Town Manager Gayle Corrigan, center, presents her report to the Town Council April 9, 2018.

By Elizabeth F. McNamara

East Greenwich, R.I. – The state Ethics Commission has decided to investigate a second complaint against Town Manager Gayle Corrigan, this one concerning her alleged failure to disclose business ties on the 2016 ethics form she filed in February.

Find the ethics complaint here: Corrigan Complaint.

Launch of an investigation is not a finding of guilt.

The complaint, according to the Ethics Commission statement, “alleges facts regarding the timely filing of the 2016 Financial Statement and the failure to disclose on the 2016 financial statement that Management Resource Partners, Inc., transacted business with the Central Coventry Fire District that, if true, are sufficient to constitute a violation of the provisions of the Rhode Island Code of Ethics.” (Find the Ethics Commission’s notice here: NoticeOfIDCorrigan.)

Resident Renu Englehart, a member of the Zoning Board of Review, filed the complaint.

The Ethics Commission is already investigating a complaint filed by resident William Higgins in December.

In her complaint, Englehart noted the 2016 filing was Corrigan’s first, despite having worked for Central Falls, Rhode Island Housing and Central Coventry Fire District. Englehart said it was unlikely Corrigan did not realize she needed to file with the Ethics Commission, particularly since Corrigan served on the board of Common Cause and even appeared before the Ethics Commission in 2015 on behalf of Common Cause, an organization dedicated to “open, ethical, accountable, effective government. . . . ”

Englehart said she herself has filed yearly statements with the Ethics Commission as a member of the volunteer Zoning Board. 

Englehart has also questioned how Corrigan was able to work in two separate towns without getting an advisory opinion from the Ethics Commission.

The commission has 180 days from April 25 to conduct the investigation. Corrigan has 20 days from April 25 to file a response. Corrigan has a contract to serve as town manager through June 30. The Town Council has interviewed some candidates for the position; they have not said whether or not Corrigan is one of them. 

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