Solomon prepares for bumps ahead
City Council President Joseph Solomon has a lot of work ahead of him in the coming weeks.
With 18-year Mayor Scott Avedisian officially taking a position as CEO of the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority, and reporting on Wednesday that he will be surrendering his duties as mayor once he goes on his final vacation on May 15, Solomon will effectively become the acting mayor of Warwick on the same day that the city’s Fiscal 2019 budget is due in the hands of the council.
While Solomon is no stranger to examining and putting together budgets for the city – he has remained a biannual constant on the City Council since he won a bid in 2000 over Everett O'Donnell by a count of 2,313 votes to 1,678 – the aggregation of responsibilities encompassed within the next couple of weeks will be unlike anything he’s experienced before.
“This time of year, traditionally, the big thing has been the budget and you were focused on the budget,” Solomon said during a Wednesday morning interview from the lower level City Hall conference room. “This year, our focus is spread a lot wider. There’s a lot on the table.”
Some of those budgetary issues include four bids on a $20 million healthcare contract coming before the council for deliberation on May 7, along with an increased ask of over $8 million from the school committee’s prior year allocation that stems primarily from lowering enrollment and less funding coming from the state. There is also a structural deficit of $4.2 million built into this budget due to the council opting to not increase taxes last year.
There are two collective bargaining tentative agreements with city unions representing municipal workers and the police department to consider, and negotiations with the fire union are ongoing – and both the current fire chief, James McLaughlin and one of his assistant chiefs, Edward Hannon, will be gone by the time budget hearings are scheduled to begin.
Then there is the issue of a significant portion of the city’s municipal offices being displaced to the former John Greene Elementary School after a pipe burst in the City Hall Annex in January. There has been no plan established so far on what exactly to do about that, but Solomon listed that problem as a priority once he takes the helm.
“I think to move along in a positive direction where we can restore our operations, where our displaced workers are placed in an environment where they’re more enthusiastic going to and performing their duties,” he said. “Where the general public who visit and go in for these services look and say, ‘This is where my tax dollars are going’ and they feel good about the city; where businesses coming from outside the community that want to locate inside the community look at our beautiful City Hall and our center.”
However, Solomon did not go so far as to commit to a plan to build a new annex building and did not yet propose an alternative to the current situation.
Mayor Avedisian said in an interview last week that he had been delivering “transition documents” to Solomon since it was made apparent he would be getting the job at RIPTA. These documents include things like summaries of where current issues in the city stand, people involved in those decision making processes and possible solutions to them – they include issues like the annex situation.
Solomon said that, while he has been receiving these documents, the deluge of information has been more voluminous than could possibly be handled at this time.
“When you’re sent thousands of pages worth of paperwork, you can’t humanly possibly go through each individual aspect of that, you just can’t; not alone,” he said. “I’m one person. I’m not trying to push it off on anyone, but I’m bringing in help to assist me in those areas, because I cannot do it alone.”
Solomon said, in addition to seeking assistance with the documents and that he was in the process of “winding down” his private industry work to focus on public business, he was confident his colleagues on the City Council would be up to the challenge of assisting him.
“I’ve got a great team on that City Council that are always focused on doing the right thing for the people,” he said. “Each one of my colleagues has an individual quality, and that’s what’s going to make the city go forward and work.”
Solomon said he plans to build a culture of cohesion and improved communication between the executive branch (plus the various departments) and legislative branch of the city, something that he felt might have led to a feeling of “frustration” that has been evident to attendees of recent City Council meetings.
“It’s going to be inclusive, it’s going to be informative and it’s going to be cooperative,” Solomon said. “The little bumps in the road aren’t going to derail us.”
Solomon said that he doesn’t plan on assuming power and cleaning house within City Hall.
“You hear things and it comes back to you and it makes me chuckle a little, like I’m going to come in, kick the door down and chop heads – that’s not my plan and that’s not going to happen. I can tell you that’s completely false,” he said. “It’s my plan to keep this boat sailing steadily forward.”
As far as the schools are concerned, Solomon strongly advocated that a healthy, well-equipped and high-functioning school department was of the utmost importance to bring more people into the city and attract businesses who may want to set up shop in Warwick.
“You’re not going to have people that want to relocate to a city that doesn’t have the best education that they can put forward for their children; raising their families in that city,” he said. “When businesses look at our community to locate here, they look at our infrastructure, they look at our education system, because when they’re moving their family from out of state into Rhode Island, they want to make sure the community they move their family to is a good community to live and be a part of.”
However, he did not say that the school department’s request of over $8 million (a more than 6.6 percent increase in allocation from last year) would necessarily be approved as requested. He said that, while there needs to be trust between the city and the school department, there may still be a differing of opinion in regards to priorities set forth within any particular budget.
“There’s an expectation that everyone is going to do the right thing. But that doesn’t mean your definition of the right thing and my definition of the right thing are always going to be the same,” Solomon said. “I firmly believe that everyone involved acts with good intentions. There’s no malicious intentions, but there might be a difference opinion as to priorities.”
Solomon said that he plans to attend all City Council meetings while he is the acting mayor, and that his philosophy of “inclusiveness, communication and cooperation” should result in better results for city workers and taxpayers.
Since Avedisian is leaving with less than 180 days to go before the general election in November, there is no mandated need for a special election, per the city’s charter. Solomon has confirmed he will be running for a full term as mayor once that election occurs, but he does not seem to have big plans for campaigning at this time – instead focusing on the tasks at hand.
“My campaign is going to be my track record and what I do for the people of the city and what I do during my time as mayor,” he said. “If they like me, they’ll vote for me. If they don’t, the voters will decide.”
Solomon, a native of Providence, described his decision to go for a full term as one that was bred out of his love for Warwick and the gratitude he feels towards the city for being a great place raise his son, Joseph Solomon Jr., a current state rep, and be with his wife of more than 40 years, who is a Warwick native.
“We’re very proud of his accomplishments and his individualism and what he’s done and his compassion for the community and to stand up for what he believes is right,” Solomon said of his son. “My wife and I like to think that that’s the result of living and raising our son in a community such as this. So, I’ve got a vested interest, whether I have grandchildren or don’t have grandchildren down the line, that I want to make the community an even better place for future generations.”
He already has his campaign slogan: “A better Warwick.”
