Council Member Communications - August

Summer in the City of Cranston is nearly over as Labor Day approaches. I do love the fall for its many colors and cooler weather that I really enjoy. My goal with this blog is to try to inform the citizens of the issues facing Cranston and to inform you of what’s happening on your city council and this is the August update.

Firefighters Contract

The city council approved the Firefighters contract the Mayor negotiated by a vote of 8-1, it was a fair deal and contained give backs on both sides. One councilman took issue with the fiscal note developed by the city and developed his own version. As a financial expert and a finance executive I can assure the citizens of this city that I did my due diligence. I asked questions of the administration and I did my own calculations of the financial value of the contract. I even gave the scenario I developed to an independent auditor and he assured me I was accurate. I can say with certainty that the administration is correct in its financial calculations of the deal as my calculations were within 5% of theirs. The Mayor negotiated the contract and we as a council ratified his contract. This contract will cost an extra $300K in total over the four years of the contract. To put this figures in to perspective, it costs $28M annually to fund the Fire department and since this is a four year deal the total expenses of the department are $112M over the life of the contract. This contract increase represents a financial increase of 0.225% in total expenses. I don’t have a crystal ball but this specific contract will not cause us to have to increase taxes next year. Let’s not forget the fire fighters and police came to the table and helped us drive significant pension reform and our pension fund will be solvent in the near future because of their actions. I would like to thank the hardworking Firefighters for all they do for our great city. As a city resident and the council vice president I can tell you I speak for most of the council and we appreciate it.

Sewer Permits, Traffic and Flood Plane changes

The council passed an ordinance putting more oversight on sewer connection permits. The new laws will ensure that connections are made legally and will have to be approved before connections are granted. Now the public works director will have to approve all resident connections and for non-resident connections there is an additional approval needed from the Public Works committee. We protected some neighborhoods and changed parking and traffic flow rules on streets where residents had issues with local business. Also we adjusted the flood plain maps to be in line with those from the federal government.

Honorary Street Named after Miss Universe

The street known as “Albert Avenue” now includes a commemorative name of “Olivia Culpo Way”. The official name of Albert Avenue remains the same but it will now commemorate a great Cranstonian and her accomplishments as Miss USA and Miss Universe. Congratulations.

Other Business

There was a large turnout from Ward 1 regarding issues with the former Ciba-Guigy chemical plant now owned by BASF. The Administration and the council are going to contact BASF to get the complaints of the residents heard and responded to. We need to expedite BASF to hold their feet to the fire to ensure they do the right thing. I can assure the residents of Ward 1 we heard you.

Final Thoughts

It took three years and it started before I was on the council but we finally fixed an issue 30 years in the making on Perkins Avenue. We began the process to tear down six flood ridden homes that the city purchased from home owners using federal disaster funds. These homeowners were dealt a final blow in the great storm of 2010, after fighting Mother Nature for many years. I would like to thank all the city employees who worked on this, the members of the flood commission who fought for the residents, the Congressional delegation that secured the funds, the HUD officials who were part of the process, the first responders who helped during the storm and most importantly the residents who had to live through the tragedy. To the residents who had the patience to fight and persevere through this, I say thank you and wish you all the best. To the residents of Perkins Avenue who still have issues we are not done fighting for you. The hope is that with the six homes gone it will create a buffer to keep the other homes from flooding. We will continue to pursue remedies to keep residents safe. We have some new playgrounds in the city. The council approved bond funds to update play grounds in the city and the Parks and Rec department is in the process of putting in new equipment for our kids. So be sure to sound off on what you think of the new playgrounds. So far the response is mostly positive. We are working to fix a couple of minor oversights but keep the council in the loop if there are other issues that need attention.

Well that is what happened in August, feel free to e-mail me to talk through questions or concerns you may have about Cranston. If you want to weigh in on any of the topics here shout out your thoughts in the comments section down below.

Thanks for Reading,

Council Vice President

Michael Farina

dukefarina@cs.com