EAST PROVIDENCE — The current incarnation of the City Council gave its greatest consideration to date on the controversial issue of speed cameras placed around East Providence during its June 20 meeting.

At the request of the Council, city-side Finance Director Malcolm Moore gave the most detailed report on the monetary aspects of the speed control program, saying in the some 18 months of its existence it has already generated approximately $8.3 million in possible revenue if all tickets are paid in full.

Moore said the current Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget, ending October 31, the administration of Mayor Bob DaSilva, of which he is a prominent part, estimated income of $3 million from the program. The directed said monies from the tickets are currently being put into the city's general fund.

He continued, in total, some 156,000 tickets have already been issued. Of those, about 100,000 have been paid and processed, leaving the remainder either unpaid or still to be adjudicated in Municipal Court. Moore said most of the infractions have been paid within 20 days of issuance. He said the city is collecting the fines at a rate of some 70 percent.

Ward 1 member Frank Rego, Ward 2's Anna Sousa and Ward 3's Frank Fogarty co-sponsored the item on the night's agenda. Sousa was actually absent from the proceedings.

Rego said he was responding to concerns of his constituents, especially about the altered in traffic flows into ancillary streets around what he called the "No. 1" ticketed location in front of St. Margaret School on main thoroughfare Pawtucket Avenue. He also said his inquiry was to determine if "best business practices" were being followed by the city.

For his part, Fogarty said he was adamantly opposed to the camera program on its face and wanted to see significant changes to it, if not abolish it. At the least, he called for the money garnered from the speed cameras to go directly to schools for safety matters.

That comment harkened back to how the program came to be initially.

Speed cameras in school zones only was first approved by the prior Council at its November 24, 2020 meeting. By a 4-1 vote, the body authorized the administration to enter into a contract with Sensys Gatso Group for “red light enforcement services and automated speed cameras in school zones.”

Then-Ward 4 Councilor Ricardo Mourato was the lone dissenter, saying he agreed with the need to curtail speeding around the city, but had concerns of how money gained from the effort would be used. At the time, he, too, suggested earmarking the funds back to the schools or other traffic safety endeavors around the city.

It took nearly a full year for all elements of the program, including the purchase and installation of equipment, to be put into place. A 30-day trial period in school zones, when warnings were issued to violators, started on November 3, 2021. Actual fines began being issued for infractions when classes returned following the holiday break on January 3, 2022. those fines were and remain $50, with no increases to drivers with multiple offenses and the infractions do not go on a driver’s record.

As well in 2022, the city began a similar program at other, non-school zone locations across the city, placing the cameras as some of the most heavily-trafficked spots. The roll-out for the latter also took the better part of 12 months to become active.

The locations of the devices are as follows:

School Zones — St. Mary Academy-Bay View, Kent Heights Elementary School, Riverside Middle School, St. Margaret School and East Providence High School

Red Light Cameras: Pawtucket Avenue at Warren Avenue, Pawtucket Avenue at Taunton Avenue, Broadway at Warren Avenue, Pawtucket Avenue at Veterans Memorial Parkway, Wampanoag Trail at Mink Street, North Broadway at Roger Williams Avenue, Highland Avenue at Catemore Boulevard, Taunton Avenue at Purchase Street and Broadway at Grovesnor Avenue.

There are differences in each program, including the amount of the fines issued — $50 for schools and $85 for the others — and in time frames — schools only during class hours from 7 a.m.-4 p.m. and all others 24 hours.

In addition, school cameras are turned off during the summer break. This year, the last day the cameras were in operation coincided with Tuesday's Council meeting on June 20.

Last week, when brought into the conversation, East Providence Police Chief Chris Francesconi said the "overwhelming" amount of the tickets issued to date have derived from school zone cameras rather than the red lights, which is obvious considering the former have been in place for nearly a year longer.

Fogarty asked the chief if, as reported by the administration, well over 80 percent of those ticketed are drivers from outside the city, why couldn't the cameras be removed and cruisers placed at the most concerning locations.

"I would love to have police officers every hour at every school zone, but it's just not feasible," Franscesconi said.

According to Rego, via Francesconi, after Tuesday's meeting, all cameras are now operational

Another questioned raised by At-Large member and Council president Bob Rodericks was aimed at dismissals, specifically who had the authority to do so. City Solicitor Michael Marcello told the Council it was the Municipal Court judge who had the sole ability to dismiss a ticket. Francesconi added his department's prosecution officer attends all Muni Court sessions and does make suggestions to the judge at times. Both acknowledged no one else should be involved in the process.

Rego, at first, wanted his colleagues to join him in calling for an independent audit of the program, but acquiesced to going in a different direction following Moore's update and the larger conversation. He did seek and was supported in an effort to have a full statistical report provided to the body in time for its July 18 meeting when a representative of the Sensys Gatso Group, which also performs all the billing for the program, is expected to be in attendance.

Near the end of the discussion the mayor's director of administration Napolean Gonsalves said to the Council, "The No. 1 complaint we hear in the city is about speeding and these things (cameras) slow people down...They're a good deterrent."