Colasante Settles Ethics Complaint, Pays Fine

By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA

March 4th 2025

PROVIDENCE – Former Richmond Town Council member Michael Colasante has settled two of three ethics complaints and paid a fine of $5,000.

The Rhode Island Ethics Commission found the former Richmond Town Council member guilty of two complaints made in 2023 by former Town Council President Mark Trimmer.

Commission Chair Lauren E. Jones announced the decision, following the Executive Session at Tuesday’s meeting.

“The Commission reviewed a proposed informal resolution and settlement in the matter of ‘in re: Michael Colasante, Complaint number 2023 – 10,’” he stated. “The Commission voted 8 to 0 to approve the proposed informal resolution and settlement in that matter. The Executive Director will advise when copies of the settlement document will be available.”

No Adjudicative Hearing

Commenting on the case last December, the Commission’s Senior Staff Attorney, Katherine D’Arezzo, explained that there would be an adjudicative hearing on the case. Similar to a court case, the hearing is an adversarial process in which Colasante’s attorney, Joseph Larisa, and prosecutor D’Arezza would have presented and cross-examined witnesses. The hearing was expected to occur in the first months of 2025, but it did not take place, when two of the three complaints were settled.

“We didn’t have the adjudicative hearing, because he admits to the violations,” D’Arezzo said Tuesday.

The Complaints

All three complaints, which were made in 2023, involve Colasante’s relationship with Jeffrey Vaillancourt, who served briefly as the town’s Electrical Inspector before he was dismissed in January 2024, following complaints from business owners regarding his conduct.

The first ethics complaint states that Colasante violated a commission regulation “by receiving the assistance/or services of Jeffrey Vaillancourt, a licensed electrician serving as the Town of Richmond’s Electrical Inspector relative to the performance of an underground electrical installation and related excavation at the respondent’s property at 71 Buttonwoods Road in Richmond in August, 2023.”

The second complaint involved Colasante’s violation of a second commission regulation “by receiving the assistance and/or services of Jeffrey Vaillancourt, a licensed electrician serving as the Town of Richmond Electrical Inspector relative to a 2023 request to Rhode Island Energy to provide electrical service at the respondent’s property at 71 Buttonwoods Road in Richmond.”

The third complaint, which is not part of the settlement, involved Colasante receiving a gift in the form of Vaillancourt’s payment to electrical contractor Angelo Palazzo, for the cost of an electrical permit for Colasante’s Buttonwoods property.

D’Arezzo said she was satisfied with the decision.

“Admitting to two violations and paying a $5,000 fine, I think it was very fair, and it serves the public interest,” she said.

Trimmer, meanwhile, remains skeptical of the long-term impact of the commission’s decision.

“Maybe it’ll teach him a lesson, but I don’t think so,” he said.