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Speaker 1: Mayor Frank Pocosey of Warwick is on the Seahawk Supply hotline.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Mayor, Good morning Caara.

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Speaker 3: How are you.

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Speaker 2: I'm doing pretty well well.

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Speaker 1: First of all, you dug out from all your little

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Speaker 1: snow and ice, and I think work did a pretty

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Speaker 1: good job.

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Speaker 2: I have a lot of family there.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we did. I mean it was a tough storm. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: I sympathized in other cities. We had to do it

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Speaker 3: multiple times. It was a lot of snow in a

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Speaker 3: short amount of time and only so many place to

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Speaker 3: put it. And then we went into the deep freeze immediately,

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Speaker 3: so it all became chunks of ice. I mean, we

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Speaker 3: have some sidewalk issues things like that, but we're doing

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Speaker 3: the best we can.

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Speaker 2: All right.

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Speaker 1: Set the stage here for what was going on.

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Speaker 2: Listen. I graduated from Pilgrim High School. I went back.

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Speaker 1: It was many many years ago, but it kind of

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Speaker 1: looked the same. I was like, whoa time zone here?

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Speaker 1: Time warp. I haven't been in a year, so I

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Speaker 1: don't know, but I know that you know, between Tollgate

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Speaker 1: and Vets and Pilgrim and Aldrich has been closed, there's

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Speaker 1: been a lot of change in schools.

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Speaker 2: You know, I think about it.

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Speaker 1: Kids don't really know what if they're in it, but

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Speaker 1: those of us who have a little bit of nostalgia

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Speaker 1: attached to, you know, going to school there, it seems

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Speaker 1: to have been a lot going on. So you plan

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Speaker 1: for two new schools, Explain that, yeah, we had.

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Speaker 3: The referendum four years ago to go out to bond

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Speaker 3: for three hundred and fifty million dollars for two new

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Speaker 3: high schools, taking advantage of the state's program with increased reimbrassement.

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Speaker 3: If we meet all the goals, reimbressement be fifty two percent,

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Speaker 3: So essentially one of the schools is going to be

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Speaker 3: built for free. But in the time since then the

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Speaker 3: constructions began, construction costs of skyrocketed and what we were

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Speaker 3: told could be accomplished for three hundred fifty million dollars

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Speaker 3: just isn't possible now. And where it's going to suffer

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Speaker 3: the athletic fields, which are going to be last because

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Speaker 3: the new schools are being constructed on the former athletic fields,

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Speaker 3: and then once they're complete, we're going to tear down

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Speaker 3: the old schools and build the construction of the up

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Speaker 3: athletic facilities there. Similar to what East Providence did. But

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Speaker 3: it's become clear that there's just not enough money to

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Speaker 3: do that. There's there's cost overrun estimates and the school

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Speaker 3: department put it between thirteen and twenty three percent. And

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Speaker 3: you mentioned Rob Cody's very knowledgeable in construction. I've met

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Speaker 3: with him and he thinks the cost road runs are

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Speaker 3: going to be more and I actually agree with him.

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Speaker 3: This was going to be a contingency to be used

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Speaker 3: at the end. But we put it up. We put

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Speaker 3: it out to referendum. I mean, it was a small turnout,

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Speaker 3: it was normal, but we did everything we could to

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Speaker 3: get the word out. We did robo calls, social media,

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Speaker 3: it was on the news, but traditionally they're very small

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Speaker 3: turnouts and the voters shout it down. So now we

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Speaker 3: have to rebound and come up with a new plan.

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Speaker 2: So what does a new plan entail?

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Speaker 1: I think listen, I think Warwick taxpayers are stretched, then

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Speaker 1: are they not?

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Speaker 3: Well, all tech space is stretch. The no different here

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Speaker 3: than anywhere else. I mean, we have to pay this

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Speaker 3: debt service. But you know, uh, in the last five

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Speaker 3: years we've had two tax increases for exactly one was

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Speaker 3: for three point nine and one was for one point

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Speaker 3: nine but reval has killed us. The values is just skyrocketing,

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Speaker 3: and that hits some taxpayers right in the pocket. I

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Speaker 3: know it did make also the insurance went way up.

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Speaker 3: My homeown was insurance. But I mean, we're I'm meeting

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Speaker 3: with the school department next next week, the chairman of

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Speaker 3: the school committee and uh, the administration. We're going to

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Speaker 3: come up with a new plan, maybe to be shared

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Speaker 3: athletic facilities, uh for the two schools shared between that

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Speaker 3: and the city. We could put resource in it. You know,

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Speaker 3: we're gonna have to come up with a new plan. Now,

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Speaker 3: We're going to have to be innovative and think outside

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Speaker 3: the box because we left up to the people and

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Speaker 3: they clearly said no more money.

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Speaker 2: Yeah wow.

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Speaker 1: So usually you know, the bonds just you know the

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Speaker 1: statewide you know, when you go to the for the

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Speaker 1: state wide voting, right and you flip it over, you

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Speaker 1: flip your ballot over, and a lot of times those bonds,

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Speaker 1: people don't read them and they just go, okay, a

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Speaker 1: new building for you or I okay, you know, keep

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Speaker 1: the water clean, okay, And it certainly adds up even

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Speaker 1: if you need all of those things in the course

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Speaker 1: of a year or two. You need the schools, right,

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Speaker 1: I mean, give me like an overall update of the

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Speaker 1: conditions of the schools, because we're talking high schools, right.

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Speaker 3: Yes, Okay, you went to Pilgrim and hasn't gotten any better.

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Speaker 1: It's got you know, I know I have nieces and

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Speaker 1: nephews that have recently graduated, and they you know, it

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Speaker 1: looks like nineteen seventy eight.

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Speaker 3: Right, Oh yeah, and it's a weird school. Anyways, all

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Speaker 3: one floor. I was there yesterday for science there and

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Speaker 3: I think it took me fifteen minutes to walk from

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Speaker 3: the front door to the to the library. It's my

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Speaker 3: grandson went there. He said it was impossible to change

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Speaker 3: classes and beyond time, it's you know, Pilgrim has probably

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Speaker 3: been in bad shape since it was built. It needed

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Speaker 3: to be replaced and especially taken advantage of the you know,

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Speaker 3: the legislation was passed in twenty eighteen. Instead of getting

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Speaker 3: thirty five percent reimbursement, we're getting fifty two. So you know,

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Speaker 3: this decision was made a long time ago. To there

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Speaker 3: were committees is before I was mayor. The decision to

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Speaker 3: build too A lot of talk is to build one.

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Speaker 3: There's really nowhere in Warwick geographically where you could build

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Speaker 3: one high school. I mean it would be traffic gridlock

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Speaker 3: in the area of kids would be on the bus

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Speaker 3: for an hour. You have to think about how big

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Speaker 3: Warwick is. And they talk about the school population is

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Speaker 3: going down in recent years and it has. But work's

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Speaker 3: like an older community, I mean the old parts in

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Speaker 3: my neighborhood. Like me, there are no kids in my

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Speaker 3: nigh One day we're going to move away and families

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Speaker 3: are going to move in there. So you have to

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Speaker 3: plan for the future too. But I mean, as I said,

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Speaker 3: the cost of construction of skyrocketed. Maybe it was a

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Speaker 3: little unrealistic in the beginning when they said they could

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Speaker 3: be built for three fifty I know, mister Cody, he

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Speaker 3: said probably about three eighty. He was spot on. He

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Speaker 3: was really spot on with that. But we moved forward

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Speaker 3: and this was up to the voters if they want

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Speaker 3: to put another fifty million plus I mean whatever was

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Speaker 3: left over for at the city council word in the

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Speaker 3: legislation so that it would be allowed to use for

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Speaker 3: existing facilities you know throughout the city, which they could

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Speaker 3: use it too. But the voter said no. I mean,

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Speaker 3: I don't think it's anything personal. They don't they don't

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Speaker 3: support schools. But right now, I mean, you know, utility

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Speaker 3: cost of skyrocketed, insurances skyrocketed, groceries, is everything going on

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Speaker 3: in the country, and I think this vote reflected that

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Speaker 3: people are nervous about money right now.

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Speaker 1: Well, it's interesting because you've mentioned Rob Cody a couple

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Speaker 1: of times now, and he did spark the conversation at

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Speaker 1: least here on this program. You know, we're talking about

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Speaker 1: one one city out of thirty nine cities in town.

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Speaker 1: So you want to make sure you know, I'm not

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Speaker 1: losing the audience by going in deep on one local issue.

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Speaker 1: But overall, I think people are just exhausted in any

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Speaker 1: city or town with the different taxes and fees, and

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Speaker 1: that's not your problem. But it's interesting to me that

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Speaker 1: the voters did show up and say, no, we're not

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Speaker 1: paying any more than this. So it sounds to me

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Speaker 1: and I know, listen, I'm going to be I'm a

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Speaker 1: straight shooter here Rob Cody and the Your School Committee.

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Speaker 1: There's there's a lot of headbutting because he brings the numbers,

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Speaker 1: he brings the figures, and he brings the data and

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Speaker 1: what is that looking like right now, because.

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Speaker 2: You've got to work.

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Speaker 1: I would imagine with the school committee, they're the ones

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Speaker 1: really that we're pushing for the for the project right

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Speaker 1: right as they.

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Speaker 3: Should that's their job. They should be advocating for schools.

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Speaker 3: And mister Cody is uh as I said, he's been

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Speaker 3: correct on this. You know, I've met with him a

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Speaker 3: couple of times in the past month. I planned on

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Speaker 3: meeting with him again next week. I want you to

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Speaker 3: meet with him last week, but the snow messed everything up.

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Speaker 3: Because he's very knowledge in these matters and he could

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Speaker 3: be a guide. I mean, I mean, he could be

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Speaker 3: a useful resource. We had. I enjoyed our conversations. Uh

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Speaker 3: you know, we like I said, we have to we

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Speaker 3: have to just come up with a different plan now

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Speaker 3: or does this have said? No, three fifty is all

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Speaker 3: you're getting and we're gonna We're going going to have

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Speaker 3: to live with that.

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Speaker 1: So I'm trying to think of the kids, right. So

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Speaker 1: we're speaking with Mayor Frank Pocosi of Warwick. The you know,

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Speaker 1: if they're going into high school, So say you're in

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Speaker 1: the seventh and eighth grade, so junior high. Five years ago,

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Speaker 1: we were in COVID. So that brings it back to

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Speaker 1: the second and third grade, right, so these kids have

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Speaker 1: had to do the whole ridiculousness of COVID. Then they

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Speaker 1: try to get to junior high and then they're wondering

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Speaker 1: where they're going to go to high school.

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Speaker 2: That's a lot, right, that's a lot.

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Speaker 3: It is it is. I mean, it's really should be

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Speaker 3: all about the kids right now, their education. You know,

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Speaker 3: our high schools. And you know, some people blame it

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Speaker 3: on lack of maintenance and this and that, and yeah

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Speaker 3: to a degree, but I mean Pilgrim, Pilgrim's old things

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Speaker 3: wear out, and I mean I don't think it was uh,

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Speaker 3: you know, the best quality of building in the you know,

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Speaker 3: in the world when they built it. It needs to

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Speaker 3: be replaced. Uh that's you know, they close that as

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Speaker 3: a high school, as you know. But I mean that

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Speaker 3: it's they've done a lot of work there. There's a

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Speaker 3: lot of refurbishment. People forget. Before this three hundred and

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Speaker 3: fifty million dollar bond, we passed ninety six million dollars

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Speaker 3: worth of other bonds to refurbish schools, and they've done

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Speaker 3: a lot of work on the elementary and middle schools.

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Speaker 3: With that money. Part of that was supposed to be

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Speaker 3: for refurbishment of high schools, but when this deal came

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Speaker 3: with it, along with the increased state portions, they went

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Speaker 3: for the new high schools. And initially, when I first

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Speaker 3: became mayor, the school department did submit to RIDE a

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Speaker 3: plan to refurbish both high schools, not Bill Newes refurbish,

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Speaker 3: and it was more affordable, it was less money, but

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Speaker 3: RIDE rejected it. They said new schools or nothing. You know,

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Speaker 3: we're subject to RIDE approval on a lot of things.

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Speaker 3: I mean, even we don't start getting reimbursement from the

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Speaker 3: state until even until the schools have finished and the

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Speaker 3: athletic fields to finish. But they actually don't reimburse this

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Speaker 3: on athletic fields. I don't think that's free. I mean,

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Speaker 3: you know, we're going to have a four tough year,

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Speaker 3: four very tough years coming up with money to pay

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Speaker 3: the debt service on these bonds. But then we start

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Speaker 3: getting the reimbursement, everything gets much better. I wish the

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Speaker 3: state could start the reimbursement sooner.

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Speaker 1: So you figure that the two new high schools will

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Speaker 1: take four years to build?

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Speaker 2: Is that what I'm hearing?

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Speaker 3: That's what they've told me, you know, to be totally

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Speaker 3: completed with the athletic fields too, right, hopefully hopefully a little.

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Speaker 1: Sooner, okay, And then the state chips in.

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Speaker 3: Yes, we get a balloon payment and they start paying.

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Speaker 3: We're getting fifty two and maybe it's up to fifty

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Speaker 3: five percent on three hundred and fourteen point five million

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Speaker 3: to three to fifty because that's that's the amount they set.

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Speaker 3: But that was set you know, years ago. In construction

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Speaker 3: costs have gone up, but that that amount didn't. But

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Speaker 3: it's you know, equates to roughly half of the cost.

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Speaker 3: And what I've done is with the bond, I mean,

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Speaker 3: we didn't just go out and sell three hundred and fifty

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Speaker 3: million dollar bonds. We're doing it strategically. We just in

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Speaker 3: December we authorized one hundred and seven one hundred and

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Speaker 3: fifty million dollars of the bonds, and we're not going

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Speaker 3: to authorize more un till we get closer to the end,

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Speaker 3: until we have to, so we don't get the full

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Speaker 3: brunt of those payments immediately. And we were able. I

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Speaker 3: went to a twenty five year bond on that one,

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Speaker 3: and this one allows us to pay mostly interest only

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Speaker 3: up front until we get to that relief from the state,

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Speaker 3: so it's not such a dramatic impact on taxes. It

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Speaker 3: will be an impact, but we're trying to lessen that

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Speaker 3: as much as possible until the state starts kicking in

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Speaker 3: their portion.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So in the meantime, how about school enrollment? Is

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Speaker 1: it up downs, dagnant or are you losing kids you

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Speaker 1: know and signing up for school.

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Speaker 2: Or how's that working?

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Speaker 3: It is declined. I mean, I can't give you the

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Speaker 3: numbers on that has declined over the years. We have

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Speaker 3: a number of students that go to school in different districts.

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Speaker 3: They're called the Pathways program. They can say that work

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Speaker 3: doesn't offer with another community. We lose a lot of

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Speaker 3: students to Pontaganst into North Kingston two examples. And what's

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Speaker 3: unfortunate about that is the course for pupil and work

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Speaker 3: is a lot more than is in Pantagasset. But we

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Speaker 3: have to say the numbers twenty three thousand and Pontaganst

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Speaker 3: could do it for nineteen. We have to give them

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Speaker 3: the difference in that money.

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Speaker 2: Okay. Oh, yes, these are the things that you know,

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Speaker 2: you don't really know.

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Speaker 1: Is going on a day to day basis, What are

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Speaker 1: they offering a North Kingstown Pontaganset that you can't get

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Speaker 1: in war work?

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Speaker 3: I can't imagine. I think it's the career in Tech

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Speaker 3: program I thinking. I know, I know a lot of

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Speaker 3: people do it because they have better sports facilities. Oh,

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Speaker 3: I've heard I've heard parents admit that.

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Speaker 1: Okay, that's Glocester Ponaganset, right, Yes, lots a hell of

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Speaker 1: a way to go from Warwick.

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Speaker 3: It is. We have to do the transportation costs also,

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Speaker 3: so what bus do they get on?

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Speaker 2: How do you do that?

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Speaker 3: I don't know. You'd have to ask the school department

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Speaker 3: right now. Have to provide a pay for transportation, even

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Speaker 3: though that is included in the course of pupil it's additional.

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Speaker 3: But that's Those are ride rules and there's nothing we

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Speaker 3: can do about it. I don't agree with them. I

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Speaker 3: know there's been a couple of attempts to change that,

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Speaker 3: but it never went anywhere.

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Speaker 1: All right, And so when you say this it's going

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Speaker 1: to be a rough you said four tough years.

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Speaker 2: What does that mean?

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Speaker 3: Tax increases? There's no way around it. But I mean

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Speaker 3: you have to bear in mind people went and voted

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Speaker 3: for this This was in a city initiative. It went

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Speaker 3: on the ballot. There were two different referendums. For the

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Speaker 3: ninety six million. It was a forty million dollar bond

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Speaker 3: and then a fifty six million dollars bond. So that's

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Speaker 3: what people said to do the same thing with a

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Speaker 3: three fifty. So we just heard their voice. It's not

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Speaker 3: an additional fifty million, but their voice approved the other ones.

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Speaker 3: And you know they were told what the ramifications would be.

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Speaker 3: So that's the situation we're in right now.

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Speaker 1: How much of a tax increase are you looking at?

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Speaker 1: And what does it go to property taxes?

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Speaker 3: It goes to property tax to pay the debt service.

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Speaker 3: So up, I mean, we're already paying that debt service

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Speaker 3: on the original bonds, so it's the new one. I

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Speaker 3: couldn't give you the numbers right now, but you know

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Speaker 3: I can give an example. The fifty million dollar bond

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Speaker 3: was going to attack affected taxes twenty two dollars per

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Speaker 3: one hundred thousand dollars of assess value. So if you

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Speaker 3: had a a four hundred thousand dollars house, which is

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Speaker 3: you know, a crackup box these days it's just a ranchose,

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Speaker 3: it would have cost you eighty eight dollars a year,

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Speaker 3: which is you know, roughly about three fifty four dollars

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Speaker 3: a week when you put it that way. But as

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Speaker 3: I said, that's going to increase. But this was approved

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Speaker 3: by the voters, and you know it's it's where we

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Speaker 3: are right now. They wanted schools.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, okay, so the schools will be built. But

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Speaker 1: you're kind of doing a math equation here and trying

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Speaker 1: to figure out without that for fifty million dollars, how

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Speaker 1: to make it work.

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Speaker 2: Is that correct?

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Speaker 3: Exactly? We're gonna have to watch cost over runs, you know,

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Speaker 3: because mister Cody will tell you. I mean, uh, we

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Speaker 3: agreed it. We had a forum when they were talking

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Speaker 3: about guaranteed maximum price and this and that. There just

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Speaker 3: always is. I've been there for five years. I've seen

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Speaker 3: a lot of projects. There was just always change orders in,

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Speaker 3: cost increased. Even though you have a guaranteed maximum price,

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Speaker 3: that doesn't mean that's what it's going to be. So

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Speaker 3: we have to watch that. We you know, we have

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Speaker 3: to watch it. They have to. Mister Cody said that

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Speaker 3: we have some of the best contractors. He recommended them,

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Speaker 3: so you know there's optimism there. We're just gonna have

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Speaker 3: to figure out something different. They had two different versions

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Speaker 3: for athletic facilities. One uh, you know, it's beautiful fields,

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Speaker 3: practice fields, artificial turf, and then they had a fall

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Speaker 3: back one where it was less. So, like I said,

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Speaker 3: maybe you know the city, We're going to work with them.

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Speaker 3: I mean, you know, we have to have a good

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Speaker 3: relationship with working for the kids too, work for the taxpayers.

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Speaker 3: We're gonna come up with something. We're just gonna start

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Speaker 3: to work next week. We're going to come up with something.

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Speaker 1: So when people here, you know, oh boy, here go

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Speaker 1: the taxes. Is there any way to cut in other places?

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Speaker 1: You can't cut fire, you can't cut police out. Imagine

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Speaker 1: Warwick is one of the major cities.

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Speaker 2: Is there.

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Speaker 3: You just have to tell me what services you don't

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Speaker 3: want to do without. Do you not want to have

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Speaker 3: a senior center? Do you not want the trash picked up?

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Speaker 3: Do you not want a library? I mean the services

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Speaker 3: are here. We have a lot of services in Warwick.

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Speaker 3: People compare us to towns like North Kingston. They have

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Speaker 3: beautiful athletic facilities, yes, but they don't pick up your trash,

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Speaker 3: your yard waste. You know, they their taxes are higher

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Speaker 3: so it's you compare apples to apples. We have great

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Speaker 3: services here and the people want those services.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, oh boy, all right, well four more years. Hang

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Speaker 1: in there, Mayor Frank POCOZI. I just wanted the update,

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Speaker 1: and I think it did make a little bit of

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Speaker 1: news here today. So we'll continue the conversation, and I

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, but you're going to go right back to the

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Speaker 3: dot now, I know that. No.

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Speaker 1: Actually, you struck a chord with me when you were

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Speaker 1: talking about that long corridor of Pilgrim High School and

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Speaker 1: you could never get to class on time.

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Speaker 2: I lived that.

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Speaker 3: God, it's like a five minute walk. I had a

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Speaker 3: good friend he was a teacher there for twenty five years,

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Speaker 3: and he said there were other teachers who were employed

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Speaker 3: there that he never saw, never met.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I believe.

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Speaker 1: That there on the other side of the building. It

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Speaker 1: wraps all the way around.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor.

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Speaker 3: Appreciate made it. Why they made it one story? I

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Speaker 3: have no idea. There's a legend that they built it

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Speaker 3: on a swamp and maybe that's why.

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Speaker 1: Oh god, Well, as I said, I lived there and

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Speaker 1: had a lot of fun there, but it was a

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Speaker 1: weird school and I've been in a lot of schools.

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Speaker 2: Mayor, Thank you, appreciate your time.

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Speaker 3: Thank you Cher