EAST PROVIDENCE — At a special session requested by body president Jim Briden held Monday night, Jan. 30, the East Providence City Council engaged in a roughly one hour talk about the potential seating of a charter review commission.

The city’s ceremonial mayor and At-Large member of the council, Mr. Briden said he believed the extra session was necessary because usual council meetings can be lengthy and can limit discussion on such a topic.

Mr. Briden has long been a proponent of a charter review commission dating back to his previous stint on the council from 2012-14. Monday, he repeatedly said the commission would present the opportunity for residents and administrators to offer up “fresh ideas” about how the charter can be amended and/or improved.

“I think it would be a good exercise for the city,” Mr. Briden added. “It’s a chance to take inventory, how to make things better and how can we get more people interested in public service.”

Ward 1 councilor Bobby Britto appeared to be lone dissenting voice against the commission. He said the only reason why it was being considered was because the electorate voted overwhelmingly last November (73%-27%) to change the city’s form of governance from that of a manager-council to an elected mayoral system.

Mr. Britto, agreeing with the take of his Ward 3 counterpart Joe Botelho, said he believed any changes to the charter made necessary by the switch could be accomplished by he and his peers.

“There are articles that need to be amended, no doubt, but we can do it as a council,” Mr. Britto added.

Mr. Botelho, who served on the last charter commission in the early 1990s, at first seemed reticent to the notion of seating the review group, but later said he had a “rethinking.”

Proclaiming himself to be an optimistic person and that the 73-percent majority vote in support of the change to mayor was also optimistic, Mr. Botelho said, “We should all share in that optimism.” He continued, the charter, as it currently reads, compares well to other municipal codes, adding the authors of the city’s charter “back in (19)58 did a good job.”

Though he ultimately showed an interest in potentially supporting the commission, Mr. Botelho earlier Monday urged his fellow members to consult with the city’s legal department to come up with potential remedies to any conflicts created by the mayoral change. He noted there were “81” instances in the current charter where the term “mayor” would be required to replace the existing “manager.”

Going back to his other thought, Mr. Botelho said he would ask anyone interested in serving on the commission if they were “optimistic” about the change and of the city’s future.

In giving an overview of his thoughts on the commission, Mr. Briden said it should be seated for a “finite” amount of time, adding it should be able to do its business in the winter months. The review group would be “advisory” in nature, Mr. Briden continued, forwarding its recommendations to the full council for any consideration by the spring. Some suggested changes could be done by the council by ordinance, others may need to put up to the voters as ballot referendums.

Mr. Briden proposed the commission be made up of nine members. Four councilors would offer up two nominees while the other would present one nominee and also sit in on the commission. The review group would gather in the council chambers and in accordance with the state’s open meeting laws. Those meetings would be streamed on-line and recorded for viewing on television. Mr. Briden also advocated administrative department heads with institutional knowledge of the city be placed on the commission.

Like Mr. Briden, councilors Anna Sousa and Brian Faria each also seemed to express initial support for the formation of the review group. Mr. Faria, the Ward 4 representative, on a couple of occasions said the commission was not being considered as a means of thwarting the mayoral change, just allow it to be done correctly and “peacefully.”

“It’s to make sure the transition is as a smooth as possible,” Mr. Faria added.

Ms. Sousa said since the last charter review was done nearly three decades ago, it likely "was time" for another to take place.

Three members of the public spoke during the forum: frequent council meeting commentators Tom Riley and Scott Scienzo along with Jason Desrosiers, an active participant in social media circles on topics of city government. Each expressed their desire to see the commission come to fruition.

In concluding the meeting, Mr. Briden urged members of the public interested in serving on the charter review commission to submit either a letter or their resume as soon as possible to city clerk Kim Casci-Palangio in person at her city hall office or via email at kcasci@cityofeastprov.com.

Mr. Briden said he would put an item pertaining to the charter review commission on the docket for the February 7 city council meeting. He also said another special session on the subject could be required, which would likely take place some time the following week.