Providence Committee on Finance-Tuesday, September 23, 2025-5:30 PM

Good evening, everyone. It is Tuesday, September 23. This a is regular meeting with the committee on finance on province councilman Joanne Ryan. Madam Kirk, could you kindly agree the rule?

Chairman Ryan.

Present.

Vice Chairman Taylor?

Here.

Councilor Angela? Councilwoman Groot? Here. Councilor Sanchez?

Present.

We have vice president. We have a.

Thank you, General Clark. On let the record reflect that we are

joined by the solicitor, Ken Cheverini. Thank you very much. On the note, madam, I would like to entertain a motion to amend the agenda to add on the mild history project to this meeting agenda for the purpose of sole purpose of scheduling a public hearing. Also waive the rating. And I have that motion.

Okay. Motion made by Councilwoman Angela, seconded by Councilman Taylor. All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

Ayes have it. Motion carries. Thank you. Alright. Okay.

Next, I would like to ask this committee for a motion to take an item out of order. I would like to take item five and secure that first. May I have that motion? Motion made by council Anna Enzra, seconded by councilman Taylor. Aye, and opposed, ayes have it, motion carries.

Madam Clerk, please read if

I defied into the record. Communication from his honor and mayor dated 09/09/2025, informing the honorable members of the city council that pursuant to section three to the b and one fifty five zero four, Continental Mule Charter Okay. 1980, as amended in public law, chapter 45 through 50, sections one through 31, passed in 1987. He is his day appointing Shyamal Ali of 67 Ketingle Avenue, Providence, Rhode Island 5908, the physician of director of the Department of Recreation. And I'd like to please dismiss the same here.

Okay. Joe and Molly, please come forward.

Thank

you, Mr. Holly. Thank you. Understand you have been appointed to the position for the director of the Department of Recreation. We all have your own resumes.

Oh, before I sign, I'd like to recognize that Councilwoman Peterson has that was. Okay. So we all have your resume before us, but we would like to give you the opportunity to talk about yourself, your accomplishments, who you are, what you've done, what you hope to do, and how you can help the city in this new role.

K. Well, with the be mindful of the essence of time, I've prepared a statement. Good evening. Thank you for your time. It allowed me to speak with you this evening.

My name is Sean Ollie, and I appear before you with the hope of gaining the support to be director of recreation for the city of Providence. I take this role with the utmost importance and with a passionate determination that I am confident will be unmatched. I was born in Washington, DC, but the City Of Providence is where I consider myself to be from, but also where I truly believe that I have to find myself. I view recreation centers as essential components to any thriving community, and at the forefront of each community and the city of Providence as a whole are the youth. Empowering and enriching the youth is a task that I have taken seriously for many years.

I firmly believe that in order to have a successful and vibrant community, there needs to be recreation centers operating efficiently at the hub of each of those communities. And recreation is not just sports nor athletic games. It's also much more than that. Recreation, in my vision, cuts deeply with a multitude of layers. Yes.

Sports, but also many other aspects including, but not limited to, promoting community, strengthening diversity and inclusiveness, family, safety, character building, empowerment, leadership, education, health and wellness, workforce, career development, development of social skills, enhancing quality of life. It is a lifestyle. I'm confident that my cross training along with my skill set and vast experiences academically and professionally provide me with a strong foundation from which I could be successful as your director of reputation. Academically includes degrees from Providence College as well as from Catholic University School of Law. Professionally includes that of being a sports agent, professor at Johnson and Wales University sports entertainment management department, professor at Providence College at the undergraduate and graduate MBA level with courses ranging from history of sports to sports management.

Also, the position I'm currently left as the, administrative of the Equality Office for the State of Ohio. I look forward to working closely with my amazing staff at the main office. I look forward to working with the individual recreation center directors who I consider to be a heartbeat of this operation and their staff as well. I look forward to working with community leaders to create a path forward to success. And I leave you with something that I view as extremely important to the success of my role, and that is the partnership with Providence City Council.

I certainly respect this integral role that you should keep playing in making the city of Providence the best city, and I do visit you as Phoenix. Thank you

for your time.

Wonderful. Many mountains.

Any questions? Councilwoman Briggs.

Hi, Shanann. Hello.

I have several questions, if that's okay. You have a very extensive resume. Would you speak up? You have a very extensive resume. I apologize.

She's correct. You served at Madeline Rogers, which is in my area, a rec, for three years, which is a short period of time.

You said that the that recreation is means a lot to the community, which it does. Why did you only stay there for such such a short period of time? Why did you leave? And the reason I'm asking is most people when they go into recreational centers, they tend to make that their life of gold, and they tend to stay forever. Why did you leave?

Well, I don't necessarily consider three years would

be a short period of time. I respect you. I enjoy enjoy it eventually working in Iraq. I felt like I accomplished quite a bit there. I felt like I worked well.

You know, the activities itself. If you don't know what the things between the library and other initiatives. I

do regret making

Rockers Recreation. It does feel so strong, network that I had developed with my staff and the community too as well. But at that time, I felt it was a call for me to, to move along to a position with the city of Princeton as workforce development, which I do see still working with you for hiring you for helping me find the energy tools for their development.

Okay. The other one, there's an article that that I'm sure was gonna come up, so I might be the one to bring it up about there being

the issue of double dipping,

should we say, with the Princeton in our city to prior meth. Would you would like to address that?

Or

Absolutely. I would love to address it. I, first of all, I feel it's unfortunate that that, old issue, which is flawed in its reporting, it was brought up again. I take that very seriously to serious to be accused of such a issue. I am not a cheater and would never do so.

I'm raised by two parents that raised me well, and I know better than but be that as is made. It's also been flawed in this reporting that I left that position on my own because that was the position I went into, that there was some discrepancy and miscommunication on what the role was that I had. And I took the high role out of respect for everybody. And all of my fallen told me to never quit a job unless you have a job. I thought it was in my best interest to to move along with that job.

Okay. The other thing is I told you

I was gonna ask you some tough questions. So here's the next the next question is seems like a lot of these things were really short term, positions. Is there a reason for that?

I don't know what exactly you're referring to.

A lot of these were kinda short term.

But oftentimes, one position leads to know what we do of another position. Mhmm. I have to look out for myself too and go ahead and progression of my career because I like it. If I feel that there's a position that allows me to move forward on that path for my career that's gonna benefit others too as well along the way, I should not be forced to stay in a position. What I feel like I could do better by moving a ball to this job.