Fall River Councilor Proposes Ordinance for Oversight on Major Leases Amid EMS Facility Controversy

FALL RIVER ─ City Councilor Cliff Ponte said he has submitted a proposed ordinance that would give the council authority over the administration to enter into any leasing agreements valued at $50,000 or more.

The City Council is the authority to sell city properties, but entering into leasing agreements has been traditionally up to the administration in office at the time.

Ponte said he was prompted to make the proposal after a City Council meeting on Aug. 12 when the administration and the Fall River EMS Director Beth Faunce requested a transfer of $243,000 within the department’s enterprise fund from revenue to expenditures.

The purpose of the transfer request was for the payment of a first-year lease agreement to rent space for EMS staff and equipment over its current home at the Central Fire Station, which it shares with the Fall River Fire Department.

The quarters, the administration and EMS officials claim, have been increasingly difficult for the growing EMS department, its staff and apparatus.

Earlier this summer, the administration published a Request for Proposal for rental space, and the winning bidder was Corneau Street LLC, for property off Pleasant Street and owned by Scott Lopes, who also owns the nearby Scotties Pub.

However, during the City Council meeting, they voted to reject the transfer, citing concerns about the three-year lease with Lopes that would cost upwards of $750,000 without an official rent to own agreement.

During the meeting, several City Councilors expressed understanding that EMS needed an alternative facility but baulked at the cost and the changes in plans for an alternative EMS facility proposed by the administration over the past four years.

Plans included building a new facility at One Industrial Park and taking over a foreclosed building in the South End to be renovated as a new facility.

“Why every time it comes down, now we have a change in plans? Can somebody, and I am begging the administration to stop coming down with these half-hearted plans,” said Councilor Shawn Cadime.

Ponte was absent from the meeting, and the Council voted 4-4 regarding the funding transfer and rejected lacking a majority.

The next day, according to Ponte, some City Councilors got wind that the EMS director used existing budgeted funds and entered into an agreement regarding the Corneau Street property despite the Council’s concerns.

“That’s what is irritating some people. That tells me they had excess money and it’s concerning,” said Ponte. “From my standpoint, when the Council says no, you try to work with them on another solution.”

Administration’s new plan

Interim City Administrator Michael Dion said that EMS has entered into a license agreement with Lopes, with a new arrangement that would give the City $50,000 credit from the annual $243,000 rent payment toward a potential purchase.

Dion said that down the road, the City will issue a new RFP that will include an option to purchase a piece of property for an EMS facility, and that it would be open to any bidder.

Ponte provided Fall River Reporter with a copy of the license agreement, which expires in one year with an opportunity for an extension if the parties agree.

The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Sept. 9.