SWAMPSCOTT— The Select Board announced it has elected to release the town’s full response related to a discrimination complaint lobbied against Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald at its meeting Wednesday night.
Police Officer Briana Sanchez filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, the Commonwealth’s primary discrimination-enforcement agency, in March of 2023. She alleged that Fitzgerald had asked her an inappropriate question during her original interview to join the Swampscott Police Department in 2022.
Board Chair David Grishman revealed that the decision to release the town’s response was made during an executive session held by the Board earlier in the week.
“Select Board voted to release the town’s response memorandum in the corresponding MCAD complaint that was the subject of a recent news article in the Lynn Item,” Grishman said. “In this circumstance given that both the accuser and the accused are town employees and especially because the MCAD complaint but not the town response memorandum was previously released by others to the media, the board decided the interest of all concerned would be best protected with the public disclosure of these documents.”
The response denies any wrongdoing by Fitzgerald. It casts doubt toward the credibility of parties that have reported the alleged inappropriate question, as well as the accuracy of their recount as well. In addition, it presents evidence that it feels demonstrates potential ulterior motives by individuals who were members of the Police Union at the time that would lead them to take action against the Town Administrator.
“Reviewing the allegations of the Complaint on their face, and separately against the backdrop of the Union’s clear issues with Mr. Fitzgerald, it is clear that there has not been any discrimination against Complainant, and this matter should be dismissed,” the response read.
Grishman emphasized that town stands fully behind the response memorandum.
Both the original complaint and the response can now be accessed on Swampscott’s town website.
