been up over 30% over last
[1:17:18] year it's up over 30% versus last year
[1:17:21] where it is this year yeah and within
[1:17:24] the last two years
[1:17:25] four houses four multif family houses
[1:17:28] all of a sudden turn Spanish speaking
[1:17:31] straight up in my just in my general
[1:17:34] vicinity huh whether they're Spanish
[1:17:36] speaking English speaking non-english
[1:17:38] speaking I just had ice on one of them
[1:17:40] because they children one of their child
[1:17:42] was peeping into Windows of houses okay
[1:17:46] but that has nothing to do with the
[1:17:46] homeless situation right now they're
[1:17:48] taking the
[1:17:49] housing oh I I I I think what the
[1:17:52] biggest problem with the housing is the
[1:17:54] cost of housing housing when you're
[1:17:55] selling a two family house for almost
[1:17:58] $500,000 the landlord has to make that
[1:18:00] rent granted okay gr that's where it is
[1:18:03] people cannot afford to live I don't
[1:18:05] care if it's English non-english
[1:18:07] whatever it is you can't afford $2,800 a
[1:18:09] month to rent their apartment so again
[1:18:12] let's keep this on to the homeless and
[1:18:14] not Spanish speaking or whoever well I'm
[1:18:16] just bringing it to the point that we
[1:18:18] have multif family houses with legal
[1:18:20] immigrants in our neighborhoods right
[1:18:21] now displacing west warens
[1:18:26] people who have grown up here as The
[1:18:28] Advocates keep on saying but but we
[1:18:31] don't matter as long as the immigrants
[1:18:34] can come in and take our houses and take
[1:18:35] our jobs and just push us out guess what
[1:18:39] uh this W Ward jayin is going to be a
[1:18:43] Democrat come up next uh election come
[1:18:45] up this election I'll guarantee it
[1:18:47] because you're gonna have all kinds of
[1:18:48] Spanish people who already who are
[1:18:51] already the election is going on and I
[1:18:52] think the councilman is running Unos so
[1:18:55] I don't not sure what you're talking I'm
[1:18:57] talking about they're going to be voting
[1:18:59] they have already started mail and
[1:19:01] ballots are people are being registered
[1:19:04] to vote thank
[1:19:08] you hi Kathy Schultz I do not live in
[1:19:12] West W but my family has their name on
[1:19:15] the churches here and my family
[1:19:16] immigrated here and I lived here but
[1:19:18] many many I'm an honorary aren't I thank
[1:19:22] you um I really just want to come up
[1:19:25] here and again like broken record say
[1:19:28] that there are some solutions that we
[1:19:29] all have been working on um I want to
[1:19:31] thank the town manager um and even when
[1:19:34] you were the former police um Chief um I
[1:19:37] want to thank the Town Council um for
[1:19:39] continuing to have these conversations
[1:19:42] I've mentioned it a couple of times um I
[1:19:44] do think that this is a entire King
[1:19:47] County issue the 44 people that um Chief
[1:19:50] Aron had mentioned I bet you there's
[1:19:52] some more over on the carpentry line and
[1:19:54] also on the W line along the bike path
[1:19:57] um I had said last time when I was here
[1:19:59] the solution is a 247 navigation Center
[1:20:03] um I know that you all have been talking
[1:20:04] about this I'm not saying that this is
[1:20:06] all the towns but what I'm saying as the
[1:20:08] solution is continue to talk to your ab
[1:20:11] buding cities and towns continue to try
[1:20:13] to come up with a K County solution you
[1:20:16] know some kind of regional solution
[1:20:18] because the reality is is we heard this
[1:20:20] and Vinnie is completely on point the
[1:20:24] fact is is that the ordinance that you
[1:20:26] want to do is has a lot of holes in it
[1:20:29] um and it's going to create a inhumane
[1:20:33] way of dealing with the situation I'm
[1:20:36] not going to even talk about drug use or
[1:20:37] drug not use I've said it before I am a
[1:20:40] person in live with lived experience I'm
[1:20:42] a person who was a single mother who was
[1:20:44] evicted probably eight to nine 10 times
[1:20:48] and lived in West walwick because I
[1:20:49] couldn't afford my rent even when I
[1:20:51] wasn't using drugs okay I don't this is
[1:20:55] not I know that we talk about the
[1:20:56] needles and we talk about the harm
[1:20:58] reduction and we talk about all the
[1:20:59] stuff when it comes to substance use we
[1:21:02] talk about people who want treatment and
[1:21:05] then you know at that day at that moment
[1:21:07] they want treatment but the reality is
[1:21:10] we heard from somebody who actually did
[1:21:12] Outreach here that you can get somebody
[1:21:14] into treatment matter of fact I'm going
[1:21:16] to quote somebody who is experiencing
[1:21:17] homelessness at are one of our
[1:21:19] remembrances and the state was here at
[1:21:22] that time I was working here in West w
[1:21:24] and he got on the mic and what he said
[1:21:26] was we need help we're
[1:21:30] dying he's one of the people that you
[1:21:33] all ran into when you were out there he
[1:21:35] was in a shelter he even maybe had a
[1:21:37] voucher but he couldn't find a unit and
[1:21:39] he's back outside again better yet he
[1:21:42] might be in jail because of whatever his
[1:21:44] name Got Run he might be in jail guess
[1:21:46] what he loses a voucher I've said this
[1:21:49] what he said is we need help and even if
[1:21:51] I go to treatment or and I go to detox I
[1:21:54] end up back out here again what's the
[1:21:57] point of going so I just want to remind
[1:22:00] you all of that there is a solution and
[1:22:02] that is a regional solution that is
[1:22:04] having conversations with your other
[1:22:06] cities and towns talking to Vinnie
[1:22:08] listening to some of the advice that
[1:22:10] he's giving you and really thinking
[1:22:12] about how can we get some type of
[1:22:15] something here in the Kent County area
[1:22:18] because the reality is there is nothing
[1:22:20] there is not a shelter you have thunder
[1:22:22] mest you have thrive
[1:22:25] and you have Outreach that comes here
[1:22:27] it's there's not enough resources in
[1:22:29] this community and I do think and I want
[1:22:31] to also say what Gail keeps saying we
[1:22:34] need to work together I know you all
[1:22:36] have been but let's work with the people
[1:22:38] that are actually out there that's all I
[1:22:40] have thank you thank you I just want to
[1:22:42] reiterate you know Vin keeps asking if
[1:22:45] it's the first reading and yes it is on
[1:22:46] the agenda of his first reading and I
[1:22:49] just want to point out this Council has
[1:22:52] seen drafts of this but we can't sit
[1:22:55] there behind the scenes and Talk Amongst
[1:22:58] the five of us to discuss this it's
[1:23:00] illegal it's called a rolling quarum if
[1:23:02] anybody's involved in politics you would
[1:23:04] know
[1:23:06] that we have to discuss this in public
[1:23:10] in any changes that we want to make we
[1:23:12] would have to make it in public I cannot
[1:23:14] sit here and say hey Jay I think this
[1:23:16] should be changed Mary Beth I think that
[1:23:19] and we can all agree behind the scen
[1:23:20] could do that but wait a minute hold on
[1:23:22] sorry it's it's the point of your
[1:23:26] election laws and your laws as a
[1:23:28] politician you have to follow those
[1:23:31] laws so that's why we are here talking
[1:23:34] about it tonight as a collaborative
[1:23:36] group we had three and a half hours last
[1:23:38] time to talk about it we directed Our
[1:23:40] Town manager and our town solicitor to
[1:23:42] put something together now first reading
[1:23:45] we can make changes if any and I'm sure
[1:23:47] everybody up here has been listening and
[1:23:49] wants to discuss this okay we can make
[1:23:52] those changes in those those suggestions
[1:23:55] go back to the drawing board but it's up
[1:23:57] to this Council publicly to talk about
[1:23:59] it that is why it's here before us
[1:24:02] tonight thank you is
[1:24:05] it procedural
[1:24:08] proced so you you obviously can either
[1:24:12] propose some amendments tonight yep or
[1:24:16] approve it as is or direct someone or
[1:24:21] some people to work work on this and
[1:24:25] then come back and if you do come back
[1:24:29] how is the would an amended ordinance is
[1:24:32] the clock reset no if we take no action
[1:24:35] tonight right then it doesn't act as a
[1:24:38] first reading if we take some action
[1:24:40] tonight amend and approve that is the
[1:24:42] actual first reading it would come
[1:24:44] before the council for a second reading
[1:24:46] after the second reading that would be
[1:24:48] approved and 20 days after would go into
[1:24:50] yeah just trying to understand that's
[1:24:52] the procedure right okay thank you thank
[1:24:54] you okay any comments from the council
[1:24:57] um so after listening to everybody
[1:24:59] tonight um there's this is a lot to
[1:25:03] digest and obviously the five of us make
[1:25:06] that make that decision to move
[1:25:09] forward I agree something needs to be
[1:25:11] done I think we've all talked about that
[1:25:13] um the one thing though you know and and
[1:25:16] looking at this and listening to
[1:25:17] everybody and taking
[1:25:19] notes I'm for taking this back looking
[1:25:23] at this again
[1:25:25] on my own and making any suggestions to
[1:25:28] the solicitor and to the manager without
[1:25:30] involving any of you and I
[1:25:34] can I would suggest that we all do that
[1:25:38] and at that point that comes back to us
[1:25:41] just like it did and we can sit here and
[1:25:43] have a true first
[1:25:45] reading I I don't disagree with you Jay
[1:25:48] I mean I I am not prepared to to vote on
[1:25:50] this as it's presented haven't had the
[1:25:53] time to to really wanted to hear what
[1:25:55] people had to say and this is we get
[1:25:58] it's a delicate issue I just C you off
[1:25:59] I'm sorry it's okay go ahead finish
[1:26:01] sorry um it is a it is a delicate issue
[1:26:03] we all realize that
[1:26:06] um and I'm not going to elaborate
[1:26:08] anymore because I think we've talked
[1:26:10] about it enough obviously there there
[1:26:12] are different sides to this um the only
[1:26:16] my main concern though is is listening
[1:26:19] to some people is is safety and that's
[1:26:22] whether you're a child or an adult
[1:26:23] you're out in an encampment or you're
[1:26:26] walking on the street and the concerning
[1:26:29] thing is some of the reports we get from
[1:26:31] from Chief line which we get every week
[1:26:34] on it's it's a report on each of our
[1:26:36] Wards so we can condense it and that
[1:26:38] doesn't just it's not about um it's
[1:26:41] about everything larsy breaking in a car
[1:26:44] crash um some of the reports that we get
[1:26:48] from some of the encampment areas are
[1:26:50] very disturbing and they're unsafe and
[1:26:52] some involve needles um which is a big
[1:26:54] topic um some also involve assaults
[1:26:59] so um and the way some of the things so
[1:27:03] it is
[1:27:04] concerning but as Council people our
[1:27:07] role is to respond to our citizens and
[1:27:09] that doesn't mean that doesn't matter
[1:27:11] where you live so and we all get calls
[1:27:14] for different
[1:27:15] reasons and at that point you know you
[1:27:19] have to address those it's a concern to
[1:27:20] it's a somebody calls me for example I
[1:27:23] think I can speak for the whole Council
[1:27:25] because they have a concern it becomes
[1:27:27] our concern that's our job that's why
[1:27:29] we're elected and our job is also to
[1:27:32] listen so sometimes I say things to
[1:27:36] people and it's very very point I'm not
[1:27:38] going to give you the answer that you
[1:27:40] want to he but this is the result that
[1:27:42] came up and this is the reason why so um
[1:27:48] tonight I I along with everyone didn't
[1:27:51] say a whole heck of a lot we wanted to
[1:27:53] listen um to everyone and um I'm going
[1:27:57] to take this back and dissect it and put
[1:28:01] any of my thoughts to the manager and to
[1:28:04] the the
[1:28:05] solicitor so we as a council last time
[1:28:08] charged the solicitor and the town
[1:28:10] manager with a a task probably wasn't
[1:28:14] truthfully could be done correctly in
[1:28:17] two weeks and we charged them with that
[1:28:19] it was a a valiant effort it starts the
[1:28:22] ball rolling it certainly has has
[1:28:24] created some conversation I don't feel
[1:28:26] we're kicking uh any can down the road I
[1:28:29] think that the task force should
[1:28:32] continue I think that's important that
[1:28:33] we're out engaging uh at the
[1:28:36] encampments I for one am in no way shape
[1:28:39] or form in favor of criminalizing
[1:28:42] homelessness I just I that's not
[1:28:44] something I'll ever vote for I just
[1:28:46] can't so I do believe and someone talked
[1:28:50] about weeding out if you will and we
[1:28:53] talked last time about but it's about
[1:28:54] the behavior it's about and if you're
[1:28:57] doing something illegal you should be
[1:28:59] arrested I don't think anybody disagrees
[1:29:01] with that but that doesn't mean that
[1:29:03] everyone that is in the unfortunate
[1:29:06] situation of living in an encampment is
[1:29:09] a criminal and I just I U so I think we
[1:29:12] have to think about all that Tim I think
[1:29:14] you did Yen's work to get it to us when
[1:29:17] you did it's a starting point uh I think
[1:29:20] we do have to listen to and we'd be
[1:29:22] foolish not to take the help of the ACLU
[1:29:25] excuse me the ACLU and the groups that
[1:29:27] have offered help to us we might as well
[1:29:29] all work together to figure something
[1:29:30] out so but please understand though if
[1:29:34] people are doing something that is going
[1:29:35] to harm someone else absolutely or or
[1:29:39] not abide by the the laws then the
[1:29:43] police are instructed to go out and
[1:29:45] instructed to do their job and they will
[1:29:47] and if somebody the problem is and
[1:29:49] anytime somebody is told no there's a
[1:29:52] problem but you can't you can't be be
[1:29:54] drunk on the sidewalk you know you can't
[1:29:56] go to the bathroom on this bench you
[1:29:58] can't do it and when they go to enforce
[1:30:01] that all of a sudden there's a problem
[1:30:03] and they're being picked on no you can't
[1:30:05] do it it's that simple and I I'm sorry
[1:30:08] but I can't defend that whether you live
[1:30:10] in an En you live down the street it
[1:30:12] doesn't matter you can't do it it's that
[1:30:14] simple that's correct and when those
[1:30:16] things are happening you can't ignore
[1:30:17] those I agree and to me that's not a
[1:30:20] homelessness issue at all that's a be
[1:30:24] said it last week many or last meeting
[1:30:26] many times it's a behavior thing you
[1:30:28] just can't do
[1:30:30] it we we've just I've reiterated this
[1:30:33] fact over and over it's about being a
[1:30:35] good neighbor you can be a good neighbor
[1:30:36] and be homeless you can be a good
[1:30:38] neighbor and I think a lot of the issues
[1:30:40] specifically for this town I know it's
[1:30:41] become uh that we're the coun council's
[1:30:44] anti-homeless
[1:30:45] but if you nobody wants to be living in
[1:30:48] the woods I don't think most most people
[1:30:50] do not want to be but if if it's the
[1:30:53] ones that are causing issues and
[1:30:55] especially I have to say we're kind of
[1:30:58] lumping all this together and I know you
[1:30:59] said we have to but I think it's there's
[1:31:03] specific hot spots and areas in this
[1:31:05] town which are not only safe unsafe for
[1:31:07] the unhoused but they're unsafe for our
[1:31:10] police and fire that have to make calls
[1:31:12] down there and it will be unsafe and I
[1:31:16] will not support R DPW going down there
[1:31:18] to clean that up so I'm going to make
[1:31:19] that clear right now I won't support
[1:31:20] them to go down there if they really
[1:31:22] want to push for it and Jeff wants to
[1:31:23] come up here and push for for that but I
[1:31:24] think it's it's going to cost us more
[1:31:25] money at some point it'll have to be
[1:31:27] cleaned up at some point it's going to
[1:31:29] be need to be cleaned up and I just and
[1:31:32] you've said that many times my my
[1:31:34] suggestion and it's not a direction and
[1:31:36] I don't know if this is okay but you get
[1:31:39] with your Advocate Wendy you're right
[1:31:41] here organize this with Wendy people at
[1:31:43] the the different sites clean up their
[1:31:45] mess because it is their mess and if
[1:31:49] there something that we could provide
[1:31:51] bags or gloves or vests that would be
[1:31:55] our contribution is
[1:31:57] that okay sure it is okay so that's our
[1:32:02] part we have done it and we we've done
[1:32:05] but I'm saying it again because because
[1:32:06] you're you you're really motivated to do
[1:32:08] it but this has been done many
[1:32:10] times so and this is again this is
[1:32:13] beyond Litter with a poker this is this
[1:32:17] is shovels and barrels and dumpsters so
[1:32:20] just to make you aware so everybody gets
[1:32:22] the big picture it's not you're going
[1:32:24] out there and picking up cigarette butts
[1:32:27] and you're picking up you know paper
[1:32:28] wrappers this is this is a lot and I
[1:32:30] think we would be but I'm sure Wendy
[1:32:33] would be happy to organize that as as a
[1:32:35] town
[1:32:36] Advocate I think we would be naive as a
[1:32:38] council to think that and I and and I
[1:32:41] know Dave talked about kicking the can
[1:32:43] down the road but wa wait before you say
[1:32:45] that that's came from two of you that
[1:32:48] said that all we do is go round and
[1:32:51] around and around I only I didn't say
[1:32:54] kicking the can came from you about
[1:32:57] going back and forth a few meetings ago
[1:32:59] and say here we go we're just kicking
[1:33:01] the can down the road we're going to
[1:33:02] talk about it and leave and we need to
[1:33:03] and I'm G to say it again we're going to
[1:33:05] be naive to think that we're going to
[1:33:06] solve homelessness in the next eight
[1:33:08] weeks in West War I just think that's I
[1:33:10] think think that the advocate The
[1:33:12] Advocates that we have in this community
[1:33:13] that have been working
[1:33:14] hard we it's not an easy job to and
[1:33:18] they're out there they're they're very
[1:33:21] uh thankless the job they do out there
[1:33:23] and it's probably like banging their
[1:33:25] head against the wall sometimes trying
[1:33:26] to get things done out there so it is
[1:33:28] very difficult what they're doing out
[1:33:30] there and and I'm not saying that that
[1:33:32] you guys don't know that I'm sure that
[1:33:33] you do you've been long enough I made it
[1:33:35] very clear last meeting there are people
[1:33:37] who are working 40 hours a week at EB or
[1:33:39] plus who cannot afford housing oh you're
[1:33:42] right so it's we know it's a housing
[1:33:44] cost issue there's nothing any of us can
[1:33:47] up up here do to figure out how to lower
[1:33:50] rents in west or any town in the state
[1:33:54] because the the the cost of housing the
[1:33:58] cost to build housing today you can't a
[1:34:00] $10,000 Foundation 15 years ago was now
[1:34:03] 20,000 $25,000 for the same foundation
[1:34:07] so the cost of housing itself is very
[1:34:10] expensive so to create you know we have
[1:34:13] given tax breaks to builders you know we
[1:34:16] brought up lipet Mill he's looking it
[1:34:18] hopefully next summer to have 21 units
[1:34:20] affordable housing open and ready and
[1:34:22] available we have as a council have
[1:34:25] tried to do numerous things housing wise
[1:34:28] whatever it may be we have Factory
[1:34:31] Street Mill here it is sold out it's
[1:34:33] sold out in record time like I couldn't
[1:34:35] believe in less than six months they
[1:34:38] were fully rented here in West FL and at
[1:34:40] a decent rate you know $16 to $1,800 a
[1:34:44] month was the going rent there all
[1:34:46] rented no problems and if you're working
[1:34:48] there or ever going there it's all young
[1:34:52] individuals mostly Young individuals
[1:34:54] that are trying to make ends meet and
[1:34:56] trying to start their
[1:34:57] lives again we have talked about this
[1:35:00] over and over and over for past three
[1:35:02] years here on this Council and then when
[1:35:05] I said about kicking the can down the
[1:35:06] road it's because we talk about it talk
[1:35:08] about it we leave and don't ever discuss
[1:35:10] it again that's why even last time when
[1:35:13] we talked about December 2nd it put a
[1:35:16] little fire under everybody to say okay
[1:35:19] let's get moving and not forget about it
[1:35:21] and not walk out because you know what
[1:35:23] you might see five to 10 homeless people
[1:35:25] helped and resolved and hopefully on a
[1:35:28] pathway of getting them out of that
[1:35:30] situation you know hey if somebody comes
[1:35:33] up here and offer somebody a job and
[1:35:34] that person gets that job in in six
[1:35:36] months or now we hear everything's great
[1:35:39] and guess what he's moving back to Texas
[1:35:40] with his bride and and everything's
[1:35:42] great for him that is wonderful we
[1:35:45] succeeded if we just ignore it and let
[1:35:48] it go and just let it keep populating
[1:35:50] and populating guess what's going to
[1:35:51] happen every community at is dealing
[1:35:54] with it they're going to come out of
[1:35:55] those communities and come to our
[1:35:56] community so we do have to deal with our
[1:35:59] situations here in West Wall we cannot
[1:36:01] keep turning a blind eye at any given
[1:36:04] time and again going back to the police
[1:36:06] department I have seen our police
[1:36:07] department at work I've seen them
[1:36:09] working up at the Gazebo I see them get
[1:36:11] out of their cars talk to the
[1:36:13] individuals I see them get out work with
[1:36:15] them harassing I don't see that happen
[1:36:19] they might go up and and listen if
[1:36:21] somebody's stealing somebody sneakers
[1:36:22] and they're looking for somebody
[1:36:23] sneakers and damn well going to be
[1:36:25] looking for somebody sneakers some poor
[1:36:27] kid who's working himself trying to get
[1:36:29] his nice $200 sneakers get stolen I'd
[1:36:32] want somebody to do their job too as
[1:36:34] councilman lard said if you're not cre
[1:36:37] committing the crime and you don't have
[1:36:39] to worry about it but you're committing
[1:36:40] crimes and you're doing things if I
[1:36:42] stole somebody sneakers I'm not homeless
[1:36:44] but if I did it I expect to be
[1:36:47] investigated or if I have those sneakers
[1:36:49] on I'm going to be asked why do I have
[1:36:51] those sneakers on it that's that's the
[1:36:54] common law we can't keep turning blind
[1:36:56] eyes to people who are breaking the law
[1:36:59] it's just not
[1:37:00] fair I completely agree and and I just
[1:37:04] uh I think what Kathy said is true that
[1:37:08] yes we have to worry about westw we have
[1:37:10] to keep westw residents safe we need to
[1:37:14] push the state a little bit to help us
[1:37:16] out because we can't do this on our own
[1:37:19] and we can't you know we can talk about
[1:37:22] this every at every meeting but without
[1:37:25] some help from them um so I think we do
[1:37:28] need to have conversations at the State
[1:37:30] House level I I agree completely and
[1:37:33] hopefully we're a small state we should
[1:37:35] be able to figure out homelessness as a
[1:37:37] state um and and Kathy it might be a
[1:37:40] regional uh as you know a lot of times
[1:37:44] it's not in my backyard is the answer so
[1:37:47] um we need to we need to work as a a a
[1:37:50] group uh to get it done and I'd be more
[1:37:53] than happy to ask for a resolution that
[1:37:55] we can approve as a council to send to
[1:37:56] the state house to our representatives
[1:37:58] and and and I'd be more than happy to
[1:38:00] reach out to a couple of those
[1:38:01] representatives and say I need your
[1:38:03] support on this I will do the same
[1:38:05] absolutely and I I think that there's a
[1:38:07] there's a way that we can be cognizant
[1:38:09] of the safety of the citizens that are
[1:38:12] the voters and also be empathetic to
[1:38:14] those that aren't voters because I feel
[1:38:15] like sometimes people they go well
[1:38:17] they're not voters who cares I I
[1:38:19] represent people I I I I'm not saying
[1:38:22] anybody in this Council but I definitely
[1:38:23] from some of the comments I've heard
[1:38:25] they're all they're all people and
[1:38:26] whether they they're able to cast a vote
[1:38:28] for you or not I don't think it should
[1:38:29] make a difference no I don't think next
[1:38:32] I don't think voters you've been patient
[1:38:34] has much to do with it you know
[1:38:36] obviously part of this equation and I
[1:38:39] wasn't going to start with this but part
[1:38:40] of this equation is the taxpayer right
[1:38:42] it's the taxpayer what are we giving
[1:38:44] them for Value in return for the money
[1:38:46] that we request and require of them
[1:38:48] every year but I want to get back to
[1:38:50] what my original statement was going to
[1:38:52] be and for those of you who've come up
[1:38:54] here tonight to speak um I want you to
[1:38:58] understand something from me I
[1:39:01] appreciate it I understand both sides of
[1:39:04] the
[1:39:05] argument um I don't want you to think
[1:39:07] that you're not heard I didn't hear one
[1:39:10] invalid thing here tonight because there
[1:39:12] is no right or wrong here right we can
[1:39:16] want to help those unfortunate people
[1:39:20] who don't have a place to live while yet
[1:39:24] protecting the taxpayers and the
[1:39:26] citizens and the families and children
[1:39:28] of this community that's where the
[1:39:30] difficulty lies because it seems like
[1:39:32] when you're helping one you're harming
[1:39:34] the other and I think we do need to come
[1:39:37] up with a solution that helps all in
[1:39:40] this in this terrible situation so I'm
[1:39:44] not going to speak for anybody else but
[1:39:45] what I will say is um if any if my
[1:39:48] counterparts are up here are anything
[1:39:50] like me this is not an issue that we
[1:39:52] think about every other Tuesday for a
[1:39:54] couple of hours I find this issue more
[1:39:57] and more every day invading my thoughts
[1:40:02] and I'm sure it's the same for everybody
[1:40:05] that's up here you're at work you're
[1:40:07] trying to concentrate on your job but
[1:40:08] you're thinking what about this what if
[1:40:11] we suggest that what if we take this
[1:40:13] person's suggestion and work on that so
[1:40:17] it is a problem that we we will continue
[1:40:20] to work
[1:40:21] on um I will reiterate at what the
[1:40:24] council president said in setting the
[1:40:26] date of December
[1:40:29] 2nd look what we have here tonight look
[1:40:32] what we had last meeting we have
[1:40:35] conversation we have people working
[1:40:39] towards a common goal and I'd like to
[1:40:41] thank everybody for keeping it civil
[1:40:45] because that's the only way we're going
[1:40:46] to get out of this because we can start
[1:40:49] slinging insults and
[1:40:53] that's not going to help anybody so
[1:40:57] really that's all I wanted to say we're
[1:40:59] obviously not done here this isn't going
[1:41:01] to just you know we're not going to
[1:41:03] adjourn and then this is solved it's not
[1:41:06] we have a lot of work in front of us I
[1:41:08] think everybody up here is ready to take
[1:41:10] on that workload and do whatever we need
[1:41:13] to do and we're not perfect we're going
[1:41:15] to make mistakes it's going to be trial
[1:41:17] and error right but
[1:41:21] again something has to to happen action
[1:41:24] needs to be taken otherwise we are just
[1:41:27] kicking the can down the road and we
[1:41:28] don't want to do that and I I like
[1:41:30] councilman lard suggestion of each of us
[1:41:33] taking this back which we do all the
[1:41:35] time take this back reflect upon it and
[1:41:38] then provide our thoughts to either the
[1:41:39] manager or the solicitor and um we turn
[1:41:44] up with for lack of a better term a
[1:41:46] better product and that's the goal here
[1:41:50] and that's what I suggest we do
[1:41:54] and I just want to point out instead
[1:41:56] personally if you have any if we're
[1:41:58] taking this back
[1:41:59] tonight that your suggestions go right
[1:42:02] to the town manager okay and then he can
[1:42:06] talk to the group that met last week I
[1:42:09] know you were on vacation um when most
[1:42:12] of that meeting happened but if you can
[1:42:15] discuss that and get it back with the
[1:42:16] attorney you know then you can work on
[1:42:19] different things um I don't know you
[1:42:23] know like you said two weeks might be
[1:42:24] tough but I mean but it should be on the
[1:42:28] agenda just just to keep it going yes
[1:42:31] well again I don't want it on the agenda
[1:42:33] every time just to draw a crowd in in
[1:42:35] the news media either you know um but if
[1:42:39] if we're getting nowhere or no
[1:42:40] suggestions or whatever and or they put
[1:42:44] something together we do have to discuss
[1:42:46] it as a whole in public you know so
[1:42:49] again I would send those suggestions
[1:42:51] over directly to the town manager if
[1:42:53] take this back to so I move the
[1:42:55] ordinance I would like to amend that
[1:42:58] motion and actually suggest that we
[1:43:00] table it for this evening I'll second
[1:43:02] that I have a motion to table seconded
[1:43:06] that means there's no more public
[1:43:07] comment all in favor I I I opposed eyes
[1:43:10] have it if you have any comment you can
[1:43:12] bring it up at public comment thank
[1:43:21] you business licenses request from
[1:43:24] Unforgettable events party hall for an
[1:43:26] amplifier loud speaker and Theatrical
[1:43:28] performance shows an exhibition's
[1:43:29] license for premises located at 1745
[1:43:32] Main Street Unit
[1:43:34] 5 motion move move the license second
[1:43:39] moov second hi good evening welcome back
[1:43:41] Hi how are you hold on one second kids
[1:43:43] good night and thank you for attending
[1:43:44] tonight thank
[1:43:48] you sorry you had to sit through that
[1:43:51] for this part
[1:43:53] know very intense well you did say last
[1:43:56] time you were here you wanted to learn
[1:43:58] more about what goes on so yes welcome
[1:44:00] aboard very very
[1:44:02] intense um so I I don't know where he's
[1:44:06] at um so I had sat down with
[1:44:25] Sor um so I had sat down um with the
[1:44:28] Fire Marshall and uh guys that work at
[1:44:31] the fire department and um also sat down
[1:44:35] with the uh the building inspector and
[1:44:40] they had put a few more things on my
[1:44:42] list and I got those things done um I
[1:44:46] took my crowd management class on the
[1:44:48] 26th and passed um and now they're
[1:44:51] saying that I need a second bathroom
[1:44:53] added to my
[1:44:56] hul I brought a list of HS that's in
[1:45:00] Rhode Island all all over Rhode Island
[1:45:03] Pucket Cranston Warick Lincoln that is
[1:45:07] just like my facility and they only have
[1:45:10] one bathroom and they are up and
[1:45:12] operating
[1:45:15] so I really don't know what's going on
[1:45:18] like I'm just just trying to open back
[1:45:20] up my business this is about to be the
[1:45:22] second month of me
[1:45:23] not having my business open and I'm
[1:45:26] stuck with paying rent and I'm not
[1:45:29] making no money I'm
[1:45:31] just this is
[1:45:33] just really really
[1:45:35] really bad for did they explain the
[1:45:38] issue with the bathroom did they tell
[1:45:39] you that it was a certain number of
[1:45:41] units within a bathroom for a certain
[1:45:43] number of capacity yes they did and so
[1:45:46] they said it's over 50 people you have
[1:45:49] to have two bathrooms and that's why I
[1:45:51] got the list of the other Halls that has
[1:45:53] been approved and they're up and running
[1:45:55] on their business their capacity is over
[1:45:57] 50 and they only have one bathroom and
[1:45:59] if you don't mind me asking what is your
[1:46:00] bathroom situation now within each
[1:46:02] bathroom is there like a single stall um
[1:46:05] it's a single stall it's a toilet and um
[1:46:09] the sign on it it's unisex male or
[1:46:12] female okay I've had no problem with the
[1:46:14] bathrooms the events that I throw is
[1:46:16] very in it's intimate there's no
[1:46:18] strangers so we're not going to have
[1:46:20] people fighting over oh I got to go to
[1:46:21] the bathroom one single bathroom for the
[1:46:23] entire bathroom yes one single bathroom
[1:46:26] and I mean that's how I've been doing it
[1:46:29] for the past couple months and never had
[1:46:32] an issue with one bathroom and these
[1:46:33] other Halls that have been approved in
[1:46:34] up and running they never had an issue
[1:46:36] either and I mean they they they're up
[1:46:39] and running like their business is going
[1:46:42] so remind me once again what your
[1:46:44] capacity is my at first when I first um
[1:46:48] when they first came they said it was
[1:46:50] going to be 118 but I they gave me some
[1:46:52] things to do
[1:46:54] and then after the incident happened
[1:46:55] with the cops coming they put it down to
[1:46:58] 114 and so it's 14
[1:47:02] now okay
[1:47:04] um who is
[1:47:06] require Bob asone can you come on up for
[1:47:09] a second can you explain the bathroom
[1:47:16] thing are good how are you um we did
[1:47:19] have a convers a conversation um to ago
[1:47:23] yeah um I explained to her how it works
[1:47:27] um and I
[1:47:29] also
[1:47:32] um hold on please call a State Building
[1:47:36] official for a opinion on my
[1:47:39] call which you
[1:47:42] know that's always available and I I
[1:47:45] always give that people a do with I'm
[1:47:46] not perfect but unfortunately the
[1:47:48] codee's the code uh 29021
[1:47:54] is the chart for um Plumbing fixture
[1:47:58] needs uh she's an
[1:48:01] assembly um there's two things in
[1:48:03] assembly um I can call you banquet hall
[1:48:07] or restaurant whatever it is it's really
[1:48:09] kind of vague because there is nothing
[1:48:12] for what she is but it's definitely an
[1:48:14] assembly I use the less stringent count
[1:48:17] to give her less bathrooms but there's
[1:48:20] nowhere in the code that say say an
[1:48:23] assembly can have just one bathroom if
[1:48:27] it's over 50 people the minimum is one
[1:48:29] in one plus a service sync and a
[1:48:34] drinking fountain that's what's required
[1:48:37] in my building code
[1:48:41] um if other towns aren't doing their job
[1:48:44] Pro uh properly I'm not going to do that
[1:48:47] I'm only going by the code uh there's
[1:48:50] there's no gray area in my code I did
[1:48:52] call the state myself to get
[1:48:55] clarification and they agree with me I
[1:48:58] did call W and talk to the building
[1:49:01] official and he agreed with me he said
[1:49:03] he didn't know that happened I don't
[1:49:05] know what to
[1:49:07] do did you post did you call State I I
[1:49:11] did I did call the state twice I left
[1:49:13] the message they called me back I spoke
[1:49:16] with uh the secretary or whoever I don't
[1:49:18] know who who the lady is that I spoke to
[1:49:20] but they took all the information down
[1:49:21] they said they're going to relay it to
[1:49:23] the commissioner but I still have not
[1:49:25] got any phone calls from him or her I
[1:49:28] don't know if it's a male or female um
[1:49:30] so I I've just been literally
[1:49:33] just waiting and I I just I don't know I
[1:49:37] get what he's saying that's in his book
[1:49:39] and you know he has to go by his
[1:49:41] book but and like I stated in the
[1:49:45] meeting that we had um upstairs they
[1:49:47] even looked up the hall that I mentioned
[1:49:49] that's in work that for the building
[1:49:51] inspector that they spoke to they see
[1:49:52] pictures and they say yeah it's it's one
[1:49:54] bathroom and like I said there's nine I
[1:49:56] have nine Halls throughout Rhode Island
[1:49:59] that only has one bathroom my hall is
[1:50:01] literally just a rectangle there's no
[1:50:04] corners there's nothing to turn as soon
[1:50:06] as you walk in you can see the back door
[1:50:08] it's nothing major it's only 1,800
[1:50:11] square feet to be exact so I mean the
[1:50:14] bathroom is literally the only thing
[1:50:16] that is holding me I I I spoke to a
[1:50:18] plumber um to see you know if if if it's
[1:50:22] possible for me to build another one
[1:50:24] they want 8,000 or
[1:50:26] more I'm already 10,000 in of having to
[1:50:30] pay two months of rent that I'm not even
[1:50:32] operating my business my bills my
[1:50:34] storage and I have seven kids I can't do
[1:50:37] it no more I have I'm I put so much hard
[1:50:42] work into this place I renovated with my
[1:50:45] kids I I didn't hire any we renovated I
[1:50:48] did the
[1:50:49] floors chandeliers the place is
[1:50:51] beautiful and I all this money spent and
[1:50:54] now it's
[1:50:55] and if I could bring this up when I
[1:50:59] first got my business
[1:51:01] there when they first came in it was no
[1:51:05] problem with the one bathroom but after
[1:51:07] this incident now the second bathroom is
[1:51:09] being brought up they they're saying
[1:51:12] that they didn't know that my place was
[1:51:13] going to be a party hall who was that
[1:51:15] the um the Fire Marshals and and him
[1:51:21] right there um sorry Bob
[1:51:25] so when they first came I sat down with
[1:51:28] them so in the name of my place is
[1:51:31] Unforgettable events party hall it's on
[1:51:33] the door it's on the sign like
[1:51:35] it's I I took a ride I did take a ride
[1:51:38] by after the last meeting I just wanted
[1:51:40] to see where it was in that building
[1:51:42] yeah and I think I was on the phone with
[1:51:44] the solicitor at the time and I said let
[1:51:46] say Unforgettable events party hall I
[1:51:49] had all my T I had all my I don't know
[1:51:51] if it was that's
[1:51:53] my door the door was always there the
[1:51:55] sign on the door was always
[1:51:57] there yeah I I you don't know how bad I
[1:52:01] want to give you this license but
[1:52:03] there's always a butt right there are
[1:52:05] things that have to be done now the
[1:52:07] question to you Bob is you're saying a
[1:52:10] minimum is one male one female bathroom
[1:52:13] regardless of capacity who you want to
[1:52:15] sex it could be right or two unisex two
[1:52:17] two bathrooms two bathrooms over that's
[1:52:20] minimum over 50 over 50 is cons
[1:52:26] so um what if what if you
[1:52:31] kept your events to 50 and under until
[1:52:36] you could do something with that
[1:52:39] bathroom situation I mean if that's the
[1:52:42] option because I I I have to because I
[1:52:44] want you to start making money you need
[1:52:45] to start making I'm bleeding so who is
[1:52:48] going to police that and I'm not saying
[1:52:51] the same person that would police any
[1:52:52] capacity right I mean well problem is um
[1:52:55] this is this is my confusion I'm sorry
[1:52:57] Bob but this is this is one of my
[1:52:59] confusions with fire marshal building
[1:53:02] official so on and so forth I'm dealing
[1:53:04] I've dealt with this at 52 Prov stre I
[1:53:07] think it's 52 53 Providence Street where
[1:53:11] we have a capacity of 150 with a parking
[1:53:14] lot of 15
[1:53:16] cars so I asked the question how do you
[1:53:19] give that 150 capacity based upon a
[1:53:23] parking spot of 15 cars and and so the
[1:53:26] same thing I have here is so the Fire
[1:53:29] Marshall goes into the building and
[1:53:31] says you have a capacity of 114
[1:53:36] people how does you're now authorizing
[1:53:40] her to have 114 people and the building
[1:53:44] official says well the rule of 100 over
[1:53:46] 50 is two bathrooms so at that point and
[1:53:51] I don't know the laws and I don't know
[1:53:52] the Fire Marshall rules I'm I never went
[1:53:54] to school for it but when a fire
[1:53:56] marshall walks into the building and
[1:53:58] says there one bathroom should they know
[1:54:00] there should not be over 50 people in
[1:54:02] there or that's not the that's not the
[1:54:04] that's what I'm asking I don't know
[1:54:06] that's not the fight and um with the
[1:54:08] parking there's also a chart in my book
[1:54:13] what business and what uh parking spots
[1:54:17] required handicap or um Regular um my
[1:54:23] suggestion like ask her to call the
[1:54:25] state if they give her a relief on that
[1:54:29] for some reason I have no problem with
[1:54:31] it but but you're not going to do it and
[1:54:33] I understand that I can't do it I
[1:54:35] understand that so she can appeal to the
[1:54:36] state absolutely I
[1:54:39] mean I want her to make money I told
[1:54:41] that last time I would love her to make
[1:54:43] money I want to make much money she can
[1:54:46] but in terms of Licensing is there
[1:54:47] anything we can do
[1:54:49] to until all the requirements are met um
[1:54:54] cap that capacity at 50
[1:55:01] no
[1:55:05] OCC you're
[1:55:12] not we can't we can't have the capacity
[1:55:15] to be lower with the one you're not
[1:55:17] allowed to do no it goes by square
[1:55:19] footage the square footage of the
[1:55:22] building so if so if an individual a
[1:55:24] business owner requests that they want
[1:55:26] their capacity to be no more than 50
[1:55:29] they they don't have that right not by
[1:55:31] Cod un
[1:55:34] do cut bill in half no you know I'm just
[1:55:37] trying to think outside the box here but
[1:55:39] sometimes you see these these baseball
[1:55:41] and football stadiums and they just put
[1:55:43] TPS over certain number of
[1:55:45] seats and I I don't know why they do
[1:55:48] that other than to make it look better
[1:55:49] but the fact that they're not selling
[1:55:51] out but is that something that she could
[1:55:54] do because she puts up a tar not a tar
[1:55:58] but per right that square footage cannot
[1:56:01] be used by people either standing up or
[1:56:03] sitting up so it couldn't be a
[1:56:05] divider you get 1800 square feet yeah so
[1:56:08] in order to reduce
[1:56:10] her occupany down to 50 you'd have to do
[1:56:13] the math out and say okay what what
[1:56:15] would that square footage be I know
[1:56:17] that's a hard
[1:56:22] half probably less than half right yeah
[1:56:25] maybe 800 square feet something like
[1:56:27] that
[1:56:33] yeah just put up right know ass no no
[1:56:37] which using that as which might cost the
[1:56:39] $8,000 that she needs to put the
[1:56:41] bathroom in
[1:56:42] so and I know nobody GNA be a fan of me
[1:56:45] saying this but we always anyway yeah we
[1:56:49] always we always um approve these
[1:56:51] licenses contingent to police fire and
[1:56:54] whatever so that was so if she can get
[1:56:56] relief from the state she don't have to
[1:56:58] wait two more weeks for us you know so
[1:57:04] um what is she gonna SE for one bathroom
[1:57:09] the reduction ofy along with that that's
[1:57:11] up to her but if she really I think her
[1:57:14] first road is she wants to seek relief
[1:57:16] to one bathroom and keep the capacity
[1:57:18] where it is but secondly if that does
[1:57:22] doesn't pan out then she would probably
[1:57:24] have to seek relief to reduce her
[1:57:26] occupancy as long as the building
[1:57:27] official keeps uh the manager in the
[1:57:30] loop as to what's going on and also uh
[1:57:32] fire if necessary I don't think that's a
[1:57:35] problem but I have no idea how long it
[1:57:36] seems like it seems like she's up today
[1:57:38] all the fire no this particular issue I
[1:57:40] don't know how long the state will take
[1:57:42] Bob you might have an idea I have no
[1:57:45] idea want to make a promise that no no
[1:57:48] here's my isue ability put three to six
[1:57:50] months to get some respon state is my
[1:57:52] issue with that we we just this is no
[1:57:55] offense we we just sat here for a couple
[1:57:58] hours and then last meeting was three
[1:58:00] and a half hours going over behavior and
[1:58:04] what's what's accountable and all that
[1:58:07] and not saying that anything you're
[1:58:08] doing is is wrong you want to do
[1:58:10] anything wrong but we're going back and
[1:58:11] forth talking about police enforcement
[1:58:15] and enforcement that's what it is and
[1:58:18] how people are doing things the wrong
[1:58:20] way out in public and and that learns to
[1:58:23] that turns to criminal behavior and and
[1:58:26] behavior that you going against
[1:58:28] ordinances I can't sit here and go
[1:58:31] against an or code of ordinances
[1:58:33] building code building yeah I mean I I
[1:58:35] just I can't do that and say it's okay
[1:58:37] for you that's pretty hypocrit that's
[1:58:39] hypocritical of me and I think that's
[1:58:42] why I said and I I can't with police
[1:58:44] fire and building
[1:58:46] approvals and if you can't approve it I
[1:58:49] I'm not gonna ask you to break the code
[1:58:51] because that's what would be doing if
[1:58:52] that was allow tonight I I think what's
[1:58:54] going to happen is you're going to
[1:58:56] approve it additionally upon her getting
[1:58:59] everything in order at the Town level
[1:59:01] and everything in order at the state
[1:59:02] level because the building official is
[1:59:04] not going to give her any type of Co
[1:59:06] until he gets that information that's
[1:59:07] not gonna happen two weeks no no no I'm
[1:59:09] not say I don't know how long it's going
[1:59:11] to take but I think what the uh
[1:59:13] president's proposing is that you
[1:59:15] granted conditionally and then the
[1:59:18] building official will let you know if
[1:59:19] it's been or met compliance if it hasn't
[1:59:22] met compliance he's not going to issue a
[1:59:24] CO for her to reopen just about every
[1:59:25] one of our licenses we approve they all
[1:59:28] they all are we're approving it we don't
[1:59:29] know whether Bob or or the fire
[1:59:32] department's gonna find something wrong
[1:59:33] we're approving it and then but we know
[1:59:35] there's something wrong and it's coming
[1:59:37] before us it's not like there's a liquor
[1:59:39] license and somebody has to do this to
[1:59:41] get a liquor license and it comes you
[1:59:42] before actually do you have a liquor
[1:59:43] license no I'm not no alcohol yeah using
[1:59:46] that as an example you know that's
[1:59:48] something we're in control of if if I
[1:59:50] may has the certificate of occup been
[1:59:53] revoked no all right so in order to not
[1:59:57] allow her to be open to have these types
[1:59:58] of events you'd have to revoke that no
[2:00:01] there's a CO on the whole building given
[2:00:03] at time of
[2:00:05] um when it's built there's only one Co
[2:00:08] given this would be an approval for the
[2:00:11] business but you'd have control over
[2:00:13] that approval and you could withhold the
[2:00:15] approval until you get notification from
[2:00:17] the state that she's in compliance where
[2:00:19] where does the landlord stand in all
[2:00:20] this um he I I I called him and I have a
[2:00:24] threeyear lease with them that I signed
[2:00:27] um so he said if I have to build the
[2:00:30] second bathroom that I could do so he
[2:00:32] doesn't have a problem with us doing
[2:00:34] thatp net Le you're responsible pay for
[2:00:37] it like I just want to ask so and I know
[2:00:41] the landar but you're you're in a
[2:00:43] building yes that you're going to spend
[2:00:46] a lot of money into put a lot of money
[2:00:48] into and in three years your lease is up
[2:00:51] yes but but it's it's it's up with like
[2:00:54] if if I want to keep it I
[2:00:56] can so it's not up and then it's fin so
[2:00:58] I can renew it yes I can renew it if I
[2:01:01] if I I choose to one more thing I'd like
[2:01:03] to bring up um cently there's um I have
[2:01:08] three applications in front of me for
[2:01:11] the same exact thing that she's doing
[2:01:15] and it's it's not her all of a sudden I
[2:01:17] got busy with this I don't know what's
[2:01:19] going on that's not that's not for you
[2:01:21] yeah I know
[2:01:24] okay again I'm I'm trying to think
[2:01:26] outside the box and I don't even like
[2:01:28] what I'm thinking right now about this
[2:01:29] suggestion
[2:01:31] but what if there
[2:01:34] was uh a portable a porta potty outside
[2:01:38] in the back out the back door not
[2:01:40] allowed by Cod okay again I don't know
[2:01:43] these things that's why I'm asking I
[2:01:44] asked that too I'm just
[2:01:46] trying okay all right
[2:01:53] Chief do you want to say
[2:02:01] something there and whatnot you know
[2:02:04] just the CO detector you did get the CR
[2:02:07] you have to present that okay the delay
[2:02:09] we're all set with but I also um notice
[2:02:12] the next thing on the
[2:02:14] agenda is um for Holy Ghost for an so
[2:02:20] how is it that they have to come like
[2:02:21] each time and you go and we're here
[2:02:25] looking at doing something that just
[2:02:27] continuous so is there a distinction s
[2:02:30] or should there be any sort of every
[2:02:34] license that goes before the council we
[2:02:36] have to get sign offs from each of those
[2:02:38] departments their amplify a loud speaker
[2:02:40] is outside too for this event not
[2:02:44] inside because they have it the actual
[2:02:46] they have a license for inside they do
[2:02:48] have a license so they have a they have
[2:02:50] a license for inside when the Holy Ghost
[2:02:53] has an event outside this is a trunk or
[2:02:54] treat so they need to come anything
[2:02:57] outside they need to come before
[2:02:59] us but every every license and
[2:03:02] registration has to get signed off from
[2:03:04] every department so it's not just
[2:03:06] everyone's treating the same
[2:03:28] side if she does so here's what I have
[2:03:31] to say if she does happen to get the
[2:03:33] appeal through the state and the state
[2:03:38] overrides Bob which in times it does
[2:03:41] happen we know that if the state
[2:03:43] overrides Bob then she don't have to
[2:03:46] worry about coming back before us she
[2:03:48] has to still get the approval and the
[2:03:49] sign off because once they override you
[2:03:52] you still have to sign off on it with
[2:03:53] their override correct right correct
[2:03:57] um yeah so the what you think I mean you
[2:04:00] you got something no
[2:04:04] um it's been two weeks and I don't
[2:04:07] understand why the state hasn't gotten
[2:04:11] back up with her and hey Bob I've been
[2:04:14] dealing with a no turn on right sign
[2:04:16] down on Fair View have poor residents
[2:04:18] been emailing emailing I had to get a
[2:04:20] State Rep involved it was over two
[2:04:22] months before he got a response and once
[2:04:23] the State Rep got involved got a
[2:04:25] response the next day so I I I don't
[2:04:29] disbelieve that the state's not
[2:04:30] responsive I don't either I don't either
[2:04:32] um um doesn't make me happy because this
[2:04:36] is what happened puts it on you you know
[2:04:37] I like a bad guy um I would look if she
[2:04:41] went to the right to the door and of
[2:04:44] that the state on Jeff uh just Boulevard
[2:04:49] you know walk in there they're not going
[2:04:51] to deny you yeah you know what I'm
[2:04:52] saying um you can talk to anybody in
[2:04:56] there should have the cl to get you to
[2:04:59] the right person and let them
[2:05:01] know um the situation you're in um you
[2:05:06] know I've done what I've done what I
[2:05:07] could I've called a state to see what
[2:05:10] you
[2:05:11] know not to see to give it a v that's
[2:05:14] not for me but yep to make sure I'm on
[2:05:17] the
[2:05:18] right the right way about it
[2:05:24] all right I have a motion in a second
[2:05:26] any other discussion on this and I think
[2:05:27] this gent yeah it's not well it's it's
[2:05:30] comment on the license yep so just come
[2:05:31] on up to the mic state your name and
[2:05:32] address for the record my name is
[2:05:34] Michael kelica the address is 1755 Main
[2:05:37] Street and that is the ab buding
[2:05:39] property we um AB buding property to the
[2:05:43] 1745 address um you know you've got um
[2:05:47] State Fire code or building code that
[2:05:50] says if you have this much square feet
[2:05:52] you need to have the following things
[2:05:56] and that's that's from the state and I'm
[2:06:01] pretty surprised that the Town Council
[2:06:02] was thinking that we can just go in
[2:06:04] there and tweak those numbers and in the
[2:06:06] town of West Warwick so we're not not so
[2:06:10] you're saying that she needs to get the
[2:06:11] state to change that and that'll be fine
[2:06:14] with you so everybody's legal right no
[2:06:16] matter what fire inspection or building
[2:06:18] official if they don't like the town's
[2:06:21] answer they have have the right to
[2:06:22] appeal to the state boorn that's what
[2:06:23] I'm thinking so she has that right to
[2:06:26] appeal so our our building official is
[2:06:30] denying her application based upon one
[2:06:33] bath right she has the right to go to
[2:06:36] the state and appeal that decision they
[2:06:39] can overturn that decision or they can
[2:06:42] live by that decision right now the
[2:06:44] state doesn't supersede the town right
[2:06:46] so that's going to come from the state
[2:06:48] not from the council corre that's what I
[2:06:49] want to clarify okay um first I would
[2:06:52] like to start by um addressing some
[2:06:54] papers here I made copies for all the
[2:06:56] council members and also for the council
[2:06:59] list just what's your step coming up we
[2:07:01] took the watch your step sign down right
[2:07:04] thank you CP it just matches when you
[2:07:06] look at it so thank
[2:07:08] you it's it's an illusion
[2:07:18] yeah so Miss K Miss h
[2:07:23] um this first paper I'm showing right
[2:07:25] here you recognize this is coming from
[2:07:27] your Facebook page right yes okay I
[2:07:30] printed this on Sunday um it says that
[2:07:32] was six days ago that you made this post
[2:07:34] that's at the top of the page right yeah
[2:07:36] and that was about someone about someone
[2:07:38] who uh wasn't going to be able to have
[2:07:40] their event at your place right yes and
[2:07:42] I had to give money back right and um
[2:07:46] and you weren't very happy with the way
[2:07:48] the Tom was treating you you said this
[2:07:50] ain't right what ain't right did and I'm
[2:07:53] I'm so glad you're on my page but you
[2:07:54] got it wrong that statement was for the
[2:07:58] girl yes this is not a hearing Mike so
[2:08:02] you're not really allowed to ask your
[2:08:04] questions you can make you can make
[2:08:05] statements to the council but you really
[2:08:07] you really aren't in a position to ask
[2:08:09] her the questions okay um so can I can I
[2:08:13] answer no just slide over so we can
[2:08:15] speak apparently you're going to listen
[2:08:17] to me so I would suggest that the
[2:08:18] council can infer that this business
[2:08:21] which is trying to open up here doesn't
[2:08:23] agree with the policies and procedures
[2:08:26] that you're requiring it to um comply
[2:08:28] with the second page uh council members
[2:08:32] is from the rhod Island Secretary of
[2:08:34] State's website for unforgettable events
[2:08:37] party hall LLC and as you can see about
[2:08:40] four lines down this LLC was revoked by
[2:08:44] the Secretary of State on September 17
[2:08:47] 2024 so as a result of that revocation I
[2:08:50] think your solicitor will advise you it
[2:08:53] is not allowed to conduct any business
[2:08:54] in the state of Rhode Island I don't
[2:08:56] think it's allowed to apply for any
[2:08:58] licenses I don't think it's allowed to
[2:09:00] receive any
[2:09:01] licenses um the third thing I would like
[2:09:03] to address is the name of the registered
[2:09:05] agent which is Tannis Hall 148 Atwood
[2:09:08] Avenue I've checked 148 Atwood Avenue in
[2:09:12] Cranston that is a UPS store it is a
[2:09:15] mail drop it's a post office box I would
[2:09:19] um and
[2:09:21] in to the Secretary of State's website
[2:09:23] on the last page of what I've delivered
[2:09:25] to you the registered agent is not
[2:09:27] allowed to have a post office box or a
[2:09:31] mail delivery type company a postal
[2:09:33] company as a registered office that does
[2:09:36] not comply with the secretary estate's
[2:09:38] requirements and it states that um that
[2:09:41] the registered agent must be on the
[2:09:43] premises during normal business hours so
[2:09:46] in an awful lot of ways M Hall has not
[2:09:50] complied with what businesses are
[2:09:52] expected to do they're expected to
[2:09:54] follow the rules and regulations of the
[2:09:57] Rhode Island Secretary of State and
[2:09:58] they're not that hard to do and before
[2:10:01] the LLC was revoked in June she received
[2:10:04] a letter that was sent to 148 at w
[2:10:07] Avenue telling her that if she didn't
[2:10:09] file her annual report and of course
[2:10:11] along with that pay the taxes owed to
[2:10:13] the state U Division of Taxation that
[2:10:16] she was going to be revoked and she had
[2:10:18] at least 60 days notice of that and she
[2:10:22] fa to do that um this this is a business
[2:10:26] that while I'm sympathetic to her plate
[2:10:29] that she signed a long-term lease the
[2:10:31] fact of the matter is that she leased a
[2:10:35] retail store and now wants to take that
[2:10:38] round hole and squeeze this square peg
[2:10:42] through it this building was never
[2:10:45] designed built or intended to be a party
[2:10:49] hall it was designed to be a ret store
[2:10:52] which is why you have the one bathroom
[2:10:54] in there it was not expected that it was
[2:10:56] going to have 114 people in there was
[2:10:59] expected to be full of shelves and
[2:11:01] merchandise and relatively quiet people
[2:11:05] if I were on this Council I would want
[2:11:07] to know from this Hall who is going to
[2:11:09] provide the security when these events
[2:11:11] are taking place because in order to do
[2:11:14] this properly an event Hall like this
[2:11:18] you need to have doorway security so
[2:11:20] that you can control the number of
[2:11:22] people coming in so that you don't
[2:11:24] exceed the capacity you need to have
[2:11:27] someone searching those people to see
[2:11:29] whether they're bringing alcohol drugs
[2:11:31] or weapons or something of that nature
[2:11:34] it's at event halls you're going to be
[2:11:38] asked to give a license a theatrical and
[2:11:41] um Amplified music type license um she
[2:11:44] could have live bands in there she can
[2:11:46] have um any kind of party once you issue
[2:11:49] that license and there's not much that
[2:11:52] can be done about it so total strangers
[2:11:54] can be coming in there and intermingling
[2:11:56] you need to make sure that it's safe for
[2:11:58] all the people inside there the people
[2:12:00] that are coming through so they need to
[2:12:02] be searched they need to be checked to
[2:12:04] see whether they're coming in
[2:12:05] intoxicated or high on drugs number two
[2:12:08] she needs somebody inside to keep an eye
[2:12:10] on what's going on among the patrons
[2:12:12] that are already in for security reasons
[2:12:15] to make sure there's no stealing of
[2:12:17] pocketbooks cell phones drug dealing
[2:12:20] smoking in the corner or things of that
[2:12:22] nature number three although she's not
[2:12:24] going to have alcohol on the premises
[2:12:26] inside the premises I would like to know
[2:12:29] if I was on This Town Council what she
[2:12:31] plans to do to prevent people that are
[2:12:34] patrons of her event from leaving the
[2:12:37] premises and walking over to the parking
[2:12:39] their car in the parking lot and having
[2:12:42] a drink there or smoke a little bit of
[2:12:44] pot over there and then come back into
[2:12:46] the premises or walk to the very
[2:12:48] conveniently located liquor store and
[2:12:51] pick up some liquor there and is she
[2:12:54] going to have that kind of thing where
[2:12:55] oh there's no alcohol in our premises it
[2:12:57] all takes place right over there which I
[2:12:59] would want to know if that's the case if
[2:13:02] um My Town council's Police Department
[2:13:04] might have to be the one enforcing
[2:13:06] what's going on the parking lot
[2:13:08] traditionally places that feature these
[2:13:11] kind of live uh events where people come
[2:13:13] there they may be dancing they may be uh
[2:13:15] live bands or whatever um you've got
[2:13:17] you've got um you've got situations that
[2:13:20] occur in the par parking lots different
[2:13:22] people you know different people that
[2:13:23] don't necessarily know each other I know
[2:13:25] she says everybody's going to know
[2:13:27] themselves but once you grant the
[2:13:29] license how do you stop that so as far
[2:13:33] as I'm concerned um the last thing is
[2:13:37] the sound the noise this has been
[2:13:40] operating unlicensed as you're aware
[2:13:44] and the adjoining property and I think
[2:13:47] there are other people here tonight to
[2:13:49] testify to this will tell you you that
[2:13:51] the noise is leaving that building it's
[2:13:54] coming over to 1755 Main Street it's
[2:13:56] coming to the next property 1759 Main
[2:13:59] Street it's going down the river she
[2:14:01] doesn't have enough control over the
[2:14:04] noise if I were on the Town Council I
[2:14:07] would want this place soundproof so that
[2:14:08] the noise inside stays inside and that's
[2:14:13] if the noise is in the parking lot
[2:14:15] somebody controls what's going on if
[2:14:17] they have cars with radios or um fights
[2:14:21] or whatever it is um that that somebody
[2:14:24] from inside can go out there and say
[2:14:25] quiet it down or we're going to call the
[2:14:27] police those are my points it's really
[2:14:30] too loud the way it is right now she
[2:14:33] sound proofs it and the sound stays
[2:14:35] inside the four walls and the parking
[2:14:36] lots quiet that cures a lot of my
[2:14:39] concerns thank
[2:14:43] you I can I ask a question sure all
[2:14:46] right I don't know if we're talking
[2:14:48] about the same venue um
[2:14:52] so forgive me if I I apologize if I'm if
[2:14:55] I'm wrong you're located in um New
[2:14:58] London Square correct yes uh 1745 main
[2:15:07] streeto all right so I'm in the right
[2:15:09] spot I driven by it myself that's that
[2:15:11] is my award yes
[2:15:13] um I don't live right next store but I
[2:15:15] don't share some of the same concerns
[2:15:17] that you have only because you're
[2:15:19] applying and want to just correct it um
[2:15:23] owners's resident according to the
[2:15:25] paperwork we have is 158 Washington Road
[2:15:28] in barington correct yes that's where
[2:15:30] you live yes okay so right spot forag
[2:15:33] yes um what you're applying for like we
[2:15:37] talked last time was an assembly for
[2:15:40] baby showers birthday parties
[2:15:43] um I don't
[2:15:46] see I mean I'm I'm expecting some that's
[2:15:48] what I'm expecting because that's what
[2:15:49] you're applying for
[2:15:51] um um if things get out of hand or so I
[2:15:55] mean we're in a big parking lot where
[2:15:56] there's a lot of other businesses so you
[2:15:59] know obviously people can congregate in
[2:16:00] the parking lot I mean you see it all
[2:16:01] the time people leave jael's kitchen
[2:16:03] they hang out for a little bit and talk
[2:16:05] um that's not really a concern of mine
[2:16:08] it it's more
[2:16:09] of we had an issue last time yes I don't
[2:16:12] want to talk it to death obviously we
[2:16:15] that can't happen ever again yes and can
[2:16:17] I speak on that because uh when I when I
[2:16:20] met with the Fire Marshall and the um
[2:16:23] the building uh
[2:16:26] inspector I said I will no longer have
[2:16:28] sweet 16s at my hall because I noticed
[2:16:32] that was the problem and I don't want to
[2:16:33] repeat that problem so I I said I'll
[2:16:35] keep it at kid kids parties and baby
[2:16:37] showers cuz those are more subtle quiet
[2:16:40] you know no problems and there is no
[2:16:42] alcohol no alcohol and if somebody as a
[2:16:45] parent yes over 21 wants to go to the
[2:16:47] liquor store and buy alcohol and take it
[2:16:50] put in the car and take it home that's
[2:16:52] right but I don't I don't condone
[2:16:54] drinking in the parking lot either and
[2:16:56] also I I do I got my crowd management
[2:16:59] class and I my um cousin she went and
[2:17:02] got her crowd management class the same
[2:17:04] day I did so she could be there on site
[2:17:06] with the customers and I and if there is
[2:17:10] an issue then on the spot that will be
[2:17:13] taken up with the police depart yes
[2:17:15] correct yes correct right correct I
[2:17:18] believe you brought that up last night
[2:17:19] you would have you would have un
[2:17:21] unattended which like no because before
[2:17:23] they was unattended so that's how this
[2:17:25] incident happened but tonight though
[2:17:27] what's on the agenda is is the lack of a
[2:17:30] bathroom yes lack of a bathroom I really
[2:17:32] don't want to get off I think we're off
[2:17:33] task a little bit Yeah it I really think
[2:17:36] that's our only I think that's my only
[2:17:37] concern is is the bathroom situation it
[2:17:40] that's my concern too so but you also I
[2:17:43] feel like I feel like my character is
[2:17:44] attacked because he he doesn't know he
[2:17:47] doesn't know who I was speaking about I
[2:17:48] was speaking about the young lady that I
[2:17:49] gave the the free party to she has not
[2:17:52] offered me $1 so when I yeah you're all
[2:17:56] to talk trash on Facebook that's what
[2:17:57] it's for that was nothing about hang on
[2:18:00] this has nothing nothing to do with us
[2:18:02] we're talking about the restroom and if
[2:18:04] there is an issue all you know and I
[2:18:06] understand your point too I know exactly
[2:18:08] what you're talking about sound does
[2:18:10] carry and and please just be cognizant
[2:18:14] of of loud music and you know if you're
[2:18:17] doing kids parties there should be no
[2:18:19] profanity or anything you know and just
[2:18:21] be a good neighbor yes and if not that
[2:18:23] would that's when it becomes an issue I
[2:18:26] feel like he's not even giv me a chance
[2:18:28] well I mean I'm not going to speak for
[2:18:29] anybody I'm just I just want a
[2:18:31] clarification from Sarah when we look at
[2:18:35] page two the data uh revocation
[2:18:38] certificate um was
[2:18:41] 91724 when we when we still issue a
[2:18:44] license you also have to be state
[2:18:47] approved also to get your license from
[2:18:49] us or no
[2:18:51] so if
[2:18:53] this revoke was
[2:18:57] revoked what
[2:18:59] is only the LLC has been revoked she's
[2:19:02] not prohibited from doing business as
[2:19:05] Unforgettable events party hall or any
[2:19:07] other name she not she's not required to
[2:19:09] have a corporate inent Identity or LLC
[2:19:12] identity in order to do business in the
[2:19:13] state of Rhode Island how do you get
[2:19:15] insurance and so on and so forth well I
[2:19:18] will take care of that cuz I didn't even
[2:19:19] know that it was up but but I'll go take
[2:19:21] care of that I don't I don't know how
[2:19:22] she applied originally in the with the
[2:19:24] town of West War I don't know if she
[2:19:26] applied as an LLC or she didn't apply in
[2:19:29] in
[2:19:29] Providence it's it's from Unforgettable
[2:19:32] events party hall right but no LLC on
[2:19:34] that this this particular document
[2:19:36] doesn't say LLC but we have no liability
[2:19:38] based on these documents if the insur if
[2:19:40] the insurance company will not insure
[2:19:42] that's a different issue but normally an
[2:19:44] insurance compan is not going to Ure you
[2:19:46] just because you're not an LLC or an es
[2:19:49] Corp or a corporation
[2:19:53] but if you want to make that part
[2:19:55] possible I mean that's a far
[2:19:59] stretch you have a lot you have a lot of
[2:20:01] businesses in the town of West war that
[2:20:03] are not Incorporated that get business
[2:20:09] licenses okay
[2:20:14] um
[2:20:16] again does anybody else want to speak on
[2:20:18] this matter any other the public comment
[2:20:20] on this
[2:20:22] matter
[2:20:26] gentl he doesn't want to see him to get
[2:20:28] up
[2:20:30] so just state your name and address for
[2:20:33] the
[2:20:35] record just if you want to say reiterate
[2:20:38] no Nichol had a bonus I am the neighbor
[2:20:40] that lives over at 1759 Main Street uh
[2:20:42] the property next to um well two over uh
[2:20:47] the noise is a little bit it was a
[2:20:49] little bit you know I'm not going to say
[2:20:50] obnoxious but it was rambun just late at
[2:20:52] night on some of the parties with that
[2:20:54] back door shut though it's a little bit
[2:20:56] more reserved muffled where it was
[2:20:58] manageable so our concern was just more
[2:21:00] in terms of the back alley access
[2:21:02] excessive noise with that door being
[2:21:04] open if there was sound proofing and
[2:21:06] then whether or not you know it would be
[2:21:07] allowed access to what is in essence a
[2:21:10] service Corridor for the
[2:21:12] businesses um so I want to say that
[2:21:14] might have been the part that there was
[2:21:15] no one there to oversee it in which case
[2:21:17] obviously if there's visibility on it
[2:21:18] then it's a no point but that was just
[2:21:20] you know few comments from not
[2:21:21] understand the whole process and we've
[2:21:22] heard we've heard that from other
[2:21:24] establishments in the town especially if
[2:21:26] their door is open the noise travels
[2:21:29] whether it's soundproofed or not if that
[2:21:31] door is open so that's something you
[2:21:32] have to reiterate that the door should
[2:21:34] not but I would add that with the door
[2:21:36] shut it is night and day thank you thank
[2:21:40] you all right no other public comment
[2:21:43] hearing none all in favor I'm not and
[2:21:47] that's only because of the bathroom I
[2:21:49] like to get that straightened out first
[2:21:51] move forward
[2:21:54] so I think that puts Bob in a very tough
[2:21:57] spot and I don't think that's fair to
[2:21:58] him so I I would tend to agree that we
[2:22:02] should again go to the state I hope you
[2:22:05] can get everything taken care of stand
[2:22:07] back here in two weeks and and be done
[2:22:09] with it yeah that that's a uh yeah I I
[2:22:13] kind of feel the same way I we can't ask
[2:22:16] our town official to go against code I
[2:22:19] don't think we're asking I think I think
[2:22:21] but again no if you can come back and
[2:22:23] you're fully in compliance yeah that's
[2:22:25] that's all we're asking we we're you
[2:22:28] know I know I came up with
[2:22:29] some some suggestions and just
[2:22:32] spitballing here but it it has to be
[2:22:34] official and it has to be done right
[2:22:36] okay Denise that's majority of the
[2:22:37] counil Bob Bob you or Tim or somebody
[2:22:41] needs to make it clear what the town
[2:22:43] needs it's not simply a phone call that
[2:22:45] says oh I got the state to say that's
[2:22:47] that's that's up to the applicant to
[2:22:49] take care of for appeal it's not what
[2:22:51] not the I understand that but what what
[2:22:53] does the town want from the state so
[2:22:55] they that's what I Bob keep me honest
[2:22:58] here she is going to the state to seek a
[2:23:01] variance the state will write that
[2:23:03] variance up if they give it to you or
[2:23:06] decline your variance right and that's
[2:23:08] what you have to prove to the to it'll
[2:23:09] be sent to you and maybe take Bob's
[2:23:11] advice you said if she went she went
[2:23:13] directly to Jefferson Boulevard it may
[2:23:15] speed the process up or if not reach out
[2:23:17] to your local not the council but if you
[2:23:19] reach your loc state representative they
[2:23:21] might speed the process along as
[2:23:25] well y okay thank you thank you thank
[2:23:28] you so much have a good night you
[2:23:42] too
[2:23:44] goor that was all no no votes I just
[2:23:48] want to make sure I got the vote right I
[2:23:50] didn't vote but I know denied it so
[2:23:52] there's no sense of
[2:23:53] voting well maybe you should maybe maybe
[2:23:57] not to
[2:23:59] vote
[2:24:01] Yes so I would I would actually table
[2:24:04] this item I would I would make a motion
[2:24:06] to table the
[2:24:08] item the one that we just we didn't vote
[2:24:10] on
[2:24:11] this no we didn't there was official
[2:24:14] vote
[2:24:16] right Sarah is saying she didn't have a
[2:24:18] vote
[2:24:22] Happ y have a second to table second all
[2:24:26] in favor I
[2:24:28] I that was me
[2:24:31] yeah request from the Portuguese Holy
[2:24:34] Ghost for an amplifier loudspeaker
[2:24:35] license for an event to be held October
[2:24:37] 25th 2024 at 11 ventor Street move the
[2:24:41] license second move second any
[2:24:43] discussion they have four bathrooms so I
[2:24:47] know
[2:24:48] that all favor I opposed eyes have
[2:24:54] it appointments and resignations request
[2:24:57] from Kimberly hustan for appointment to
[2:25:00] the 250th commission move the
[2:25:03] appointment second moveing second any
[2:25:05] discussion Kimberly had toight no see
[2:25:09] her here I don't know if you remember
[2:25:11] Kimberly she had been before you a few
[2:25:13] months ago sheing to get involved Y and
[2:25:15] if you look at the what was posted on
[2:25:17] the agenda with the agenda she's willing
[2:25:19] to do anything really and she wants to
[2:25:21] be involved so thank you for for
[2:25:24] stepping up all in favor I I opposed
[2:25:28] eyes have
[2:25:30] it new business approval of the
[2:25:32] collective bargaining agreement between
[2:25:33] the town of West Lor local 245 Rhode
[2:25:36] Island Council 94
[2:25:37] HFS CME AFL CIO for fiscal years 2 2025
[2:25:43] through 2027 move approval of the
[2:25:45] collective bargaining agreement second
[2:25:48] move in second any discussion
[2:25:53] quickly on my memo to you all
[2:25:57] um on or about July 20th 2021 the town
[2:26:01] entered in a three-year Collective
[2:26:02] bargain agreement with all three of our
[2:26:04] labor unions covering fiscal years 22 23
[2:26:07] and 24 those agreements expired on June
[2:26:10] 30th of
[2:26:11] 2024 the town Administration and the
[2:26:14] negotiating team for the municipal Union
[2:26:16] reached a tentative agreement or the
[2:26:19] collective bargaining agreement for a
[2:26:20] period of July 1 2024 to June 30th
[2:26:24] 2027 this agreement was ratified by the
[2:26:27] membership of the municipal Union on
[2:26:30] September 19th of this year and it is
[2:26:34] Town Council approval is necessary I
[2:26:36] supplied the fiscal impact statement um
[2:26:39] prepared by our finance director Kristen
[2:26:42] Bono um cliffnote version is just the
[2:26:47] main points of interest is the salary
[2:26:49] increase es would be a 3.5% salary
[2:26:52] increase retroactive to July 1st of this
[2:26:56] year and then 2% on July 1 of 2025
[2:27:01] January 1st of 2026 July 1st of
[2:27:04] 2026 and January 1st of
[2:27:08] 2027 the fiscal impact of the the
[2:27:11] temporary tenative agreement is
[2:27:13] estimated to be slightly more than
[2:27:16] 241,000 for fiscal year 25
[2:27:20] $1 18,7 188 approximately for fisc year
[2:27:24] 2026 and
[2:27:26] 86,87 for fiscal
[2:27:30] 27 a significant portion of the funding
[2:27:33] for the
[2:27:33] fy2 has been included in our improve
[2:27:36] approved budget other monetary changes
[2:27:39] include hourly adjustments to shift
[2:27:42] differential and training differentials
[2:27:44] addition of juneth as a recognized
[2:27:47] holiday several pay scale adjustments
[2:27:49] for position positions of DPW crew
[2:27:51] persons Masons operators foremen police
[2:27:55] dispatchers Town Hall maintenance
[2:27:57] workers accreditation stien for
[2:28:00] non-sworn staff within the police
[2:28:02] department and savings to the town due
[2:28:05] to increase of employees co-share for
[2:28:07] Health
[2:28:11] Care elimination of summer hours and
[2:28:14] adjustments in clothing procurement and
[2:28:17] allowance practices again this fiscal
[2:28:19] impact Act was prepared as required by
[2:28:22] state law by the finance director it is
[2:28:25] my recommendation that the council
[2:28:27] approve this tenative agreement with the
[2:28:28] municipal Union I believe its approval
[2:28:31] of the resolution is in the best fiscal
[2:28:33] interest of the town and its citizens
[2:28:36] and provides a sound agreement with
[2:28:38] Provisions that enhance the town's
[2:28:40] ability to more efficiently manage and
[2:28:42] operate a modern public service
[2:28:44] department and to attract and retain the
[2:28:46] highest quality of employees for the
[2:28:49] important services is provided to our
[2:28:52] community does anybody have any
[2:28:54] questions for Mo any comments
[2:28:59] concerns hearing none all in favor I
[2:29:02] opposed I have
[2:29:08] it resolution to consider change order
[2:29:10] number three for the ice Chiller System
[2:29:12] project
[2:29:14] 202312 move the resolution
[2:29:17] second I had mentioned this previously
[2:29:19] as we were going through this process
[2:29:22] that there was going to be a pending
[2:29:23] change order this is a small one in the
[2:29:27] amount of
[2:29:29] $3,850 for the purchase and installation
[2:29:31] of pipes and valves and Associated parts
[2:29:35] to for the makeup water system of the
[2:29:37] ice Chiller system at the ice rink it'll
[2:29:40] be funded through the ice rink's fiscal
[2:29:41] 25 operating
[2:29:45] budget any questions for Mark seems like
[2:29:48] we get a lot of these we at the point
[2:29:50] where this is just going to be done it's
[2:29:52] done and operational it's what it's done
[2:29:55] and
[2:29:56] operational we just needed the funding
[2:29:58] source
[2:30:00] okay perfect so we shouldn't see anymore
[2:30:03] so if I say no we have to go look in for
[2:30:05] pennies some it's under warranty now so
[2:30:09] yeah any other comment hearing none all
[2:30:12] in favor opposed eyes have it school
[2:30:16] building committee
[2:30:18] update all right who wants to give the
[2:30:20] update I'll just say quickly we we have
[2:30:22] our meeting tomorrow at at 4 o'clock um
[2:30:26] the school building committee where
[2:30:28] we'll continue um reviewing options for
[2:30:32] our stage two submission again we're
[2:30:34] still exploring options nothing's been
[2:30:36] ruled out um we have a community
[2:30:38] outreach scheduled for October 23rd at 6
[2:30:42] o'clock at the high school in which I
[2:30:45] believe that'll probably be the first
[2:30:46] opportunity for options to be publicly
[2:30:49] reviewed Feld um so I think we're
[2:30:51] hopeful to have vetted them um within
[2:30:54] our smaller committee and have them out
[2:30:56] to the public that night on October 23rd
[2:30:58] I know we had the first community
[2:31:00] outreach on September 18th I was at
[2:31:04] another event and could have attend so I
[2:31:06] defer to one of you that was able to be
[2:31:09] there um it was led by tekon and left
[2:31:11] field the the two Consultants that um
[2:31:14] and they were very pleased with the
[2:31:16] turnout there were probably 20 25 people
[2:31:19] there um they said certainly on a
[2:31:21] preliminary one that they wouldn't
[2:31:22] expect anybody really to be there it
[2:31:25] lasted an hour there were some good
[2:31:26] questions and good uh thoughts as to
[2:31:30] what people might like to see and we
[2:31:32] encouraged everyone and encourage still
[2:31:34] encourage everyone to come out on the
[2:31:37] 23rd is that right of October same thing
[2:31:40] uh High School
[2:31:43] auditorium and that content's expected
[2:31:46] to be a bit more exciting
[2:31:48] correct kind of exciting last time it
[2:31:51] was some excitement you're right it was
[2:31:54] fun any questions for the town manager
[2:31:57] us thank
[2:32:00] you upcoming appointments the are use
[2:32:02] Sport review appointment to fill a
[2:32:03] vacancy as an alternate member for a
[2:32:05] three-year term SE use foral review
[2:32:07] appointment to fill a vacancy as a
[2:32:08] regular member for a three-year term tax
[2:32:10] assessment foral review appointment to
[2:32:12] fill a vacancy for a three-year term
[2:32:13] School building committee tree Warden
[2:32:16] Recreation committee appointment to fill
[2:32:18] a vacancy for a threee term westw 250th
[2:32:21] commission and pit River Authority
[2:32:24] appointment to fill a vacancy for an
[2:32:25] unexpired term ending June 2026 public
[2:32:28] forum any public
[2:32:32] comment none motion to adjourn second
[2:32:37] all in favor I
[2:32:41] I uh we said public comment I said none
[2:32:45] oh come on if you feel like
[2:32:48] rejourn come on up
[2:32:58] right just state your name and address
[2:33:00] for the record Chris bue 44 rat
[2:33:04] Lane um Colonel not Mr Williamson Town
[2:33:08] Council folks Madam
[2:33:10] Rose uh concern has come to my attention
[2:33:12] in regard to the amount of new
[2:33:14] construction occurring throughout our
[2:33:15] town another concern is the number of
[2:33:17] complaints regarding flooding and lack
[2:33:19] of run off throughout our parts of the
[2:33:21] town as well I think it's worthy of
[2:33:23] consideration that both are related in
[2:33:26] my neighborhood there's been a lot of
[2:33:27] new real estate development along East
[2:33:29] grage Avenue and what triggered my
[2:33:31] desire to make this concern public is in
[2:33:33] regard to the property at the east
[2:33:35] corner of Green Bush Road and East Gage
[2:33:37] Avenue in the recent past the V house uh
[2:33:40] was sold to new owners and they
[2:33:41] subdivided the land It's Not Unusual
[2:33:44] these days when you are purchasing a
[2:33:45] large lot however personally would
[2:33:47] prefer not to see it uh but it's there
[2:33:49] they can do what they want however my
[2:33:51] concern is not with the property owners
[2:33:52] or developers but actually what the
[2:33:54] zoning ordinance allowed them to do I
[2:33:57] was expecting to see just one new home
[2:33:58] on the lot but instead there are now
[2:34:01] three uh it's a notable amount of
[2:34:03] development what is actually a pretty
[2:34:04] small lot it's also relatively in
[2:34:06] congruous to the more typical Lots along
[2:34:08] that road it was also a nice tree buffer
[2:34:11] um dividing the plat and now you can see
[2:34:15] the plat in all its Glory
[2:34:18] um that particular Corner does
[2:34:20] accumulate a lot of water during
[2:34:21] rainstorms and snow melts and there was
[2:34:24] actually a part of the original property
[2:34:25] that allowed excess water to run off the
[2:34:27] road accumulate and slowly leech over
[2:34:29] over a relatively short period of time I
[2:34:32] believe that leeching area no longer
[2:34:34] exists another thing I observed in the
[2:34:36] past is that whenever there is any type
[2:34:37] of comparative analysis regarding major
[2:34:39] major Redevelopment or envisioning of
[2:34:41] our town the comparisons are not with
[2:34:43] other can County municipalities but
[2:34:44] instead Central Falls in Pucket I think
[2:34:47] this is highly erroneous and needs to be
[2:34:49] rejected the only thing our town has in
[2:34:51] common with those municipalities is that
[2:34:53] they are mil towns with some element of
[2:34:54] a river running through them plus they
[2:34:56] are already highly urbanized very much
[2:34:59] unlike West War which still is and
[2:35:03] should continue to be referred to as
[2:35:05] suburban I've been observing past Town
[2:35:07] Council meetings on YouTube and I recall
[2:35:09] past citizens regarding flash flooding
[2:35:11] flooding of basements in specific areas
[2:35:13] at times where it hasn't occurred before
[2:35:16] I also recall a sinkhole or two in the
[2:35:20] past one notable one in the Deerfield
[2:35:23] Hills area of w five several years ago
[2:35:25] and another product which is another
[2:35:27] product of w runoff concerns plus more
[2:35:29] recently uh Road collapsed between
[2:35:32] Manchester Street and tyoch Avenue it
[2:35:34] was also evidence of gr settling in the
[2:35:37] Quaker Estates area a few years ago and
[2:35:39] more recently a small pond that forms at
[2:35:41] Jen's consignment on Kisa Avenue after a
[2:35:45] rainstorm been resolved pardon me that's
[2:35:48] been resolved the pond in front of Vin
[2:35:50] they put a drain in there the state when
[2:35:51] they put kis progress has been made uh
[2:35:55] most recently there was a partial
[2:35:56] collapse and reconstruction of the
[2:35:57] bridge over hackinson Brook on Green
[2:35:59] Bush Road our future situation may be
[2:36:02] further compounded where I recently
[2:36:03] learned of a buildup of silt and other
[2:36:05] debris in the pet river near the malls
[2:36:08] there may be another 100-year flood
[2:36:10] Crisis coming much sooner than
[2:36:12] anticipated I think if we combine these
[2:36:14] events in one common situation we may
[2:36:16] have as town a potentially dangerous
[2:36:17] fiscal nightmare requiring once again
[2:36:19] the Charities of state and federal aid
[2:36:21] to help handle the crisis in the near
[2:36:23] future so I have a couple of ideas to
[2:36:26] share first I would recommend a
[2:36:27] comprehensive in-house review and also
[2:36:31] if this is already in play then I
[2:36:33] apologize for the redundancy uh I would
[2:36:35] recommend a comprehensive in-house
[2:36:36] review of our current zoning ordinances
[2:36:38] including a comparative analysis with
[2:36:40] our neighboring towns in that analysis I
[2:36:42] would recommend more restrictions on
[2:36:44] development and an outright ban on
[2:36:46] subdivisions with Le that are less than
[2:36:48] half an acre I would also recommend an
[2:36:50] expansion of wetlands and easements and
[2:36:52] green buffers from fiscal 2025 onward
[2:36:55] secondly I would also recommend a much
[2:36:57] more severe much more severe impact fees
[2:36:59] on future new development especially
[2:37:00] near streams Brooks and ponds as well as
[2:37:03] wetlands and tax incentives for
[2:37:05] contractors to redevelop existing lots
[2:37:07] that have already been developed as well
[2:37:09] as distressed and abandoned lots thirdly
[2:37:12] a general memoral to all field Municipal
[2:37:14] uh workers including police fire and
[2:37:16] sanitation to report on any and all
[2:37:18] evidences of erosion partial collapse or
[2:37:21] unusual settlement of Roads easements
[2:37:24] embankments and recently undetected or
[2:37:26] report or unreported seepage or or
[2:37:29] runoff on roads and properties so it can
[2:37:31] be addressed and repaired before it
[2:37:33] erupts into something major I think
[2:37:35] these concerns that I'm sharing a
[2:37:36] rational and reasonable and worthy of
[2:37:38] advisement and consideration sooner than
[2:37:40] later if we examine this now and not
[2:37:43] push the concern into the future we may
[2:37:45] save ourselves from another major
[2:37:47] crisis Woods
[2:37:49] are better to look at than houses that's
[2:37:52] thank you would you be willing to share
[2:37:54] that I see all of us writing feverishly
[2:37:56] um perhaps no perhaps I'll email you the
[2:38:01] document Sarah thank you thank you very
[2:38:03] much
[2:38:14] you any other public comment last call
[2:38:19] want
[2:38:20] motion to adjourn
[2:38:22] again all in favor I I opposed