Town Manager Report for the week ending February 20, 2026
On Monday afternoon at Lynch Arena in Pawtucket there was a horrific event which I am sure everyone at this point is aware of which put our community, in particular our Boys Hockey team, in harms away. Thankfully none or our student athletes, parents, families, or supporters were injured in the melee. I want to thank Officer Green of the Coventry Police Department for responding to the scene and insuring all of our Coventry players, parents, and supporters were safe and accounted for. He also helped coordinate the reunification and was our eyes and ears on the scene. I also want to thank Superintendent Cowart for his leadership and steady hand at a time of real crisis. He thoughtfully and quickly communicated with the students, parents, teachers, administrators, and staff what had happened and that everyone was safe. I personally appreciated his messaging to me so I could keep the Council informed up to the minute. The days following showed the importance of our school mental health providers and counselors along with the Town’s internal resources led by Director Robillard and his partnerships with agencies like Tides Family Services. This was a tragedy that was handled with professionalism, empathy, and compassion to assist and support all of those effected and we greatly appreciate how everyone stepped up in time of need.
On Tuesday we had our monthly meeting with the Auditor General and provided him the draft of our Deficit Reduction Plan for the current School Deficit of $4.5m. He had some general questions on some of the assumptions the school was making and how they are trending this year as they are expecting a $900k surplus for this current year. We advised him that this plan would be going in front of the Council on Tuesday for their approval and then the School Committee on Thursday. Once both bodies approve it, it will be sent to the OAG for final state approval.
We also had our monthly meeting on the Community Learning Center with the Pandemic Recovery Office who advised all of the communities of some new guidelines for our next and hopefully last on-site visit on April 1. We are at approximately 90% completion with the goal of opening mid-April.
On Wednesday, myself along with Co. Pascua and IT Manager Broggi from CPD met with GZA to discuss their updated hydrology calculations as it refers to our Dam Operation Permit for Johnson’s Pond. We are currently in discussions with RIDEM on what the true historical data is for operating the pond and dam and how we can agree on more accurate permit levels throughout the season. Once we have the final report from GZA we will be meeting with RIDEM.