Former Landfill Chairman: Gone, But Not without a Trace
Thursday, September 23, 2010
What happens when a power broker in Rhode Island gets tagged with being responsible for a $75 million dollars of waste and corruption of public funds? He packs up and sells his near million-dollar house and moves to New Hampshire.
Austin Ferland was once a prominent businessman and a power player in Rhode Island—but he bolted for New Hampshire after the state found out that the state agency he oversaw wasted $75 million in taxpayer money.
Ferland is now hiding four hours north in a 5,000-plus square foot home in the sleepy small-town of Bartlett, New Hampshire, in the White Mountains. Ferland and his wife live on a sprawling six-lot property covered with woodlands and complete with a giant barn for antique cars and a guest house. Their compound is hidden from public view behind an opulent fountain and private gates.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTFerland chaired the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation for a decade up until 2007, when a new executive director, Michael O’Connell, came on board and blew the whistle on more than a decade of corruption and mismanagement.
Ferland Bolted after Corruption Uncovered
Ferland didn’t waste any time in getting out of state: in August 2007 he sold his 96 Port Circle home in Warwick for $910,000 and relocated to New Hampshire. He also owned, through his company, the Ferland Corporation, a condo in St. Thomas, part of the U.S. Virgin Islands. That too was sold in 2008.
He has yet to be held accountable for what he did during his tenure on the board of commissioners. No criminal charges were ever filed and a string of lawsuits attempting to recover some of the wasted money have not named him as a defendant.
According to reports, there may be as many as 100 antique cars squirreled away in the New Hampshire compound. The property is worth more than $1.4 million, according to the Bartlett Town Clerk’s office.
Not off the Hook Yet
A spokesman for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio said Ferland “isn’t off the hook” yet. “This thing isn’t over yet,” said spokesman Nick Hemond. “There are other claims out there. We are still trying to get more money back—the taxpayer’s money—and the people responsible aren’t off the hook.”
In September 2009, a 177-page state audit confirmed that $75 million had been wasted through corruption and mismanagement at the landfill. Ferland, as the chairman, was at the center of it all. The audit concluded that the commissioners and managers at Resource Recovery had shown “apparent disregard for their fiduciary and ethical responsibilities to the Corporation, as well as the businesses, residents and taxpayers of the State of Rhode Island.”
Ferland was a prominent figure in the world of Rhode Island business. He has been the president, chairman, and CEO of the Ferland Corporation, a construction company which also manages 3,000 apartment units in Rhode Island. And he served as the Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce Federation, the state and national builders associations, and was a board member for Memorial Hospital.
He has also been a contributor to both Democrats and Republicans. He donated $2,000 to Carcieri between 2002 and 2003 and $1,000 to former lieutenant governor Charles Fogarty in 2006.
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