Matthews gets back to work at City Hall
Planning guru taking part in special project despite retirement
WOONSOCKET – Former Director of Planning and Development Joel D. Mathews is at it again – working. Yep, that is what Mathews likes to do with some of his time these days and it works in nicely with what appears to be a growing workload on local planners.
Mathews officially retired from his city directorship five years ago but has been working on a part-time basis as a retiree to help the city he has guided in planning in some capacity for 41 years now.
On Wednesday he was back in the Planning Department in Harris Hall where he is again helping Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt with special projects after the City Council on Monday agreed to transfer $20,000 from Planning Division purchased services to the Office of Planning & Development for another round of work on pending projects.
Mathews officially retired from full time work in April of 2011 but then stayed on as a part-time consultant for former Mayor Leo T. Fontaine after that and then came back again for a period of 8 to 9 months to serve as newly-elected Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt’s interim director of planning.
Another long time city planning official, N. David Bouley is now serving as Baldelli-Hunt’s director of planning and went before the City Council on Monday to request the funding transfer to keep Mathews available to the department as well.
It did take a little bit of negotiating to make sure Mathews would agree to stay and that will prove its value as the city moves forward with the pending workload, he explained.
“Getting Joel to hang around a bit longer will provide us with his expertise and that is a real asset to the city,” Bouley said.
The department also has a grant funding award that it can add to the costs of Mathews’ compensation, Bouley noted. Mathews is only paid for the hours he works and does not collect other city benefits, he added.
The City Council voted 6-1 on the funding transfer with Councilman Garrett Mancieri opposed. Mancieri said he did not want to vote for the transfer out concern for the department’s original budget. He also supported the view that the Department should be working to train younger staffers to take on the duties that are now being covered by veteran planners.
City Councilman Daniel Gendron had raised that issue while noting he was reluctant to support the transfer only because of the need to have new employees ready to take on the overall duties of the department. It was only because of the clear benefits of retaining Mathews’ services that he would vote in favor of the transfer, he added.
“It is very beneficial to have employees come back but we also need energetic young people who can learn from these individuals,” Gendron said.
Other members of the Council praised Mathews for his experience and willingness to continue working for the City of Woonsocket while indicating they planned to support the transfer.
City Councilman Christopher Beauchamp said he has come to understand Mathews’ value as a planner while working with him on several projects. “He is a leader, his knowledge is invaluable and you couldn’t replace him with ten people in my opinion,” Beauchamp said.
Despite the interest raised in seeing him pass along some of his knowledge to his coworkers, Mathews on Wednesday was more focused on the list of projects still to be managed by the Planning Department, some such as the redesign of Cass Park, he had taken on himself as an architect.
It helps that he only has to focus on those duties, the things he loves, under his parttime service. “By mutual agreement with the Mayor and the Council the job has evolved so that I would only do all the fun stuff that I like to do like building projects, economic development and working with developers,” he said.
“I also enjoy working with a Mayor who is opened minded to every new idea to her credit,” he added.
As result, Mathews will be adding completed project work to a list that has included the city’s Urban Redevelopment back late 1970s and early 80s, Highland Industrial Park, the Thundermist Hydro project that now generates electricity for a private company, city schools such as the middle school complex, the River’s Edge Recreation Complex on the city’s former landfill, the World War II Veterans Memorial State Park renovation, and even the pending sale of Ayotte Little League Field at Providence Street and Smithfield Road to the Cumberland Farms convenience store chain.
It was easy to tell that Mathews, the “mutual agreement’’ aside, is very happy to be working in a department he has already spent much of working career building. “Yes, if you enjoy what you are doing it is not hard work,” Mathews said.