you you you Awesome. Good evening, everyone. Time is now 7 o'clock. Awesome. Good evening everyone. Time is now seven o'clock. the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands on the nation and the God and the Israel with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. And now we're on to the announcements and presentations. We'll just talk into the mic. Do you want me to do this right this second? I'm going to make a motion to move the agenda item. one to after a 3 second. Well somebody else to move that motion first. First. So Mr. Durkins going to move that motion. Second. Councillor Vignagli seconds it. All those in favor. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes 5-0. We will move item H1 up until after a three. Thank you. And our spotlight on schools, unfortunately, will be delayed to our next meeting on April 7th due to an illness of the young individual who we are very much looking forward to welcoming at our next meeting. So now onto item A2, Library Board of Trustees Annual Report by Susan Amaruso. Please welcome and come forward. Good evening. Thank you for the pay. Okay, so microphone down. So I only have a 30 page report. No, I'm not kidding. So happy St. Patrick's Day. So I'm glad that I'm here tonight and I can share some good news for change. So basically an annual report is just supposed to summarize the good things that are happening within all the boards. So, as you know, last year, started off with a wonderful thing. The library opened its doors at its new location at 25-pair marketplace. That opening was preceded by the hard work of the library's director, Rector Patty, Ocrwright, and the library staff. Like they worked tirelessly to make that happen and have it been well-organized on their days off they worked and people coming in for the first time before our formal opening couldn't believe how well it was organized for just being moved in. So at the end of January though we formalized our opening with a celebration and it started on January 26 with a Friday evening reception of major donors and formal tours were given and And then the next day, that was dedicated as a coffee reception for the Friends of the Narrow Gants at Library, who worked so diligently to support the project. And people were very, very happy with that. And they supported us with fundraising, a lot of that, to defray the course to the taxpayer. And then on Sunday we finished the whole thing up on January 28th, the opening festivities concluded with a community open house. And there was a formal ribbon cutting done by Patti Ackwright, a library director who was accompanied by Karen Melor, who's the chief of the Ocean State Library Services, which is the group that helped us financially and town council members. And at that time, we also had Senator Jack Reed and Representative Seth Meggaziner. And David Sissillini came from the Rhode Island Foundation, and that enabled people to celebrate this and see all the new features the library had to offer. So we expanded a lot of our programs. We kept the stone soup, which is an annual event, and it ran so much smoother because we had much more space, plugs for the soup and everything like that. And all the proceeds from this and food donations go to the local food pantry, which is located at St. Petersburg by the sea, and now again, it's open to everyone. And then, Pedisclamps Tauk series, which is now going on, again, it's an annual thing, enjoyed having more occupancy. So I think the room can hold without the doors being open about 80 people and we've been filling it up for all these events. A lot of people were interested in World War II history and hurricane stuff. And then the kids were able to utilize the space also, and this animal show, given by Dave Marquetti, which is really fun. Greg Lato had a musical performance, and the young adult programs have been expanded, and they can offer more Harry Potter stuff and Dungeons and Dragons, of course. So, and the newest thing we have is a makerspace, which we did not have in the old library, which now has a 3D printer. And the two top things to print out are the towers because a lot of adults using that. And dinosaurs, and there's vinyl. Heat transfers and you can make buttons. I mean, it's just got a lot to go. There's sewing machines, so that's expanding. And then the reference desk is located, and it has more space. And that desk alone averages about 20 questions a day. And not all of them are related to how to get my book and stuff. A lot of them for a Libby eBooks. And if somebody comes with a phone question, we're more than happy to help. It doesn't have to be strictly library equipment. So we have the biggest thing we have. And we're slowly getting there is the town plus the library signed for the solar installation on the roof. And it was a little bit delayed, but it's moving along now and we're hoping by the summer it will be completed and it will include two EV charges and this will be the first library in the state to have solar energy. So we're really excited about that. And then to sum up, we had some members of our board who were their terms had expired and there were three of them, and they left the board after extremely dedicated service, which really helped us get the new building. we appreciate their efforts. And in their place, we have three new members that joined the board. And we're just working together as a team to get the soul going. And I would sum up and say that in 2025, our goal is to enrich our patrons lives, and which in turn will make us a stronger community, which we definitely need. And I just had a few numbers. The number of visits for the library last year were 51,052. The number of books checked out was 127,026. Ebooks were 44,471. Wi-Fi connections in and out of the library were 16,847 new cards. And I know this is even continuing this year. was 1,142, and renewals of existing cards were 597. So the number of Narragansett resident carren holders is 8,014. So we have a lot of people that love our library, and we have a lot of people from other communities which have always used our library. And we're more than welcome to share our library with anyone because all libraries are part of the Ocean State Library system. So you don't have to be in that town to use that library that you're visiting. And a lot of people comment on how helpful and how friendly our staff is. And I think that's the biggest thing I'd like you to get out of this report is that they are the core of our library. So that's my report. Anybody have any questions? Let's just start off with some comments. Really, really impressive to hear the numbers and you know, I think we all appreciate data. But you know, real heartfelt thank you. Goes out to the library board, the library staff, patty arc, right? You know, I know there are a lot of individuals to be named and many are here in attendance today. For keeping up the good fight for so many years, you know, we've heard it once too many times actually even knocking on doors by just the reiteration of the fact that, you know, communities are developed around the library and to have that center in our community providing these incredible number of services and it sounds like so many people have already received the reward of the service from our new library and I very much look forward to seeing it continue to progress and highly recommend if I can make a sound bite to anyone listening at home. If you have not made your way down to the new library at this point, I don't know what it is that you've been doing all this time, but please make your way down there at some point and see just how amazing of a facility and the resources there are down there. It's a tremendous staff, super friendly, and it's really embodies everything that we hope to see here in Narragansett. So I don't know if anyone else has any other comments or questions? Just like to say strong library, strong community. Yes, definitely. And there's no question about it. And thank you. I go there a lot. And it's great. Great what you're doing there. Okay. Are we happy? Things are worth fighting for and the our the beginnings of our political group started there in one of those meeting rooms and with Susan who deserves a of credit for everything she's done. She's here again tonight. So good luck with everything anything we can do to help. Okay great. All ready. Thank you to the board. Thank you to the staff. Thank you for all of your continued efforts. You're welcome. Excellent. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. So next item on the agenda is the town manager's update. Jim. Good evening, members of the council. People who have this evening and those who are watching from home are going to watch it later. The Naregaenta Police Union has, we have commenced discussions regarding the expiration of the CBA which expires June 30th of this year. The town council has been provided the proposed budget information for their perusal. The first of the budget work sessions and the public can be present. We'll be held on Monday, April 7th. That will be for community development and information technology. And the other ones will be held on April 15th, 16th, and 17th at 6 p.m. here on the council chambers to go through the budget department by department with the council. On the agenda, although it's an agenda item, I'm not going to just today we appointed as the Acting Municipal Court Administrator, Ms. Eileen Cassane. She has promoted effective today into this acting role. The permanent seat of that position is on the agenda for this evening. Eileen served as the clerk of the municipal court, just prior to this promotion. And we wish Ilean the best in this and congratulate her on it. That position became vacant because of a resignation. The narrow river dredging study, there's been a lot of chatter about it in the community and there's some misinformation out there so I just want to make sure that everyone is aware of what's going on with it now. The previous town council approved their desired dredging option for which the town would pursue a permit. That option was chosen on October 7th of 2024. Once that dredging option was selected by the council, then the town could apply for the permit. You have to have the option in your hand before you can move forward. Fourth engineering has been working on this since October and they will be distributing the draft permit to the Dunes Club and the Otobon Society. There are butters to the area so they have to be notified and they've already put their and put in and That'll that'll be put in for this week for comments and they plan to submit direct to the regulatory agencies for the permitting by the end of this month From the engineering firm folks will work to expedite any revisions to the permit application package based on feedback from the butters Right now we're targeting a final submission of the permit applications to the agencies by the end of the month. It could take up to six months for the approval of this process. Once the permit is approved, it may be modifications by the regulatory agencies. Once approved, an RFP will be published. Any qualified bidder will be brought before the town council for approval contingent upon funding. Currently, the town does not have a funding source for this venture. The town has submitted for Congressional Direct and Spending Grants again this year with Washington representatives. And those were just recently submitted last week of the week before. And those are the facts regarding the narrow of a dredging process. Jim, will we get a copy of the draft when it's ready? Absolutely. Any other questions or comments? Nope. Are you all set? I am. Thank you. So next would be the moved agenda item. Is there a recognizing agenda item H1 from the town council? Is there a motion to adopt a resolution recognizing the Mori Lunchins Moriel Library as a public institution for the residents and visitors to enjoy in the town of Narragansett. I make that question. Second. Discussion? I do have the language of the resolution Councillor Colleen is I know this is your item. If you would like, you can read the resolution or if you'd like me to read it. You can read it. I think that I just want to say that I think it's appropriate that it happens tonight in lieu of our library report for the evening and I think it's great to find the declared as a public institution so the town is well aware of it. I agree. And once I read the resolution I will open the floor up to the public if anyone would like to get up and comment. So the resolution reads, it is a resolution of the town of Narragansett, Rhode Island, regarding the Mori-Lunchins Memorial Library. Whereas the Mori-Lunchins Memorial Library is recognized as a public institution in the town of Narragansett, and whereas the Mori-Lunchins Memorial Library is governed by the Board of Trustees, which is made up of seven members of the Narragansett community and whereas the Mori Lunchins Board of Trustees are legally responsible for the governance of the library and conducting its operations in accordance with local state and federal laws and whereas the Mori Lunchins Memorial Library is funded by the town of Narragansa and the Rhode Island Office of Library and Information Services, in order to provide access to information through materials, research services, community events, and through the library collection. And whereas the Mori Lunchins Memorial Library Director continues to be invited as a participant in all senior management meetings offered by the town of Narragansett and whereas the Mori Lunchans Memorial Library will share town services with all other town departments when feasible and whereas the Mori Lunchans Memorial Library offers a wide variety of free public programs to patrons of all ages to enjoy and whereas the Narragansett residents and visitors will enjoy this new state-of-the-art modern library for years to come and now therefore be it resolved that the town council of the town of Narragansett do hereby recognize the Mori Lunchins Memorial library as a public institution for the residents and visitors to enjoy in the town council of the town of Narragansett do hereby recognize the Mori lunchens Memorial Library as a public institution for the residents and visitors to enjoy in the town of Narragansett. Once approved, it will be adopted this 17th day of March 2025. So with that being said, are there any questions or comments from the public? Yes, please come forward. Susan, Sicilini, Bonanno, 9th secluded drive. I actually had a little speech to say, but you read it so beautifully, Alex. So I'm going to skip all that. And I just, I'm here tonight because I wanted to hear that resolution be finally passed. It was something that I tried in my term, but the president and the solicitor and so on. It just didn't stay up, so it was removed. So I'm thrilled tonight to hear that you're going to recognize the Mooray Luchins Library as a public institution. And I couldn't be prouder. I actually brought you all just in case you didn't have library cards. So if I could approach. Thank you. I'm so glad about a Sue's report that so many people are using the library and I encourage everybody to come and enjoy that public space. Programs are free. It's a wonderful opportunity, and it took us a long time to get that built and built. So thanks to everybody and congratulations for the resolution. Thank you. And thank you for your hard work and service and sharing this with us. We really appreciate it. Do you want to elaborate on the more? We will. Thank you. Does anyone else from the public have any other comments? Anyone from the council have any additional comments? I just wanted to thank Susan again for all of your support for the library. It's been amazing. At a time when our public institutions are under attack, I think it's important that we take this time to recognize and protect this particular public institution. Agreed. Any other comments? Oh, all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes, 5-0. Thank you. All right. Now, before continuing on, I do want to make an announcement that item H6 under the town council will be pulled from tonight's agenda based on the recommendation of the chair of the library board as we will wait to schedule that at a later time when it's more convenient for everyone. So moving forward, is the approval of minutes? Is there a motion to approve the minutes of the January 27th, 2025 work session? You're going to include them all Can I, I can do all, okay, thank you. Thank you, Jim. Is there a motion to approve the minutes of, as described on items B1, B2, B3, and B4? Motion to approve minutes Minutes be one through before. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes 5-0. Next, on to open forum. Jim has anyone signed up for open forum? First down the list, Jo Volpe. Mr. Volpe. And just as a reminder to everyone, please state your name and address, and the time will be limited to three minutes. Good evening. Joe Volpe, 21 Haber Island Road. I just want to say thank you for putting the roundtable work session together. Donna and I know Councillor Vignoli and Councillor Coneys, I know you had a lot to do with it. I felt it was respectful and it definitely brought some good ideas together. I joked when I came in that my only comment was, the sessions were a little short and I wrote that on the survey. Sort of had a little bit of a speed dating feel to it. Put all your cards on the table, move on to the next one. It just would have liked to see you in a little bit more time. But more importantly, we didn't know what we're getting into. It stimulated discussions prior to the work session, but mainly amongst like-minded people. What I found afterwards, and this is what I think is the most critical part, is there's been a lot of discussions and meetings I know from me at coffee shops with people that didn't necessarily think had the same perspective, or I didn't understand their perspective. And it works both ways. They found a little bit more respect for what I do as a homeowner, as a landlord, and my connection to the community. So, like mine had before, but more importantly, the people that you didn't think that you would be able to gel with. I've had a lot of conversations after, so I thank you for doing that. I think that's really what you're trying to get at as far as the community is concerned. Maybe I'm an optimist and I know we have a lot of work to do and a ways to go, but I feel like we're closer than you think, and we're on the cusp of doing something extraordinary. So I want to stay positive. I don't feel that this is too hard to do. And if I can also piggyback some of these comments about housing with the ordinance on some of the things you're doing as a town. I commented on the accessory dwelling units. How that's going to help housing. Some of the things that were mentioned in the bulk zoning, sending that back for review. I don't think anyone's a fan of some of these dormitory-style houses. But there are a lot of properties and lots that may be borderline that perhaps we can be creative, where we can find a way to use those lots to do something with. So the rub or the challenge for the planning board is to adhere to some of the bulk zoning but also keep in mind we don't want to forget about some of those lots that can be available to future families. So thank you to the town for everything that you're doing to help with housing. And thank you for the work session for the most part. Everything I've heard has been positive. Thank you. Thank you. Miss Sheila Sweeney. Sheila Sweeney, 39 Sunset Shore Drive near against it. I just wanted to say the same thing that Joe was saying. I just wanted to say thank you very much for the town for allowing us to come and sit at the round table and get an opportunity to talk to people who are pros and cons. I thought it was a great session. I think everybody respected themselves. And we were able to get ideas, at least on paper for you guys to see where everybody's at. Also, the monitors, I think they did a great job. I learned how to control a crowd, just clap hands. And I'm not a teacher. So I was pretty proud of them to do do that so I just wanted to say thanks again for everything that you've guys have been doing towards this. Thank you. Thank you. That's all assigned the list. Can I say something? Can you wait until the end? Oh is it indirectly to that? Yeah, basically. I just wanted to. If it's a comment about the whole workshop, I'd rather wait until the end of the open forum. Oh, OK. Is that all right? I don't want to forget. OK. All right. Just put up a finger. Please come forward. Oh, I didn't know there's more public. Yes, OK. John Hanley, ten, all in a strive, I will do that. That's not why I'm here. So after meeting two weeks ago, a motion was introduced where you propose ordinance amendments to the planning board for reviewing comment. Only after three minutes. So can't go into detail. But the suffice it to say that these changes would have a catastrophic and irreversible effect on the town. Seven residents spoken out position to this motion including former council members including the former council president pointing out the devastation these ordinance changes would have no resident spoken support of them. After this rebuke by the residents in your council discussion, after public comments were finished, you made the following points. Councilwoman Vignale, co-sponsor, I have not made a decision either one way on any of these issues. You're talking to talk. Councilman Colonies, co-sponsor, I agree with Donna, not sold on all of these. You're talking to talk. President Menzies, definitely don't agree with everything in here, talking to talk. Councilman Tariol today, don't support everything in here, talking to talk. Councilman Durikin, not talking at all. Then came the vote on the motion, where it's now time to walk the walk. What do you do? You approve it 5-0. I have the following observations. You've probably made political history here by proposing sweeping zoning changes that you all say are not in agreement with. That's performery. At any of you even read the 266 pages of changes that you submitted, understood the ramifications? I think not. How many hours and how many of our tax dollars were wasted researching and putting together this atrocity? Let me say it again, 266 pages with no public input. You had the opportunity to withdraw this ocean, take a second look and resubmit it tonight. Yet all of you voted to push it forward. That vote made it clear. These are your proposed amendments. Submit it in sponsored by council council members your blueprint for the town going forward I don't think this is what the residents voted for and they put you guys in office And a one different thing you and me is I think Your agenda is trying to satisfy your group of mostly non-residents Well, I'm fighting protect and preserve my quality of life. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else in the public? Yes, please come forward. Oh, please state your name and address. Hello. Hi, my name is Gina Marie Henry. I live at Forty Lake Worth Avenue. And I am here because Earth Day is coming up and I'm unable to, 20 second. I see a lot of trees being cut down and I wanted to stop. Just try to talk right into the mic. I also see plastic and trash all over the place. And wanted to change. So I think we should stop littering and cutting down trees. I think we should have one day a month that we all come together and collect trash or plant trees. Hopefully you agree with me because cutting down trees and littering is not good for the planet and this planet is our home. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Not easy for anyone to get up in the public to speak. I think you did a tremendous job. Thank you for coming. Is anyone else from the public have a comment? Yes. Ms. Copic. Good evening. Deb co-pick. Point you to Throdenare against it. I haven't had to do that in a long time. First, I'd like to, you know, really echo what Gigi just said. I've always been sort of environmentally engaged as some of you know. And I absolutely agree with litter. It would be really lovely to, you know, be kind of nice if the town council sponsored a litter day so people could go out and collect trash, particularly a long point due to throat if you really want another truth. So I wanted to mention that because I think it does take a lot of courage to come up here and for, you know, the children have a way of making us aware of things that we forget about sometimes. So we should do that. And I would do it myself except, you know, I have a few things going on. In fact, the other thing I wanted to say was about the library. Once I decided that I wasn't going to run for office again, the one thing that I really, really, really wanted to do was be on the board of directors for the Morillynchens Library. And I was appointed, and it has been a really excellent experience for me. And everybody's been to the library, right? Of course. Yeah, OK, good. Good to know. And I will tell you it is a magnificent building, it is a magnificent opportunity for community, it's a wonderful experience for people who like to read books, but not just for people who like to read books. The first time I walked in there I went into the children's room and I said to, the children's librarian, you know what I feel like doing? I feel like grabbing six children's books and lying down on the road and just reading them. And it's that welcoming and that wonderful. So I'm so happy that we have mostly completed it. I can't wait till the solar stuff is done speaking to the environment. And by the way, we will have the first municipal electric charging stations in Narraganskit. There are other stations in Narraganskit, but these will be the first municipal ones. So I think that's really a great move towards the future, no matter what happens elsewhere. And I just wanted to make that point. So thanks. Excellent. Thank you so much. Anyone else in the public? Yes, please come forward. Good evening. Pat Cole, 20 Baybury Road in Oregon. It's it. I have the pleasure of serving on the Board of Trustees at the library. And I have to tell you that every tub and goal there and I go there often because I love to just walk through. There are people in every part of that library upstairs sitting down and reading some older people there, reading all the papers. Some of the younger teens are in the area. I just had the pleasure of talking with the person who is the new maker space librarian. And he's so enthusiastic and I asked him, you know, how are things going? You know, you're busy? Oh, yeah. He said, we've had a lot of things going on. And in fact, he said, in one case, it was a Girl Scout troop and they were all going to make little decals to go on these, I guess, things that they were going to be carrying. And he said, and it was going to be great, except that there were 19 of them. And I had an hour, but the first half hour was taken up with their snacks in their giggling, you know. He said, so I didn't get a chance to teach them how to do this. So they have to come back so I can teach them how. And he was just very excited about what he's doing. All of the staff is excited and happy and you have to admit that the public library is really the only place where everyone is welcome and you don't have to buy anything. You don't have to go, you know, you go to the mall, you walk around, you have to, you know, you're going to buy something. Nope. In the public library, you can walk there, sit on a chair, enjoy the atmosphere, you can even bring coffee in the air or something else to drink, but you have to have a cover I've seen a lot of people enjoying that time. So thank you so very much for supporting us and come and see us. We'd love to have you. Thank you. Excellent. Thank you so much. Anyone else from the public was to speak? Seeing none. Next on the agenda. Oh yeah, sorry sorry, Mr. Durkin, if you would like to. I just wanted to say something about the last agenda item. Donna got us out of that jam with the round table discussion. And I don't think it could have ever been better than Donnett's friend that she met in the Rotary Club. That was just like something that that was like a miracle that happened you know and then to get accused of like you know her being your friend was like embarrassing but that was so so successful and I think it brought a lot of people together. So I just wanted to say that. Thank you. Next on the consent agenda, is there a motion to approve consent agenda item C1? Motion to approve. Second discussion all Those in favor I You posed motion passes 5 0 Next onto new business from the fire department Is there a motion to approve the purchase of 10 sets of firefighter protective turnout gear from MES shipment Company pursuant to the source well contract and the amount of $45,418.90. Motion to approve. Second. Discussion. Anyone from the town council have any other questions or comments? I just like the idea that they look carefully at the materials that they're replacing and use them. If they're, you know, in good shape and up to standard, they use them for training. I think that's a great, great idea and a great way to continue using the materials and while we replace the ones that, you know, that need to be replaced. Do we know how often these get replaced? So five to ten years. Well, I see the ten years, right? Yes, it's five to ten. PVAS is a lot of the chemicals that fire photos over the years dealt with has resulted in many of the legislative decisions for compensation for people who suffer certain illnesses related to the chemicals they're exposed to. These, this type of gear is more up to date and more protective of a firefighter. And they've instituted a great cleaning system for the ones that they have to protect a firefighter as well. Excellent. Anyone else have any other questions or comments? I just want to say that I think it's absolutely important to protect the firefighters with new equipment. So 100%. Anyone else from the council? Anyone from the public? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes 5-0. Next, on to the police department. Is there a motion to approve the purchase and insulation of 1-12.5 ton HVAC carrier rooftop unit for the police safety building from JMB Mechanical Inc. in the amount of $36,135.75 utilizing the General HVAC services contract. Motion to approve. Second. Discussion? Anyone from the council have any questions or comments? I just thought of something. I was thinking about the solar panels that they're putting on the library building. The library building is a flat roof right so that's a perfect spot for that that's Is the police station flat? I? Never been up on the roof itself. It appears to be it's really pitch though Does it is pitch? I mean, I think that's a great idea for any of our municipal buildings. If we can hide them out of sight and get some, you know, free juice up there. It's too late for this. I can tell you that. Yeah, this is bordering on an emergency purchase. It has to be installed by the summer. We house people that are incarcerated, they need the air condition. People who spend 16 hours in the building working and just the engineering study alone would not be sufficient to get this accomplishment. No, I mean as a helper. Oh yeah, going forward, sure. It's a good place to put panels. You don't have to see them on a flat roof. Just the thought. You'd never say it many way. No, no one looks up. Yeah. They look nice when they knew but when they get older, you know, just a thought. Is anyone have any questions or comments on this particular item? I saw this in the agenda item but just how old is the prior HVAC system? If we know? I don't know. I know it's on service. We'll chief do you know the age of it? I believe the current year we're trying to replace was from the early to not. So for those at home, replacing one from the early 2000s. Yeah, it's been under constant repair. It just finally passed overdue then to have this updated. So then what do we think is the lifespan of this updated model that's going on? Hopefully at least 25 years. Probably not 25, but if we got 25, then we'd be lucky. Yeah. 15 to 20 years on a compressor in that environment. I mean, it seems like a common purchase going around between the schools within the last four years now on the town level just trying to get everyone up to this century. So it seems like maintenance. We should. Yeah. Right. I agree. Any other questions or comments? Anyone from the public? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes 5-0. Next on to item E2. Is there a motion to approve the police departments or requests to hire two probationary patrol officers? Motion to approve. Second. Discussion. Anyone from the town council have any questions or comments? These are these are probationary that just to fill rank and file or they're not additional. These are from retiring offices. Yeah. The fill of slots. Are these going to be straight out of the academy? Are these going to just we're in the process now. We have some lateral applicants and we have applicants with no prior experience that are competing for these positions. Any other questions or comments from the council? Any questions or comments from the public? Seeing none, all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes, Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Second. Discussion? Any questions or comments? This is a pretty straightforward procedure item. Oh, anyone from the public? Seeing none, all those in favor. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes 5-0. Next, onto the town manager. Is there a motion to our item G1? Is there a motion to schedule a budget work session for the town of Narragansett fiscal year 2026 budget with staff on April 7th, 2025 at 615 p.m.? So moved. Second discussion. My mic is weird. It's 6.15 and I like would it next to 15 minutes help? But no. Second discussion My mic is weird as 615 and I like would it next year 15 minutes help but now Jim With two departments with the very small budgets, okay And Yeah, so this was actually already something that was already brought up in your earlier report This is just making it formally voted upon that we will have those two short budget meetings on April 7th at 6.15 p.m. For the public notice. Yep. Yep. Perfect. Thank you. Anyone from the public have any questions or comments? Anyone else from the council? Seeing none. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes 5-0. Next, on to G2. Is there a motion to approve the tentative agreements negotiated between the town and Narragansett firefighters local number 1589, International Association of Firefighters AFL, CIO for the period of July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025, and July 1, 2025 through June 30, 20, 28. So moved. Second. Discussion. I just want to give a sound bite to Councillor Vignelli, who really led and many others. I'm just starting with Councillor Vignali. Jim Tierney, Christine, our chief fantastic partners throughout this whole negotiation process from the town side. And the firefighters union, very respectful. Councillor Vignali and I, this was our first experience in this term negotiating and I can't say enough high remarks for both sides negotiating and I will reiterate that we retain all eight firefighters with the agreed upon terms between the town and the firefighters union Council of McNally do you have any comments? I do the the recent the recent Negotiations address two key objectives for me and the town the safety of the residents and the college students and the visvers To Narrow Gansett and the concerns of the taxpayers. I would say that this contract negotiated was unique because contrary to misinformation the town never wasn't supportive eliminating the eight firefighters that were brought on by the safer grant. So we had the significant challenge of absorbing the salaries and the pensions of eight firefighters while addressing the issues brought forth by both sides. However, through discussion, both parties listened to each other's positions and with respectful, constructive, back and forth in substantial give and take, we were able to come to an agreement. Although neither side got all that they wanted, I believe the final agreement is fair. Both parties walked away from negotiating table shaking hands and I would like to thank the firefighters union for coming to the table willing to understand the union the community. We are looking at the community's community. We are looking at the community's community's community. We are looking at the community's community. We are looking at the community's community. We are looking at the community's community. We are looking at the community's community. We comments? I just want to say I want to thank you, Councilman Menzies, for your negotiations with them as well. So you left yourself out, and I don't, I don't, I'd be remiss not to thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thanks, Alex and Donna, and I just wanted the public to know that the, you know these inspection process happens with the short-term rentals that we have an additional for qualified fire inspectors that we can use for inspecting some of the houses if that moves forward. So that's they're all qualified to do that as as well as the Firemarshall. And I'd also like to thank the negotiating team. And it was great working with all of you guys. Thank you. Any other comments? What can I say that hasn't been said? Thank you, Alex. Thank you, Donna. Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Jim. Thank you, Firey, and thank you everybody for coming to the table and settling this matter. Excellent. Does anyone from the public have any questions or comments? Yes. Please come forward. Let's go, Peck. And welcome back. Hey, thanks. Don't get used to me. I'll Deb Koepek, I'll point you to throw it now against it. Donna, I want to thank you. You know, everything I have heard about the work that you did on this negotiation was really, really great. I did the last one with Susan, and we had a really strong and excellent experience. And with everybody who was part of the team, so I just think, and Alex Alex you guys did a really magnificent job getting this from a place where it was in a little bit of a stalemate into something that that was acceptable for all parties which is really you know nobody walks away not wanting something else but if you walk away and you have an agreement it's a wonderful thing so I just want to thank you so much for doing that. And I'm so glad we have these firefighters. You know, my own personal experience has been that it's great to have all the firefighters that we have. And it doesn't even bother me that every single one of them passes my house whenever they're going anywhere. So that's really great. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else from the public? Seeing none, all those in favor. Bye. Bye. Any opposed? Motion passes 5-0. Next onto the town council. We've already voted on H1. Now onto item H2. Is there a motion to discuss and provide objectives for the Galilee Advisory Committee? So moved so I could discussion All right, so this is my agenda item. I presently sit on the Galilee Advisory Committee and in meetings with the committee It seems that the scope and purview is rather limited at the moment I put this on the agenda to discuss some potential areas where we would like the advisory committee to focus on. Presently, their big thing was the RFQ for beautification down at the port. They hang flowers every summer season, but I just wanted to open this up to council, open this up to public as well. If there are any ideas on how we might be able to direct them further. So one of my ideas was just further options for beautifications, perhaps walking tours or holiday decorations in winter. But certainly open, very open to hearing other thoughts as well. Councillor Vignalia, would you like to start? I I some of my suggestions and one of the things that it really came to mind is maybe you can talk or survey the business owners down in Galilee and ask them what they would like to see to help improve what's going on down in Galilee. Maybe there's something that the advisory committee could bring to us that we can do to help with that, or even the fishermen. Talk to the fishermen and find out from them what they would like to see. Yes, Ryan. I think that, you know, when I was a kid and probably until I was maybe 25, I'd say we had the Rattling Tunitonumit and that was, you know, Gally was like the tunitonum of the East Coast and then somewhere along the line it just faded out and I think it was maybe because of the lack of tuna actually. But for for the last three or four years, we have giant tuna at Scarborough Beach, swim with people at the end of the summer. So I think we could do that again. And I think it'd be a nice demand for it. And although the fish are expensive now, maybe they can just maybe hang for a short period of time so you can still, you know, use the... Maybe a fishing weekend with a one-to-display window. So I don't know. I don't know. There's some people around that some old time is it's still a part of that like Alex Betucci, people like that, you know. They're all from a lot of them are from Wallach and I think that would be a great thing to get started again. Sure. Thank you. Councillor Colle nays, you have any suggestions or thoughts? I just thought of this, but if you were just talking about like holiday decorations, perhaps a holiday stroll at the businesses that might be there that are open, I'm not sure how logistically that would work, but that's an interesting thing. Cool. Do you know, I don't know if this belongs with the Galli Advisory Committee, but one idea that I had had while there was all sorts of different issues being brought up when knocking on doors. This interesting idea of looking at ways in which we can better celebrate our fishermen and women in Gally. There's a lot of people even from all around the state who come down here to use Gally, who do business out of Gally. Looking at pot like, I know in other areas around New England, they got like marine museums, marine fisheries, museums, ways in which people, members in the community, tourists can come in and learn about the great many sacrifices that our men and women do to serve our community, serve our fisheries community. And it's a great industry for the state of Rhode Island right there out of Galley. So I think there are many ways in which we can celebrate them and kind of better educate the Narragansi community and the state of those very important services. So just a general idea. As, and this is, I'm gonna make a pitch to all other committees that might be out there listening in and having a similar question. If anyone has, you know, would like some guidance on objectives or projects to work on, please reach out to Mr. Tierney or I directly. And we will either work to get it on the agenda or figure out the best ways in which we can continue to provide you those of that kind. So does anyone else have any other questions or comments? Just piggybacking on that. If anybody would like to be a member in participate with the Galilee Advisory Committee, we welcome any and all members, so please apply. Excellent. Is anyone from the public have any recommendations? And if you're at home or if you think of recommendations later, please send us your emails, your suggestions at any time. Call Kevin Durphy, I think he's on there. He should be on there. Okay. Question for Sarah, if we are issuing directives to the committee, is this something that needs to be an agenda item or is this something that I can follow up with the committee offline about? No, it's just advisory. So. the committee offline about. No, it's just advisory so you discuss. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That's all for me. Next onto agenda item H3. Is there a motion to adopt a resolution in support of the Restoration of General Revenue sharing to cities and towns. Motion to approve. Second. Discussion. Uh, this is a, this came to us. It was shared. I believe this was Port Smith. If I'm remembering correctly, it is on the agenda, which my can borrow. Bill Port Smith, well, those. we read the language we agree I am hoping that we agreed to the resolution here and the resolution reads as follows it is a resolution of the town of Narragansk regarding the restoration of general revenue sharing to cities and towns where as cities and towns across Rhode Island have been struggling with the recent inflationary environment and whereas in 2009 the General Assembly discontinued revenue sharing due to the economic collapse and whereas the removal of the general revenue sharing forced the cities and towns to increase property taxes to make up for this loss in revenue and whereas the state of Rhode Island has, has seen a very good rebound from the economic crisis brought on by the COVID pandemic. And whereas the past three fiscal years, the state of Rhode Island has benefited from the economic rebound with 417 and 878 million respectively, and a $410 million surplus for fiscal year 2023, and estimated 98 million for fiscal year 2024. And whereas the CAR tax phase payments benefited our citizens in the short term, they did not provide cities and towns with an escalator to make up for a lost revenue and inflation. And now therefore, be it resolved that the town council respectfully requests the Rhode Island General Assembly and Governor, Reince State General, Revenue Sharing for all 39 cities and towns to help reduce the impact of inflation of the citizens of Rhode Island. Be it further resolved that the town council respectfully requests that the respective city and town councils of Rhode Island join in our request to have the General Assembly restored, General Revenue in the upcoming fiscal year 2025 budget. If approved, it'll be adopted this 17th day of March 2025. So does anyone from the public have any comments? Anyone from the council? Seeing none, all those in favor. Hi. Hi. Any opposed? Motion passes 5-0. Next is there a motion to reschedule the work session that was previously scheduled for March 17th, 2025 at 5.30pm to discuss the short-term rental ordinance? So moved. Second. Discussion and my sticky notes. Oh, thank you. So we have a few options here. March 31st. So basically if you can think of a Monday, it's an option. And Does anyone have any, the ideal meeting time that we're looking at, knowing that it's budget season coming up? I don't know what everyone's schedule is like. I think, you know, there's probably going to be a problem with the first recommended date that I throw out there of April 21st. Does anyone have any comments? Will you be out of town on April 21st? I will not be here. I will not be in town on April 21st. Yeah. And let me pull up my calendar here. Okay. So Councillor Vignale will not be present on April 21st, okay? So alternative options are we schedule it during an off regular meeting. I don't know how anyone else feels about April 14th or April 28th. Alternatively, we could schedule it from May 5th right before our regular meeting. So I'm not here on the 14th. I am not here on the 14th either. So they're already not going to be, well, Council of Ignatius not going to be present for the regular meeting on the 21st. Oh, I thought you said May 5th. No, I did say May 5th. Oh. So that would be the next regular meeting option. So we could do May 5th. That'll give us plenty of time and hopefully we'll be able to even distribute those results to the public Yeah, I had a time for their review. It would be great. So all right. Is everyone okay with my fifth at Where's what time do we say 5 30? 5 30 p.m. On May 5th I would just advocate for the 28th personally, but I can make the 20 the fifth if. April 28th. Yes. On an off meeting. Yes. OK. But if the consensus is for the fifth then I can make that work too. Is anyone, would anyone oppose to coming in on a special meeting on April 28th to address the short-term rental workshop. Will you be traveling Councillor Dirk? I don't know. It's May, so I won't be brought. Well this is April 28th. Yeah, if we did that one. I mean, it's just, I guess. That's a matter of preference. You can do either one right or... I can do either one, yes. Really? Yeah. Okay. Well, that is better to have more time so that people can read the... Or is it less... So I feel like it's going to be a well-attended meeting. And if we block ourself into only an hour, we might get ourself into some trouble. Well, yeah, I mean, I figure, I think that's a good idea more time. Yeah, I don't think it's meant to restrict any community involvement in the discussion. This is only the first of likely, more, you know, multiple discussions. So, you know, I'm looking at May 5th and it's already we're almost halfway through the year here. It's crazy, but, you know, I could, I think April 20th should work just fine. It's just one more part of the process, you know, of hearing what people are thinking and saying. So the first meeting where we have the read like the data. And I think that it's a good thing to go over pretty thoroughly at the first. So you guys are in favor of April 28th then. Yes, as long as Jim can make it. Yeah, I can make it. All right, so we will reschedule for April 28th at 5.30pm, the short-term rental workshop follow-up discussion. Is anyone from the public have any comments? Nope. Does it have time for that? That was at 5.30pm on April 28th. Any additional comments from the council? Nope. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes, 5-0. Last item on the agenda. Is there a motion to appoint two members from the town council to serve on the negotiations team for collective bargaining with the Naragansop Police Department local 303 in the town of Narragance it so moved Second discussion It would be my recommendation if they should agree I did have a tremendous time Negotiating with the fire fight is union, but I also think it was a great educational opportunity. So I would yield the opportunity to negotiate with the police department to Councillor Toria Alde. If he agrees to it as well as Councillor Vignale, who I found to be a tremendous mentor throughout this whole process, only if you agree. So up to you guys. I agree. I would very much like to do this. Excellent. So move then, Donna and Ryan. So you're good with that. Excellent. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes 5-0. Is there a motion to adjourn at a record time for us? 804 PM on March 17th. Motion to adjourn. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes 5-0. Have a great evening.