City Council President Pro Tempore Michael Correia (Ward 6) and Senior Deputy Majority Leader Nicholas J. Narducci Jr. (Ward 4) will be introducing a resolution calling on the City’s Department of Public Works to prepare and issue an operations plan to ensure essential city services are carried out in a safe and timely manner at tomorrow’s City Council meeting.
“I have heard from residents daily regarding deplorable conditions of our City’s neighborhoods,” stated City Council President Pro Tempore Michael Correia. “My colleagues and I understand the unique circumstances we are in, but by being creative with how we schedule our DPW crews, we should not be having these issues. We are in a unique opportunity to use our existing workforce to do much-needed maintenance across the City, and by creating an operations plan, I believe we can achieve that end.”
Since the declaration of the state of emergency within the City, there has been a significant reduction in the services provided by the Department of Public Works especially surrounding the operation of the department’s highway division and the ability to respond to calls in a timely manner.
Senior Deputy Majority Leader Nicholas J. Narducci Jr. stated, “Our residents deserve better. They work very hard to pay their taxes, and they expect that we will honor our obligations to them as residents. When we let trash pile-up and allow the illegal dumping of mattresses and bulky items across the City, we are just creating more problems that we will need to deal with at a later date. The City can safely deploy teams of five or less to accomplish many of the services that are needed to keep our City clean and safe, all while protecting the hardworking men and women of the DPW.”
As a result of the reduced services from the Department of Public Works, there has been an unacceptable increase in the amount of trash and bulk items strewn around the City’s streets and open spaces with no timetable for their removal. If not dealt with promptly, the rapid accumulation of trash across the City will result in a growing public health issue and interfere with the rendering of other essential city services needed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Providence City Council requests that the Director of the Department of Public Works submit an operations plan to the City Council that sets forth in detail how the department will meet its obligations to the residents of the City during the COVID-19 pandemic.