Town Manager Report for the week ending March 28, 2025
On Tuesday the Town and School attended the R.I. Interlocal Trust Risk Management Awards ceremony at the Crowne Plaza. The School received a $2,000 scholarship to provide 13 hours of neuropsychological and BCBA training for staff on how to recognize and respond to highly escalated student unsafe behaviors.
The School also received 2 Safety grants: $1,000 to purchase materials and floor coverings to create a sensory space for children on the Autism Spectrum that pose a risk of injury. They also received $972 to purchase and install braille lettered signs for the school buildings to help students and staff navigate throughout the building.
The Town received a $1,000 grant to purchase new Work Zone equipment (signs, stands, paddles, and flags) to be used by DPW to alert drivers of road conditions when they are out there working.
The Town also received $944 to purchase a Coast Guard approved Guardian 24 Life Ring with 90’ rope to be installed at Briarpoint Beach to provide access to lifesaving equipment for anyone to use.
On Tuesday night the Town Manager presented his FY 26 Operating and Capital Budget along with the 5-year CIP budget which highlighted all of the positive things that are included in this budget regarding increases in personnel, funding capital projects like the Tiogue Lake gatehouse, a new playground, and new equipment for DPW. We are also funding School Local Aid and the deficit reduction plan.
On Wednesday our engineers, GZA, came out to inspect all of the repairs to the spillway at Johnson Pond and everything looks to be in working order.
Staff met this week with our Solicitor and Bond Advisor on the application and processing of the information needed for the $25m School Bond with a target date of approval in mid-summer.
We were also notified this week we were awarded an additional $291k for the Community Learning Center project bringing our total award to $4,595,708.