A Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday the East Greenwich Town Council violated open meetings law when appointing its town manager, invalidating her appointment and reinstating a firefighter she had fired.
“The court finds that the town’s appointment process and notification to members of the town about the appointment process misled the people of East Greenwich,” Judge Susan McGuirl said in court as she handed down her decision.
McGuirl also said the town manager, Gayle Corrigan, should not have fired firefighter James Perry from his job at the East Greenwich Fire Department, and ordered him reinstated. The decision was the culmination of a five day bench trial in a lawsuit filed by the East Greenwich firefighters’ union and Perry against Corrigan, town finance director Linda Dykeman and the East Greenwich Town Council.