Council Update: City Hall Plaza Bid Advances

Editor’s note: The Council Update is a twice-monthly update on Council meetings and developments from Warwick City Council President Steve McAllister. The column is written after each council meeting, twice a month. This review of Warwick City Council events has been lightly edited to update time references, for grammar, and to include referential links for further reading.  

 

WARWICK, RI — I took my three year old daughter with me to vote [Tuesday].  She was thrilled to get a “I voter sticker”.  I told her how important elections are, but I believe she was only focused on the sticker!

Monday night was an important council meeting that will impact our city for years to come! Thanks to Senator Jack Reed providing the City with a $5 million earmark we are now going to build an outdoor ice rink at city hall plaza.  The City Council awarded the City Hall Plaza bid to build this facility to Tower Construction of Cranston.  The award was for $7,219,000.00. We are using Senator Reed’s $5 million earmark and the rest will be paid for using federal APRA funds.

I was happy to support this project which will transform Apponaug and become a centerpiece for the City.  Not only will it be an ice rink, but it will be used year round for roller skating, farmers markets, concerts, volleyball games, pickleball, food truck nights and many other community events.  This is an outstanding project and I am excited for construction to begin.

There was a dispute from another company who also bid on the project but did not get the award.  This company tried to get a court order to stop the bid from being heard, but their request was not accepted.  The city solicitor gave the city council a legal opinion that the bid was done correctly and that Tower Construction was the lowest qualified bidder.  The council followed the legal advice of the city solicitor and voted 8-1 to award the bid and move forward with this outstanding project.  However, we do anticipate more legal challenges.

One more item I would like to highlight was a presentation we received from the Executive Director of the Elizabeth Buffum Chase Center, Judith Earle.  Judith provided an outstanding overview of all the resources available from their organization to help women and children in domestic abuse situations.

Upcoming meetings and events:

School vacation starts April 15th

There are a number of Earth Day cleanup events on April 21 in Arnolds Neck, Cowesett, and Oakland Beach.

Next council meeting in Monday, April 22

Have a great week!

Steve