A Lawsuit Filed Against Fall River Mayor, Over Trash Contract

By Ana Bottary

abottary@abc6.com

@anabottary

In an effort to stop a 10-year private trash contract, a group of tax payers in fall river is taking Mayor Jasiel Corriea to court.
 
"This is not an issue about whether we should privatize or not. This is an issue about the tax payers being burdened with a tremendous amount of liability," says Fall River tax payer Bob Camera.
 
Attorney Lesley Rich is representing the so called "ten tax payer group"
 
"In my opinion the contract is illegal the city contracts have to be signed by the mayor, by the head of the department along with getting an agreement from the city council. So what they didn’t get was the department head to sign the contract,"says Rich.
 
They’re seek a restraining order against the mayor to stop him from executing the contract with EZ disposal. Rich says the concerns also surround the contract being unclear on early termination fees.

"It’s basically a non cancelable, 10 year contract, which is again unheard of. In theory, they can sue for 50 million dollars. I don’t know if they would win it, but they could sue for huge amounts of money," Rich adds.
 
"it is about the law, and when you do not follow the law, you create chaos. We have enough chaos in Fall River already. We don’t need any more," says CJ Ferry, a Fall River tax payer.
 
We did reach out to the mayors office, as of 5 PM Friday, we have not heard back.

Rich says the contact with EZ Disposal does not begin until July 1st, so if mayor Correia cancels it now, he says they most likely would not owe anything. As for the hearing on the temporary restraining order, that will happen June 29th.

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