A RIPTA board member argued Tuesday that the deadline has passed to extend CEO Scott Avedisian’s contract, but the argument was rejected by the lawyer for the quasi-public transit agency.
During a meeting of a compensation subcommittee, RIPTA board member Patrick Crowley said that according to Avedisian’s contract, notice of an extension is supposed to be made at least 90 days before the contract ends. Since Avedisian’s contract expires at the end of May, the deadline has passed, Crowley said.
RIPTA’s chief legal counsel, Steven Colantuono, rejected this argument, saying that a contract can be amended before it ends.
Crowley, the secretary-treasurer of the RI AFL-CIO, said the concern he raised about Avedisian’s contract is separate from debate about whether RIPTA continues to operate as a freestanding agency, “but I think there are some serious questions about the future direction of the agency and whether or not we have the right person leading it.”
Avedisian contends the transit agency should keep operating as an independent quasi-public agency. Based on RIPTA’s level of funding through federal grants, “we are outperforming agencies our size,” he said.
Avedisian said if RIPTA’s board supports him, he would be happy to stay on as CEO.
But Senate President Dominick Ruggerio in February criticized RIPTA and called for Avedisian, a long-time former mayor of Warwick who became the agency’s CEO in 2018, to step down.
Ruggerio is developing legislation to have RIPTA folded into the state Department of Transportation.
Speaking after the meeting, Crowley said he wasn’t satisfied with the response to his point on the contract.
“I still think that there’s questions to be raised about what exactly the status of the contract is,” he said. “Since I’ve been on the board, there have been a number of instances where rules and regulations seem to be haphazardly followed.”
“For example, we’ve never really done a format evaluation of the CEO,” Crowley continued. “There was never an executive compensation committee and until I raised that issue, it didn’t seem as if we were going to have an executive compensation committee. And now that we’re under a timeline, with the contract expiring on May 31st, I think there are enough open questions that the board’s going to have to take a serious look at what’s going to happen.”
Supporters of RIPTA say the transit agency lacks adequate funding. A resolution made by the board, calling for greater financial support, is slated to be considered during a meeting Wednesday.
Proponents say the plan to boost funding would resolve a “fiscal cliff” projected for fiscal 2025 and support the implementation of RIPTA’s transit master plan.
Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis@ripr.org. Follow him on Twitter @IanDon. Sign up here for his weekly RI politics and media newsletter.
