Rosemary Warren's reaction to a 7 Eyewitness News investigation into the handling of contracts for the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute was typical of a taxpayer.
“Well it doesn't look good to the public,” Warren said.
She attends government meetings as a hobby to keep an eye out for the types of self-dealing that's under investigation at NCCC.
A number of emails between college officials -- obtained by 7 Eyewitness News -- show private companies with connections to school officials may have been unfairly favored.
"I wonder…where's their ethics?” Warren asked. “Where's the ethics of this, using the word charade? How ethical is that? And do you really have my best interests when you're using that word? I don't think so."
As a taxpayer, the whole story gives her a sense of outrage.
“I expect them to do the best for me,” Warren said. “I'm really disappointed with what I heard today and what I saw."
Public money funded more than 75 percent of the $30 million project, and now, the school is asking for another $30 million to build a new science and math building.
Warren wonders whether she and other taxpayers should trust NCCC with more public funds.
"Are you going to again, use little conflict of interest people, and play little games with us? And think we're too dumb to know?” she asked. “And really, we wouldn't know if media didn't open it up to us.”
