Mayor Scott Avedisian (R-Warwick) talks with reporters after his selection to head the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority. Photo by Steve Klamkin WPRO News
WPRO News and The Associated Press
The mayor of Rhode Island’s second largest city is tapped to lead the state’s public transportation authority.
The board of the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority Wednesday chose Warwick Mayor and former RIPTA Board Chairman Scott Avedisian as its new chief executive officer.
“This was a perfect fit,” Avedisian told reporters in his City Hall office less than an hour after the selection by the RIPTA board.
“Having been at RIPTA before and having worked with a lot of people who are there, it gives you an opportunity to really go and start fresh and be able to say, ‘OK, let’s go, we have all these issues we want to work on’,” he said.
Avedisian served as mayor since 2000, and was a chairman on the agency’s board from 2012 to 2016. His appointment is pending competition of contract negotiations with chairman Wayne M. Kezirian. Kezirian says Avedisian has a reputation for coalition building, and hopes that can be brought to the agency.
Avedisian said he would wait until late May, after a date, which has not yet been determined, that would require the city to hold a special election to fill a vacancy in the mayor’s office. He said he does not want to subject Warwick to the expense of a special election.
Avedisian said he would turn over the reigns of the city to City Council President Joseph Solomon, who said he would run for mayor in his own right in the fall.
