The Select Board unanimously voted to censure Member Mary Ellen Fletcher following an investigation into her conduct and a public apology last week.

An investigation was launched following Select Board Fletcher’s actions after she received an email from a non-resident regarding fellow 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.

Wednesday’s censure vote, along with last week’s public apology, stemmed from the investigation’s findings. A censure is a formal, public expression of strong disapproval and condemnation. However, Swampscott’s charter and bylaws do not address censure, meaning Fletcher remains in office and faces no additional penalties.

“Nobody up here wants to do this,” said Chair Katie Phelan. “While not everything happens publicly, I have spoken to many board members about their actions, about the way they speak to another, about lack of respect, about how we can uphold ourselves to certain professional standards, that boundaries exist and it’s an unbelievable mental load for everybody to put that on the chair…As much as I don’t want to be here and I’ve asked and have tried to get to a point where we aren’t here, we are here.”

The Swampscott Tides has reached out to Fletcher for comment and will update this story if a response is received.

“I said last week that I take full responsibility for what I did. I made a mistake. I violated the code of conduct,” Fletcher said during the meeting. “I’m sorry for it. I said I’ll do better.”

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.”

When asked whether she responded, Fletcher initially said she did not, but later acknowledged through her attorney that she had, according to the report.

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.

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.”

Over a dozen residents spoke or wrote in about the issue during the public comment section.

Those who called in to support Fletcher also blamed others for their actions. Resident Bill DiMento said Select Board Member Danielle Leonard allegedly broke code of conduct by speaking with the Swampscott Tides. 

“We’re damned if we do, we’re damned if we don’t,” Leonard said later in the meeting. “There are people who want to sit here and hold us accountable for not doing anything and there’s a whole ‘nother group of people who want to say ‘Why now? Why is now the time to start picking apart certain issues’…If ever we have to stand up and say ‘This is enough,’ I think this is the time.”

Others pointed to Member David Grishman and his previous alleged actions with B’nai B’rith developers and “unprofessional behavior” on the board, as resident Tasia Vasiliou called it. 

“There are many instances of people crossing boundaries,” said resident Mary DeChillo. “I have the most respect for (Fletcher). She is someone who’s done so much work for this town…I’m mystified with the meanness this is being pursued. It strikes me as wrong, and I think that people on the committees really have to search their souls about what they’re doing.”

Select Board Vice Chair Doug Thompson said during the discussion portion of the meeting that while there are some “equivalences or false equivalences” with other issues in the past, “this is the most extreme example that I’ve seen of commitment going way beyond.”

“There is a clear problematic fact pattern,” Thompson said. 

Phelan noted that she “does not know why it didn’t get this far with David” but that she was not in the chair position to have ensured so.

Two more public comment speakers supported censure than those who spoke in favor of Fletcher.

“A member of the Swampscott Select Board directed unilaterally a police lieutenant to investigate a claim against another member on the board without vote or authorization and outside of the chain of command. That was a serious breach of governance and abuse of authority,” said resident Liz Smith. “An apology is not accountability. It does not reflect the seriousness of the conduct. Censure is necessary because this investigation is just one instance that follows years of violation of the code of conduct by this Select Board member, behavior that is well known, frequently discussed and has never been adequately or publicly dealt with until now.”

Three School Committee members – Suzanne Wright, Glenn Paster and Miguel Contreras – spoke.

“Public service is built on the foundation of trust and transparency, and when trust is broken through documented actions, not hearsay by verifiable conduct, we must address it,” Contreras said. 

Wright spoke to the distress she felt after Fletcher’s comment to the Swampscott Tides that “not one person on the board hasn’t violated the code of conduct.”

“I’ve been a volunteer in this town for 30 years, most recently on the School Committee for 12 years, and I know my board and other volunteers in town take this code as an oath. In all my 30 years volunteering with this town, I have never, ever once overstepped or abused my power. It’s hurtful to hear that ‘everyone does that,’ when in fact that is not true,” Wright said in response to Fletcher’s claim that everyone breaks the code of conduct.

Wright said Fletcher has been “strong-arming, disrespecting and disrupting” her committee and staff within the district “for years.”

“As a School Committee member, I didn’t need this investigation to know about Ms. Fletcher’s unacceptable behaviors, and I’d argue that you (the Select Board) didn’t either,” Wright said. “We’ve all known about this…At the very minimum Ms. Fletcher should be censured, and I believe that Ms. Fletcher should resign.”

Thompson said censure is “within our purview,” not resignation.

“This is a complicated matter as everyone has expressed,” said Vice Chair Doug Thompson. “I know she works incredibly hard and is committed to the improvement of the town, so while I know there are some people who are very mad and have experienced unacceptable things, I don’t feel like it’s my place to make judgement nor do I feel that it’s really our place to discuss resignation.”

Paster also brought documents that he said showed “a pattern of overstepping” by Fletcher. He pointed to how the School Department requested that all questions go through the chair, yet “on at least three occasions Ms. Fletcher has broken protocol.”

“We do that because employees of the School Department need to work.,” Paster said. “Their job is not to answer questions 24/7.”

Katie Arrington, who is running for School Committee, also spoke out, as did former Chair of the Committee Amy OConnor, who resigned in part due to the “environment” she said Fletcher created which “put strain on school leadership and staff and at times put its employees in difficult and uncomfortable positions.”

Two former Recreation Department town staff members also were in person to make remarks. Danielle Strauss, a resident for 35 years who retired after 20 years as the recreation director, spoke about how she has seen members overstep at times – in one instance they were censured. 

Jackie Camerlengo, who is the former program director of the recreation department, said the investigation “confirms what some of us have experienced first hand.” Camerlengo said Fletcher had allegedly pointed her finger and said Camerlengo was “screwing with her livelihood” after allowing another dog treat vendor at the Farmer’s Market.

“During my time at the rec department, I received direct texts and phone calls from Ms. Fletcher to carry out tasks. These were not suggestions. These were requests made with the weight of her position behind them,” Camerlengo said. “As an employee at the time that created real pressure. I was being asked to respond to an elected official while also being told by my director that doing so would break the proper chain of command. This is what misuse of power looks like – not always loud or obvious but putting employees in positions where they feel like they have to choose between doing their job correctly and responding to authority.”

Leonard apologized to the staff that spoke up during the meeting.

“I apologize for everybody on this board for anything anybody has gone through,” Leonard said. “But the people who came tonight are not the only people I’ve heard from, town staff, board members, committee members, regular people who live in this town – all of them have equal weight to me…There are lots of people who are afraid to say anything today. I give that a considerable amount of weight also.”