Your Rhode Island Government Owner’s Manual

The 2023-2024 Rhode Island Government Owner’s Manual is now available. It is available in “hard copy” by picking one up at the RI Department of State Public Information Division in Room 38 of the State House during business hours.

While it is late as the legislative session is nearly over, this puts in one place many of the resources that have been there and have been very hard for an average resident to find.

In addition, the most up-to-date version of this directory is also available online at this website:

(https://opengov.sos.ri.gov/govdirectory)

Some of the information is hyper-local such as phone numbers – and emails – of city/town leadership, from mayors and town managers to Councils, department heads, school committees, etc. Some cities have one main phone number for an entire committee, so tweaking will be needed, and links where minutes and agendas should be filed are also there, though sometimes absent of filings, or filings that are usually about a month behind (not very helpful when following a breaking issue).

Open Meetings tab

This is where all city and town official groups need to file their minutes and agendas – a very useful place for residents to find out what is happening if they are unable to attend, or to watch, virtually.

You can search for upcoming meetings, past meetings, minutes, agendas, and contact information for thousands of state and municipal public bodies. Keyword and date searches are also available. You can sign up for e-mail alerts for newly scheduled meetings from public bodies, by a date or even by keyword. Advanced users can even use RSS technology to stream real-time meeting information to their own website.

Cursory review of the guidebook leaves immediate updates needed, especially after this year’s new legislation and appointments. Hopefully the project will be a work-in-progress to keep this handy and very purposeful directory as up to date as possible.