Marcello could be back in fold
City reaches out to former city solicitor; could be hired as independent contractor
WOONSOCKET — After the new City Council fired City Solicitor Michael Marcello during the panel’s first meeting earlier this month, the panel is now reaching out to him with an olive branch. The question is, is it long enough? Marcello was earning $118,500 a year as the city’s first staff counsel in years, a wage that, in practice, boiled down to about $60 an hour, not including benefits.
Now the council is offering to pay Marcello $85 an hour to work as an independent contractor for up to a month, provided he’s paid no more than $15,000 in all. The offer is designed, in part, to address concerns that Marcello’s abrupt termination during the new council’s organizational meeting leaves the city without a lawyer, particularly one familiar with several unresolved legal issues involving the city.
The interim assignment for Marcello would not include any of the benefits normally associated with a staff employee.
The council was expected to take up the employment offer during a meeting on Monday – the new council’s first real meeting since the formality of choosing its own leaders and a few other appointees, including the solicitor and judges for local courts.
Whether Marcello is amenable to the proposed deal is unknown. Efforts to reach him for comment were not successful.
The city solicitor was terminated on a 52 vote of the new council during the
organizational meeting at the Stadium Theatre on Dec. 5, with an audience of some 450 spectators in attendance. Council members Melissa Murray and Christopher Beauchamp were Marcello’s only supporters on the seven member council. Council President Daniel Gendron and Vice President Jon D. Brien voted to oust Marcello, along with Councilors James C. Cournoyer, Richard Fagnant and Denise Sierra.
Beauchamp appeared to vote against Marcello at the meeting as well, but outgoing Council President Robert
The Call Moreau told the vote was cast in error and was later recorded by the city clerk as a nay on the question of terminating the city solicitor.
During the organizational meeting, Murray proposed a compromise to allow the city to keep Marcello on board until March 1. She said Marcello could use the time to bring a successor up to speed on various legal matters.
Members of the council gave no explanation for letting Marcello go during the brief organizational meeting, which was held as part of a broader and, generally, festive ceremony to swear in all the officials elected on Nov. 8, including Mayor Lisa Baldelli Hunt. Among the
guest speakers was Gov. Gina Raimondo, while Chief Magistrate William Guglietta of the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal administered the oath of office to the new officials.
The following day, however, members of the council defended their actions, saying Marcello advanced the interests of the Baldelli-Hunt, but not always those of the council. Under the City Charter, they said, he is obligated to serve as an impartial advocate for both.
Five members of the newly seated council now propose bringing Marcello back as an independent contractor for a month. They are Brien, Sierra, Gendron, Cournoyer and Fagnant.
Under the resolution, Marcello would be paid from the unexpended portion of the line item in the budget for the solicitor’s salary, which presently contains about $55,000.