‘We needed this yesterday’: An emergency contract award raises many questions in Woonsocket

This article originally appeared in the Rhode Island Current on May 1, 2023 and was written by Nancy Lavin.  

Below are John Marion’s quotes included in the article on a $1.7 million emergency contract to repair broken equipment critical to Woonsocket’s regional sewage treatment plant.

“It doesn’t speak well of how Woonsocket is trying to fix this problem if they’re bypassing both their own requirements and state requirements,” said John Marion, executive director for Common Cause Rhode Island.

“The fact that they are doing this without even the bare amount of due diligence required suggests that maybe they didn’t even look at their options,” Marion said. “I don’t think ignorance is an excuse here.”

Marion also pointed out that not following the rules was one the accusations levied by council members against Mayor Baldelli-Hunt when the council voted to oust her from the job last October. Baldelli-Hunt was reelected a month later.

To read the full article, click here.