EAST PROVIDENCE — The East Providence City Council, at its Tuesday, Oct. 6, meeting, made no decisions on the proposed 2015-16 budget, but the body did make some news by approving a charter amendment to put the mayoral form of government on the ballot in the 2016 election.
The measure was introduced by first-term Ward 1 Councilman Robert Britto and was approved unanimously by the four Councilors in attendance Tuesday — the aforementioned Mr. Britto, Tommy Rose, Tim Conley and Helder Cunha. At-Large Councilor Tracy Capobianco was absent from the proceedings.
Long-time mayoral form advocate and Ward 1 resident Sandy Barone was the only member of the public to speak about the proposed measure, doing so at the behest of Mr. Britto.
With little fanfare, Mrs. Barone noted the change, if approved by voters, would take effect for the 2018 election cycle.
“This is about voters having a choice,” Mrs. Barone said. “East Providence has had four city managers, maybe more in the last five year. We have a population of over 47,000 people in East Providence, but as few as three on the City Council get to choose the person who has led us. The rest of the 47,000 have no choice whatsoever. The reason why we want this amendment to be placed on the 2016 ballot is to simply have the voters of East Providence to choose the form of government they want.”
The amendment is as simplistic as it can possibly get. All it does is replace the term “city manager” with “mayor” in City Charter section Article III. The only real addendum is making the proposed mayor’s term of office just two years. There is no mention of a recall provision, which would allow voters to remove the mayor prior to end of his term, the specific salary for the position or the composition of an administrative staff.
Surprisingly, there was little debate on the topic. Mr. Cunha, who represents Ward 2, did bring up the notion of creating a Charter Review Commission to determine if any other changes needed to be made to the guideline for city governance. Mr. Conley, of Ward 3, did note the need for a chief of staff to lead a proposed mayoral administration, adding “I want to make sure we do this right.” But while there seemed to be a consensus on that topic, it did not preclude the Council from voting to put the mayoral proposition on the ballot.
And as soon as the measure passed, recently appointed City Manager Richard Kirby was quick to remind the Councilors of what they had just done. Again, there was little to no reaction from the body.
“You just passed it,” Mr. Kirby reiterated. “That issue will be on the next ballot in the election of 2016.”
Mr. Kirby, who lightheartedly said he did not take the vote as one of his abilities to handle his current position, did tell the Council he would work with City Solicitor Tim Chapman to properly formulate the mayoral ballot measure and he would also look into the feasibility of forming a review commission.
The post Council approves measure to put mayoral form on 2016 East Providence ballot appeared first on EastBayRI.com.