The Middletown Town Council awarded a $1.4 million paving contract, agreed to buy a demonstration ambulance, and created a dedicated fund for school-zone speed camera fines, according to the Middletown Town Council's published meeting recording.
The council also accepted a $250,000 federal grant to raise a flood-prone coastal road, adopted a rewritten memorial policy, and formally set aside a regionalization study with the City of Newport.
Two of the town's worst roads get rebuilt
The council voted by voice vote to award a paving and utility contract to D'Ambra Construction Company. Funding comes from $1.3 million in the town's capital improvement special revenue fund for paving and drainage, plus a $107,875 state Municipal Road and Bridge Revolving Fund grant.
The work covers two roads the town administrator described as long-standing "red roads," a designation for pavement in the worst condition. One is a rural lane the town deliberately deferred repaving for years while a large golf course earth-moving project sent heavy equipment over it. The town administrator told the council it is "one of the worst roads, if not the worst road, in the Town of Middletown right now."
Local sponsorAffordable photography lessons in Newport, Jamestown, or your town.E.L. Photo RIThe town engineer described the scope: roughly 7,205 feet from one main road to another, with most of it excavated down to a new road base rather than simply resurfaced. Crews will install underdrain, a stone drainage layer and filter fabric, restore roadside swales, and add a second culvert pipe at a higher elevation so water in the swale drains to adjacent wetlands. About 500 feet will be left largely as is. A second road will be milled two inches and repaved for its final stretch.
Council members pressed on longevity. Asked how the town holds its design engineer accountable, the engineer said the consultant and public works staff will be on site throughout construction. He estimated the rebuilt road should not need this conversation again for 30 to 40 years.
A third road was bid but did not fit the budget. Staff said if the state has additional grant money, the town would return to the council to request a change order adding it.
$250,000 grant to raise a flooding shore road
The council passed a resolution accepting a Federal Lands Access Program grant of up to $250,000 to raise about 1,200 feet of a coastal road near the town beach, with the town contributing up to $70,500 from the parks and recreation beach capital replenishment fund as its match. That item had been continued from the July 6 regular meeting so staff could confirm the town actually owns the road.
Staff reported the town's ownership traces to a 2003 land purchase in which Middletown contributed roughly $300,000 toward a conservation acquisition and, in exchange, received beach access rights and an agreement conveying the roadway. The agreement was recorded, but staff said no formal deed appears in the records and they will follow up to get one. The town has maintained the road as a public road since.
The purpose is flood resilience. The engineer said raising the road, including about a foot at the culvert, means it will flood less often in storms. It is the only access to two beach areas and the only secondary access to another. Construction is estimated at $220,000 to $250,000 and will go out to bid after design.
Council members asked staff to approach an adjacent private property owner about doing his stretch at the same time, while a contractor is already mobilized.
Speed camera fines routed into school-zone safety
The council passed two resolutions establishing a School Zone Safety Special Revenue Fund — a restricted account that can only be spent on stated purposes — and dedicating a portion of school-zone speed camera revenue to it for fiscal year 2027. Twenty dollars of each ticket goes into the fund.
Asked how much that will generate, the town administrator said he hopes the answer is zero.
Staff said the State Traffic Commission approved new flashing school-zone lights on a main road, equipment was expected shortly, and installation is planned before school starts at the end of August. The lights will operate until 6 p.m., and control of all school-zone lights will be consolidated at public works rather than the current mix of systems. One existing speed-feedback sign will be converted to a school-zone sign.
The council president noted tickets trigger at 31 miles per hour and asked staff to keep publicizing the cameras before school reopens.
Ambulance bought off the floor
The council approved purchasing a Ford F-550 diesel 4x4 Type I ambulance from New England Fire Equipment and Apparatus Corporation, financed through a five-year lease purchase with debt service paid from the rescue wagon special revenue fund.
The fire chief said one of the department's two front-line rescues has been out of service for about three weeks with electrical problems no one has diagnosed, and the town's 2010 reserve is running as a front-line vehicle. Middletown is currently borrowing ambulances from neighboring departments. Ordering a new ambulance would take roughly 28 months; this one is a demonstration vehicle a vendor used for showings, with very low mileage and standard manufacturer warranties, available in about 60 days or sooner.
Two ordered rescues are due in February. The plan is for those to become primary vehicles, with this purchase and a refurbished older unit as backups.
Staff explained the rescue wagon fund is fed by ambulance billing paid by Medicare and insurers. Residents are not billed for any balance; nonresidents are billed. The fund pays for fire apparatus and police cars outside the tax rate.
Fire and facilities contracts
The council also approved, by voice vote:
- An electronic access control system for town hall and the fire and public works complex, awarded to a vendor based in East Providence, at $32,600 for town hall and $85,800 for the fire station and public works, against $185,000 budgeted in the capital improvement fund. The facilities director said the system matches what is going into the new school and Valley Elementary School, giving first responders one-card access, and that the police department's existing fobs can be folded in unchanged.
- A three-year pest control contract with a Pawtucket-based vendor: $34,600 from the general fund and $20,160 from the sewer fund, covering 26 town locations. Staff said the town and schools previously had scattered vendors and, on the school side, largely emergency calls. Two qualified bidders came in within $1,000 of each other over three years.
- Purchase of a station alerting system from PURVIS Systems. The fire chief said the current system dates to the station's 2015 construction and has no available parts. The new system pushes 911 data straight into dispatch and automates the alert, which he estimated saves about two minutes from call to dispatch. It also ramps lighting and tones and can alert only the crews assigned to a call — a change he tied to health findings about firefighters woken abruptly.
- Replacement of the digitized radio box fire alarm monitoring equipment, awarded to a company the resolution identified as RB Allen. The chief said the existing system is roughly three replacement cycles behind and running unsupported software. The town collects about $60,000 a year in monitoring subscription fees from businesses.
- A change order for 25 additional consulting days on the human resources and payroll phase of the town's financial software implementation, funded from the public-private ventures special revenue fund. The finance director said the original hour budget was too low for more than 600 town and school employees across eight unions. Payroll and employee self-service portals go live January 1, 2027. Employees will be able to request time off and see leave balances online, and pay stubs will show the full employer cost of benefits.
Construction updates
The facilities director reported library construction is moving quickly: most interior framing done, floor cutting completed, sprinkler and electrical rough-in underway, and fiber optic cable pulled to tie the Middletown Public Library into town hall's system. Furniture bids opened July 29 and came in favorably; an award may come to the council at its next meeting.
He said the project remains within the budget for the approved design. Donations and grants have raised the total budget without increasing the town's allocation, and are paying for rooftop unit replacement — which will come off the capital improvement plan — a redesigned front entrance, and additional sound mitigation including a sound-masking system. He said staff are steering large gifts toward items that expand library services rather than "nice-to-haves."
At the new middle-high school site, water main work is progressing in the north driveway, masonry and roofing are advancing, and roughly 200 workers are on site daily. Furniture bids are expected to go out in early September. A draft moving plan is circulating with the superintendent.
At Valley Elementary School, roofing over the mechanical wing is nearly complete, gym and cafeteria painting is underway, and sprinkler mains are about 80 percent done in the main building. Furniture and playground bids go out in early September. Staff said the contractor is about a week ahead of schedule and the building will be cleaned and safe before school opens.
The council separately voted to receive a change order for the school project that the administration executed without prior council approval. The town administrator said the work — pulling utilities up a driveway so the building can be heated this fall — could not wait, because state environmental approval arrived late and the summer meeting schedule left no window. Items over $100,000 normally require council approval. He said he put it on the docket so it enters the public record.
Memorial policy rewritten
The council approved a revised memorial and recognition policy presented by Gregory Huet, chair of the Citizens Memorial Committee, after two years of committee work. The current policy is three pages; the replacement runs 14, much of it attachments.
The rewrite lays out step-by-step processes for tree and bench memorials and identifies approved locations. Its largest change folds the distinguished citizen and distinguished veteran programs into the same policy, at the town administrator's request. Nominations will be initiated by the town clerk, with the citizen honoree recognized near the Fourth of July and the veteran near Veterans Day. Selectees will be listed on an electronic honor roll on the town's homepage.
Feasibility applications for benches and trees remain open year-round. A council member asked about a scoring system for nominations; the chair said the committee is not required to select anyone in a given year.
Housing committee charge draws pushback
The council removed one item from the consent calendar — a batch of routine items passed in a single vote — at residents' request: a memorandum on the Affordable Housing Committee. It was received and continued to the September 21 regular meeting, along with similar memos on every town committee.
Two committee members objected to how the proposal arrived. One said the existing charge on the town website runs 29 words while the proposed replacement runs over 200, and that it was drafted and docketed without consulting the committee. He singled out a provision saying the committee "will provide recommendations to the Town Council when requested," and asked that it be struck.
The town administrator responded that the language appears in several committee memos and is meant only to note these are advisory bodies created by the council, unlike boards with authority under state law. "I don't want the tenor of Mr. Frank to suggest that I seek to control the committee," he said, adding he has no desire to interfere in committee decisions.
Another committee member, who also sits on the beach commission, said his main concern was lack of input and that the September timeline resolves it. He said his committee may add the item to its own agenda.
Staff said the memos were placed on consent specifically so the council, committees and public would have a month to review them before the September 21 discussion.
Regionalization shelved
The council received a memorandum from its president on school regionalization with the City of Newport and discussed it publicly. He said that based on conversations with councilors, there is no will to move forward now, citing changed circumstances over the past six to eight months and Newport's debt. One councilor stated flatly he has no interest in pursuing regionalization at this time.
Another councilor said he had been cleared to speak on the subject by a state ethics advisory opinion he identified as 2026-16, and said he still favors cooperation with Newport short of full regionalization and wants voters to decide any merger.
The president said he called Newport's mayor after the July meeting to convey the decision.
Other business
The council ratified appointments of a deputy finance director and a health services coordinator, approved a utility and access easement with a private company, and voted to seal executive session minutes. It accepted a $4,000 donation for the library project — $3,000 restricted to the children's learning and play area from a trust, and $1,000 for general purposes — recommended by the library building committee at its July 15 meeting.
Permits were granted for a private wedding procession at a Newport-area venue on September 12 and for a surfing competition at the town's second beach on either October 3 or 4, with a backup weather window October 17 or 18. A peddler's license for a Texas-based meat truck was approved, with staff confirming the vendor must produce written permission from a private property owner before it can operate and cannot go door to door.
Public forum
A resident reported a sinkhole on a town avenue that she said has opened three times since the road was paved, each time patched the same day. She said her husband had to swerve into the opposite lane one morning to avoid it. The council president and town administrator both said it was the first they had heard of it and committed to finding out what is happening at the location and getting back to her.
The council held a moment of silence for four community members who recently died.
What's next
The council's next regular meeting is expected to take up the library furniture bid award. The full slate of committee charge memos, including the Affordable Housing Committee, is scheduled for discussion at the September 21 regular meeting, leaving roughly a month for committees and residents to submit feedback.