Council Approves Grant Application for Wyoming Improvements

By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA

March 5th 2026

RICHMOND – The Town Council, at Tuesday’s meeting, authorized Town Administrator Erin Liese to apply for a grant from the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank and the Department of Transportation’s 2026-2027 Municipal Bridge and Road Revolving Fund. The funds, if awarded, would be allocated to improving safety on Main Street (Route 138) in Wyoming, which is a state-owned road.

Richmond officials, including Liese, council Vice President Mark Reynolds and councilor Dan Madnick, met last July with RIDOT officials in an effort to move Richmond higher on the list of state priorities.

“The Wyoming Plaza needs improvements,” Liese explained. “Some of the curb cuts in there are very difficult, and as we create more economic development down there, Main Street’s going to have to be improved, so, the state did say that this was a project on their list, however, it’s pretty low on the priority list.”

Liese said the approval to move forward would be the first step in the submission process, adding that the application would have to be submitted soon.

Madnick, who previously served on the Planning Board, said new economic development in the downtown corridor would require a traffic study which would show that the road could not handle a greater volume of automobile and even pedestrian traffic.

“It’s not very safe for pedestrians, not very safe for bicyclists, so we ended up finally getting a meeting with RIDOT with town staff on July 7 of last year, and that’s what kicked off the effort to put comments into the most recent iteration of the state transportation improvement plan,” he said. “The town came through, we did that, and we got on their radar, and now, we’re on the list. This is just one step in getting recognition down here to get some investment in our state roads to help with economic development and moving forward Wyoming and Chariho Plaza.”

The question of how the funds, $4.4 million, would be awarded caused some concern among council members.

“We have to be careful here, because this funding avenue, if it’s awarded, it’s a $4.4 million loan that may or may not be forgivable and you can offset that with other funding,” Madnick said.

Council members agreed that the town should not go into debt for a state project.

Council President Samantha Wilcox added,

“I think that we should have some kind of safety, because I don’t necessarily think that we should go into so much debt over a state road,” she said. “I’m happy to partner with them if we need to, but we obviously can’t afford something like that.”

Madnick made a motion, which the council approved, to authorize Liese to submit an application for funding under the state revolving fund.

More Funding Applications

Erin Liese asked the council to approve congressional funding requests to the office of Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-District 2, for two projects.

The first project would involve upgrading the town’s camera systems to improve security and monitoring.

The second project would relocate the front door of the Town Hall, install electronic doors to improve accessibility and improve the roof lines above the new entrance.

“We’re hopeful to go forward with those two projects,” Liese said. “It is a very tight timeline for Chief [Police Chief Elwood Johnson] because I do need his assistance, obviously in the camera program to apply. That’s a Monday deadline.”

The amounts of the funding requests were not specified.

The council approved a motion by Wilcox to application for congressional funding.

Other Business

The council approved a bid of $455,305.50 from T. Miozzi LLC for the re-paving of Wilbur Hill Road.

With councilor Jeffrey Dinsmore opposed, the council approved the reappointment of Nancy Hess to the Planning Board.

The council authorized Erin Liese to sign a lease with the Washington County Fair for use of part of the fairgrounds for the town’s 250th Celebration Field Day.

The council approved a request from Police Chief Elwood Johnson to promote Patrolman Adam Andrukiewicz to the position of Detective.

The council approved, with regret, the resignation of Human Services Director Kate Schimmel.

The council approved the promotion of Kendra Tanguay to Town Clerk.