Woonsocket Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt resigns. What we know.

Woonsocket Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt resigned as mayor on Thursday afternoon citing health concerns, but her departure comes at the same time she was facing hard questions about a controversial land sale she orchestrated without City Council knowledge.

"This was an entirely self-inflicted wound," said Woonsocket state Rep. Jon Brien, who had previously challenged Baldelli-Hunt for mayor.

"Hubris is an amazing thing," Brien said. "I mean you can't transact a land deal for $1.1 million behind the back of the City Council, the city solicitor and the public works director without political blowback. ... In this instance, it certainly came back to bite her."

"Ultimately this was a gambit she could not win," he said.

Woonsocket council was preparing to look at mayor's land deal

The Valley Breeze reported this week that the Woonsocket City Council approved hiring an outside attorney to look into whether or not Baldelli-Hunt violated the charter by using $1.1 million in federal money to purchase a 5-acre lot of city property owned by developer Raymond Bourque without the council's authority or knowledge.

Councilman John Ward said insiders anticipated her resignation after she returned from a trip earlier this week, and even her former allies told her that what she had done would be "a difficult thing for anyone to defend."

"I believe the intended communication was to express to her the futility of attempting to defend it when she had literally alienated her allies. .... And, as I have said over the course of this whole thing, her actions were more a violation of the public trust and less so a confrontation with the council like occurred last year."

"We were asked not to say anything, and so we didn't, and it was that," he said.

New mayor sworn in

Ward confirmed that council President Christopher Beauchamp was sworn in as mayor by City Clerk Christina Harmon moments after Baldelli-Hunt's letter of resignation was submitted to the city just before 3 p.m.

Of Baldelli-Hunt's explanation for her sudden resignation, Ward said:

"I take the mayor at her word and wish her good health in the future. I am certain that the stress of this recent development must be a difficult burden on her. I am confident that Mayor Beauchamp will serve the city well for the remainder of the term and look forward to finishing our investigation."

Baldelli-Hunt, who collapsed in April, cited health issues in her resignation

Baldelli-Hunt made no reference to the controversial land deal in her resignation letter.

Baldelli-Hunt, who collapsed at a press conference in April and was taken away by ambulance, said her health concerns had not resolved "as I had hoped." She said her issues have continued to affect her and her ability to "move the city forward."

"The time has come for me to address my health and the well-being of my family," she wrote in a news release. "As much as I love the City of Woonsocket and all of you, I must re-order my priorities to suit the current circumstances."

Baldelli-Hunt was re-elected last year - after being ousted from office

Baldelli Hunt’s unilateral decision-making had sparked controversy several times in the past.

In a 3-2 vote last October, the Woonsocket City Council removed her as mayor after 12 hours of contentious meetings that spanned two consecutive nights. The removal proceedings were triggered by a complaint filed by Councilwoman Denise Sierra, alleging that Baldelli-Hunt, who at that point had been mayor since 2013, had repeatedly overstepped her authority as mayor.

More: Insults, accusations, bad blood in Woonsocket. How the mayor ended up in the center of it.

It was all for naught though, as Baldelli-Hunt was, at the time, running unopposed for another term as mayor. She retook her mantle after the election alongside a slate of new city councilors she supported to oust her rivals.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Lisa Baldelli-Hunt, controversial mayor of Woonsocket, resigns