GoLocalProv Investigation: New Scandal at State Landfill
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
A GoLocalProv investigation has found that the main engineer at the state landfill, Bill Anderson, oversaw a multi-million-dollar contract for a construction company at the same time that he was working for that company.
In May 2006, the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation awarded a $7.1-million contract for developing an industrial park to the DiGregorio Corporation, according to the meeting minutes of the board of commissioners. Records obtained by GoLocalProv indicate that at the same time Anderson’s private firm, Anderson Engineering, LLC, was working for DiGregorio at the former Woonsocket Landfill.
The arrangement went undetected in an otherwise exhaustive state audit of wrongdoing and corruption at the landfill that found that $75 million in taxpayer money had been wasted.
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A staff attorney at the State Ethics Commission declined to comment on the specifics of the case, but he said the state ethics code is pretty clear about conflicts of interest. “The code of ethics generally prohibits public officials from taking official actions as part of their public job that would confer financial benefit on themselves, their employer, or their business associates,” said Jason Gramitt, a staff attorney. “That’s just standard code of ethics.” (Click here to read the applicable conflict of interest clause, which is in Section D.)
The code applies to elected or appointed public officials as well as public employees, Gramitt said.
Anderson had business relationship with contractor
As the full-time Engineering Manager at Resource Recovery, Anderson leads a department that is responsible for overseeing construction at the landfill. His staff also reviews proposals for construction and makes recommendations to the board of commissioners. Anderson said he could not recall to what extent he was involved in the review of DiGregorio’s proposal for the industrial park.
Anderson told GoLocalProv that he had a business relationship with DiGregorio. He insisted that there is no connection between work he does on his own time, and his employment at Resource Recovery. “The two jobs have nothing to do with each other,” Anderson said.
Anderson’s firm completed a site plan of the Woonsocket Landfill in July 2006 for DiGregorio—just two months after Resource Recovery awarded the $7.1 million contract to DiGregorio (see below for a copy of the site plan). Anderson said most of the work on the Woonsocket Landfill site plan was done by one of the associates at the firm, David Sheldon. He said he earned some money from the work, but could not recall how much.
Anderson denied there was anything inappropriate about the situation because he does not make the final decisions about contracts for Resource Recovery. “I’m not a commissioner so I don’t have the authority to pick a person to do a job,” Anderson said.
‘Anderson had nothing to do with who that board hired’
But the meeting minutes of the board of commissioners indicate that Anderson clearly has a role in shepherding contracts through the approval process. For example, at a January 2005 meeting, Anderson updated the board on a project DiGregorio was working on and submitted a request for paying them an additional $73,700.50, making the total cost of the project $10.5 million. That was a different project than the one approved at the May 2006 meeting.
Joe Rodio, the legal counsel for Resource Recovery since around 2007, defended Anderson. “Bill Anderson had nothing to do with who that board hired or didn’t hire—they made that clear,” Rodio said. “To suggest that he had any input is ludicrous.” He said Anderson had always followed the spirit and the letter of the law.
He noted that Anderson had once even been put on leave because the board of commissioners disagreed with one of his recommendations. That board and its executive director are no longer at Resource Recovery—and now are under a cloud of suspicion after the 2009 state audit found that $75 million in taxpayer money had been wasted at the landfill.
A spokesman for Attorney General-elect Peter Kilmartin declined to discuss the specifics of the case, but said dealing with corruption at quasi-public agencies like Resource Recovery would be a priority.
“As Attorney General, Peter Kilmartin will be a watchdog for Rhode Island taxpayers by investigating fraud and waste at quasi-government agencies,” said Kilmartin spokesman Brett Broesder. “He’ll take on the role of Inspector General and proactively work to root out activity that leads to taxpayer money being wasted due to mismanagement and corruption.”
"One of the problems we have in Rhode island is people using their official positions to benefit business associates," addedJohn Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island. On the upside, he said the state does have a strong Ethics Commission with sweeping jurisdiction. "Our ethics commission has jurisdiction over everybody from the dog catcher to the governor," he said.
Woonsocket Landfill Site Plan
Below is a section of the site plan for the Woonsocket Landfill prepared for by DiGregorio, Inc. by Anderson Engineering, LLC.
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