Britto intends to drop any ‘drama’ from East Providence council proceedings

Council president says he and Mayor DaSilva start new form in agreement on many issues

By Mike Rego
Posted 1/14/19

EAST PROVIDENCE — As he prepares to take over the City Council gavel under East Providence’s revised governing structure, Bobby Britto said he wants to streamline the process, bring back some …

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Britto intends to drop any ‘drama’ from East Providence council proceedings

Council president says he and Mayor DaSilva start new form in agreement on many issues

Posted

EAST PROVIDENCE — As he prepares to take over the City Council gavel under East Providence’s revised governing structure, Bobby Britto said he wants to streamline the process, bring back some order and civility to the proceedings as the body’s new session begins in earnest next week.

Mr. Britto, the Ward 1 representative about to begin his third term in office, was selected to lead the council by his peers at last week’s inauguration ceremony. With the position comes the new title of “president” under the mayor-council form, a moniker he could do without.

“Don’t call me ‘President’ or ‘Mr. President.’ Just call me Bob or Bobby. I don’t want any of those titles,” Mr. Britto said late last week.

While he would rather dispatch with the formalities, Mr. Britto does want to see the council return decorum to its meetings, gather with a purpose rather than the stream of consciousness and petty squabbles some of the body’s previous forums devolved into over his years on it.

“I won’t allow it to happen,” Mr. Britto said, flatly. “I have a lot of experience running construction and project meetings from an internal and external perspective. And I’ve also hosted a lot of community meetings as well. It doesn’t have to be confrontational. The discussion doesn’t have to be done in an argumentative way. I’m just not going to have it. And I think the rest of the council members feel that way. I think this group wants to see the city move forward. Enough of the drama, the people don’t want it.”

Mr. Britto said it’s his intention to run tight, concise meetings, ones where the public feels comfortable attending and expressing their opinions.

“I want to make this council more inviting for residents and taxpayers to come in. I want to make the meetings short, what’s on the agenda is going to be discussed,” Mr. Britto added. “What’s on docket is what’s going to be discussed. If we can keep these things to around an hour, I think it will be more inviting for a constituent or a taxpayer.”

The focus of the new council, initially at least, will be on its role as the city’s deliberative body if Mr. Britto’s aims are followed.

“The council should focus on strictly its legislative and policy duties,” he explained. “First and foremost, we need to bring some of the older ordinances up to par. Some of them need to be refreshed, modernized. We need to focus on our legislative duties and legislative duties alone. At our first meeting, I want the council to set the policies of what we can and cannot do. We need to focus on the agenda. All that other stuff I could do without. Like proclamations and citations, that should be worked out of the mayor’s office.”

Mr. Britto, who ran unopposed at the November 2018 election, was a proponent of Mayor Bob DaSilva’s candidacy and sits on the latter’s transition team. The two have a long relationship dating back before either sought public office. They begin this new era of city politics admittedly in agreement on many matters.

“Coming into this I have a good relationship with him,” Mr. Britto said of Mayor DaSilva. “I think it’s always a plus for the sitting council members or the council president to have a good rapport with the mayor. So right off the bat I know where he’s coming from. I know where he stands on most issues because I’ve spoken to him. I worked on his campaign. I walked door-to-door with him.

“The issues we’re talking about now are issues we’ve talked about years ago. We’re both on the same page, which I think is a good thing. We have the same philosophy on the direction the city should be heading in.”

One of the subjects where Messrs. Britto and DaSilva are simpatico is on the continued enhancement of the city’s waterfront as a feeder for future growth.

“The development of the waterfront is big, creating a new tax base in city,” Mr. Britto added. “We’re trying to maintain the status quo as far as (property) taxes are concerned. We’re trying not to raise them. There may come a time when you’re going to have raise them, but we want to exhaust all other avenues first.”

Financing the new East Providence High School may force the mayor and the council to raise the levy, though Mr. Britto said he believes the rates should remain relatively stable because of East Providence’s strong bond rating and borrowing position at the moment as well as if the city receives all of the reimbursement available to it through the state Department of Education.

Another pressing issue is that of eventually sorting out the water/sewer rate structure, something that has befuddled both previous councils on which Mr. Britto sat. He said Mayor DaSilva’s administration has already broached the topic with Suez Water, which runs part of the city’s operation, during contract renewal talks.

Above all else, it seems Mr. Britto is welcoming an opportunity to start fresh with the new form of government and new colleagues.

“Despite the issues we had, and we had issues, we still accomplished a lot the last two years. We set aside the $10 million to fix our roads and sidewalks. We painted the (Kent Heights water) tower. We had a lot of distractions, but we did a lot. We passed the school bond, we did the charter changes and we prepared for the new form,” Mr. Britto added. “But we had enough of the other stuff for the last two years. We don’t need any more of that. Leave the drama at home. Let’s just get to the City Hall chambers and take care of business like we’re supposed to.”

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MIKE REGO

Mike Rego has worked at East Bay Newspapers since 2001, helping the company launch The Westport Shorelines. He soon after became a Sports Editor, spending the next 10-plus years in that role before taking over as editor of The East Providence Post in February of 2012. To contact Mike about The Post or to submit information, suggest story ideas or photo opportunities, etc. in East Providence, email mrego@eastbaymediagroup.com.