The story has changed!  Now it looks like North Providence didn't use federal stimulus money to meet their biweekly payroll of $2.5 million.  Finance Director Maria Vallee and Director of Administration Rocco Gesualdi actually used money from the fire department's rescue service.  So, why did Mayor Charles Lombardi say that stimulus money was used?   Well, here's his excuse:

“In hindsight,” Lombardi said, “she’s the finance director and she made the right decision.

“I wasn’t around much on Friday,” Lombardi said. “Things happen and I’m OK with that. We don’t get into a situation of micromanaging. …We made the payroll. That was the biggest thing of all.” 


     Let's examine this for a minute.  The town's employees might not be getting paid and the town is in turmoil, but he wasn't around and evidently, couldn't be reached on a cell phone.  He also talks about employees being paid as the "biggest thing of all."  It was so big, but he didn't keep track of where the funds were coming from?  Finally, he said he doesn't like to get into "micromanaging."  Maybe it's just me, but keeping track of how your Finance Director is able to meet a $2.5 million payroll in a small town isn't micromanagement, it's good management.

     It's funny how the source of the money seemed to change once the state began to ask questions about the use of stimulus funds.  It's quite a coincidence, isn't it?