Police Chief Appointed Interim Town Manager

The North Kingstown Town Council on Monday appointed Police Chief Thomas Mulligan as the town’s interim town manager until a permanant manager is found.

Mulligan will lead the town after the departure of former Town Manager Michael Embury, who left the town for a job in Brewster, Mass.

The council voted 3-2 in executive session to appoint Mulligan and later ratified that vote 4-1 in public.

Councilwoman Ellen Waxman was the lone vote against ratification and said that she believed it was important that the council have a unanimous vote. She raised concerns about “leaving a hole in the police department” and what she described as a lack of adequate effort in advertising the open town manager job.

“We have a lot of turmoil in the town and I don’t think we should shake that up,” Waxman said, referring to the police department’s stability. “I don’t believe we adequately reached out and advertised the fact this town is looking for a town manager.”

Waxman noted that the town has placed ads on a website tailored for town managers and administrators looking for work but no ads have been posted in the local newspapers or anywhere else.

“Local people might be interested in applying,” she said.

The debate stopped there after Councilwoman Carol Heuston called for the question, prompting an immediate vote.

Councilman Kevin Maloney voted to ratify the executive session vote to appoint Mulligan, but noted he voted against the appointment in the closed door portion of the meeting because “the total circumstances involved that can’t be discussed.”

Maloney said he has “the utmost respect” for the police chief, indicating that his concerns weren’t about the person being chosen but the procedure itself.

Mulligan was sworn in as North Kingstown’s police chief in 2011. He has spent his entire career in the department, starting as a reserve patrol officer in 1984 and climbing the ranks.