Select Board Member Danielle Leonard said fellow member Mary Ellen Fletcher’s apology for violating the board’s code of conduct was “a big move for her,” but argued it was undermined by Fletcher’s claim to the Swampscott Tides that other board members have also violated the code.

“We all follow the code of conduct. We don’t do the things that she has done,” Leonard said. “But then I go and read an article with the Tides where she’s commenting saying everyone on the board has violated the code of conduct. We absolutely haven’t. We try really hard everyday to do the right thing. None of us have done what she’s done. That to me is akin to when I yell at my 9 year old and they’re like ‘no I didn’t do that.’”

Leonard compared Fletcher’s response to a child refusing to take responsibility.

“You own it. You take accountability and you apologize,” Leonard said. “It’s almost like her apology was complete bs.”

An investigation was conducted into Select Board Member Mary Ellen Fletcher’s actions after she received an email from a non-town resident regarding fellow Select Board Member David Grishman. Fletcher was later found to have “inappropriately inserted herself into a police matter” and to have shown a “lack of professional respect” toward Grishman, according to the investigation reviewed by the Swampscott Tides.

The Select Board is scheduled to discuss and vote Wednesday night on a potential resolution to censure Fletcher for violating multiple sections of the town’s Code of Conduct, including provisions governing interactions with town staff and other officials. The censure, along with Fletcher’s public apology last week, stems from the investigation’s findings.

Select Board Chair Katie Phelan declined to comment.

Leonard said the situation has been both unexpected and frustrating.

“When I signed up for the Select Board – I have a 9 year old and a 6 year old – those are the only two people I ever thought I would have to referee or get in the middle of a fight, to be honest,” Leonard said. “I never anticipated to do that here and with grown adults.” 

She added that Fletcher’s leadership style has created ongoing tension. Leonard called Fletcher’s approach to leadership “highly controlling,” which has made it “really difficult to collaborate with her, and really to work with her.”

“This isn’t just a one off. Her style is ‘either you’re with me or you’re against me.’ She wants overwhelming control over everything,” Leonard said. “If it’s not us, it’s the Finance Committee or School Committee or the school budget. She just does not understand the role of collaboration.”

According to the investigation, reviewed by the Swampscott Tides, on November 26, the Swampscott Police Department responded to a report of a motor vehicle hit-and-run at the Vinnin Liquors and Whole Foods parking lot. A man, whose name has been redacted from the report, also emailed Fletcher and Phelan “accusing Mr. Grishman of hitting (redacted name’s) car.”

In an interview as part of the investigation, which was conducted by Clifford & Kenny, LLP, Grishman was asked if he hit the car, to which he responded “No, I didn’t hit your (man who emailed) car” and left the parking lot.

The email sent to Fletcher and Phelan said, “Needless to say I contacted the police and Vinnin Liquors owners for their security camera footage…Waiting for the video footage to prove it. I’m going to get to the bottom of this and make sure whoever hit my car and ran will be accountable.”

“This guy didn’t even live in Swampscott,” Leonard said. “This is all complete nonsense.”

After the investigation team asked Fletcher whether she replied to the email, she initially suggested she did not “but later acknowledged, through her attorney, that she did in fact reply,” according to the investigation. 

The investigation goes on to say that at 8:05 p.m., just over two hours after receiving the first email, Fletcher drove to the police station and had a conversation with the officer in the lobby, whose name has also been redacted from the report reviewed by the Swampscott Tides.

“She takes it a step too far,” Leonard said. “It’s almost like a vindictive ‘I’m going to get you back’ type of thing…It almost echoes what we’re dealing with on a national level. I don’t want to see us become what’s happening on a national scale.”

Fletcher asked the officer whether he had received an email reporting the motor vehicle incident. The officer told the investigators into the incident that Fletcher requested that the police “send a cruiser to [Mr. Grishman’s] residence.” After the officer explained that the police department cannot search Grishman’s vehicle without a warrant or his consent, the investigation states that Fletcher said “I want to get this guy.”

“Mary Ellen’s behavior was just entirely wrong and unacceptable. There’s no two ways about it,” Leonard said. “It goes against everything that I’ve been saying for months in terms of we have to be professional, we have to respect each other. The community expects that from us. We owe it to people. We owe it to each other. I’m just so disappointed in what she did, and for me, personally, it crossed the line of something I would have never expected from anybody.”

Leonard said she hopes the actions end here, but that she’s “seen it too many times with her.” 

“We have an obligation to be honest with residents, the people we represent, when conduct falls short,” Leonard said. “The whole point of democracy is open dialogue, respect for people, and willingness to work together even when we don’t agree. We want to disagree. I welcome discussion, but when one particular person’s style continues to go against that grain, it really harms the board’s ability to do what we want to do in the best interest of the town.”

With two new Select Board members to be elected on April 28, Leonard said the four candidates “should know what they’re getting into and be prepared.”

“I welcome new voices and new opinions. I commend all four of those guys who are willing to enter the arena because it’s not for the faint of heart,” Leonard said. “I think they’re all incredibly qualified in their own way to contribute to Swampscott. I’ll be excited to work with whichever two of them get in.”

At Tuesday’s debate, hosted by the Swampscott Tides, the four candidates for Select Board were asked about how they would handle disagreements with other board members.

“Politely is probably the short answer,” Wayne Godfrey responded. “If it is a disagreement that could potentially become ugly, that’s a private conversation. I think that, again, if we’re all being honest with each other and we’re all interested in moving the town forward with that 50 year plan we’re going to create, the disagreements are going to be minor and the emotions are going to be left at the door with the ego.”

Godfrey said that it’s the “15,000 souls of Swampscott” that matter in Select Board discussions. Wayne Spritz added that “too often we have loyalties to an idea, maybe to a person, maybe to something that you want to fund, something that you feel is personally important.”

“Disagreements can be idled back by asking the right questions, trying to come to the root cause of why you’re disagreeing,” Spritz said. “Quite often if you take the emotion out of it, you come down to the brass tax of what is the goal here.”

Ted Dooley noted that everyone who is voted onto the Select Board is elected by the same voters.

“Nobody’s there appointed…We’re all elected,” Dooley said. “My perspective, should I be elected, is going to be different than somebody else’s on the Select Board and all the current members are going to be, but that doesn’t mean their opinions aren’t valid. The same voters that put one member up there put the next member up there and the member after that. I think what matters most is respecting that the voters put all of those people on the board for a reason.”

Charlie Patsios rounded out the debate question by saying “disagreements are what get handled by a vote.”

“That’s what the rules are for. That’s why we have a process that’s implemented. Sometimes we get really excited about something, and we’re passionate about it, and we forget that there’s a level of decorum and humanity when our zealousness carries us away,” Patsios said. 

The four candidates took a pledge prior to Tuesday’s debate to “not be like that,” Patsios said. The candidates agreed to keep the discussion respectful and positive and to go forward with that in their campaigns and if they are elected to the Select Board.

Despite her criticism, Leonard said she does not support calls from the broader community on Facebook to recall Fletcher.

“She made a mistake. She owned it in some respect,” Leonard said. “She was elected to her seat and she has a right to her seat…I want to continue to work with her. I want her on there. I just want her to reign in her attempts to overreach, overstep and overcontrol.”

Under the town charter, a recall would require at least 25 registered voters to file an affidavit, followed by signatures from 15% of registered voters, about 1,880 people based on 2025 election figures. 

Leonard said it would have to be a “really egregious case to go down that road.”

“Disagreement is natural. It’s part of how we get better at things and how we understand what to do in certain cases, but this – I’ve never seen anything like this,” Leonard said. “It’s down right strange. Hopefully it won’t happen again.”