Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia II has asked City Council President Cliff Ponte if the council would like to co-sign ‘official documents’ that pertain to running city business. In his letter, the mayor said, in part, that doing so would provide “an additional level of comfort to the council.’This request was made in response to Ponte’s attachment to tonight’s agenda asking his colleagues to vote to ‘temporarily remove’ the mayor from office due to his recent arrest on 14 new federal indictments in connection with extortion & bribery charges.
Ponte’s response: No. He wrote, in part, ‘It is my position that there is absolutely no reason to reconfigure the way we run city government, because you are facing 24 federal indictments.’
Under the rules of the City Charter, if seven (7) councilors vote to remove the mayor from office on grounds that he is unfit or unable to effectively perform his duties, then the mayor would be forced to step down. That vote is expected to take place during the regular council session that begins at 7:00 p.m. this evening.
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