Ways and Means Special Committee | Regular Meeting | April 28th, 2026 | 5:30pm
Call to Order and Roll Call
Chairman Miguel Sanchez calls the special committee on ways and means to order and the clerk conducts roll call. A quorum is established with four members present and one absent initially, who arrives shortly after.
Motion to Waive Reading of Items 1-5
The committee entertains a motion to waive the reading of agenda items one through five. The motion is made by Councilwoman Anubois, seconded by Councilwoman Graves, and passes unanimously.
Department of People and Culture Budget Presentation
Chief People Officer Paul Winfrey and Deputy Finance Director Crystal Wimber present the proposed budget for the Department of People and Culture. The discussion covers organizational restructuring, professional development funding, and the management of workers' compensation claims.
USI Medical Budget Presentation
Kate Kennedy from USI Insurance presents the year-to-date medical plan experience and the projected fiscal year 2027 medical and dental budgets. The committee discusses self-funded versus fully insured plans, claims utilization trends, and the impact of rising healthcare costs.
Law Department Budget Presentation
City Solicitor Jeffrey Dana and Deputy Finance Director Crystal Wimber present the Law Department's proposed budget, highlighting a decrease in outside counsel fees due to improved staff retention. The committee also discusses the creation of a new law clerk position to assist with recruitment and the status of pending legal claims.
Department of Art, Culture, and Tourism Budget Presentation
The Director of Art, Culture, and Tourism presents the department's budget, emphasizing the economic and civic value of arts and festivals in Providence. The discussion focuses heavily on preparations for the upcoming World Cup activations, including the PBD Fan Zone and various cultural events.
Board of Canvassers and Elections Budget Presentation
Michael Narducci presents the Board of Canvassers and Elections budget, which features an increase to support the upcoming election cycle. The committee discusses the hiring of temporary election officials, polling place rentals, and community voter registration efforts.
Speaker 0
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Good late afternoon, everyone. My name is Miguel calling in special committee on ways and means to order. It is 05:34. Madam clerk, please take roll call.
Speaker 1
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Chair Sanchez. Present. Vice chairman Taylor. Here. Councilor Anubois.
Speaker 1
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Here. Councilwoman Graves. Here. Councilwoman Peterson is absent. We have four present and one absent.
Speaker 1
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We have a quorum.
Speaker 0
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Thank you. Give Councilwoman Peterson three seconds to walk
Speaker 2
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in and
Speaker 1
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then have
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the record reflect.
Speaker 1
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She's here. We'd also like
Speaker 0
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to recognize Council Minajira is here, Council staff, city clerk's office, city solicitor office. Thank you.
Speaker 1
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So noted.
Speaker 0
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At this moment, I'll take entertain a motion to waive the reading of items one through five.
Speaker 3
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So moved.
Speaker 0
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Second. Motion made by Councilwoman Ambrose, second by Councilwoman Graves. All those in favor? Aye. Any nays?
Speaker 0
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No. The ayes have it. Thank you.
Speaker 1
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Crystal Wimber, Deputy Finance Director and Budget Officer.
Speaker 4
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Lawrence Mancini, Chief Financial
Speaker 0
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Officer. Awesome. Thank you. So who are we gonna have present first, Crystal?
Speaker 1
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I believe first on the agenda is the Department of People of Culture. Awesome. Yeah. Chairman, we also have a presentation from USI on the status of our medical budgets for next year. So I think what would maybe make more sense is we go through the Department of Teaching and Culture, and then I can invite Kate up and she can give a presentation from USI on the proposed medical budget from next year.
Speaker 1
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Was that same?
Speaker 0
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That was for
Speaker 2
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us. Okay, wonderful.
Speaker 0
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Take a motion to enter exhibit two into the record.
Speaker 1
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Page
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remarks of the year and
Speaker 0
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I'd like to continue to present
Speaker 2
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as such to see how we're understanding where we're at, our efforts
Speaker 5
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for this past year and
Speaker 2
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our plans for the year forward for an overarching context of that as all right. So good evening, chairman Sanchez, esteemed members of the council, special committee and ways and means and colleagues to community of Providence. For the record, my name is Paul Winfrey. I'm the chief people officer for the city of Providence. I'm joined by my colleagues, Ashley Piervanti, deputy chief doctor Silas Benbo, directors John Van Bastien for OSHA, manager of talent, Maria Lomax, and director Dyer for employee experience in EEO office for the city.
Speaker 2
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I'd like to first thank you for the opportunity to present the department to
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your new office budget.
Speaker 2
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At its core, I would posit that this budget is a responsible and disciplined one. One that is largely well funded with modest targeted capital and service transferences and increases to ensure that we sustain operations while continuing to modernize how we support the city's workforce. As reflected in the budget materials before you, Our structure spans across HR executive administration, including the office of employee experience, the office of deep diversity, equity, belonging, talent, and office of occupational safety and health and total awards. Benefits. Each are aligned to supporting service driven workforce.
Speaker 2
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Over the past year, our focus has been on building the framework for a stronger, more consistent people infrastructure for the city. One of our most significant accomplishments this year has been the complete reform of the Providence workplace policy manual. It's a comprehensive effort that modernized our policies, incorporated legal and regulatory updates, and introduced a more people centric framework that I can pare down to three words, rights, rules, and responsibilities. This work was accomplished through extensive cross department of collaboration, leadership alignment, labor negotiation, and stakeholder buy in, and it now serves as a foundational guide for how we operate as an employer. In parallel, with the work of our lead, talent, and employee experience teams, and formally, we call our teams of equity, inclusion, and talent.
Speaker 2
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We have measurable we have made measurable progress in strengthening our workplace culture and accountability. We have reduced employee settlement cases over by over 60%, reflecting improved practices and employee relations training and workforce and intervention. We've also made meaningful investments in learning and development. Our learning offerings and preparation leads up to the launching of a formal program that is being rolled out across the city gradually. This builds on the success of our deep learning series.
Speaker 2
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Many of us in this room have participated in and will now include other workforce and HR related offerings such as expanded safety trainings, benefits education, and information sessions, managerial supports, and employee rights and non discrimination programming. Ensuring our workforce is both informed and equipped to serve the Providence community effectively. At the same time, we are preparing for the future. We are seeing increased demand in key areas, including occupational safety and injury management, medical utilization and experience and data tracking, as well as other broader departmental service needs. In response to this, we're making thoughtful investments in planning, staffing alignment, and operational capacity.
Speaker 2
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We are also taking a deeper, strategic work look in work at the performance of our employee benefits programs. Working closely with our consultant who is here today, USI, to evaluate cost drivers, utilization, and long term sustainability. Our department, beyond such, we continue to collaborate with partners across the city and affiliated entities. We work more closely today with Providence Public Schools, Providence Water, others to strengthen our collective approach to workforce development. This includes resource assessment and sharing, supporting talent pipelines as highlighted by the hiring of over 80 Providence High School graduates graduates into into city roles following the ordinance that rolled out in support of this focus and other measures, advancing both opportunity and local workforce investment.
Speaker 2
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We are also advancing technology modernization efforts from improving benefits administration and enrollment processes with a phase rolled out targeted for this open enrollment to targeting with to partnering, sorry, enterprise wise initiatives such as collaborating with IT and others on the city's ERP project project and supporting reform promotional processes within public safety. All of this work reflecting reflects a constant theme. We are not simply maintaining operations. We are not the traditional HR department as we used to be. And we are working towards building a modern responsive and accountable people function that can meet the evolving needs of the city of Providence.
Speaker 2
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This does not negate or move blind to the challenges that lie ahead. And this budget represents a balanced approach. It's grounded in fiscal responsibility and I cannot give enough credit to the finance team for the work that they do. It is informed by data and direction and aligned both with current demands and future priorities. So we stand today confident in our ability to deliver on this work and continue supporting the city's workforce and its mission to serve Providence to its greatest asset, its people.
Speaker 2
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And as she presents our data for you today, I welcome any questions you may have. Thank you.
Speaker 0
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Thank you, chief. Beautiful. Okay.
Speaker 1
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So included from your in your packet from me, you'll have a PowerPoint that I'll walk you through with all the changes in the budget for all the, divisions
Speaker 0
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Thank you. Okay. Yes. Thank you.
Speaker 1
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We can turn to page three of the PowerPoint. Total the first division we'll be reviewing is the diversity equity position of the lobby. Total expenditures have increased by 776%. But before we get sticker shock, it's important to note that there were 10 FTEs and related services supply line items that were previously budgeted under the HR executive administration department that have been moved into this department. And so it is actually a budget neutral move.
Speaker 1
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It's supposed to decrease in the upcoming slides. If we move on to slide four, we'll do a deep dive into salaries. Total fiscal year '26 salaries are budgeted 59,923. They are now budgeted at $938,431 An itemization of all of this staff that has been moved out of the HR admin division and into DEEV are itemized here for you all to look at. Additionally, there's a cost of living cost of just under $300 and some step increases for a new staff members that have been questioned in.
Speaker 0
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Question for, so is there one position at Stane and?
Speaker 1
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Yes, yes. So there are two, it will be the chief people officer and human resource
Speaker 0
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business partner. So those are staying?
Speaker 1
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Those are staying. Those are yep. Yeah, if you look at the org chart, it kind of helps clarify it. You can see like a very clear line that's going to stay under HR administrative administration. And then under Doctor.
Speaker 1
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Pinto, you can see how the staff that were previously under HR admin have moved over. Again, slide five. The line items for the budget have been broken into fixed and discretionary costs. The first discretionary cost is $14,000 as a staff parking at Pacific Center Garage. This is a contract that was recently we announced a couple of years ago, and this is actually saving quite a bit of money on staff parking as a result of that RFP.
Speaker 1
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There's also a nominal investment of $3,500 per postage, which is necessary for this department. But it's considered a discretionary expense because we can turn up and turn down much detail things. Advertising and marketing is under fixed costs. Are it that's partially how we categorize things. The bulk of the advertising and marketing in the city's budget is for folks like the clerk's office and the bureau's licenses who are required to post and advertise their public meetings in Providence Journal.