Town Manager Brian Sullivan's monthly report to the council at its Tuesday, May 13, meeting was a beefy one at that, including the latest on the seemingly unending "Broken Bridge" project.

Sullivan updated the status of the new Kickemuit River Bicycle and Pedestrian Bridge, long known colloquially to town residents as the "Broken Bridge," which is tantalizingly close to finally being finished.

The original span was downed by "Great New England Hurricane" of 1938 and sat idle for some 60 years before attempts were first made to rebuild the structure. Following several fits-and-starts lasting nearly a quarter century now, among them bancruptcies and other legal entanglements, the 165-foot long span over the Kickemuit River is nearly done.

The last bit of necessary funding came from the Rhode Island Department of Transportation's "Safe Routes to School" program, allowing students from the west side of Warren to reach Kickemuit Middle School and Hugh Cole Elementary on the south side.

Sullivan told the council last week state officials recently told the administration the "unofficial update" of when the bridge might open "is towards the end of summer with all of the items that need to be checked off before it is completed."

Department of Public Works Director Brian Wheeler was included in the conversation, telling the council, "I can say that after speaking with (RIDOT) in previous years this was bottom list as importance. In the last four or five months, this has been moved to the top.

"They realized that this is costing them way more money than this was designed for, because now they're a year, maybe two years past on their timeline. So every day that's past, it's costing them more money. So this is being moved up, but we just haven't got any official word."

The director admitted to being concerned with the state's opaque statement, but it does appear the project in nearing its conclusion.

He continued, "It made me a little worried when they said unofficially, we'll give you an answer, unofficially. That always makes me worried, but it seems like there's just a lot of punch list items that are left and the final pieces are going to take the longest."

RI Resource renewal
The manager's report began with seeking approval on a contract renewal inked for the Fiscal Year 2026-27 with Rhode Island Resource Recovery to take Warren's solid waste and recyclables to the state landfill for another year.

Sullivan noted it was a necessity to agree to the pact, "which needs to be signed, and there's no alternative for us."

To which Councilor John Hanley replied wryly, "Yeah, it have us. They're making us a deal we can't refuse."

Councilor Louis Rego did have one question, wondering if the town takes advantage of the 1.5 percent discount provided in the contract if the town's bill is paid on time. Sullivan said that the administration does that.

Auditing services
Sullivan next led the council through the respondents of an auditing services bid for a three-year period. Three companies made submissions, including the current service provider Hague Sahady & Co. of nearby Fall River, whose prices were $42,200 the first year, $43,500 the second and $44,800 the third.

The second was Marcum LLP/CBIZ CPAs, which submitted bids of $63,500, $67,500 and $71,500 over the three years.

Damiano & Co. of Warwick was the third firm to submit with prices of $28,125, the second year $29,250 and the third year $30,420. Any overages or extra work not included in the request for proposal would be billed additionally.

There was some concern expressed by multiple councilors about the Damiano addendum and other possible discrepancies in the RFP as well as the relatively short time-frame they had to review the materials. The matter was eventually tabled to the body's June meeting.

ARPA refund
One last bit of business, Sullivan told the council the town was obligated to return any unspent funds associated with the American Rescue Plan Act, ARPA, to the federal government as per the mandates of the legislation.

Some $3,141,439.68 was used for 37 projects from the original allowance of $3,141,809.60, meaning the town is giving back, wait for it...a grand total of $369.92.