The state-appointed receiver overseeing Central Falls is looking into what could be done if the mayor doesn't meet the city's residency requirement after selling his house last fall.
Receiver Robert G. Flanders Jr. said Monday he has asked a city attorney and a lawyer for the receiver's office to clarify who is responsible for ensuring Mayor Charles Moreau meets the requirement to live in the city. Flanders also wants to know what "remedy" could be taken if Moreau is found not to live there.
"There's a question being raised about whether he's not living in the city," Flanders said. "I just want to know if this is something the office of the receiver should be enforcing."
He said his inquiry stemmed from "various reports," including in the media.
Moreau sold his house at 141 Jenks Ave. last fall but told The Associated Press he is living in the city at the house of a friend who he said also serves an unpaid position in his campaign. Moreau is registered to vote at the address where he says he's living, according to the Board of Canvassers in Central Falls.
"I'm living in the city. I'm serving the city," Moreau said. "I'm in the city every day."
Moreau was stripped of his duties as mayor when the state stepped in in 2010 to help address the city's finances. He has sparred with Flanders over his role and the role of council under the receivership and was party to an unsuccessful challenge to the constitutionality of the receivership law. Flanders filed for bankruptcy on the city's behalf in August.
The Providence Journal reported Saturday that a car registered to Moreau's wife, Kristen, is registered at an address in Lincoln. The paper said the Moreaus own a house on Old Louisquisset Pike.
Moreau said he no longer owns that house and that his wife lives there. He said he does not stay at that house and that his personal life is nobody's business.
Lincoln Tax Assessor Elaine Mondillo said Kristen Moreau has been the sole owner of that property since August 2010.
Tom Heslin, executive editor of The Providence Journal, said the newspaper would review the real estate records in light of the discrepancy.
Moreau said he owns several commercial properties in Central Falls and is planning to buy another residential property when he can afford one.
The mayor's salary was cut from nearly $72,000 to $26,000 annually after the receiver stepped in.
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