WOONSOCKET – The City Council on Monday evening voted 7-0 to approve a resolution for the city to go out to bid on constructing a $26 million consolidated public safety complex, with half of the cost being covered by funds the city received from the American Rescue Plan Act, despite opposition from some local residents.
The resolution, which was brought forth by Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt, only states for the city to seek requests for proposals on building a new safety complex, or described by Council President Daniel M. Gendron as being “the first step” in the process. The resolution does not call for a public safety complex to be automatically built.
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According to data from the Economic Progress Institute, Woonsocket would receive $36.4 million in ARPA funding. That means slightly more than one-third of the city’s ARPA funding would be put toward the public safety complex if construction moves forward.
Additionally, the resolution calls for the state to cover the other half of the construction costs for the new complex if an RFP is approved by the city.
Baldelli-Hunt said the city is trying to leverage funds to “build something that we need” and not have to use tax revenue. She also spoke at length about the day-to-day work that the public safety officials perform in the city, including reviving those who are overdosing, and said a public safety complex is needed because “you never know when the day comes that you need one of our public safety officials.”
“I fully support this resolution. I think it’s the right thing to do,” Baldelli-Hunt said, “and I will work as diligently on this [public safety complex] as I will for the $150 million [bond] for our schools and our children.”
Councilman Roger G. Jalette Sr. recalled the city needing a public safety complex dating back to when Susan Menard served as mayor from 1995 to 2009. He said there was “no way” that the City Council and Menard at the time could come up with the necessary funds to build such a complex.
Now, Jalette said using these funds to build a new complex would lessen the heavy tax burden that low-income city residents pay.
“This is an opportunity in getting a public safety complex for the city of Woonsocket that will save us money in other locations that we’re throwing good money at, like the money we just threw at the police department for putting in toilets,” Jalette said. “The older complexes need to be eliminated and the new complex needs to be built.”
Councilman David Soucy said having the state cover half of the costs is something he “can better stomach” in voting his approval for the city to go out to bid on the complex.
Some residents, including those representing local nonprofits, opposed the resolution. Prior to the meeting, Rebuild Woonsocket, the Black Lives Matter of Rhode Island Political Action Committee, the Woonsocket Alliance to Champion Hope Coalition, Silence is Violence: 401 and the RI Queer Political Action Committee called on the council to oppose the resolution and suggested that the ARPA funding that would be used for the public safety complex be used elsewhere.
The group jointly cited the city’s ARPA survey, which said 46% of the 154 respondents called for the funding to be used on housing. The survey also notes that 36% of respondents said the funds should be allocated to city infrastructure such as road improvements and make pay-as-you-go improvements to city buildings. About 34% of the respondents said ARPA funds should be spent on mental health and domestic violence services, per the survey.
Some respondents wrote in that the city needed a public safety complex, according to the survey.
During public comment, Rebuild Woonsocket Executive Director Alex Kithes said expanding police infrastructure in the city is “not in the spirit” of ARPA, and it’s supposed to help the city “dig out” from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The community made it overwhelmingly clear that housing, community health and wellness, and mental health and domestic violence services should be what we invest this money in,” Kithes said.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
