Town Manager Report for the week ending December 19, 2025
This week involved a lot of internal meetings with Directors and staff to evaluate how the year went, are we prepared for the 2027 budget season that is around the corner with staffing and equipment needs, and what can we do better as a whole in promoting the Town and engaging staff.
We had a joint workshop with the School Committee in which we discussed the 5-year plans of both the School and Town and where do we foresee the challenges in the upcoming budget year. The documents provided to both the School Committee and Town Council are PROJECTIONS which means they are most likely subject to change especially as you go out to years 4 and 5. We also had an Executive Session in which the Council discussed the 3 finalists for the Town Solicitor position and decided to continue the matter to a Special meeting in January. At the Council portion of the meeting we also approved the $ 2.9m proposal from Delta Mechanical as the winner of the RFP to construct the high school fire suppression system as part of the 25m bond with working beginning at the end of January.
Director Civetti and I met with representatives of the General Treasurers Office to discuss the feasibility of a study to see what the actuarial required contribution to the pension would be if the Council decided to combine the fire districts into one municipal department. There is much more research required on that portion of the process along with other legal analysis.
I met with Director Sevegny to get an update on the RFP process for the Quidneck Playground and we will have the bids back in January with construction beginning in the spring. He is also looking to add some needed equipment to both his annual and capital budget. He is also looking to recruit lifeguards for Briarpoint this summer for Friday, Saturday, and Sundays this year.
On Friday the R.I. Municipal Police Training Academy graduation occurred at CCRI in Lincoln and the Town of Coventry was well represented. We had 3 new young officers graduate and I also met our 5 new recruits that will be attending the next class in January. That will get us the closest to full complement we have been since I started as long as we have no retirements.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!