GEORGETOWN – Selectboard member Michael Donahue has sent to each member of the board a package of 195 pages of emails and police reports that he wants the board to consider at an upcoming meeting in hopes it will vote to remove board member Rachel Therrien from the board she was elected to by the voters.
Most of Donahue’s allegations, going back eight years, have been presented previously in complaints by him and have been reviewed by state agencies and town counsel KP Law, which concluded they are simply his opinions. No action has ever been taken by state agencies against Therrien.
Many of the allegations do not even involve Therrien, but resurrect discredited claims that the former Conservation Commission (ConCom) Agent was involved in so-called payroll fraud, which stem from accusations by a disgruntled former employee.
Again, it was concluded that the conservation agent, who resigned three years ago, was a salaried employee and did not commit fraud by visiting wetlands and other vulnerable environmental sites in town instead of being in his office at town hall.
Several of Donahue’s allegations involve the Stirm Group, a Newburyport private detective firm, which a previous SelectBoard hired to investigate the ConCom. The firm’s report became controversial because of the investigators’ tactics, and the board issued an official statement that said “it finds (the report) inadequate and does not endorse it.”
The town, however, paid the $10,000 fee the Stirm Group charged.
SelectBoard member Laura Repplier called it a “misuse of funds.” SelectBoard chair Robert Hoover said, “nothing important has come out of this report.”
Donahue said he planned to refer the report and his comments to the Essex County District Attorney (DA), claiming Therrien had committed a crime by filing a “false police report.” No other SelectBoard member agreed to join Donahue in filing with the DA, and no action was taken by the DA.
According to a timeline prepared by Donahue to support his current complaint against Therrien, he cited a police report filed by Therrien, stating that “Donahue was part of the ‘hateful eight,’ and that she cannot be compelled to give into a few bullies, harassers, blackmailers and individuals who think they are above the law.”
Donahue submitted his 195-page complaint to the SelectBoard last month after resident Kevin Wood, a frequent critic of the ConCom, complained that Therrien, who also chairs the ConCom, had not told the truth about a vote the commission held.
She told the SelectBoard that the ConCom had voted to hold public hearings by Zoom. But there had been only a discussion among commission members, which showed there was a consensus among members that the hearings should be held by Zoom, not in person. Similar consensus ‘vote’ are routinely taken by the SelectBoard chair. Not every item gets a vote, nor a roll-call vote.
Therrien corrected her misstatement at the next SelectBoard meeting.
Hoover last Thursday proposed that a special meeting be set for this past Monday, but was unable to schedule the last-minute meeting as Therrien would not be available for the entire planned meeting. At Therrien’s request, the meeting will be held in public, not in a closed executive session, and she has asked that she be allowed to respond to any accusations, and allow others who had first-hand knowledge of events to testify.
Therrien stated she will not be bullied into submission by Donahue and his allies who have made it their personal crusade to attack her and the Conservation Commission repeatedly.
“Why do all the real estate people and bankers keep trying to chase anyone off boards who wishes to defend our wetlands and apply the law equally to all applicants?” Therrien asked.
