Montanaro lands at RIPTA Former top State House staffer Frank Montanaro has landed a new job at RIPTA as the Executive Director of Facilities and Maintenance. His salary is $113,100.97. Under Mattiello, Montanaro served as the head of the Joint Committee on Legislative Services. In that role, he earned $167,948.56 according to state records. One controversy centered around Montanaro receiving $50,000 in free tuition. After much outrage and a State Police investigation, he later agreed to pay portions of those funds back and notified Rhode Island College of his plans to repay $41,083 of the nearly $50,000 in free tuition he received. In 2019, Montanaro was involved in a controversy between Mattiello and the RI Convention Center Authority. In his role as chair of the JCLS, he pressed for an audit of the Authority after the organization disciplined a close political ally of Mattiello.