By RUSS OLIVO

WOONSOCKET — The City Council’s fledgling investigation into the alleged misuse of resources at City Hall is on hold again after a former aide to Mayor Susan D. Menard filed an open meetings lawsuit against the panel.

City Council President Leo T. Fontaine said the panel interviewed its first witness in a closed-door meeting on July 6, but the probe has been temporarily put on ice because Albert G. Brien filed suit against the council in Superior Court. Brien is a staunch supporter of the mayor who recently served a brief stint as human resources director.
The suit contends the council failed to provide adequate advance notice to the public of a meeting on Jan 23, when it passed a resolution authorizing the investigation.
This marks the second time a lawsuit has been filed in attempts to block the probe. In a blow to Menard, who was plaintiff in the first suit, Superior Court Judge Judith Savage allowed the investigation to move forward on June 19; Brien filed suit the following day, using Menard’s lawyer to represent him.
“He says there’s no connection but it seems very curious it would take place the very next day, with the very same lawyer,” Fontaine said. “It’s just more stalling tactics to block the council from moving forward with this investigation.”
But Brien says the suit merely seeks to have the council abide by the same standards of lawful government it would have Menard live up to.
“They say they’re doing this because they want to make sure things are done correctly,” Brien said.
“That’s fine. They can move in that direction. But if you’re going to demand that things are done correctly, doesn’t it follow that the council should also do things correctly?”
The suit, filed in Superior Court, contends the council’s original resolution to authorize the investigation was worded too vaguely to provide citizens with appropriate notice of the meeting, in violation of the Open Meetings Act. It seeks a fine of $5,000 against the council, plus legal fees, and once again, asks the courts to put a stop to the council’s digging.
The resolution says the council wanted to hire professional consultants, but it doesn’t say why, a requirement of the open meetings law, the suit says.
The council later attempted to correct the flaw at a subsequent meeting in March, but that meeting allegedly violated the Open Meetings Act in another way — by providing less than the required 48 hours prior notice, the suit contends.
Glen Whitehead, Brien’s lawyer, said the council might be able to proceed with the investigation merely by passing a proper resolution with ample notice, but correcting the legal mistakes won’t render the lawsuit moot.
“The bad act has already been done,” said Whitehead. “Any citizens that might have wanted to attend those meetings and comment couldn’t have done so.”
There are currently no hearings scheduled in the suit. The council was supposed to have filed a preliminary response by now, but it has asked for more time to do so, until Aug. 5, while it seeks out legal counsel, according to Fontaine.
He said the panel might hire Ray Marcaccio, the same lawyer that represented councilors in the lawsuit Menard lodged against the council.
Fontaine said he is unsure whether the new suit is a bona fide impediment to the investigation, but plans for issuing additional subpoenas are on hold until the council can obtain good legal advice on whether it is wise to move forward at this time.
The council launched the investigation in earnest on July 6, in the wake of Savage’s ruling, Fontaine said. The first subpoena was issued to Michael O’Connell, who works as an independent computer consultant at City Hall.
O’Connell answered questions during a private meeting with counselors for more than an hour. Fontaine declined to elaborate as to the nature of those questions.
The resolution in dispute, passed for a second time in March, indicates only that the council is investigating “the alleged misuse of city resources by city employees and/or city officials.”
Members of the council have declined to be more specific about the allegations, or who made them, saying it does not want to jeopardize the investigation by tipping its hand publicly.
Menard has said she has no objections to such an inquiry, but filed the initial suit because workers at City Hall have a right to know the nature of the investigation before they submit to a grilling from the City Council.
 Last month, Judge Savage rejected Menard’s legal bid to permanently bar the council from embarking on the probe, saying the council’s right to oversee the administrative branch of local government is clearly encoded in the City Charter.
A ruling had been delayed for months because, in an earlier motion, the mayor had asked the court for permission to question members of the council under oath regarding the nature of the probe. But the judge ruled there was no basis for that.
A longtime ally of the Menard administration, Brien says the investigation is “absurd” and “ridiculous.”
“If the people of Woonsocket wanted an investigation, they would have elected Todd Brien as their mayor,” he says, referring to the former police detective who twice challenged the mayor.