Revere DPW audit under way as Ethics board slates May hearings

REVERE – State auditors have started poring through Public Works Department records at the city’s request and the state Ethics Commission has scheduled May 1 and 2 hearings on its conflict of interest case against general foreman Joseph Maglione.State law allows the Auditor to review municipal operations at the request of a city or town. The city is paying $25,000 for the review.”The field work has begun,” said Auditor’s spokesman Glenn Briere.Briere declined to discuss the scope of the Auditor’s review but its findings could dovetail with the commission issuing a decision regarding Maglione sometime in the summer.City and, subsequently, state officials have asked questions about DPW operations for over two years.The commission issued a show cause order last Dec. 11 alleging Maglione violated the law “by soliciting and accepting bribes for private water and/or sewer projects.”Also on Dec. 11 the commission released two disposition agreements detailing bribery admissions by Public Works foremen Randy Adamson and Anthony Giannino.They each paid $8,000 civil penalties and resigned from their jobs.Commission hearings in March on Maglione resembled a mini-trial with a commission attorney questioning witnesses who were cross- examined by Maglione’s attorney.The commission and attorney William Spallina called over four-dozen witnesses to testify, including Ambrosino, councilors, public works employees and a homeowner who told commissioner Matthew N. Kane he has endured sewer pipe problems.