The following STATEMENT was delivered and read at the
Hamilton Board of Selectman's meeting on July 2, 2012:
Trust, Respect and Confidence of a community are essential elements a town employee or school administrator must possess.
You
will recall that the Hamilton-Wenham School
Committee announced last year that the employment of School
Superintendent Dr. Raleigh Buchanan was being terminated...less than one
year into a three-year contract.
The principal reason?...Loss of Confidence.
LOSS OF CONFIDENCE is a term often used as
grounds for termination of an employee. Loss of confidence arising from
fraud or willful breach of trust by an employee is generally seen as a just
cause for termination.
Ordinary breach should not suffice. It should be willful
and without justifiable excuse and should be supported by substantial evidence,
not merely by the whims or caprice of the employer.
Which brings us to the position of Hamilton Town Counsel,
currently held by Attorney Donna Brewer. Ms. Brewer was so involved with
the Hamilton Police Department conflict and resulting Marchand lawsuit as to be
deemed one of the central figures in that controversy.
As a result, two independent investigatory reports were
commissioned by the town: the Hayes Report and the Pomeroy Report. Both reports
clearly indicated Ms. Brewer's central role in the Police Department affair.
A third report, the Urbelis Report, was commissioned to review
the two previous reports and to specifically evaluate Ms. Brewer's actions.
Thomas Urbelis is a respected Boston attorney who serves as Town Counsel
for Andover and North Andover. The Urbelis investigation uncovered such
wrongful acts that the report was held secret, as attorney-client privilege,
for three years until AFTER the Marchand case was settled.
Upon its release to the public, the Urbelis Report was posted
on The Hamilton-Wenham Patch and residents weighed in with
spirited commenting on the contents of the report and Ms. Brewer's actions.
Why? Because the Urbelis Report, in support of both the Hayes
and Pomeroy reports, determined that Ms. Brewer did in fact willfully and
without justifiable excuse act in an inappropriate and culpable manner.
Citizens are understandably outraged.
As a result of her actions, Attorney Brewer has forfeited the
trust, respect and confidence of the community and appropriately, she should be
terminated as Town Counsel.
Many concerned citizens have already contacted the Board of
Selectmen and Town Manager, but so far no progress has been made regarding Ms.
Brewer's replacement. Town Manager Michael Lombardo has chosen to support
Ms. Brewer's continued employment and has suggested that her
"reasonable" fees and "pro bono" work are a chief
consideration for keeping her on payroll. He has, it seems, chosen to
ignore her poor and questionable performance prior to his becoming Town Manager
and how much that performance has actually cost Hamilton and the taxpayers…in
lost and settled court cases (culminating in the Marchand lawsuit settlement of
$1,285,000.00), poor or improper legal advice, loss of income now that we no
longer have a town-owned ambulance service, and of course, loss of community
reputation for our town.
Ms. Brewer's actions merit condemnation and dismissal, not
support and employment.
We respectfully insist that this issue be formally reviewed and
reconsidered and that the position of Town Counsel be put out to bid for a new
attorney to represent our town.
Hamilton deserves better.
Thank you.
Submitted by the following Hamilton residents, and supported by
considerably more...
Jay
Burnham
Bob
Gray
Shirley
Gray
Leon
Purington
Bruce
Wadleigh
Dale
Wadleigh
Leigh
Keyser
Betty
Dunbar
Margo
Killoram
David
Southwick
Bea
Britton
Jim
Kent
Julianna
Kallas
Ed
Howard
Laura
Howard
George
LaMontagne
Linda
Morey
Dan
Ellison
Robert Sica
Robert Sica
To read The Hamilton-Wenham Patch's article published the following day after this statement was delivered: [Click Here]
July 8th Update: To read another blogger's opinion (The Informed Hamilton Blog) regarding this same issue: [Click Here]
Its time for a discussion on if the folks in Hamilton want stay with a town manager type of governing or go back to allowing a town adminstrator to run town business.
ReplyDeleteUnlike Hatfield, Dupray and arguably Grant, who resigned their positions because, despite their intentions, did not act appropriately, Ms. Brewer has continued on. Yes, she tendered her resignation but was asked to continue "until the Marchand case was resolved." That made sense, but the Marchand case is settled and it's time for all of us to move on.
ReplyDeleteThis whole affair is an open wound for many in Hamilton and while Ms. Brewer may have thought she was doing the right thing at the time, the evidence has bourne out that she not only acted inappropriately but just gave bad legal advice which resulted in a major cost to the town in money, reputation and collective pain.
It's simply unjust to reward those who have denied their culpability and continue to make a living from the tax payers they have wronged. To keep her on not only denies citizens and victims some closure but it sustains the appearance (if not the culture) of small groups of people controlling what really happens in town government without the input of the constituency and consideration of the democratic process.
Sgt. Grant left his job due to an injury he sustained helping a patient on an ambulance run. He was one of only two officers who backed Mike Marchand while the other members of the Police department either participated in the wrongful attacks or sat back and watched a good cop fall victim to awful people within the Police and town hall.
DeleteIn fact, Grant was one of only 2 full-time officers who were fully cleared of the EMT scandal.
Unlike most of the other members of the Police there was no disciplinary issue with Grant at all. His exit from HPD was due to the injury and exacerbated by the constant retaliation he suffered at the hands of the Police department and the town because he openly voiced disgust of the way the other officers and the town treated officer Mike Marchand. He will be missed, unlike the others who were forced to leave or face termination (Dupray, Hatfield and Cullen).
Nice work Jay - I am glad to see that there are still people who will stand shoulder to shoulder with you, to speak the truth and keep a watch on town government.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to know the people of Hamilton have not forgotten what happened to our town - It was so very wrong and shouldn't have taken so long to fix, but certainly it now needs to be dealt with, even if town hall is reluctant to address it.
Whoa. Nyland I can believe, but Grant? He retired because he was injured on the job, and through no fault of his own. He was one of only four officers who did not lie about EMT training, one of the first to go to Nyland and Cullen about his concerns, one of the first to cooperate with the OEMS, and one of the most ardent defenders of Mike Marchand.
ReplyDeleteYes, forgot to list Nyland as well. Yes, Grant's "official" resignation/retirement story was his health and I'm sure that played a part. And yes, he did go Nyland and Cullen with his concerns and did not sign the rosters. My point (although not clear in the previous post) being that there were people who voluntarily left their jobs for various reasons rather than draw out draw out the sorded affair even further.
DeleteHow nice and appropriate it would be if current Town Counsel would now do the same...as she had decided to two years ago. The time has come to renew those intentions.
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ReplyDeleteThis quote from the Pomeroy Report undoubtedly helped lead the Board of Selectmen to hire Attorney Urbelis (The Urbelis Report) to follow up on Town Counsel Brewer's role in the Marchand controversy and her unauthorized and inappropriate "investigation":
ReplyDelete"In late April 2007, in an e-mail to Wallace from Town counsel, counsel relates that the Assistant District Attorney has no knowledge of any incidents involving Marchand that should a be a concern to the Town. MacKenna ends her message to Wallace by apologizing with a "Sorry." This one word reply could easily lead a reader to believe that counsel and Wallace were actually disappointed that they did not uncover information with which to either prosecute Marchand criminally or take administrative action such as termination or suspension from duty. This one word reply could also infer that the investigators possessed pre-conceived notions about the outcome of their inquiry. Apparently, those notions were dashed by the Assistant District Attorney's lack of information to corroborate the negative rumors about Marchand. Wallace replies that it is "discouraging that they complain about Mike but no one wants to do anything about it. " MacKenna then replies that Marchand "has done a good job of preempting any negative comments", thereby apparently insinuating that Marchand has either obstructed justice or tampered with the investigation. Wallace asks that MacKenna call her after her meeting in Executive Session with the Selectmen. MacKenna agrees to call. By now it becomes even more apparent that Wallace was no longer simply an informant or whistleblower. It appears that Wallace had become an investigator for, and close confidant of, Town counsel."
One cannot understate how catty Wallace and Brewer come across in the Pomeroy and Hayes report. They are two girlfriends who just decided that they didn't like someone and that they were going to go on this wild adventure to ruin him. Even as the evidence was suggesting that Wallace had engaged in actionable slander, Brewer seems resolute. "[Marchand] has done a good job of preempting and negative comments." As the evidence seemed to fall apart, Wallace seemed to redoubled her efforts, scheduling a trip to the Newburyport Courthouse for the sole purpose of encouraging people to say something bad about Mike Marchand. It didn't work.
ReplyDeleteThe part that amazes me most is that Brewer passed along a list of unsubstantiated allegations to Mike Marchand's physician. "I have no evidence to back these up, and I don't know if this stuff is true, and I've had egg on my face trusting my source just three short months ago, but here's a list of dirt about Mike Marchand."
Not only was it defamatory, it probably constituted some violation of the HIPPA laws. Also important to remember that a federal judge ruled that Brewer had only limited immunity as town counselor. In other words, the judge ruled that her actions were personally vindictive and were not fully the result of her performing her job.
And, of course, there were the seven executive session meetings in which Essex Assistant District Attorney Charles Grimes found that the Board of Selectmen, with Brewer's blessing, had violated the Open Meeting Law.
QE: You stated: "They are two girlfriends who just decided that they didn't like someone and that they were going to go on this wild adventure to ruin him."
DeleteThis is not the first time Brewer has behaved this way. She has done it before, at least twice that I am aware of. It represents a pattern of unacceptable behavior...and it needs to end now.