By Jean Perry, Neighb News Correspondent
During what was listed on the agenda as a personnel discussion on Health Agent Mary Freire-Kellogg on 8/24, the Fairhaven Board of Health instead voted to place Ms. Freire Kellogg on paid administrative leave and would not state a specific reason for it when Attorney Philip Beauregard asked for one.
Right away Town Counsel Thomas Crotty was given the floor and said it was his understanding that the intention was to reschedule for a later date in order to give Ms. Freire-Kellogg notice on the substantive matters of what would be discussed. Meanwhile, the board would place her on paid administrative leave until further notice.
Ms. Freire-Kellogg had been out on medical leave with approval from her doctor since 7/16 (see Neighb News 7/23/20 issue). A letter from her doctor that was submitted to the board on 8/17 approved her for a return to work on 8/18, but when Ms. Freire-Kellogg returned to her desk that morning she was ordered to leave.
Board of Health member Geoffrey Haworth stated that he thought placing Ms. Freire-Kellogg on paid administrative leave while the board did its “due diligence” and lined up its proverbial ducks before continuing the conversation with her.
“And I agree,” said BOH member Michael Ristuccia.
“Administrative paid leave,” stated Mr. Beauregard. “For what reason?”
Mr. Crotty summarized, saying that the board has its interim health agent, Sarah DuPont, and Ms. Freire-Kellogg who has returned asking to be reinstated to her position.
“We have two health agents,” Mr. Crotty said. “There can’t be two health agents,” so the board needs time to decide where to go.
“I don’t agree with your characterization, Mr. Crotty,” replied Mr. Beauregard, “with all due respect.”
He said there was only one health agent, Ms. Freire-Kellogg, and spoke briefly as to why she was out on medical leave and referenced the recent report of an investigation into harassment allegations against BOH Chairperson Peter DeTerra, which concluded that Mr. DeTerra has engaged in a pattern of “uncivil and highly unprofessional behavior” toward Ms. Freire-Kellogg and former Assistant to the BOH Amanda Blais.
Mr. Beauregard was interrupted for not staying on topic, but asserted that he was simply addressing the issue that there were “two health agents.”
“There’s not two board agents, there’s one board agent,” he stated.
Mr. Ristuccia interrupted him, but said he would be fine if he continued as long as he remained on topic.
“You have an employee, Mary Kellogg, who is subject to the personnel procedure of the town, which is administered by your town administrator and not the Board of Health, and I think you know that because that was the statute that was passed.”
Mr. Beauregard continued: “… so, whatever procedures [the board] used on the basis that [Ms. Freire-Kellogg] was out on sick leave, that was for a predicted specific period of time,” and she returned within that time, “perfectly capable by medical clearance, even if that were required to come back and resume her duties.”
Mr. Beauregard said that paid administrative leave has a “punitive aspect” to it in and of itself, and said, “You don’t put somebody on paid administrative leave unless there’s a need to do it. And I would ask, on what basis is there to penalize her at this point and put her on paid administrative leave?”
He again referenced the investigation report. “She deserves, at least, an explanation.”
After a silent pause, he asked, “Town counsel is silent?”
“Do you want to debate back and forth?” asked Mr. Crotty.
“No debate right now,” said Mr. DeTerra.
“Not debate,” said Mr. Beauregard. “We want a reason, a statement of fact. Why put [her] on paid administrative leave?”
Mr. Ristuccia said he would like to speak to that, but he did not offer a reason for the paid leave. Instead, he read from a written statement about his encounter with Ms. Freire-Kellogg on 8/17 when she returned to work and he ordered her to leave:
“This is not a surprise to a lot of residents in the town that have been reading the newspapers and paying attention to Facebook that I … allegedly yelled and screamed at [Ms. Freire-Kellogg] in the office. I say allegedly because prior to going into that office I asked somebody to sit outside that office to make sure that they would be able to compile an outline of exactly what happened in there.”
That somebody was Selectboard member Keith Silvia, who said Mr. Ristuccia he brought with him to witness the interaction. Mr. Ristuccia read aloud a letter he said Mr. Silvia wrote about what he observed that morning.
Mr. Ristuccia read, “What I witnessed were both parties acting in a professional manner showing respect towards each other with a difficult scenario. I did not see or hear either party raising their voices or disrespecting one another.”
Meanwhile during the remote Zoom meeting, Fairhaven resident Andrew Jones submitted a chat comment questioning how Mr. Ristuccia’s comments could be considered as relevant to the discussion.
“I’m dismayed at what I read and heard regarding my meeting with [Ms. Freire-Kellogg],” said Mr. Ristuccia, and said he was not making any accusations of his own. He then added, “I’m very upset about it and I’m seeking legal counsel.”
Mr. Haworth said he was the “most neutral party” involved and that he is trying to keep an open mind about the matter.
Just before the discussion on Ms. Freire-Kellogg, Mr. Haworth interrupted the approval of the minutes of several prior meetings to announce that someone had allegedly accessed the Health Department computer system, tampered with the meeting minutes of 5/28, 6/11, 6/18, 7/9, 7/10, 7/16, and possibly 7/30, and deleted the Microsoft Word versions leaving behind only altered PDF versions of the minutes.
According to Mr. Haworth, the IT Department told him, based on the modified dates of the files, that the files were likely accessed remotely on 8/4 and 8/5 between 8:30 p.m. and 9:41 p.m. He said the person who altered the files would have to have access to the Health Department’s Z: drive.
A Z:drive is the storage location on a computer that allows one to save files on one computer and then access them later from a different computer.
While continuing with the discussion about Ms. Freire-Kellogg, Mr. Haworth said he was trying to “keep an open mind and look at this for all aspects,” but still has not been able to “get through everything.”
“For example, somebody accessed the minutes,”* said Mr. Haworth. “I don’t know if it was Ms. [Freire-Kellogg] … or [Health Inspector Dan Shea] (currently on paid administrative leave),” although Mr. Haworth said he was not accusing anyone. “But until we find out who did that — and we have situations and, Mr. Beauregard, I don’t want to be bringing all this out … until we get time to properly notify Ms. Kellogg on these accusations, but then we have things like marina permits that haven’t been issued this season that should’ve been done back in May, June.
“So, if you want a reason why we’re looking to put everything together before we just start throwing everything on the table, these are things we’re looking at,” said Mr. Haworth, adding that he was sure Ms. Freire-Kellogg is a great health agent.
“I’m just looking at facts and the facts are there are a few problems right now and until we resolve those problems I don’t see it as detrimental for Ms. Kellogg to remain on paid leave while we put together what’s happened with all these other issues,” Mr. Haworth said. “I’m just seeing deficiencies within the department,” and, he added, he needs more time to decide on how to vote and handle the situation.
“I don’t think it’s bad for this board to allow Ms. Kellogg to stay paid and on paid leave while all these issues are resolved,” he said.
“OK, is that a motion?” asked Mr. DeTerra, which it then became.
“Do I get to speak in reference to [inaudible]?” asked Ms. Freire-Kellogg, present inside the meeting room wearing her face mask.
“No,” Mr. DeTerra replied.
“I can’t speak to that, only the chair can,” Mr. Ristuccia said.
“I just think it’s better that we compile everything and we have one big hearing,” said Mr. Haworth.
“What’s ‘compiling’ everything?” asked Mr. Beauregard. “Is there a reason? ‘Everything’ now, you’re saying. Marina permits…. She’s there. She will answer you.”
Mr. Haworth said it would not be fair to put her “on the spot.”
“Well, I am her lawyer and I say it’s fair,” said Mr. Beauregard. “I say it’s unfair to be sending her home with pay with no reason. And she is there and she’s prepared to answer any question you have about Board of Health business. Why don’t you ask her?”
Mr. Haworth ignored the offer, and proceeded to recommend Thursday, 9/10 as the next meeting, during which time Ms. Freire-Kellogg’s personnel matter would be continued.
“Will the board state a reason?” Mr. Beauregard tried one last time, which went unanswered.
The board voted 2-1, with Mr. DeTerra abstaining, to place Ms. Freire-Kellogg on paid administrative leave and to reconvene on 9/10, placing Mr. Haworth in charge of handling the matter on behalf of the board.
Mr. Beauregard asked when the board was going to discuss Mr. Shea, saying that he thought he was supposed to be on the agenda that night as well.
“Mr. Shea is still employed … and he was told not to do inspections and turn in his keys,” said Mr. Beauregard. “And I had asked whether he was terminated.”
“He’s not on the agenda,” said Mr. DeTerra. “If he talks anymore can you mute him please?”
Also during the meeting, Mr. Ristuccia made a motion that he not be paid any stipend for his participation on the Board of Health, saying that he does not want compensation and does not want to be “an employee of the Town of Fairhaven,” which the board granted with a vote. However, Mr. Ristuccia mentioned that his decision “was subject to change.”
In other news, Ms. DuPont reported that Fairhaven currently has six active COVID-19 cases for a total of 254 cases so far.
Earlier in the meeting Mr. Haworth mentioned that it came to his attention that most of the marinas in town have been operating without a permit this season and had not been inspected. Ms. DuPont said she was able to inspect and issue permits to some of them, but Mr. Haworth said roughly “66%” of the marinas still need permits.
*Editor’s note: Amanda Blais contacted the Neighb News explaining that she is not allowed to speak at meetings so she was not able to explain that she has been working from home and using a town-issued laptop to create the minutes and save them on the office drive. She said she has been saving the minutes as PDFs instead of Word documents ever since Mr. DeTerra became chairperson because she was afraid he would alter the minutes, and PDFs are not easily changed. She said she never deleted the Word files, they were never created. Also, the BOH does not customarily use digital files to approve minutes, they use hard copies provided in their packets before each meeting.
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