GEORGETOWN – Kevin Wood is preparing to sue this town for then-
SelectBoard chair Robert Hoover
having him removed from a board meeting last spring when Wood criticized the chair and the town administrator.
Wood said in the televised SelectBoard meeting, “If the Board has FULL authority (to hire attorneys for the town), that means you, Mr. Hoover, have Zero authority. And it certainly means that Mr. Pacheco screwed up royally and you are covering for him.”
His attorney, Gregory Sullivan with Malloy & Sullivan, who specializes in First Amendment and media law, asked for “a written apology and monetary compensation for damages” for Wood. Sullivan gave the town 30 days to give a substantive response or face a lawsuit.
“Mr. Wood’s free speech and civil rights were grossly violated,” Sullivan wrote.
The SelectBoard in March adopted new rules for public comment at its meetings, which allows a speaker three minutes on a topic on the agenda.
On April 27, Wood, a resident and frequent critic of the town, was recognized to speak to the SelectBoard during the public comment period. He began challenging Town Administrator Orlando Pacheco’s authority to hire a different law firm, instead of using KP Law, the firm that is on the town’s retainer.*
Wood said the SelectBoard and the Town Administrator were violating their oath of office.
The planned discussion on the agenda stemmed from Pacheco’s firing of then-Conservation agent Michele Grenier. She is also threatening to sue the town for discrimination and unlawful termination.
When SelectBoard member Mike Donhaue questioned Pacheco about the procedure the administrator used to terminate Grenier, the administrator said he had checked with a law firm to determine he had the authority. Later, it was disclosed that without consulting the SelectBoard, Pacheco had asked for an opinion from the law firm, Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane.
That opinion, which has not been released to the public, is believed to state that the administrator has the authority to fire town employees without the SelectBoard’s approval.
Asked why he hired the Murphy firm for the opinion, Pacheco responded to The Town Common by email that “Murphy, Hesse, Toomey, & Lehane LLP was solicited on the basis of expertise and experience within the municipal community.”
In the April meeting, Wood told the SelectBoard that the town’s Bylaw chapter 125-01 states, the “Board of Selectmen shall have the full authority to employ counsel…”
After Wood had spoken for about a minute, Hoover banged the gavel and demanded Wood stop speaking. Hoover yelled at Wood four times, “Let’s not go there with that stuff.”
Wood continued to speak, which appeared to anger Hoover, banging the gavel several more times to get Wood’s attention.
Before being cut off, Wood was prepared to say: “Then Mr. Pacheco used the ‘secret’ opinion he obtained from this unlawful engagement (of a different law firm) to override our personnel bylaw and unlawfully terminate an employee.”
Wood continued, “Imagine that – a secret unauthorized opinion has repudiated our personnel bylaw that the citizens approved at last Annual Town Meeting – and Mr. Pacheco won’t tell us what it says – it’s a secret law. Just like in China.
“In what world does this happen? Chairman Hoover’s world. This is his idea of the ‘Rule of Law’ and ‘transparency’.”
When Wood insisted that he be allowed to speak, Hoover asked Police Chief David Sedgwick to escort Wood out of the third-floor meeting room at Town Hall. Wood’s attorney wrote: “Police Chief David Sedgwick then ‘escorted’ Mr. Wood from the meeting placing his hands on Mr. Wood and pushing him from behind.”
At one point as Wood was being escorted out of the room, he stopped abruptly walking from the room and the chief collided with him, which appeared like he was being pushed.
“…the physical removal of Mr. Wood from the meeting room-including the unwanted physical contact by the Chief of Police-constitutes a separate injury and an independent violation of both the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act and 42 U.S.C. § 1983, distinct from, and in addition to, the restriction on his speech,” Sullivan wrote in his letter.
“The conduct of the Select Board Chair, and of the Chief of Police, was unlawful, tortious and constituted a deprivation of Mr. Wood’s free speech and civil rights guaranteed by both the federal and state constitutions, by 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and by the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act,” Sullivan wrote.
Pacheco’s firing of Grenier has sparked controversy. Her letter of termination said she was being fired because she withheld a recording of her informing Conservation Commission members that a meeting had been postponed because of a lack of a quorum. He also wrote her that she was being fired for her recorded comment that he should do his job. Pacheco has since denied that he fired her for that comment, although it is in the letter.
Pacheco wears several hats in Georgetown government, including being the personnel director and human resources director as well as the town administrator. He reports to the SelectBoard.
*See accompanying graph and note showing prior exclusive use of KP Law for non-school, non-electric, non-water legal consult with exception of COVID.
