EAST PROVIDENCE — The majority of the Council once again when the topic was discussed at its meeting Tuesday night, Sept. 26, signaled its opposition to the proposed construction of a Recreation/Community Center on the grounds of the Senior Center at Waterman and Pawtucket Avenues as well as its reluctance to appropriate any monies available to the city to the project.

It was the latest in a running back-and-forth between the Council and Mayor Bob DaSilva, which he has updated references to the project to include "multi-purpose" center.

DaSilva, who often calls his endeavor a "transformational" project, at first offered up a gaudy $45 million plan that was quickly dismissed by the body. It included rooms/office and meeting spaces, a theatre, a pool, a gymnasium and several other amenities.

Two weeks ago, the architects and project managers hired by the administration to draw up plans presented the Council with a pair of drastically slimmed down versions of the proposal. One for $20.8 million would see would slash almost literally in half both DaSilva's first plan in both cost and scale. The revised vision — reduced in total square footage from approximately 62,000 to 22,000 — includes a full-sized gymnasium, a six-lane pool and four areas of classroom/meeting spaces. The gym could double as a "flex space" cross use for non-athletic events. The other, at just around $8 million, what was called a "barebones" rendition, removes the pool entirely, while leaving the four rooms intact and reducing the gym to a half basketball court.

DaSilva gave a brief overview of the requests he included in his office's proposed appropriations for Fiscal Year 2023-24 earlier in the meeting, but was not in attendance for the discussion on the Rec Center. He left the Council forum to attend the LaSalle-East Providence High School boys' soccer game in Providence, in which his son was playing for the Townies.

The latest lobbying attempt by the administration last Tuesday night was left up to Domenic Leonardo, who was recently hired/promoted to a full-time senior planner position in the city's Department of Planning and Economic Development.

The conversation between the administration's representative and the body was a bit edgy at times, as Leonardo attempted to present a broad update/overview of the situation, including where the existing sources of revenue for the project are from and what was needed to be done on the part of the city to insure it received the monies.

Leonardo reminded the Council and the audience in the City Hall Chamber that evening, which included a handful of supporters of the project who spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting, the administration currently had financial commitments of $6.8 million. Three million of that money came from the Federal Government in the form of an appropriation garnered by former U.S. Congressman David Cicilline in last year's budget. The rest is in the form of a state grant from a community center funding program set up by Gov. Dan McKee, a close ally of DaSilva.

It might be a bit harsh to state the monies come with strings attached, but each have mandates included to have access to the cash. The federal portion is a bit more open ended, but must be used for a "community" project of some kind. The state portion is a bit more focused, requiring aspects of the project to include workforce training, youth education and health programs.

One key caveat to all of this from the administration's perspective is the applications for the grants were submitted with the Senior Center as the preferred site. Leonardo explained it did so, for among other reasons, because of the low/moderate income profile of residents in the neighborhood and its proximity to public transportation.

Those comments drew an immediate response from Ward 4 Councilor Rick Lawson, who has been the body's loudest voice against the Senior Center site, calling it the "busiest intersection in the city." Ward 1 member Frank Rego and Ward 2's Anna Sousa have each expressed reservations as well. They lean more towards having the "multi-purpose center" built on the Pierce Memorial Stadium Complex at Fort and Mercer Streets between Warren Avenue and Veterans Memorial Parkway.

"Most of these things, we're on board for," said Lawson, adding about the Waterman Avenue Senior Center entrance, "Location, we're going to keep hammering it back. We just want to see if we can find a better location because overwhelmingly people are saying, 'What are you guys nuts?' You can't even take a left turn there (due south)."

Leonardo also became visibly flustered as Council President and At-Large member Bob Rodericks repeatedly referred to the requirements of the grants as "restrictions."

He, along with DaSilva's Director of Project Management and Communications Patricia Resende, attempted to posit the administration's engagement on the project as being open and transparent.

He said the administration's Rec Center effort dates back into the mayor's first team with a Request For Proposal process started in March of 2021.

Leonardo mentioned a Zoom, on-line, meeting DaSilva hosted in March of 2022 when he made his oft-rumored Rec Center proposal truly public for the first time. DaSilva eventually staked the Rec Center as the pillar of his second term agenda at the city's inauguration ceremony in January of this year. Leonardo and Resende also referred to renderings and process documents being posted on the city's webpage over the last 18 months.

In addition, Resende cited an on-line survey the administration opened in the last week, seeking the public's thoughts on the topic. She noted at the meeting over 400 people had responded to the survey, sent out via email, in just a few days' time and over 300 were in favor of the project.

Leonardo did not offer much in the way of a response when Lawson asked if the former and current Councils were involved in the process every step along the way.

Lawson, who penned a letter to the editor in last weeks' edition of The Post (September 28) and on eastbayri.com in response to a DaSilva letter the week prior, said he was willing to work with the administration, but wanted to see some sort of compromise on the location and the sum of money DaSilva wanted the Council to allocate towards it.

It's well established the mayor intended to use East Providence's remaining some $14 million in Federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) monies to fund the bulk of the Rec Center.  He and members of his administration have said as much during previous public discussions before the Council.

But the Council had other ideas, appropriating just about all of it towards roughly a dozen, mostly infrastructure projects around the city.

DaSilva attempted to veto each of the earmarks, but the Council rebuffed him at each turn. Under the still fledgling elected mayor-council form of government, the Council needs a "super-majority," 4-1 vote to override an executive veto. The body reached that easily on each of its overrides, Rodericks being the lone dissenting vote on a few of the actions.

Also from last week, Sousa repeated her questions from the previous talks about how the Rec Center would operate, who would staff it and who would pay for it.

Rego chided the administration for asking the previous version of the Council to officially nullify two votes by residents made at elections in the early 2000s supporting bond measures in the amount of $5 million towards funding a proposed center. He said it would have had access to over $11 million if it had not done so. He also asked why the administration did not tell the Council specifically that the sources of funding were tied  directly to the Senior Center parcel.

And Ward 3 member Frank Fogarty voiced full-throated opposition to the Senior Center location while suggesting the administration pursue less costly structures like pre-fabricated steel, saying, "Me sitting here, I haven't been included in the plans. I'm a no for this site and I'm a no for that budget."

"We're all on the same page, but let's have communication and let's do it right because this is a big investment," Lawson added. "This is a generational thing. I'm committed for a Rec Center. It's just what was presented last week I can't get on board with."

Rodericks concluded the discussion, urging the administration to do its "homework," return to the Council with a much more precise, focused plan including the considerations of the body while working within the $6.8 million outlay it currently has access to. Rodericks also noted it was unlikely the Council would reallocate any of its ARPA expenditures to fund the Rec Center.