State agencies accelerate Revere DPW investigation

REVERE – Two state agencies are zeroing in on the city Public Works department in the wake of bribery admissions by two workers.Former department workers Randy Adamson and Anthony Giannino, Jr. resigned their jobs last December after the Ethics Commission fined them $8,000 each for violating state conflict of interest laws by paying bribes to Chief Foreman Joseph Maglione and for doing private drain laying work.Maglione is on paid administrative leave and presumed to be innocent of the commission allegations pending the outcome of an Ethics Commission hearing.City Solicitor Paul Capizzi said three hearings on Maglione are planned at the commission’s Boston offices on March 24, 25 and 26. The commission is alleging that Maglione sought and accepted illegal bribes and gratuities.Capizzi said the commission will hear testimony from individuals called by Maglione’s lawyer and by the commission including Mayor Thomas Ambrosino, Public Works Director Donald Goodwin and other DPW workers.”It’s an investigation of his behavior based on Adamson’s and Giannino’s admission they paid bribes,” Capizzi said, adding that the several-day review is aimed at providing enough time to hear testimony from witnesses.He said the review would “effectively shut the DPW down for the day” if the number of individuals called in to testify about Maglione were required to do so at a single hearing.The commission issued a show cause order on Dec. 11 stating that Adamson and Giannino testified that Maglione approached them in 2002 and asked for $200-$250 for every new water and/or sewer service installation they performed.Between 2002 and summer 2005, according to the order, they gave Maglione a total of $3,000-$4,000 regarding these installations,” the commission stated in its show cause order on the bribery case.While the Ethics Commission is focused on Maglione’s conduct, state Auditor Joseph DeNucci’s investigators are initiating a review of Public Works operations. City Councilors, led by Ward 4 Councilor George Rotondo, requested an audit in January.Capizzi said the Auditor has asked the city for organizational information on the department as well as inventory policies and billing procedures.”Ultimately they will come out and spend time in City Hall and at the DPW,” he said.The Auditor’s probe comes in the wakes of months of insistence by Rotondo that DPW inventory control procedures, equipment purchases, fuel allocations practices and other operations need to be reviewed by the state.