Fiola blasts Fall River Redevelopment Authority over City Pier project

FALL RIVER — The consulting agency that once worked with the city’s Redevelopment Authority on developing the City Pier has refuted the authority's claims that it mismanaged the project, arguing that authority members are trying to make the agency a “scapegoat.”

The proposal to build a temporary beer garden and outdoor entertainment venue on the 4-acre parcel was among the issues tackled during Tuesday’s RDA meeting. Chairwoman Kara O’Connell said then that she expected a letter of noncompliance would soon be sent by the state Department of Environmental Protection because soil contamination reports for the property had not been sent to DEP since 2017.

O’Connell went on to say that the DEP had been sending RDA’s former consultant, the now defunct Fall River Office of Economic Development, warnings of the compliance issue for the last two years.

This point was challenged Wednesday by Kenneth Fiola, who had served as FROED’s executive vice president during the City Pier project and is vice president of Bristol County Economic Development Consultants.

“We have received no communication or correspondence from the EPA as it pertains to project compliance. If we received those letters they would have been brought to the attention of the board,” said Fiola.

FROED’s involvement in the City Pier ceased last year when the agency severed decades-old ties with the city after Mayor Jasiel Correia II cut a $300,000 annual stipend to FROED for economic development services.

Pare Engineering, the project’s consulting engineer, was the party responsible for soil testing at the site, according to Fiola. In a Wednesday email, Fiola said he had repeatedly been informed by Pare Engineering that soil samples were being taken during the course of construction.

Representatives of Pare Engineering did not respond to The Herald News’ request for comment Wednesday.

Fiola said RDA’s members have been trying to make him and FROED a “scapegoat” for the ongoing issues at the City Pier since the project came to the attention of the EPA.

“I’d like to put the Redevelopment Authority on notice that this is not acceptable behavior,” Fiola said. “We’re not going to have the reputation of this office smeared, nor am I going to let my personal reputation be smeared.”

Fiola alleged that RDA is trying to put more of an emphasis on the issue of soil testing as a way to draw public attention away from other issues tied to the project, such as having awarded use of the site to a “third party closely aligned with the mayor.”

RDA voted unanimously in May to enter into a licensing agreement with Waterfront Promotions, whose manager is local restaurateur Luis Bettencourt.

Bettencourt is also the step-father of Jenny Fernandes, who shares an address with her boyfriend, the mayor.

The agreement between RDA and Waterfront Promotions could see the company paying between $6,000 and $8,000 for annual use of the pier, according to O’Connell.

When reached for comment Wednesday, O'Connell declined to respond to Fiola's allegations, referring the issue to Maria Marasco, the city's recently hired economic development director.

Marasco, who did not work for the city during its collaboration with FROED, responded to the remarks made at Tuesday's meeting. "‘There may be misnomers not only in interchanging DEP for EPA, but also misnomers in types of notices," she said. "I have been involved in the project long enough to confirm if that is accurate, but that is my general suspicion.”