GEORGETOWN – For much of the last five years, there has been almost continuous turmoil in the staffing of one of this town’s most critical regulatory body – the Conservation Commission.
The commission, known as the ConCom, protects the town’s natural resources, including endangered species; regulates wetlands ‒ ponds, lakes, rivers ‒ and manages open space. This volunteer board oversees environmental health through permitting, planning, and land stewardship.
Orlando Pacheco has been the Georgetown Town Administrator for 4 years and 7 months, having started on January 1, 2022. His boss, the SelectBoard, is elected.
The last three ConCom staff personnel have either been fired or claim they have been pushed out of office, including Michele Grenier, the most recent conservation agent, who says she is planning to file suit against the town for what her lawyer terms unlawful firing. She was fired by Pacheco by email for allegedly withholding a transcript of a Zoom recording of a ConCom meeting that was never held (she was arranging per directions of the chair to inform members that the meeting was cancelled until a future date). He also stated she was fired for saying she was thinking about telling him he should do his (explicative) job.
Conservation Agent Steven Przyjemski resigned in January of 2023 after serving the town for 17 years. He claimed Pacheco had created a “toxic environment” for him at town hall. Following being shouted at by Pacheco, according to a witness, Przyjemski filed a police report about Pacheco’s actions against him.
Julie Cantara, the ConCom administrative assistant for three years, resigned in 2023, telling then SelectBoard chair Amy Smith, “Orlando and his buddies all did everything in their power to take me down. Me. A single mother.”
Michele Grenier – Conservation Director from Nov. 27, 2023 to March 18, 2026
Her attorney, Simon Mann, wrote to Pacheco, “Ms. Grenier was subjected to unlawful employment practices including discrimination, retaliation, improper reduction of wages and hours, and wrongful termination, in violation of Massachusetts law, including but not limited to M.G.L. c. 149 § 148 and M.G.L. c. 151B.
Ms. Grenier was hired after three rounds of interviews at a salary of $65,000 for 32 hours per week, reporting to the Conservation Commission. She has stated that shortly after she began, the Town Administrator imposed an arrangement requiring her to work in the Town of Essex, something that members of the Commission stated they were unaware of. When that assignment ended in June 2024, Ms. Grenier expected to return to her full role in Georgetown.
Instead, her hours and salary were cut to approximately 24 hours and $38,000, without her agreement. She and her supervisor refused to sign off on this change, and stated that no other department heads were treated similarly.
From that point forward, Ms. Grenier stated that she was singled out and subjected to ongoing hostile and unequal treatment. She claims she was held to standards not applied to others, publicly reprimanded, and denied support in difficult and confrontational situations encountered in the field. Her repeated concerns about pay inequity and workplace treatment were, she states, ignored.
She was also suspended without pay under what were termed questionable circumstances and said she was subjected to continued harassment that the Town failed to address. Despite her experience and workload, her compensation remained significantly below that of her peers, she claimed.
In May 2025, the Town changed its reporting structure to place her directly under the Town Administrator, removing the independence of her role and worsening the conditions she faced, she stated. Her employment was ultimately terminated on March 20, 2026, based on what she states were inaccurate and pretextual claims, shortly after she raised concerns about her treatment.
In her lawyer’s letter of notice to the Town, he stated that “the Town’s actions have caused Ms. Grenier significant financial harm and emotional distress and constitute clear violations of Massachusetts law under M.G.L. c. 149 § 148 and M.G.L. c. 151B. As a result, we demand one (2) years of severance pay to resolve this dispute. Please provide a timely response to this letter of demand within thirty (30) days, or we will file a formal complaint and pursue all available remedies in court.”
Grenier also had her letter about her American with Disabilities Act protection apparently removed from the town personnel file, she claims. Pacheco administers the ADA for Georgetown.
Julie Cantara – Conservation Administrative Assistant from August 2020 until April 2023.
In a letter to Amy Smith, she wrote: “Dear Amy, I’m writing because as you know, I gave my resignation on Monday, and as of Tuesday I was locked out of access to be able to do my job. I want to make sure that I’m at least being paid for this past Monday that I worked, and any other time that isn’t accounted for.
“I would also like to express my disappointment, not just with Georgetown, but with you personally. You sat back and watched everything being done to Conservation for years. You came to me before you became Chairperson, and you kept telling me to wait until May, and things would get better. Now, because of how compliant you have been with Orlando, you and he have now successfully crippled an entire department.
“I had Orders of Conditions (permits) that needed to be sent out, on top of many other things that needed to be done prior to my leaving. I felt relieved when you became the Chair, and I truly believed you when you said things would get better. Instead, you did everything Orlando told you to do or say, all while he was staging a farce felony and tried framing me for it.
“You did NOTHING when Orlando and his buddies all did everything in their power to take me down. Me. A single mother, earning 20% less than I should’ve been (refer to the wage evaluation study and equal pay law), doing more work than any other admin, going through personal health issues, and never complaining.
“Orlando successfully broke me down, targeted and harassed me, destroyed my reputation, all while you sat back and watched it happen. I expect an answer about my pay, and I will be looking into the legality of that – especially given that at least 2 employees have left within the last month, and they weren’t forced to leave abruptly or go without pay!
“I am honestly stunned that after everything, you went by what Orlando said about me, rather than what you knew to be true on your own. You and I had always had a nice relationship, and I truly thought that you, as a woman, would be able to cut through this mob style mentality that Orlando continues to showcase.
“I pray for Georgetown and its residents. I loved my job there. I loved working with the people, and I was making a difference in helping to streamline things to make the application process smoother for everyone. Now it will be run by whomever Orlando decides to put there, and if he has his way, he’ll gut the bylaw. I hope you remember this in 10 or 20 years, when everyone’s properties are flooding because of the development that will happen once Orlando gets his hands on Conservation.
“Trust that he’ll be long gone when the residents are dealing with the back end of what he does to the town you live in!”
Steven Przyjemski, Conservation Agent until January, 2023.
In a letter to Carl Shreder, who was the ConCom chair for almost 25 years, and posted on Facebook, Przyjemski wrote: “Dear Chairman Shreder, Being my last day on the job, and as exit interviews seem to be out of fashion at least here in Georgetown, I would like to bring to your attention my reasons for leaving Georgetown, a town that I have served with respect, integrity and regard for 17 years.
“Throughout the years I could not HAVE BEEN more impressed by the professionalism and class of my colleagues on the Town Hall staff. We worked together as a committed team and ALWAYS found a path forward that honored the vision and needs of the residents of the town, despite the issues and differences of opinion that can arise in the fray of small-town politics.
“In recent years, Georgetown’s Selectboard and Town Administration SEEM to have changed the direction of the town in troubling ways that were not revealed in the ostensibly transparent ways often talked bout on camera.
“In particular, for almost a year now, it has been beyond obvious to everyone, minus a select few, that there has been an all-out attack on the Conservation Commission. Two commissioners with a combined 16-plus years of service to the Commission, were treated with blatant disrespect at a Selectboard meeting, then removed for no legitimate cause, based up unsubstantiated statements designed to serve a private agenda.
“I am sure my concerns will just be written off as complaints from an irate, disgruntled employee, easily ignored. The truth is, I am concerned that the political system in Georgetown is being manipulated against the best interests of the town and its residents. I hope every reads this is also “disgruntled.”’
“The same town officials spew the same misstatement at every opportunity, as if repeating something often enough makes it fact. The bullying, targeting and harassment at the hands of the current leadership towards the Commission is not how Town officials should be conducting themselves.
“The waste of hundreds of hours of staff time, and what I can only guess at being thousands of dollars of taxpayers money for “witch hunt” is beyond count. These misstatements and unfounded accusation amount to nothing short of lying and manipulation in support of private agendas.
“My parting wish for the town is extremely simple. I hope Georgetown, the amazing and beautiful place I have come to love, keeps up the mission of preserving the town as a place that people want to move to, a community of dedicated residents.
“I encourage all residents to pay attention to how a very select few decide what your town will look like. When leadership does not listen to and actively ignores residents’ and staff-voice concerns, as they have been doing, every citizen should be very concerned.”
Notes:
The two veteran ConCom members mentioned in Przyjemski’s letter were Rebecca Chane and Laura
Repplier (now a SelectBoard member).
The witch hunt Pryzjemski refers to was Pacheco’s accusation that there was “vast payroll fraud” in the ConCom. The town hired private detectives to prove it, but no evidence of payroll fraud was found. The state Inspector General also found no evidence of this accusation.
The “farce felony” Cantara referred to involved the alleged theft of a computer from the ConCom office.
She was accused of stealing the computer, although she was not in Georgetown at the time of it’s mysterious disappearance. ConCom vice chair Rachel
Therrien was then accused of stealing it, but an investigation found she could not because she did not have an office key. The computer was later ‘magically’ returned by another (unnamed) town employee.
Amy Smith, whom Cantara addressed her letter to, this spring was appointed by the SelectBoard to replace veteran ConCom member Rachel Therrien. Smith is the second former SelectBoard chair to be appointed to the ConCom in two years. She joins former SelectBoard Chair Daryl Lamonica, an ardent vocal critic of the ConCom, now sits as chair of the ConCom. ♦
