On two. Testing one two. Testing one two. Testing one two. Testing one two.
Testing one two. Testing one two. Testing one two. Testing one two. Testing one two.
Isaac and Rob. Isaac and Rob. Rob. Rob. Counselors, let's get going here.
We are missing a couple people I know are here. Okay. Good evening and welcome to the Providence City Council on this Thursday, 06/04/2026. Before we get started, I just wanna, let folks know who have I have well, we still have our beautiful videos. We're having a pause on electronic voting.
We lost some expertise in the in the office, and we will get it back. In the meantime, we'll have to go old school on our voting by voice. Alright. Madam clerk, please call the roll.
Council president Miller, present. Deputy majority with Vanderbijl, councilor Davidson, Majority Leader Espinal.
Senior Deputy Majority Leader Gonzales. Present. Councilwoman Graves. Present. Deputy Majority Leader Harris.
Present. Councilwoman Peterson. Council President Pro Tempur Pichardo. Present. Councilor Royas.
Is absent. Councilwoman Ryan. Majority Webb Sanchez. Present. Councilman Taylor is absent.
Councilwoman Anna Vargas. Present. Councilman Oscar Vargas. Present. You have 13 present and two absent.
You have a quorum. Thank you, madam clerk. This evening, the invocation will be given by councilman Joanne Ryan. Will everyone please rise including our our guests? Guests?
Heavenly father, tonight I ask you for blessings and my colleagues elected to serve the people of the great city of Providence. Remind us because we all forget from time to time, especially in the noisiness of what passes the political debate that we are not only leaders but also servants and that our it is our responsibility to humbly serve the calm and good of all people of Providence. Remind us that no matter where we live, everyone is our neighbor, our siblings, and that throughout the ages, prophets have called the leaders of the people to respect and protect the least of those among us, our children, the elderly, the poor, those who are hungry, those who have no homes, those who are ill in body, mind, or spirit, the strangers and immigrants in our midst, those who live on the margins, those who are alone, those who are forgotten. Grant us the wisdom and courage to know and to do what is right and good and true to our charge. May we may we speak out when it is time
to speak out and listen patiently and receptively when
it is time to listen. May we always be guided by the spirit of community, by the spirit of justice, and by the spirit of love. And may we give thanks to all the women and men who came before us, who fought so hard for passage of the nineteenth amendment, vesting the franchise in women. As we celebrate today, June 4, it's one hundred and seventeenth
the few years ago, the Providence City Council passed a resolution making June Pride Month in perpetuity for the city of Providence. And so I wanna wish everyone a very happy and safe Pride, and remember that Pride
a a roll roll call call vote vote as as amended. Amended. Second, madam president. We have a motion and a second. Counselors, I'm gonna take a very brief moment and just explain the amendments that are in front of you.
These were amendments that were agreed upon at a very late hour ahead of this meeting with myself, other counselors, mayor Smiley, and in in his conversation with police. So the first thing that is different is on page two, and then new new is in green. That just sets term limits for pair of board members, no more than three consecutive terms, same as other elected officials in the city of Providence. The next amendment is section t. It's the second to last page.
And it outlines it's called the section is called cooperation. It outlines access to information that the para executive director and investigative staff have access to. They shall be given read only user access to the records management system used by police including but not limited to police incident reports, arrest reports, stop survey reports, accident reports, report supplements, and body worn cameras. And then an additional new thing is just defining what they do not have unlimited real time access to. Access cannot be used to conduct parallel investigations with the office professional responsibility.
Such access shall not include detective or investigative modules within the records management system, criminal intelligence databases, confidential informant records, or other databases maintained primarily for ongoing criminal investigations. Prior to accessing any report or file under the subsection, the executive director, PERA, and the staff shall notify the commanding officer of OPR and the chief of police. Such notice shall not require approval prior to access and shall not restrict PERA's access under the subsection. On the following page, it outlines access to information held by the office of professional responsibility. The executive director of PERA and staff may request any information including files or records from the system utilized by OPR for an official PERA investigative audit review or oversight function authorized under this chapter.
Such request shall be fulfilled no later than ninety six hours, that's four days after the request is made. The next section provides some guardrails on access. I don't I'm not gonna read the whole paragraph, but folks did get it. It it it lays out authorized users, ensures that you can't share logins. Right?
All the things that you would need in a functioning IT system the same as the world over. And then the last one creates a wish for the city that should we have the tech that we need to grant, you know, real time access to PERA to the information that it needs, right, without this request of OPR should that future exist that the chief of police and the executive director of PERA can make a written agreement in implementing that system. And that is the primary changes. Most of them are clarifications of the ordinance. So with that explanation underway, any discussion on this item?
Councilman Sanchez. Thank you, guys, president. I just wanna commend you and the policy staff, the mayor's office for coming to the table to to cut to a place that seems like works for for most people, if not everyone around this chamber. This process has been very lengthy. As folks have mentioned in previous committees, councilor Harris, councilor Picardo or excuse me.
Councilor Thank you, guys. You you you guys have been working around this very important topic for many years. Without your guys' leadership, we would not be where we are today. Parks department, council staff, clerk's office, we all have mechanisms in place for checks and balances. As public servants, we always strive to do the best.
But like any other human being, sometimes we we we fall short of what the residents of Providence expect from us. And at the end the day, we just want us to to keep moving in a better direction. And I think this ordinance here definitely does that. And and I definitely appreciate the the adding the the amendment of possible changes, such technology be technology be available to us. So like I said, council president, I just wanted to thank you for your leadership on this.
This has not been easy lift, but a very important one. Thank you.
Thank you, counselor. I give me and the clerk just one minute. There's just one error in the amendment that was posted just ahead of this meeting. It was very last minute. Thank you always to the church office.
We will fix that. The thing that the amendment in front of us, the amendment on all of your desks specifies such request shall be fulfilled no later than ninety six hours. That's the request from Paris to OPL, and that is what we are voting on tonight. And we'll fix it immediately after the meeting. Thank you, and I'm sorry, madam Burke.
Any other discussion on item
four? Security leader. Thank you, madam president. First of all, I welcome
Thank you, counselor. Further discussion? Madam president. President Patton.
Thank you, madam president. I I rise also to commend the staff and also Perra and the board and and the community for really pushing the community for more transparency. These amendments brought people together, the administration, mayor Smiley, and also the prior police. So that way, we strengthen our community participation and oversight. So that way, we don't erode our confidence and trust that we have among our communities.
And I'm glad that we were able to all come together to be able to say, you know, we can live with this. And the most important thing is that we conduct ourselves in a more professional manner, but also know that everyone is gonna be held accountable. And the fact is that if any of these things are violated, that everyone is held to the highest standard of of accountability from the police, from the community, but also within us. So I commend all the people that worked on this and also the organizations for over all these years are staying making sure we're staying strong on the fact that we and going
couldn't vote yes. I couldn't abstain. I had to make my voice heard. I am so happy. I'm so happy that staff and you and the mayor worked together and made revisions to this document and got it into a form and fashion that addressed some of the challenges that were presented very articulately to us by a number of organizations in writing.
I just saw this last version literally twenty minutes ago. I would love to have had an opportunity to digest this information, the specifics of it, because I think we all are better prepared to vote on something when we understand it completely. While I haven't had the chance to delve into this, I've had discussions very quickly before this meeting so that I am at a comfort level where I can vote yes on it. But I just would like to say to staff and my other colleagues, we need to push back. These matters that we deal with are very, very sensitive.
They impact people's lives and most often aren't the most vulnerable among among us. Us. So I think if anything this should be a lesson that we should take the time. I know that this has been something we've been working on. But the ordinance that was before us we needed to spend more time on it and so many people came forward and identified issues that were of grave concern.
