The East Greenwich Town Council approved a $46,950 autonomous field-marking robot and a $32,500 Eldredge Park design contract, let a Main Street restaurant’s liquor license expire, and opened a review of e-bike safety headed to a public forum this fall.
The East Greenwich Town Council on Monday approved the purchase of an autonomous, GPS-guided athletic field line-marking robot for an amount not to exceed $46,950, took no action on a downtown restaurant’s alcoholic beverage license — allowing it to expire — and voted to open a discussion of e-bike and scooter safety that officials said will move to a public forum this fall.
The council met with four members present. The meeting was called to order at 6:15 p.m. for board and commission interviews before the public session began at 7 p.m., according to the East Greenwich Town Council’s published meeting recording. Councilor Michael Zarrella was announced as absent.
Consent calendar, minus two items
Most routine business moved as a consent calendar — a group of items voted on in a single action unless a member pulls one out for discussion. Approved by voice vote were minutes from the August 17 regular meeting, a proclamation recognizing a resident as recipient of the Boston Post Cane, two one-day Class F beer and wine licenses for a church Oktoberfest on September 25 and a church fundraiser on September 26, annual holiday sales license renewals for two Main Street businesses, reappointments to the Affordable Housing Commission and the Historic District Commission, a bulk materials and road striping award to several low bidders, and a tax assessor recommendation for 2026 real estate abatements totaling $3,552.95 alongside additions of $3,961.27.
Two items were pulled for discussion and then approved separately by voice vote.
The line-marking robot
The first was the award to Turf Robotics for the field-marking machine. Andy Wade, Director of Community Services, said a youth lacrosse field can take four workers roughly six hours to lay out from scratch, and that the machine can do the same field in about half an hour with one person on site. He said the parks crew currently stripes fields with aerosol spray cans, which he described as wasteful and more expensive over time, and that the new unit holds seven gallons of liquid paint.
Local sponsor
Wade said the recommended model was chosen partly because two competing models carried annual software subscription fees of roughly $3,000 to $5,000 and pushed buyers toward proprietary paint. He estimated paint savings of $5,000 to $7,000 a year and said he would anticipate a service life of at least 10 years, while noting the technology is new enough that none have reached end of life. Asked directly whether the purchase would replace staff, he said it would not, arguing the town will never fund enough manpower for its park acreage and that freeing crew time lets them handle repairs like broken swings and fences.
A town official added context, describing the purchase as a one-time cost valued at roughly half the annual cost of an employee. Those savings projections are the town’s own estimates, not audited figures. The purchase comes out of the capital improvement budget.
Wade also floated, without a proposal before the council, the possibility of charging youth leagues or tournament organizers for in-house restriping, saying the parks superintendent wants time with the machine first.
Eldredge Park design contract
The council also approved a landscape design contract not to exceed $32,500 for the Eldredge Park Accessible Community Space and Restoration project. Wade said the town received a $125,000 state recreation grant funded through green economy bonds for the work, which as scoped includes restoration of a historic memorial fountain, a shade structure with lighting, ADA-compliant pathways, seating, invasive vegetation removal, native plantings, historical signage and a solar-powered waste receptacle.
Wade cautioned that the concept drawing prepared for the grant application is not the finished design. “Don’t get married to anything in that picture,” he said. The contract covers final design and construction documents so the project can go out to bid, with a hoped-for groundbreaking early next year. He said the nearby restroom and concession building needs upgrades but that funding is not yet in place.
Low Key Cafe license expires
Council President Mark Schwager reviewed the history of the Class B-V alcoholic beverage license with victualing and entertainment for Low Key Cafe on Main Street. He said license owner Zach Flanders first came to the council in February 2025 after a roof leak forced the business to close, and that the council had since granted but not issued the license pending reopening, through September 14.
Town Clerk Lee Carney told the council Flanders had confirmed he could not reach a mutually agreeable lease with his landlord and had decided closing the business was in his best financial interest. With no affirmative vote, the license expired and returns to the town, leaving one available Class B-V license. The council took no action on the item.
Board appointment and school project
The council voted by voice vote to appoint a new regular member to the Board of Assessment Review, filling a vacancy for the remainder of a term expiring July 1, 2029. Schwager said the appointee was interviewed on August 17 and had prior experience assisting a tax assessor’s office and serving on a planning board in Vermont.
In the manager’s report, the council heard that the school construction committee met the prior Thursday for its first formal meeting since January. Officials said tariffs on steel affected the high school and two elementary school projects, but described contingency reserves as healthy and said risk declines as work proceeds. One council member said the takeaway was that the project is on budget and on time with expanded scope — a characterization offered by a committee participant, not an independent audit. Consultants are expected back before the council with contract awards, most likely at the September 28 meeting.
A council member also said consultants are preparing a fact sheet on the new schools’ HVAC system, following public questions about cooling.
EG350 festival
The chair of the town’s 350th anniversary steering committee presented plans for a Heritage Festival on October 24 from noon to 4 p.m. at Academy Field and Swift Community Center. Plans as described include a pop-up museum with five exhibits, hourly showings of a new 20-minute documentary, colonial reenactors, hayrides, a petting zoo, food trucks, merchandise sales and two books. A beer tent is planned with a fenced area away from family activities, hours of 1 to 4 p.m., TIPS-certified bartenders and two police officers assigned; the presenter said the one-day license application is expected on a consent agenda in about two weeks. Organizers said there is no rain date.
E-bikes and scooters
On a motion added for discussion purposes only and approved by voice vote, the council took up e-bike and scooter safety. A council member said residents canvassed in recent weeks named it their top concern, cited emergency room visit counts in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and suggested requiring heavier helmets for riders under 16 and police stops for riders without helmets. Those figures were presented by the councilor and were not independently documented at the meeting.
A town official proposed a public informational forum this fall with enforcement, recreation and medical participants rather than immediate rules, noting enforcement difficulty and confusion over how classes of e-bikes, scooters and low-speed vehicles are defined. Officials said a comprehensive state bill passed the House last session but was held for further study in the Senate, and that a local ordinance could conflict if state law changes.
Deepak Vishnu, a resident of Sally Ann Drive who identified himself as a motorcycle rider, urged a mandatory safety and education module for youth riders, comparing it to motorcycle licensing requirements, and asked for attention to lithium-ion battery fire risk.
The council also entered executive session, later reporting that two sets of prior executive session minutes were approved and no action was taken on two other items, which included a lease discussion and potential litigation over a street light transfer. The minutes were sealed by voice vote.
Next up: the council’s next meeting is expected September 28, when school project contract awards may come forward. The e-bike forum is planned for this fall.
This story was sourced from the complete transcript of the meeting. While we make every effort to ensure accuracy, the possibility of transcription errors could lead to inaccuracies.