Baldelli-Hunt Sworn In, Appointees Voted On at Tuesday Inauguration

Tonight's City Council meeting and the city's inauguration Tuesday night will usher in new management for much of Woonsocket government.

Tonight, Councilors will vote on the appointment of Personnel Director Christina Harmon-Duarte as City Clerk, replacing Andrea Bicki, who has served in the position since 2010. 

The appointment for the $63,915 job is the sole management decision in the hands of the Woonsocket City Council. In late November, Bicki told The Woonsocket Call she'd learned the majority of the City Council would not support her re-appointment.  

Bicki, who previously served as a paralegal in the City's legal department for a total of 21 years with the City, said this afternoon she was surprised by the development. Nonetheless, she said she was determined to continue performing her job through her last day. 

Bicki has served as clerk for the Council and also the Budget Commission, often drawing on her paralegal experience to write the City's laws as requested by the Council, a duty she said may have to be shouldered by the City Solicitor now.

During Tuesday night's 8 p.m. inauguration at Stadium Theater, 28 Monument Square, which Bicki helped organize, the Council will vote to elect a new Council President and Vice President. Mayor Elect Lisa Baldelli-Hunt will also be officially sworn in.

The Councill will also vote on several appointments made by Baldelli-Hunt, all of whom will serve in an acting capacity:

• Joel D. Mathews as Acting Director of Planning. Mathews retired from the job in 2010 after starting in the role in 1973, with a brief hiatus in the 1980s, according to a Woonsocket Call report. He replaces acting Director of Planning Paulette Miller.
• Linda S. Plays, Mayor Fontaine's de facto executive secretary, as Acting Director of Human Services. She takes on the human services duties previously filled by Economic Development Director Matt Wojcik, whom Baldelli-Hunt vowed to replace. Baldelli-Hunt has said she will take on Wojcik's Economic Development duties. 
• Finance Director Thomas Bruce as Acting Director of Finance.
• Alan Brodd as Acting Director of Public Works/City Engineer. Brodd is a former Planner in Cumberland, according to a Woonsocket Call report. He replaces DPW Director Sheila McGauvran.
• Michael Marcello, (D- Dist. 41 Scituate, Cranston) as Acting City Solicitor. Marcello is co-author of the re-written Access to Public Records Act (APRA). He replaces former City Solicitor Joe Carroll.
• Outgoing City Councilor Marc Dubois as Acting Public Safety Director, a role formerly handled by Fontaine. 
• Baldelli-Hunt's Campaign Manager Richard Kearns as Acting Director of Administration. 
• Susan E. Gaulin as Acting Mayor's Administrative Aide.