Warwick City Council Meeting - 8.17.26

The Warwick City Council and its committees met on August 17, 2026 (the meeting metadata is timestamped August 18 UTC). The council approved a three-year natural-gas supply arrangement with a fixed supply rate of $0.075 per therm, combining city and school-department usage; the library was also identified as a participant. The spending authority was amended to $1.6 million and advanced. The Finance Committee recommended a three-year, $360,000 audit award to CliftonLarsonAllen, and reviewed a one-year police-software support renewal, an annual IT hardware spending authority not to exceed $60,000, and purchases including two Chevrolet vehicles through state bid MPA 559. It also recommended awarding bulk road salt to Mid American Salt LLC at $74.74 per ton for October 2026–October 2027.

The proposed $929,818 award for a new fire pumper to Greenwood Emergency Vehicles was held until the September meeting after questions about competing bids and bid-specification documentation; a second fire-apparatus item was also held. The council separately voted unanimously to authorize a contingency-fee legal retainer to join fire-apparatus antitrust litigation, with no upfront taxpayer expense and a stated 30% contingency fee plus a share of litigation expenses. A requested $43,000 change order for the State Street water pump-station project was held until September for further review after debate over design assumptions, liability, and project risk. The council also discussed drone procurement and related privacy and operational safeguards.