GEORGETOWN – With several building permits delayed and a leaking septic tank unrepaired because the town administrator suspended the town’s conservation director, the five-member Board of Selectmen met last week for an hour to decide the fate of Michele Grenier.
But the town’s governing board came to no resolution on the conservation agent because the town lawyer had to leave.
The SelectBoard scheduled a second meeting on the issue for Monday. The Town Common will report in coming editions on what resolution the board comes to.
The issue is over $48.73, or possibly $64.32, depending on how many mileage forms you consider.
It is unclear why the SelectBoard, not the Conservation Commission, is considering the issue. According to a 2020 opinion by Tim Zessin, the town’s attorney, complaints of this nature should be referred to “the Chair of the Conservation Commission, which is the appointing authority for the Conservation Agent. If the Commission refuses to take any action or investigate the complaint, then the Board of Selectmen could meet in executive session to discuss the complaint.”
The issue of Grenier’s mileage reimbursement was not referred to the ConCom. At Grenier’s request, the SelectBoard considered the complaint, filed by Wood, in an open meeting and on Zoom. It may not have been broadcast and recorded by Georgetown Community Television.
The dispute, the latest battle over the town’s Conservation Commission, which regulates building near wetlands, began Dec. 9 when Town Administrator Orlando Pacheco called Grenier into his town hall office. He told her Kevin Wood, a resident who had applied twice unsuccessfully to be a member of the ConCom, had filed a Freedom of Information request for all employee mileage reimbursement forms.
Grenier, who is currently without her driver’s license, filed two reports for mileage reimbursements in 2024. One was from January to April, when she was driving herself, to view properties. A second covered a period when she was driven “a few Mondays” by the ConCom chair Chris Candia.
They rode together to view several building sites that are under review by the commission.
Of the $48.73 she was reimbursed, Grenier wrote in a memo to the SelectBoard that she gave $12 to Candia for her gas and wear-and-tear on her car.
Grenier told the SelectBoard that Pacheco told her she did not have to stop asking for mileage reimbursement, but that he would check with the town’s legal counsel, KP Law. The next day, Pacheco wrote a letter to Grenier suspending her. His assistant delivered the letter to Grenier on Dec. 12.
Pacheco responded to the SelectBoard that Grenier misunderstood what he meant when she heard him say she did not have to stop submitting mileage forms. But did not clarify.
Grenier told the SelectBoard she should not have been suspended, according to the town’s Employee Handbook. “Nothing was done intentionally,” she said. She described her mistake as “a lack of common sense.”
Selectman Doug Dawes accused Grenier, saying if she was a passenger in someone else’s vehicle, she was not entitled to reimbursement. “You had your hand in the cookie jar,” he said.
Grenier, who has served as conservation director and a Selectboard member for other towns, asked the SelectBoard “to allow me to return to work.” Her attorney Dan Larkosh attended the meeting, but did not speak.
Selectboard members noted that the work of the ConCom is not getting done. It was proposed that Candia could fill Grenier’s shoes. Candia, a volunteer, declined, saying, “I’m not a wetlands scientist.”
Also at issue are the mileage reimbursement forms Pacheco submitted to the SelectBoard. One had three signatures on it. In a memorandum to the SelectBoard, Grenier wrote: “only one single signer has signed my mileage sheets since I started November 2023.” Bancroft’s signature does not appear twice on any other conservation form. “The signatures were added,” Grenier said.
The forms bore the signatures of Candia, ConCom Vice Chair Rachel Bancroft and member Tom Howland, all three of the longest serving conservation commissioners.
SelectBoard Chair Daryl Lamonica postponed the issue of whether the mileage forms had been altered until a later meeting.
The ConCom has been at the center of controversy for several years. Grenier’s predecessor, Steve Przyjemski, resigned almost two years ago after being in the position for 17 years. He said Pacheco, who accused him of committing salary fraud, had created a “toxic environment” for him.
The state Inspector General issued a report last month that found there was no evidence of fraud by Przyjemski or commission members and blamed the town’s poor time sheet management. In late November, the Inspector General gave the town 60-days to correct their poor employee management methods.
To date, the SelectBoard has taken no action to respond to the Inspector General.
Candia’s predecessor Carl Shreder resigned after two decades as the ConCom chair in on-going tension among the SelectBoard, the town administrator and the ConCom. •