BY JOSEPH B. NADEAU

WOONSOCKET — A City Council investigation into City Hall operations can move forward, a Superior Court Judge ruled Thursday.

City Council President Leo T. Fontaine claimed victory in the council’s bid to question City Hall employees after Superior Court Judge Judith Savage turned down Mayor Susan D. Menard’s suit for an injunction against that step.
“I’m very happy that we’ve gotten to this point,” Fontaine said while predicting the Council will soon schedule its desired interviews with City Hall staff as a result of the decision.
A majority of the council’s members planned to hold those discussions earlier this year but were blocked when Menard’s attorneys went to court for a temporary restraining order and a full injunction against those actions. Menard, who could not be reached for comment on the decision Thursday, also sought to question three members of the Council on their intentions in the investigation. That move was put aside in an earlier decision by Savage.
Fontaine said the Council has been attempting to investigate allegations of misuse of city resources at
City Hall and Savage’s ruling should allow that process to finally move forward. The panel has spent between $18,000 $19,000 to defend its position in the case and Menard reportedly another $27,000 in city funding for her side, according Fontaine.
“We having been spending thousands of dollars in legal expenses because the mayor is opposing this and all we are trying to do is get some answers,” Fontaine said.
  The Council’s attorney in the case, Ray Marcaccio of Oliverio & Marcaccio of Providence, described the decision as a clear affirmation of the ability of the Council to serve as an oversight body in local government.
“Judge Savage made it clear this is one of the most fundamental functions of the Council,” he said while noting Savage’s description of the council’s interest in conducting an investigation “a most appropriate function.”
  Marcaccio said he was not surprised by Savage’s support for that role given that it is spelled out in City Charter provisions governing Council responsibilities. “This case brought a challenge to a very fundamental role given the Council by the City Charter,” he said. The ruling could also assist other city and town councils in the state when faced by a similar objection to their investigatory role, Fontaine and the attorney noted.
 With the city’s legal costs over the case still climbing, Fontaine said he hoped Menard, who has been out of the city while visiting family in Utah, will now allow the Council to move forward with its interest in investigating the allegations of improprieties at City Hall.
 The last legal battle before Savage focused on Menard’s interest in disposing three Council members, Fontaine, William Schneck and John Ward on their interest in conducting the investigation. Savage turned down that bid and also Menard’s attempt to quash the Council’s subpoenas calling two City Hall employees into a meeting with the panel.
  Savage on Thursday agreed that the subpoenas could be issued but stated they must also contain wording in keeping with the ordinance approved by the council establishing the scope of its investigation, according to Fontaine.
 The subpoenas will be reissued in keeping with that finding, he said. A meeting of the Council to meet with the employees could be held shortly thereafter, he noted. The Council has not yet decided whether the interviews will be in closed session or in public, according to Fontaine.
“Hopefully the Mayor will respect this ruling and cooperate with the Council without spending more money on this,” he said.
 Menard’s attorney, Glen Whitehead of Providence, could not be reached for comment on whether the mayor plans to seek an appeal of the ruling in the state Supreme Court.