Council’s Democrats did due diligence on library project

To the Editor:

At last Thursday’s Cranston Herald forum, Mayor Allan Fung told a whopper.

He said Councilman Michael Farina switched to the Republican Party in March because Council Democrats spitefully voted down his proposal to renovate the children’s room at the Central Library and then approved an identical proposal sponsored by me.

It is a great story featuring petty politicians who vote against a children’s library so they can take credit for themselves. It is also completely false.

As chairman of the Finance Committee, I presided over hearings on the issue. Here is what happened. Last fall, at the request of the library director, Councilman Farina sponsored an ordinance to use city impact fees, paid by developers on new housing construction, to help finance a six-figure renovation of the children’s room.

At the November Finance Committee meeting, however, Democratic Councilman Richard Santamaria noted that impact fees, under city ordinance, had to pay for “expansion of major capital facilities.” Since the library proposal was a renovation involving no expansion, Santamaria said, Farina’s ordinance was illegal. Democratic Councilman Mario Aceto added that the City Charter says the capital budget cannot be amended mid-year. Then Democratic Councilman Paul Archetto asked for research on the legal questions and the committee voted to continue the proposal to a future meeting, over Farina’s objections. Later, the library board withdrew the proposal.

With the Christmas season underway, an angry Farina wrote a letter to the Herald comparing Council Democrats to the Grinch that stole Christmas.

Meanwhile, Council Democrats, who wanted to obey the law and renovate the children’s room, worked to resolve the problem. We sponsored a new ordinance removing the “expansion” language from the impact fee ordinance. It passed unanimously.

Next, in the spring of 2016, the council approved a new capital budget, as proposed by the mayor, which included the children’s room renovation project. And then I sponsored an ordinance, as recommended by the mayor’s finance director, to pay for the renovation with impact fees. It also passed unanimously.

The process took a while and was awkward. We, Democrats, however, did our job and made sure the project was legally funded.

Councilman Farina should be a Republican. He thinks like a Republican and he votes like a Republican. His fellow Republican Mayor Fung tells a juicy story about the evil Council Democrats forcing poor Mike to switch parties. But it is not true.

Councilman

Steven Stycos