Elorza says city contract with GoLocalProv ‘reeks of cronyism’
The city of Providence’s law department is reviewing the procurement of a no-bid contract brokered by former City Council president Luis Aponte and news website GoLocalProv in 2016, Mayor Jorge Elorza said in a statement Thursday.
The contract, made public Tuesday by City Council President David Salvatore, states that the city agreed to pay GoLocalProv $3,000 monthly to publish 100 notices and meeting agendas per month on its website.
“This whole situation reeks of cronyism,” Elorza said, according to the statement. “Councilman Aponte should have never entered into such a wasteful and dubious agreement and I commend Council President Salvatore for putting an immediate stop to it when he became President. We’re moving away from the days of corruption and the fact that taxpayer dollars were used in this way is shameful.”
The contract contained a paragraph stating that the website would keep the city “informed of relevant information” and consult with the city regularly as well as send “copies of significant correspondence, media coverage and relevant documents” to the city.
Aponte said Tuesday that that section of the contract referred to metrics, including the number of views on the stories about public meetings as well as reader comments and responses, that GoLocalProv was required to provide to the city.
Salvatore in an email said that the city clerk never received follow-up documentation related to metrics, and also noted that reader comments and responses are publicly available on the website.
Aponte said when he was involved in the contract he did see a “snapshot” of how many views each of the notices got.
In response to Elorza’s comment, Aponte said, “I’m not sure how to respond to that other than during election time people tend to say things that they perhaps wouldn’t say otherwise. … His administration has a long history of not sending things out to bid.”
Josh Fenton, the CEO of GoLocalProv and a former city councilman, said in an email the mayor’s administration was responsible for the way the contract was brokered.
“GoLocal was approached by the City of Providence, the city executed a contract,” Fenton wrote. “If the City did not follow its own procedures, I would question if that is a failure of the Mayor’s administration’s protocols and procedures.”
Fenton also mentioned a GoLocalProv investigation into Elorza’s handling of legal fees.
“A GoLocal investigation found that Mayor Elorza has sent millions in legal fees to law firms in Providence — none of the legal fees were approved by the Board of Contract and Supply,” he wrote. “Combined, those law firms have donated hundreds of thousands to his campaign. Even Buddy Cianci sent the agreements with law firms to the Board of Contract and Supply.”
