Email comment angers Lynn’s Phelan

LYNN – An implication sent through a misdirected email that implied a company wanted to pay the city off for services has angered City Council President Timothy Phelan and other city officials.NextG Networks, a telecommunications company based in California, approached officials about six months ago to install wireless services to provide better coverage throughout the city.However, while working through negotiations, something happened that threw the proposal off course.An email conversation on Feb. 19 between Department of Public Works Director Jay Fink and NextG employee Kosta Jovanovic started off well, but another employee, Peter Heimdahl, who received a copy of the email, accidentally hit the wrong button and replied to all, sending a response that shocked Fink.The response read as follows: “Good! Let’s try to get a follow up with Phelan next week too?maybe offer up a la Somerville to grease the skids as need be.”Fink said while he was confused by the response, he didn’t think it meant anything harmful.”It appeared that an internal email got out and was inadvertently directed to me,” he said. “I took it for what it was, but it does make us stop and consider what’s really going on.”After replying to Heimdahl asking what happened in Somerville, Fink said he then forwarded the email to Phelan, who had more of an irate reaction to the mix-up.In a letter addressed to Heimdahl, Phelan said he was deeply insulted by the comments.”This is utterly and grossly offensive and, as the City Council President, a direct insult to me personally and professionally, to the integrity of the Lynn City Council and to the people of the city of Lynn,” he wrote. “I do not know how you or other municipalities do business but that is not how we operate in Lynn. There will be no “greasing the skids” as long as I am the City Council President. All applications for special permits are judged on merit alone.”Phelan went on to say that all future communication must be done in writing so that there is no miscommunication or misinterpretations on any items.The correspondence was forwarded by the city’s law department to District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett’s office for further review.On Thursday, Heimdahl apologized to Phelan, Fink and other city officials in an email and said he hoped the mix-up didn’t cause any ill will.He also cleared up his reference to “grease the skids” and said NextG had previously donated funds to a musical group in Somerville named “Sunsetters,” and that the company is prepared to generate good will in Lynn as well.Fink said despite the incident he doesn’t think the city will cease negotiations with the company, but rather work in the city’s favor.”Basically the company had given funding to a program there (Somerville) and were showing good will to the community,” he said. “So perhaps they could assist our community.”If approved, Fink said the company would install fiber optic lines connected to small wireless antennae on utility or streetlight poles to provide services to wireless communications service providers, including mobile network operators.