'City Slackers' lose in arbitration

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - An arbitrator has decided the City of Providence was right to fire two Parks Department workers implicated in a 2009 Target 12 Investigation.

Parks worker Anthony Micheletti and foreman Joseph Tombleson lost their bid to keep their job after two separate arbitrators decided the city had enough evidence to terminate them, according to city spokeswoman Karen Southern.

In a Target 12 Investigation from April of 2009, Micheletti is seen in undercover video being dropped off at his Providence home by two different Parks Department foremen. Each time, he was delivered in a Parks Department truck that was scheduled to be in another part of the city. Micheletti would then be picked up hours later and return to Parks headquarters to clock out for the day. Target 12 captured the activity on video over several weeks.

Time cards released by the city showed Micheletti was on the clock while spending hours on end inside his home.

Tombleson was identified as one of the foremen taking part in the scheme. Another foreman, David Mambro, accepted a demotion and was moved to the Department of Public Works.

According to City Hall, the case involving Micheletti was decided in February, Tombleson's case ended in April. It cost taxpayers $3,000 to fight both men in arbitration, their union picked up the other half of the tab.

City Hall officials declined to turn over the arbitrator's full ruling to Target 12 , claiming the documents are not subject to open records laws.

twhite@wpri.com