Town Manager Report for the week ending August 29, 2025
On Tuesday we had our monthly call with the Pandemic Recovery Office relative to our Annex project and discussed all of the requirements that must be met to ensure that all of the statewide projects are meeting all of the criteria as dictated by U.S Treasury regarding documentation for the reimbursement of funds and a plan for the 5 years of programming that is required post construction.
On Tuesday evening we had our August Council meeting where we approved several licenses including one for the Saints John and Paul Harvest Festival on September 20 from 900am to 300pm, one for Brookdale in Centre of New England for an exhibition and performance on September 18 from 600-800pm for residents there, and one for the Western RI Civic Historical Society who is having a Heritage Day event at the Paine House on September 13 from 1000am-300pm.
At that meeting our new District 3 Councilperson Richard Houle was sworn in by Senator Raptakis and our new District 5 Councilperson Robert DeLellis was sworn in by the Town Clerk. Congratulations to both of them!!
Our Assistant Town Manager Maria Broadbent had a meeting with Georgia Young from DEM on Wednesday to discuss our municipal resilience priorities and we look forward to working with her on some upcoming projects that will benefit our community especially as grant funding becomes a major obstacle.
On Thursday we had our quarterly meeting with the Pandemic Recovery Office virtually in which we reviewed our Q3 Project Questionnaire submission and made some minor changes to some of our team updates. We also went through the list of procured vendors and will be vetting it to make sure all of the proper documentation is included for each of the 15 or so vendors we contracted with for this Annex project. The focus this quarter is what our plans are for FF&E (furniture, fixtures, and equipment) since it comprises over $300k of our budget. With the space we need to fill being the largest of all the state projects (35k sq. ft.) it will be a substantial lift to furnish all of this space with new stuff so we will be relying on what was in the space prior to the renovation and whatever pieces we have in storage. One of the largest spaces we need to furnish (approx.10k sq. ft.) is the new library space so we will be looking for donated book cases, desks, shelving units, etc. from some other sources such as our schools or businesses that may be transitioning to a new space. Our new construction completion date is 10/31/25. With the grand opening being in early 2026 once it is furnished and all of our programming partnerships are in place under Director Robillard.