NORTH SMITHFIELD – A agency that noticed fast success with securing grant funding for the city throughout a quick stint of employment two years in the past has now been chosen to do the job for the subsequent 12 months.
Rosewood Consulting was really useful by City Administrator Scott Gibbs after a request for proposals introduced in six bids for the service.
North Smithfield native Lisa Andoscia serves as CEO and president of the agency, first employed for a one month stint by former City Administrator Paul Zwolenski in 2023. A well known skilled with profitable grant-writing contracts for a number of Rhode Island cities, Andoscia secured a $1 million grant for a venture to construct a multi-generational heart throughout her transient employment in North Smithfield, and on the time, some hoped the city would arrange a longer-term contract for her companies.
That wouldn’t be the case after members of the 2023 council discovered themselves at odds over the best way her agency had been employed. Zwolenski had used his authority to spend as much as $5,000 in municipal funds with out board approval for the short-term contract, and a few councilors had been unaware of the administrator’s energy to expend the cash underneath city constitution, resulting in contentious debate.
After attending a number of conferences the place heated dialogue of the problem lasted lengthy into the night time, Andoscia mentioned that she noticed herself a goal of political crossfire, and declined an invite to submit a bid for a extra everlasting position in her hometown. As an alternative, councilors employed New York-based G & G Municipal Consulting for the grant writing service in early 2024.
That agency reportedly noticed a lot much less success within the position. In January, Councilor John Beauregard, who had initiated the trouble to convey Andoscia to city in 2023, expressed disappointment with G & G, noting the group had not utilized for or steered any grants that weren’t already underway.
Gibbs additionally expressed the necessity for a change, repeating history that month when he used his authority to expend funds in hiring Andoscia for a 30-day stint to assist with documentation wanted to finish paperwork for among the city’s already accredited congressional grants.
For the longer-term grant writing contract, the six bid proposals were independently evaluated by Gibbs, along with Finance Director Antony St. Onge, Town Planner Mark Carruolo, Beauregard and Council President Kimberly Alves. The top three firms were invited for online interviews.
“This is the end of a long process,” Gibbs said on Monday.
The recommendation this week again brought out some opposition.
“We never do any long-range planning,” said resident Michael Clifford, pointing to the need for a detailed capital improvement plan. “I don’t think we should be hiring any grant writer or applying for any grants until we get our act together and organize yourselves.”
Clifford also noted that in evaluations of the applicants, Rosewood Consulting received high scores for “access to appropriate contacts.”
“She contributed close to $85,000 to political figures in Rhode Island, and that’s what gets you the access,” said Clifford, adding that funds available through federal grants are expected to decrease, and that Andoscia has supported Democrats. “The federal government – they’re going to take care of their own – and that’s the Republicans.”
Councilor Rebecca DeCristofaro would later echo some of Clifford’s concerns.
“To Mr. Clifford’s point earlier yes, we have existing projects and programs, but we don’t have a long term plan to inform future projects and programs,” she said, adding that of the bidders, Andoscia’s cost was the highest, and $29,000 more than the second highest bidder.
Gibbs later said that access to key contacts “is incredibly important,” to a grant writer’s success.
“If you don’t have a grant writer with good access to the decision makers within various departments and federal agencies – regardless of political party – than you are at a disadvantage,” Gibbs said. “We felt that was an important criteria.”
He added that a successful grant writer should have a close working relationship with the town’s congressional delegation.
“That’s very important to us,” he said. “We’ve had enough opportunity in the past six months to see how things are operating – and they’re not operating well.”
Gibbs said that although she was only hired short term to help with paperwork on a previously approved federal grant, Andoscia calls him daily to provide various updates. He also disputed the idea that the town doesn’t have a long-range plan, stating that currently there are “buckets of priorities.”
“When grants surface we can figure out where that grant fits,” he said. “It is not that complicated.”
DeCristofaro said she was not comfortable voting on the hire without seeing the bidders’ complete responses to the RFP.
“I can’t make an informed decision unless I see all of the information,” she said. “As a town councilor representing my constituents, I would like to be able to make more informed decisions, and I would like that insight into their responses.”
Gibbs said that while he’d be glad to provide the information, the hire was time sensitive.
“I’m losing time right now and it’s not boding well for us,” he said.
The administrator also noted that the recommendation was made following an agreed upon process, which included the appointment of Alves and Beauregard to represent the council on the evaluation team.
“It’s like the process that was adopted suddenly is not sufficient to make a decision,” he said of DeCristofaro’s request.
Beauregard expressed some frustration with the hesitation, pointing to Andoscia’s success both in town and elsewhere.
“We hired somebody else. How many million dollar grants did they get us?” Beauregard asked, noting that Andoscia has meanwhile secured millions for other towns that she works in. “These communities have all received million in grants that we’re missing out on. We will continue to lose out on these grants if we don’t hire the right person.”
“There’s no reason to waste any time,” Beauregard added, making a motion to approve the hire.
Councilors approved the recommendation by a vote of 4-1, with DeCristofaro casting the only dissent.
The final price for the service, however, has yet to be determined. Gibbs noted that the price for Rosewood’s services was “a little high,” particularly considering that town staff plans to do much of the actual writing.
“We want to have more involvement in that,” Gibbs said, noting that under state law, he could not engage in discussion of the cost until councilors approved the hire. “I want to sit down with her and negotiate.”
