Providence whistleblower hotline leads to four investigations in first year

An anonymous tipster named “Gold Piano” was among the first to come forward with a lead for Providence’s new whistleblower hotline: A retired city police officer whose ex-wife’s health insurance was still being covered through the city.

The complaint became one of four full investigations in the first year of SpeakUp!PVD, the city’s whistleblower hotline introduced in January 2025 by the city’s internal auditor, Gina Costa.

Gold Piano’s allegation of improper health plan coverage was later substantiated, and calculated by Costa to have cost the city a modest $831.42 for the ex-spouse’s coverage. Now the auditor said she’s asked the city for broader verification of policies regarding retirees’ dependents.

“They opted to do non-union employees,” Costa said in an interview Friday of the review the city ultimately conducted. “But retirees have not been addressed, as far as I know. I do think that retirees should be addressed as soon as possible.”

The case was among the 13 reports deemed substantive out of a total of 19 anonymous tips received through SpeakUp!PVD during its first year. Gold Piano and the other 18 tipsters were all assigned code names by Costa’s office to help identify their cases.

The other three tips Costa investigated in full had no financial impact on the city, while several submissions were ultimately deemed “commentary” by Costa’s office — complaints about a coworker or supervisor’s behavior, rather than actual misuse of city funds.

“There’s a lot of things where I would just call the administration and say, ‘You know, you may want to take a look at this,’” Costa said. “It’s not even for me to audit on. It just could be a behavioral thing.”

The first annual report of Providence’s new whistleblower hotline covering the 2025 calendar year was received by the City Council Thursday night without discussion at its first meeting back from recess.

Costa noted that City Hall has two other avenues for complaints that may fall outside her office’s purview: ethics and human resources.

But the case of the retired police officer whose ex-wife’s health insurance was still covered by the city despite the officer’s remarrying was something that Costa could look into. It required much collaboration with human resources, which had to access much of the information Costa needed.

Costa’s investigation determined the allegation was accurate and that the retired officer was not required under the divorce’s terms to maintain coverage for the ex-wife. The officer’s current spouse was not also enrolled, Costa said Friday.

“That was a very long one,” Costa said of the investigation.

Costa said she learned from human resources that the former spouse had not expensed any medical treatments during the time she was no longer eligible for coverage. The city’s contribution was for the premiums only.

Costa said she sought clarification on what city policy, if any, outlines retirees’ responsibilities to notify the city of life changes that would affect their dependents’ eligibility for benefits. But Costa said she did not receive final confirmation of the policy, which she was told was with the city’s law department.

“I’ve asked for that policy four times,” Costa said. “I finally had to close that report and left it the way I did. Because they never showed me the policy.”

The report received by the City Council Thursday night phrases the outcome as “New policy being created to address this issue.”

Rhode Island Current asked Mayor Brett Smiley’s administration several questions about the audit, including whether the city ultimately completed a dependent eligibility review for retirees or whether the $831 was recovered. A spokesperson for the mayor acknowledged a request for comment Friday but did not have a response as of Friday afternoon.

Costa said she offered to help review retiree records, but she said that HR declined the assistance. So she can’t determine whether other ineligible dependents of city retirees may have their health insurance subsidized by the city.

The city was also supposed to ask the retiree to reimburse the expenses incurred, but Costa couldn’t confirm whether the money was recovered since it’s outside her department.

“The whistleblower hotline is a tremendous asset,” Costa said. “I do hope that people do call if they see anything that’s wrong … because it really is a good asset for the city, especially for the auditor’s office.”