TALK OF THE TOWNS
Burrillville, N.S. administrators give ‘State of the Town’ addresses
BURRILLVILLE — Members of the Burrillville Lions Club, business owners and community leaders gathered Wednesday to hear Burrillville Town Manager Michael C. Wood and North Smithfield Town Administrator Gary Ezovski give their respective state-of-the-town addresses.
The event at Uncle Ronnie’s Red Tavern in Nasonville was a first for the two municipal leaders who were invited to attend the club’s monthly meeting and give a summary of all of the work accomplished in the two neighboring towns over the past few years as well as plans for the future.
Burrillville Lions Club immediate past president Tom Tatro called it a “historic occasion” and an opportunity for “these well-respected municipal leaders to provide updates on current and planned happenings in an informal setting.”
Wood and Ezovski are charged with executing the policies set by their respective Town Councils and for the coordination and delivery of municipal services as chief administrative officer. Wood has been Burrillville’s appointed town manager for the past 24 years, while Ezovski is serving his second elected term as town administrator in North Smithfield.
In his address, Wood said Burrillville last year completed its Comprehensive Plan, a state-required document that will help guide future development in Burrillville for the next 20 years. According to Wood, the state requires cities and towns to adopt a new comprehensive plan every five years.
“It took a year for us to put this plan together. We submitted it to the state four or five months ago and we got it back approved in one shot. The state said it was one of the best plans they had ever seen.”
Wood also talked about the Burrillville Addiction Assistance Program, a new and innovative endeavor created last year to start conversations about recovery at the community level
As part of the program, Burrillville police officers and state certified recovery coach Michelle Harter have been visiting homes of recent overdose victims to provide them with direct access to re- covery resources, including same-day referrals to treatment. Harter is a licensed chemical dependency professional for the State of Rhode Island, a certified peer recovery specialist, and a recovery coach professional. She is working along side Monica Blanchette, the town’s new substance use prevention coordinator.
“This is something the Town Council felt was necessary and a priority,” he said. “This (opioid crisis) problem is not going away and its critical that we find innovative and effective ways to deal with it.”
Wood said the town is embarking this year on the third phase of the town’s new $5 million public works complex on Clear River Drive, which includes a new 27,000-square-foot DPW building complete with expanded office space and truck bays.
The town town’s animal control department is also wrapping up what is expected to be a months-long proj- ect to renovate the animal shelter on Clear River Drive, Wood added. As part of that project, the shelter’s entire kennel section was demolished and replaced with a new 2,100-square-foot kennel.
Wood said the town also completed a project to construct a water line in Harrisville that now connects and loops existing water supply lines from Commerce Park to Clear River Drive. The project, a joint effort between the town, the Burrillville Industrial Foundation and the Harrisville Water District, is being financed by the Rhode Island Department of Health Infrastructure Bank. Wood said the water loop was necessary because of concerns about public health and loss of water service to residents as well as the ability of Burrillville Commerce Park to meet the future water demands of prospective tenants.
Wood said his most important job as town manager is redevelopment and economic development. He cited the award-winning Clocktower Building and Stillwater Mill Complex redevelopment project and the ongoing redevelopment of downtown Pascoag in partnership with the Burrillville Redevelopment Agency as two examples of the town’s more successful redevelopment efforts.
Wood also discussed the status of Invenergy Thermal Development’s efforts to construct a $1 billion gas burning power plant in Pascoag, saying the state Energy Facility Siting Board’s final series of public hearings on the power plant are underway and will continue through February. Wood lauded residents of the community for their work opposing the plant.
“The community has done a great job soliciting support statewide against the plant and that has been tremendously helpful,” he said. “My job and the Town Council’s job is the business end of it and to make sure we win this fight. I think we can win it and we should win it.”
Ezovski, North Smithfield’s administrator since 2016, said when he was elected two years ago, his primary goal was to bring stability to municipal government and heal rifts that had developed between the former town administrator and Town Council.
“I felt the most important thing we needed to do was to get people working together and I’m proud to say that we’ve done that and that we’ve been able to bridge a lot of those gaps,” he said. “We have a lot of great people in our communities, including hundreds of volunteers who make our communities what they are.”
Ezovski said the town has acquired a new EMS rescue response trailer for remote area rescues and is working with the North Smithfield Heritage Association to obtain grants for a major restoration this year of the Forestdale Schoolhouse, one of the last of the old style oneroom schoolhouses in town.
Known by locals as the Little Red Schoolhouse, the historic building on School Street is getting a fill exterior renovation in the spring.
Ezovski said the town, schools and Citizens Bank recently partnered together to make improvements to town playing fields, and that the town’s annual Pumpkin Festival, which celebrates its 13th year this year, is still going strong thanks to dedicated community volunteers.
“Those are the kinds of things that really make communities,” he said. “Good things happen when people work together and that’s been our over-arching core objective.”
Ezovski said North Smithfield ended the last fiscal year with a $543,000 surplus, and the policies are in place to ensure the town’s fund balance is in the range of 12 to 16 percent of the town’s previous operating budget.
North Smithfield also established a post-employment benefits (OPEB) trust and is working to update its Comprehensive Plan, he said.
Ezovski said construction has begun on a new Town Hall; the Fire Department has a new truck and rescue; more senior bus transportation has been; and the town has appointed a new Parks and Recreation Department program coordinator.
“We recently put civilians back on the desk, which has allowed two police officers to go into the schools as school resource officers,” he said.
The town also recently extended sewer lines to 32 properties without bonding, and what is being called the state’s largest solar farm is moving through the local approval process.