GEORGETOWN – The town’s Conservation Commission (ConCom) voted 4 to 2 last Thursday that Rachel Therrien should remain as its chair.
On Friday, Town Administrator Orlando Pacheco fired Conservation Agent Michele Grenier, the ConCom’s only staff, for her behaviors related to a continued March 3 meeting and for allegedly concealing a transcript of her telephone conversations prior to the meeting. (See adjacent story.)
Commission member Nick Lawler, who made the motion to replace Therrien, which was seconded by commissioner Daryl LaMonica, accused her of “dereliction of duty” and failure to lead the commission. Both Lawler and LaMonica, who are serving their first year on the ConCom, voted to remove her, falling short of the four votes the motion needed.
In a very tense meeting, punctuated repeatedly with angry statements and name calling, Lawler said Therrien, who has been on the ConCom for 14 years, “has no ability to lead,” and “We do not know where she lives.” He blamed her, not the technology department, for not getting her town email fixed.
Therrien objected to what she described as Lawler’s “lies.” She said she lives in Georgetown, but for safety reasons does not have to state publicly where she lives. “You are not entitled to know where I live,” she said.
State law allows town officials to hide their home addresses.
Therrien was divorced last fall from her husband, Robert Bancroft. She declined in family court to give her ex-husband her new address, citing her concerns.
Her residency has become an issue since Kevin Wood, a frequent critic in town of the ConCom, posted – in what has been called a personal attack – on social media where he believes Therrien lives.
She also told the ConCom that after two months of trying to get her town email repaired, the technology (IT) firm had sorted out what it called a complicated problem. And it was not her fault, the head of the company told her.
Lawler was upset that the February meeting was continued by the chair because there was not a quorum to vote. He said there was a quorum.
Minutes before the February meeting was to start, the conservation agent reported to Therrien that there were not enough members attending the meeting. The chair postponed the meeting, she said, to keep from wasting time and the town’s money because the commission could not vote on projects on the agenda.
Lawler, who is also the chair of the town’s water commission, wanted the ConCom to vote on a multiple building project for the department. When the vote was delayed a month, he got irate.
At the meeting last week, he voted to approve the project, although he is chair of the water board.
LaMonica said he voted to remove Therrien as chair of the ConCom because she also sits on the SelectBoard. He said he believes she could be a member of the ConCom, but not its chair. “It just doesn’t look right,” LaMonica said.
The State Ethics Board has written to Therrien that there is no state law prohibiting her from serving on two boards.
Another SelectBoard member Mike Donahue, who has attacked Therrien, serves as chair of the town’s Park and Recreation Commission.
Donahue, a first-year Selectman, has been trying for years to remove Therrien from the SelectBoard. Currently on the agenda is his complaint against her, complete with 195 pages of memos, emails and police reports.
Most of the memos, emails and reports do not involve Therrien, although Donahue claims they provide evidence of her wrongdoing. ♦
