City Council Fires E.P. City Manager

The City Council removed East Providence’s city manager from office on Tuesday night, Nov. 5.

The vote was 4-1 to terminate Peter Graczykowski after about two years on the job. No cause was given officially. Only City Councilor Chrissy Rossi voted to keep him in the position. 

Graczykowski declined to comment about his termination. He walked out right after the vote, which triggered his immediate suspension.

City Councilor Helder Cunha, who asked that the resolution to terminate Graczykowski be put on the agenda, said he did not want to comment until Wednesday. 

Mayor James Briden also said he did not want to comment. 

The appointment of an acting city manager could happen as early as Friday, Nov. 8, when the Town Council will meet at 5 pm to determine their next steps. In the meantime, City Solicitor Tim Chapman will be a "point of contact" as needed to manage the city.

The resolution passed with discussion only by Rossi, who asked that a vote on the resolution be deferred until the next meeting date in executive session. She also said it would cost East Providence about $93,000 in severance and unused vacation pay if it fired him.

“We can give him a list of things he needs to do,” she said. 

Her suggestion fell on deaf ears. The City Council voted in a rapid roll-call vote to terminate the city manager.

Rossi also went to bat for Graczykowski during the public comment period that starts every City Council meeting. She said she thought his job performance warranted at least further discussion.

Graczykowski served as city manager during the time period that a Budget Commission managed the finances of the city. That board also got involved in Graczykowski’s decision to put Police Chief Joseph Tavares on leave last spring purportedly because of the police chief's performance managing the police department 

It is believed widely that Graczykowski’s management of that situation caused his demise among most of the city councilors. 

The Budget Commission reinstated Tavares and said there were no grounds in the first place for him being put on leave. The board also asked for a State Police investigation. 

That investigation by the State Police into Graczykowski’s decision to put Tavares on leave raised the issue that he did so because of coercion from two members of the City Council: Rossi and Thomas Rose Jr., neither of whom cooperated fully with the State Police.

Graczykowski had always wanted an employment contract; getting rid of Tavares reportedly was supposed to help him get one.