PROVIDENCE CITY COUNCIL PRIMER

The Providence City Council is the 15-member legislative body of the city of Providence. The two major responsibilities are enacting ordinances and adopting the city’s annual budget. Providence uses a strong-mayor form of government in which the City Council acts as a check against the power of the executive branch, the mayor. The members of the Providence City Council are elected by residents of the 15 wards of Providence. City Council members are elected to four-year terms and are limited, by City Charter, to serving a maximum of three consecutive full terms (excluding any partial term of less than two years previously served). Council members represent the concerns, needs, and issues of their constituents, and work to improve the city’s neighborhoods.

The current City Council consists of:

Ward 1: John Goncalves

Ward 2: Helen Anthony

Ward 3: Sue AnderBois

Ward 4: Justin Roias

Ward 5: Jo-Ann Ryan

Ward 6: Miguel Sanchez

Ward 7: Ana Vargas

Ward 8: James Taylor

Ward 9: Juan M. Pichardo

Ward 10: Pedro Espinal

Ward 11: Mary Kay Harris

Ward 12: Althea Graves

Ward 13: Rachel Miller

Ward 14: Shelley Peterson

Ward 15: Oscar Vargas

All 15 members of the council are members of the Democratic Party.

Council.Providence.RI.gov

Public safety is also a major priority for the council. Everyone had the highest praise for retiring Chief Hugh T. Clements, Jr. noting that he will be especially missed for his responsiveness and commitment to community policing. They all want to see an expansion of the behavioral response programs that Clements started with mental health and social workers. “It’s not about replacing the police; it’s about increasing intervention and alternative solutions before they become police issues,” says Miller. The new police chief will have to build trust with the various constituencies and expand on Clements’ legacy.

The other major issue will be PILOT, which is up for renegotiation this year. Brown University currently pays the City about $4.3 million annually while Yale pays New Haven

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$22.5 million annually. “Providence needs Brown and the other colleges, and they need Providence. The greater their support, the better the city can look,” adds Miller.

Now the real work for the leadership begins in earnest. The Mayor’s first budget will have challenges.

Our conversation is only three weeks into the new administration and council, but so far everyone seems to be talking from the same playbook. While still very early, the collegiality among the three women is palpable. Part of this seems to be that each of the three has their own areas of particular interest. Miller stresses the importance of economic equity; Harris champions the need for more housing throughout her ward and then adds “but that doesn’t mean all of it has to be low income!” And Anthony, an attorney with experience in zoning and real estate, is clearly the most comfortable and excited about her new role as head of the finance committee: it’s all about the numbers.

Miller summed up the thinking of the new leadership team: “One answer none of us want to hear? ‘Well this is the way we’ve always done it.’”

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