PROVIDENCE — Weeks after Joshua Saal resigned from a highly criticized tenure as Rhode Island’s first secretary of housing, the state has signed the former official to a consulting role paying $105 per hour.
The state will pay Saal $105 per hour for a minimum of 20 hours per week, according to a transition services agreement, for a period of up to three months. Additionally, the state will pay for Saal’s health insurance during this period, estimated to cost $823.07 per month.
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The position will require Saal to “provide the state with operational and transition advice and such other services deemed necessary in connection with the creation of the Department of Housing and its mandate,” according to the agreement.
The consulting contract, signed in late January, will end on April 25 at the latest, amounting to more than $27,000 at Saal’s minimum hourly allowance under the full timeline. Under the agreement, which does not give a maximum hourly allowance, the state or Saal can terminate the consultancy earlier with 30 days’ notice. This termination would not prorate health insurance expenses, the contract states.
The state will continue to pay Saal for the minimum 20 hours of work in weeks where this full-time commitment is not required, according to the agreement, with the understanding that Saal “will remain available for additional work, if necessary.” The contract also requires Saal “to submit a detailed billing statement at the end of each month specifying the work performed.”
Saal received a total compensation of $174,565 in 2022, according to the R.I. Department of Administration, and $22,014 in salary in 2023. Additionally, Saal will receive $5,614 for unused vacation time.
Saal stepped into the newly established role as secretary of the R.I. Department of Housing and Community Development in July 2022 and submitted his resignation on Jan. 11. During that approximately six-month period, a range of elected officials criticized Saal for inaction. Among those observers, House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi expressed a “disappointment in the lack of progress” and “inadequate” reports under Saal’s leadership.
Stefan Pryor, former secretary of R.I. Commerce Corp., has now taken over the housing role, officially starting the job this week.
In a statement, R.I. Office of Administration spokesperson Laura Hart said that Pryor “views it as helpful to draw upon Mr. Saal’s input during this transition.”
The governor’s office and Department of Housing worked collaboratively “to facilitate the leadership transition and to support continuity in the department’s work,” Hart said.
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com.
