Projo Politics Blog

And in case you missed it, here’s a bit of news from the wacky world of politics beyond Smith Hill.

In early March, beleaguered Woonsocket Mayor Susan D. Menard threw in the towel during a tough week in which her police chief and deputy chief abruptly announced they would retire and the state police took over the Police Department.

Menard, who won her seventh mayoral term last fall, announced that she would leave office on June 15, a year and half before her current term expires.

But as the weeks went by, controversy in the Police Department died down and the City Council’s investigation of misuse of city resources by city employees hit a snag when Menard filed an injunction to stop the investigation.

Last week, during her weekly visit with WNRI radio talk show host Roger Bouchard, Menard said she wanted to stay to see the adoption of the 2008-09 budget and the mailing of the first-quarter tax bills on July 1. Menard said she would decide on July 1 when she would go.

Council members say the uncertainty is unfair to council President Leo Fontaine, who under the City Charter would take over as mayor, because he must prepare for a major change in his life and that of his family. He has to notify Corkery Genealogical Inc., the legal and probate family business where he works, when he will be leaving. He has to work on a transition for the new administration.

Not knowing the mayor’s date of departure is apparently also tough on the clerk of the city’s Board of Canvassers who must set a date for a special election to elect a council member to replace Fontaine.

Menard would not talk much about her departure. “I don’t know yet,” she said. “It will definitely be later.”

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