The Warwick City Council awarded more than 30 bids totaling over $2 million and renamed two city streets on Nov. 6.

The largest bid awarded by the council, in the amount of $394,238.54, was given to OSHEAN, Inc. of North Kingstown to upgrade the city’s connectivity. According to Council President Stephen McAllister, this will reduce the monthly expenditure for network costs by between 80 to 90%. The money will come from  American Rescue Plan Act (APRA) funds, according to McAllister.

Ward 5 Councilor Ed Ladouceur expressed discontent with recent changes in the process of the Warwick City Council’s bid requests package, voting against the package of awards for the first time during his tenure in office.

“This shouldn’t be a search-and-discovery mission,” Ladouceur said. “It shouldn’t be that difficult to do that. And I think it is absolutely problematic that the information that we should have readily available to us without having to go on the websites and do what some of my colleagues think is a very simple procedure [is not available]- I don’t think it’s a very simple procedure for everyone.”

Ward 3 Councilman Tim Howe in response asked Ladouceur to consider the work of the finance committee in dissecting each bid request, as well as his ability to request a printed copy of each bid request. Other bid requests included the purchase of communication equipment, the purchase and repair of tires and the purchase of new police uniforms.

Ladouceur was the sole dissenting vote on the bill’s passage.

The City Council also renamed two streets, with the northern portion of Chatfield Street and southern portion of Meadow View Avenue renamed to Trolley Lane and Kettle Street officially being renamed to George Sears Greene Way.

According to Ladouceur, Trolley Lane was renamed as such since the road used to be a lane for trollies.

“I thought that was a really nice gesture- well-deserved and just a way of recognizing and appreciating history,” Ladouceur said.

Ward 8 Councilor Anthony Sinapi, who sponsored the Kettle Street resolution, said that the name change was “years in the making” and didn’t affect any addresses.

While both name changes passed without much controversy, Budlong Farm Road resident  Richard Langseth said he had an issue with the process, although he was not opposed to the name changes themselves.

“To my understanding, this is the department of the city engineer, and the city engineer is supposed to keep a map of the city, and when I look at the geomap, the map that we use, there’s confusion- it doesn’t match the ordinance,” Langseth said. “I think we need to be far more careful with the city map and we need to bring in the official in charge of the city map when changes are being made to the street names.”

Langseth also said he would like to talk with a council member on making an official city map available for residents to purchase.

The council honored Deputy Chief Mike Mernick, who said the Pledge of Allegiance to open the meeting, for his efforts in helping save a Providence family who was in a burning house  when he was off-duty.

“He jumped into action when there was a house engulfed in flame,” Ward 1 Councilor Jim Foley said. “Without hesitation, the Deputy Chief pulled over his car, gave his wife his hot wieners, and said ‘I’ll be right back.’ It wasn’t as quick as he thought. But thanks to his heroic efforts, he went up two flights of stairs with two police officers, found a mother and two children, and helped save all three.”