Corrigan Takes Firefighter to Task for Public Comment

by | Apr 29, 2018

Firefighter union president Bill Perry during public comment before the Town Council April 23, 2018.

By Elizabeth F. McNamara

Town Manager Gayle Corrigan used the town email list to distribute a letter to residents last week refuting comments made by firefighter union president Bill Perry at last Monday’s Town Council meeting.

“We are not looking to pick a fight with Lt. Perry, but when he speaks as an officer of the East Greenwich Fire Department, he speaks with an air of authority. Anyone speaking with authority should be accurate with their information,” Corrigan wrote.

In his comments, Perry said the firefighters were always ready to talk about contract issues that have led to the town’s litigation. Corrigan disputed this in her letter, referring to her willingness to meet to discuss grievances.

The Town welcomes any opportunity to meet with the firefighter’s union,” she wrote.

In an interview after the letter went out, Perry said he was referring to the contract issues that led to the town’s decision to file suit against the firefighters in December in his comments before the Town Council

They have never once reached out by email, anything, to talk about overtime, the contract, anything,” Perry said.

In her letter, Corrigan chided Perry for what she said was his mistake on his property tax bill, which he said during his comments was $15,000.

“Mr. Perry clearly does not have a good handle on actual numbers. The current tax bill for his property on 5 Pardons Wood Lane with a value of $500,500 is $11,841.83,” Corrigan wrote.

Perry said Corrigan failed to include his car tax, which he estimated would be an additional $2,500. He conceded under that scenario, his tax bill would be in the $14,000 range.

Finally, Corrigan listed what she said were a series of misrepresentations with regard to Perry’s comments regarding a fire at a vacant building on Main Street the previous week.

“Again, Mr. Perry does not have a good handle on actual numbers. There were three (3) firefighters on the scene,” she wrote, one of them Chief Robinson. She said additional help arrived in six minutes.

Perry had said there were two firefighters on scene initially and that it was eight minutes before additional help arrived. Last week he stood by his words.

“For the chief to be the incident commander, the incident commander does not go in the building. I don’t count him as a firefighter,” said Perry. He said the same would be the case with former Fire Chief Russ McGillivray – only two firefighters were available to go into the building until additional help arrived.

Corrigan also questioned Perry’s saying the building could have been lost but for the timing of the fire (it took place midday; a passerby called it in after seeing smoke).

“This statement is mostly true but not for the reason Mr. Perry implies…. The number of firefighters or trucks on site after the fact is irrelevant to how and when the fire is reported. The fire alarm remained working during the fire,” she wrote.

Last week, Perry said the problem with Corrigan’s analysis is that they were lucky – there was no one inside and the fire was easily contained. But for those facts, he said, the incident would have been much more serious. You want to be prepared for all eventualities, he said.

In her letter, Corrigan suggested that EG firefighters refuse to be called back into work when there is an active fire. Perry refuted that and said he did not know where she got that information.

(Lawyer for the firefighters, EG resident Elizabeth Wiens, sent this letter to the town to lodge her complaints about Corrigan’s email: Response to Corrigan Letter.)


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Renu Englehart
Renu Englehart
April 30, 2018 9:18 am

Is this how other town managers in RI behave? Is this the proper use of the town email system (for personal grievances)?

Jon Larsson
Jon Larsson
April 30, 2018 7:02 pm

As far as I am concerned, Corrigan has absolutely no experience in firefighting and should not be making any comments for response times, number of firefighters required or anything to do with firefighting.

Jane
Jane
April 30, 2018 10:09 pm

I can’t even imagine the mayor or Warwick (basic equivalent to a TM) sending out such a petty email. Can you?

Steve Fay
Steve Fay
May 1, 2018 6:44 pm

All Starts with Senesco Marine in North Kingstown….follow the ethics from there. In Central Coventry, she was hired by the board who’s chairman, in a public district meeting on May 21 st , 2015 at 56 minutes and 36 seconds, refers to a judge as a “$200.00 hooker”. This is how she and her legal counsel in the town view the legal system. By the way D’Agostino is still the legal counsel for Central Coventry .But as I stated, it all starts with her “ethical question-ability” and Senesco Marine in North Kingstown.

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