EAST PROVIDENCE — Rebuffed last year in his earlier attempt to get a similar measure presented to the voters on a special election ballot, a resolution offered up to the City Council at its June 5 meeting by Ward 3 representative Joe Botelho to implement a long-range plan to address what many on the body described as the “deplorable” condition of East Providence’s roadways passed unanimously.

Under Mr. Botelho’s proposal, $10 million would be provided to the Department of Public Works in the next several fiscal year budgets to repair many more roads than would have been possible under existing efforts. The move does not preclude the council or the incoming mayor from also including additional monies from the FY Capital Fund towards road improvements.

What the resolution, titled “Transferring $10,000,000 From The Assigned Fund Balance To The Capital Fund,” does immediately is allow the current administration to take said amount out of an existing fund set up previously to allow the city to at some point synchronize its fiscal year budget with the state into another line item with the specific intent on repairing streets well into the future. According to a completed audit of the city’s books from FY2016-17, $14,486,836 was the balance in an “Assigned Fund” earmarked for potential synchronization.

Late last year, Mr. Botelho attempted to get a referenda item placed on the November 2017 special election ballot, which would have allotted $15 million in bond monies to be directed to road repair. His peers declined to pass the item based on concerns with how it would affect the city’s borrowing ability especially with the looming possibility of needing to pay to build a new East Providence High School and interest incurred from the loan.

Instead, the council later decided to allocate the payment of approximately $2.5 million scheduled for the sync fund in the FY2017-18 budget towards road repair, upping that total to around $3 million for the current construction season. The council last Tuesday also approved a list of roads to be fixed this summer (see attached photo).

Asked by Ward 4 Councilman Brian Faria why he chose to resubmit the road repair in this fashion, Mr. Botelho explained by putting the matter in resolution form and directing the administration to enter into a long-term contractual agreement with a paving firm, it will guarantee road repairs will continue on a regularly scheduled basis beyond the term of the current council.

“Once that contract is entered, it cannot be broken,” Mr. Botelho continued. “As opposed to an ordinance, which gets passed to today and repealed tomorrow, this is a far better way to insure that we don’t just talk the talk. We walk the walk and extend this program into the foreseeable future where we can make a major dent, no pun intended, in getting the roads fixed.”

The measure was supported by both Acting City Manager/Finance Director Malcolm Moore and state-appointed Municipal Finance Advisor Paul Luba.

“If roads are your top priority, and I haven’t heard anything that has exceeded that, then it is a good solution. You’re not paying interest as you would under a bond,” Mr. Luba said. “It does restrict your flexibility in the future…But I think it’s a good use.”

Citing the Town of Narragansett, which has instituted a similarly structured paving program, Mr. Luba suggested presenting the public with an annual list of roads planned to be repaired and those have been addressed.

“This is long overdue from the way I look at it,” said Ward 1 Councilor Bobby Britto. Ward 2 Councilwoman Anna Sousa added including “preventative maintenance” should also be a key component of the plan as should working collaboratively with National Grid, whose work replacing natural gas piping throughout the city has been a bane to attempts to repave roads.

“This is ground-breaking territory. This is going to make a major dent. What this allows us to do is put a long-term plan together,” DPW Director Steve Coutu, who agreed the program will help his department work more collaboratively with National Grid.