GEORGETOWN – Town Administrator Orlando Pacheco has created a blog on the platform SubStack.
He used one of his first posts to attack his critics, which includes this newspaper that printed letters from former Conservation Commission staff members. In last week’s edition, three former staff members questioned his actions, including firing one with little or no cause, shouting at them and making them uncomfortable enough in what they described as a “toxic environment” to leave the town’s employment.
Calling The Town Common’s reporting on the town’s Conservation Commission (ConCom) “obsessive and creepy,” Pacheco complained, “I don’t want to let the lies get in the way of a good story but there are a few clarifications that need to be stated.”
In his almost 1,700-word blog, he criticized a recent article by Lonnie Brennan, a Georgetown resident and publisher, who gave an update on the hot topic of the invasive weeds that are often criticized by readers for being allowed to choke Pentucket pond – the pond has also been in the news for the Town Administrator’s error in not ordering the right docks, despite being cautioned twice prior to placing the order.
He was told by Parks and Recreation Commission Chair Mike Donahue, and once by the Highway Surveyor Peter Durkee, who noted the tremendous square foot difference between the old docks and the proposed new docks. (Durkee uses his heavy equipment to move the docks each spring and fall, making him familiar with their size and conditions.)
Pacheco focused most of his criticism on Michele Grenier, the conservation agent he fired in March. He blamed her for not acting in December on a proposal by Solitude Lake Management, a vendor, to rid the ponds of weeds. The town has an on-going agreement with Solitude to clear the weeds when asked. It was not likely to clear the weeds in the middle of winter, and by March Grenier was no longer employed by the town.
With no written warnings, Pacheco fired Grenier by email on a Friday (when town hall was closed), telling her there would be an investigation the following week, but none occurred, according to Grenier. He accused her for allegedly hiding a Zoom recording of a postponed ConCom meeting and for her saying he should do his job when he did not distribute computer software to the staff.
Pacheco denied he fired her for criticizing his job performance, forgetting that he wrote in her termination letter that it was one of two reasons he fired her. After firing her, and despite previously assuring Donahue in an email that the pond weed issue was being taken care of, he did not take care of the weeds, thus the renewed complaints about this safety hazard.
The administrator also accused Genier, who is preparing to sue the town for wrongful termination and discrimination, of committing fraud. He wrote that she was reprimanded by the town in open session, but did not disclose what the fraud was. He may have been referring to the $64 in mileage reimbursement she was paid.
When Grenier was without her driver’s license for a few months, she asked then ConCom chair Chris Candia, a volunteer, to drive her to visit properties that the ConCom was asked to permit. This is a critical duty of the conservation agent.
Grenier turned in mileage requests to the town and paid the small reimbursement to Candia. Later when questioned, Grenier apologized and reimbursed the town from her personal funds. No charges were brought against her, because she essentially hired someone to drive her, and paid that person with her reimbursement.
He claimed he has the power to fire Grenier, without warning, and had pre-arranged a special legal opinion on the matter from a law firm of his choosing, but not KPLaw, the town’s regular counsel.
Pacheco, who also is the town’s human resources officer, personnel director and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) director, claimed that Grenier lied about having a disability or filing a doctor’s letter confirming it.
“So now apparently, she was disabled and provided evidence of it, and we removed it from her personnel file. You can’t make this up,” he wrote sarcastically. “This person has never disclosed a disability to the Town and furthermore if she did where was the workplace accommodation request with it? What exactly was the disability?” Pacheco wrote.
“There must also be some record from her transmitting the sensitive medical information to the Town. It’s not exactly the type of thing you just leave on a desk; it’s a formal process. Let’s see the receipts!”
Grenier said she handed the doctor’s letter to Maureen Shultz, the administrator’s assistant, for filing, an act that was witnessed. According to Grenier and the witnesses, she stamped the letter ‘received’ and on what date.
Pacheco also took a potshot at Grenier for writing a mystery novel, A
Lover’s Lie. “Has anyone read her book yet? It’s got 1 rating (meaning a review) but it’s a 5-star rating. I wonder who it was from. I’ll give you one guess, and it wasn’t me. She was so disabled she had no issues writing a mystery novel. Got it!” wrote the town’s ADA director
Finally, he repeated his accusation against 17-year conservation agent Steve Prysjemski of committing payroll fraud. The Town Common has reported extensively on Prysjemski’s leaving his office and the reasons. An investigation by the state Inspector General concluded there was no payroll fraud. The newspaper has also reported several times about the $10,000 investigation by the private detective firm, the Stirm Group, whose report was dismissed by the SelectBoard as being “a waste of town funds.”
Since 2018, the accusations of payroll fraud against the ConCom has been investigated three or four times, including by the town’s counsel, as well as the state Inspector General and the Stirm Group.
In his current blog, Pacheco complained that the investigations failed because Prysjemski had not assisted the town in its investigation of the alleged payroll fraud by not turning over his emails.
Pacheco also claimed The Town
Common had not reported on the agent being out of Town Hall to take site walks on properties being regulated by the ConCom. His direct supervisor, 20-plus year ConCom chair Carl Shreder, was quoted in the newspaper as saying Prysjemski was encouraged to be out of the office surveying properties under consideration for town permits. Shreder said Prysjemski often worked far more than the hours he was paid for.
Prysjemski was often criticized for returning to Town Hall with clothes that he got muddied crawling around sites. At each ConCom meeting the agent reported the findings of his site visits to the full commission, which never found them lacking. ♦
