Though there's no bridge to sell, but at least one member of the council felt they were being manipulated a bit in an attempt by a contractor to use town property as a "laydown" location to complete an upcoming project.

Among the items presented to the council by Town Manager Brian Sullivan at the body's June meeting was to enter into a lease agreement starting on September 1 with the Rocchio Corporation to utilize town-owned land at 15 Main Street as a temporary staging area to facilitate the scour remediation project of the Barrington Bridge.

Scour remediation is described as "the repair and prevention of soil and sediment erosion around water structures like bridge piers, dams and coastal walls."

Steve Moore represented Rocchio at the meeting, explaining the company has a contract with the State of Rhode Island to perform the work as explained. He said the project requires both above and below surface aspects, including the pumping of concrete into underwater areas. The town land would be used to clean the vehicles and would require limited storage.

Moore said upon initial talks with Sullivan, a target fee of $1,500 was discussed. The council, however, was seeking a sum of $2,500 to which Moore balked.

Council President Joseph DePasquale said for him $2,500 was the figure. Moore said the number was "little high. We hope you would reconsider that." To which DePasquale responded, "Where are you going to go for the price?" Said Moore, "I'm going to have to find somewhere else that fits into our budget."

It was noted by others, including Councilor John Hanley, the town had previously charged $1,500 to rent the space, but it had been sometime since that occurred. He then asked Moore if he be "comfortable" with $2,000. The latter replied upon doing market research a commensurate number might be between $1,200-$1,800. When asked if he would do $1,800, Moore said $1,700 would keep him within his allotment.

Moore elaborated further the duration of the contract would be six months, but spread over the end of this calendar year and sometime into next. He said the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management initially gave Rocchio a window of October 2026 to January 2027 to begin the project. The two sides are still hashing when Rocchio could complete the work, which could creep into later next year. However, Moore said the company's position is to have the project finished sooner rather than later. If not, it would necessitate another six-month agreement with the town.

Town Solicitor Anthony DeSisto joined the discussion to remind all involved the parcel, an old National Grid substation, is the subject of on-going litigation between the town and a former potential suitor to redevelop the site under the name, “Warren Gateway.” A judgement might be rendered during the extent of the lease, meaning the agreement could be impacted.

The council eventually backed a motion made by Hanley to charge Rocchio $1,800 per month with the litigation language included as well, but not before DePasquale expressed his dissatisfaction about the decision.

"My colleagues seem to think $1,800 is better than $25 (hundred)," said DePasquale. Countered Hanley, "No, your colleagues think $1,800 is better than zero." DePasquale added, "I still think you have nowhere to go. It's a multimillion dollar job. You're (Rocchio) just taking advantage of us."

Power station problem

DePasquale, as he noted a couple of times during the night's deliberations, brought another matter to the floor that has vexed him over his 22 years on the council, that of Rhode Island Energy’s responsibility for the cleanup of the old power station on Brown Street adjacent to the East Bay Pike Path.

The item is one of several DePasquale said he'd like to see remedied before he departs the body later this fall due to term limits.

DeSisto entered the discussion with a suggestion for the council to make a motion to pursue the enforcement schedule that's set out in town ordinances, Section 4-135 for public nuisances. He said after consulting Town Building and Zoning Official Matt Cabral, it would be expedient to approach the matter in this way via municipal court rather than state court. And it would allow the town to take the matter to Superior Court later if required.

"We think that that's the best way to go forward on it, and that it also gives the town the opportunity to file in Superior Court afterwards, if this isn't successful. But this is a lot faster. If it gets the Superior Court, as you know from other cases, it can take years. This takes weeks," said DeSisto.

The council passed the recommendation of the solicitor in the form of a motion.

DePasquale added, "This is a really unfortunate situation down there, because the first time we brought this up, we were hoping for a cleanup and a park. The vista of the Palma River is right there. It could actually be a really neat spot if they take advantage of it. But right now, there's public dumping happening. It's just a mess. And they own it, and we pay the bills, and we need to have them be responsible for the property."

Appointments/resignations

The council approved the reappointment of the highly respected and regarded Sheila Raposa to another three-year term on the town's Budget Committee.

In addition, the body accepted the resignations of two past appointees: Marc Furtado from the Budget Committee and Juliette Casselman from the Arts and Cultural Commission.

Available board positions

As has too often been the case from the town's standpoint, several positions on boards and committees remain available to be filled.

They are as follows: Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, one position; Economic Development Board, three positions; Juvenile Hearing Board, one alternate; Planning Board, two alternates; Tax Board of Assessment Review, two positions; Zoning Board of Review, one position.