The Swampscott Select Board discussed discrimination complaints lobbied against Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald at its latest meeting.
Board Chair David Grishman revealed details about the town’s internal investigation into Sanchez’s complaint that took place when it was initially filed.
“Select Board was made aware of the allegation by email in early August of ‘22, and met no less than five times in non-public executive sessions between August of ‘22 and February of ‘23 to discuss and investigate,” Grishman said.
He said that Board Vice Chair Katie Phelan and members of the town’s Human Resources Department conducted interviews pertaining to the complaint throughout a five-month period.
“Based on the investigation, Select Board member Katie Phelan and the town’s HR director recommended the following findings to the entire Select Board. A: The town administrator did not violate the town’s anti-harassment policy, nor did his conduct invoke bias against the employee on the basis of their gender/sex,” Grishman said. “Even if one were to conclude that the conduct was sexual or biased, we did not find evidence suggesting that it had the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with the employee’s employment or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive employment environment.”
Grishman added that the board consequently voted to have the town’s anti-harassment policy distributed annually and conduct training for the policy every three years. Additionally, the board’s members voted to have Fitzgerald take a refresher course on discrimination and sexual harassment. He recalled the board’s meeting on Feb. 12, in which multiple residents made passionate comments about the allegations against Fitzgerald, and described those comments as unfair.
“One of my major regrets is that my colleagues and I sat silently while our town administrator was verbally attacked,” Grishman said.
Soon after, Fitzgerald said the complaints filed against him are partially motivated by retaliation for some of the actions he has taken as town administrator.
“I had to make some dramatic changes to town operations. I had to reorganize departments and make staffing changes,” Fitzgerald said.
He used the example of when he removed the Police and Fire departments from the state’s Civil Service system as a potential reason for why complaints have been lobbied against him.
“I’ve sat in bargaining room sessions where I’ve had union employees call me the enemy. This is visceral” Fitzgerald said. “These changes have been incredibly difficult… It’s helped us to hire the most diverse number of individuals in the town’s history. But the price I’m paying right now is that I have individuals casting aspersions unfairly.”
Board member MaryEllen Fletcher said she did not want to comment on the situation, and that her peers should be focused on other matters.
“I think we got a lot of problems here, and I’m not going to make any personnel comments tonight. Tomorrow we’re burying (Swampscott Police Officer) Tom Lucas, and that’s where I want the focus on,” Fletcher said at the meeting Wednesday.
Fletcher’s comments drew applause from those in attendance.
Board member Peter Spellios read a prepared statement in defense of Fitzgerald. Spellios echoed Fitzgerald’s argument that the complaints, as well as other criticisms from the public, stem from decisions Fitzgerald has made for the town.
“There is one easy choice remaining (in Swampscott) — Sean, you choose not to take it — and that’s doing nothing,” Spellios read. “Very few people object when you don’t do anything… no one in this town has been asked to do more hard things than the town administrator.”
He added that in contrast to Fitzgerald, previous town administrators have been less active. He gave Fitzgerald credit for prioritizing ethnic diversity in the town’s infrastructure.
“While the town administrator goes out of his way at any chance to commend the men and women of the Town of Swampscott, most especially the public safety unions, for their support of these changes, the truth is not that simple,” Spellios said. “To this day, there are some that are unhappy about and resist change. Some of those individuals, in my opinion, have gone out of the way to express their displeasure by focusing it on the town administrator.”
According to Spellios, the complainants have both their complaint and the town’s full response, but chose not to release the response publicly. He accused those who filed complaints of going public with them for the purpose of “embarrassing and bringing scorn” to Fitzgerald.
“People cheered upon as a resident took to the microphone and introduced themselves,” Spellios said, referencing Leonard. “The resident then proceeded to scold the board and referred to the purported actions of the town administrator as ‘disgusting.'”
Spellios said that Leonard should have asked about the town’s side of the story, and said that she lectured the board instead.
He apologized to Fitzgerald for not defending him more that night.
