Fall River City Council moves forward seeking further investigations into Department of Community Maintenance

FALL RIVER ─ Six letters on behalf of the City Council were sent to various local, state and federal law enforcement agencies along with the findings of a 2022 investigation into alleged wrongdoing at the Department of Community Maintenance and its former director, John Perry.

The City Clerk’s office confirmed that the correspondences were mailed out June 12 to the directors of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Auditor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Inspector General of Massachusetts, Bristol County District Attorney’s office and Fall River Police Chief Kelly Furtado.

The City Council last week voted unanimously to refer the 34-page report by Daniel Lowney, the private investigator hired by the city to investigate Perry in 2022, to the state and federal agencies. 

The investigation exposed concerning information and questionable practices in a culture at DCM ranging from bullying, abuse of city resources, questionable procurement practices, fraudulent record keeping, environmental hazards and stolen copper wiring and scrap metal. 

“The Fall River City Council sincerely requests that you review the attached private investigation report and provide your written opinion as to whether the City Council should take further action on this matter to the City Clerk’s office no later than Aug. 15,” requested the council to the six agencies. 

A copy of the resolution, submitted by councilors Cliff Ponte and Shawn Cadime requesting further investigation into the matter, was also included in the letters.

In public discussion on the issue, Ponte suggested that if no law enforcement agency chooses to move ahead with an investigation, the council could seek funds to conduct their own probe, which is allowed under the city charter.

Legal battle to release public record

The administration fought releasing the report with The Herald News for more than 16 months but lost a Superior Court battle with the news organization in 2023 and was compelled by a judge to make the document a public record.

The city paid The Herald News $50,000 in legal fees after the parties reached an agreement.

The investigation at the time was reportedly conducted after Perry failed to notify the administration of an accident at the 10 Lewiston Street facility that left a worker with minor injuries.

He was placed on leave until reaching an agreement that he would resign and receive a $65,000 pay out.

Councilor says further probe not about Perry

Ponte acknowledged he has taken public criticism about bringing up the three-year-old issue now, but that to be clear, “it isn’t about John Perry.”

“I’m not going after John Perry. It’s about the process in place and the possible ramifications of this not being addressed correctly,” said Ponte.

He said the “more I dig, the more phone calls I’ve been getting, the more challenging it is to me,” said Ponte.

One of the councilor’s concerns, alleged improper procurement procedures at DCM are continuing, he said.

Of the numerous allegations by DCM staffers, Perry bypassed bidding procedures for projects.

Procurement laws requiring work over $10,000 require three vendor bids, but projects were broken up into invoices under that amount.

Ponte said he’s been made aware that similar practices existed in 2024. 

In the private investigators report, DCM employees also claimed Perry ordered a damaged city excavator to be repaired without a purchase order and manipulated rental agreements for equipment.

“The issue I have is it’s still going on, there is no question it is still going on. And it went on before and nobody did anything about it,” said Ponte.