East Greenwich Council ousts Corrigan as town manager

EAST GREENWICH, R.I. (WLNE) — With a swift, unanimous vote Saturday morning, the East Greenwich Town Council sent controversial town manager Gayle Corrigan packing.

“We ran as a slate looking to bring new leadership and a new agenda, and upon election that’s what we’re implementing now,” said council president Mark Schwager.

Corrigan was under fire throughout her entire tenure as town manager–from sparring with firefighters, to legal issues at her former employer, to the secretive way she was appointed. The brand new council all ran on a platform of ousting her–a tactic Corrigan calls unusual.

“Typically town managers are not political fodder for an election,” Corrigan said Friday.

Corrigan was not at Saturday’s meeting, but plenty of residents packed the council chambers as the vote was taken to fire her. Many say good riddance.

“I think the removal of Gayle Corrigan will bring the confrontation, the divisiveness out of this town,” said resident Juan Ledesma.

“This is the change that everyone in town wanted,” said firefighters’ union president William Perry.

Perry is especially pleased, given Corrigan’s firing of his brother from the fire department, which a judge later overturned.

“She has targeted many employees of the fire department,” said Perry. “I’m just glad that there’s change, there’s reasonable people that we can sit down and work with.”

We asked Corrigan Friday if she plans to stay involved in East Greenwich politics.

“I do live close to town and I am interested in things like government transparency and things like that, so I’ll keep an eye on it,” said Corrigan.

Meanwhile folks in town hope this change in leadership will ultimately bring unity.

“We all need to get together again, become neighbors once more, move past this and go back to a quiet, sleepy town that East Greenwich has always been in the past,” said Ledesma.

Public works director Joe Duarte was appointed acting town manager Saturday. The council also appointed a new acting fire chief. 

As for Corrigan, just because she’s out of a job doesn’t mean she’s off the East Greenwich payroll just yet. She will be getting a six-month severance package worth $80,000.