Flamboyant Brookfield town employee reprimanded for behavior
BROOKFIELD - A town employee known for criticizing town
officials on a large sign on Route 9 has been reprimanded for
"inappropriate behavior."
Advisory Committee Chairman
John David Holdcraft waived his right Tuesday night to an executive
session, to discuss discipline or dismissal and allowed the session to
be open to the public.
"With one condition," Mr. Holdcraft said, "that the truth
gets told by the one who's bringing this to the board. That would be
you, (Selectman) Clarence (R. Snyder III) ... Let the town people see
the nonsense and where our money's being wasted."
Mr. Snyder originally argued that Mr. Holdcraft is a town employee and his sign postings criticizing town officials
create a "hostile work environment." However, Mr. Holdcraft has argued
that he is a town resident, and not a town official, and what he puts on
the sign on his property is protected by the First Amendment; town
counsel, KP Law, has agreed with that argument.
In the
meeting Tuesday, Mr. Snyder referenced an Oct. 14 complaint made by
Highway Superintendent Herbert A. Chaffee II about a sign message that
said, "Do you think our highway boss needs to be on sedatives??" and a
Dec. 8 sign message that said, "Clarence Snyder is hiding the truth
behind the wall with his lies."
Mr. Snyder also cited a
Dec. 13 selectmen's meeting in which he handed Mr. Holdcraft a typed
letter that alleged, "Your continued behavior to list names of town
employees and related defamatory remarks on your signage along Route 9
creates a hostile work environment. A hostile work environment is a form
of harassment." In response, Mr. Holdcraft picked up a metal
wastebasket, placed it on the table and threw the letter into the
wastebasket.
"I asked you, politely, to remove my name
from the sign at that time," Mr. Snyder said Tuesday night. "You grabbed
that wastebasket right there and propped it up here on the table and
slammed it down."
"No, it was not slammed down. It was
set down very gingerly," Mr. Holdcraft countered. "You know why I did
that? Everyone in this town missed the point. The point was the
conversation was in the trash before we started it because I have the
right on that sign, freedom of speech."
Not only did he
insist that the wastebasket incident was "appropriate" behavior, Mr.
Holdcraft said, "It's using a prop. Tonight, I was going to bring a
shovel in, just in case it got deep in here, but decided not to."
In addition, Mr. Holdcraft chastised Mr. Snyder for costing
the town almost $2,000 by calling town counsel several times for their
opinion on this matter.
Then,
Mr. Snyder brought up a Feb. 16 incident in which Mr. Holdcraft took a
photocopy of a picture of Mr. Snyder that appeared in the Telegram &
Gazette with the headline, "Confusion on official procedures in
Brookfield could impact fire chief's situation," scrawled the caption
"He's a confused man" and placed it in front of the Town Hall employees'
mailboxes.
"You don't like it just because it says
you're a confused person," Mr. Holdcraft said. "On the bottom, it (the
original headline) also says, "Confused on procedures" and there was no
confusion on procedures. You're the one that's confused, not the
procedure book."
Mr. Snyder insisted Mr. Holdcraft's
action, which he has accepted that he did, is "insubordination" toward
the Board of Selectmen, while Mr. Holdcraft countered that it was his
right of freedom of speech.
"It's no different than me
coming up here in public access and calling you a puppet, which I have
in the past," Mr. Holdcraft said. "You're an elected official. This
isn't Romper Room. What you got, thin skin? You can't take criticism?
People talk bad about me every day in this town because I'm making
people accountable in this town and they don't like it."
Mr.
Snyder accused Mr. Holdcraft of misappropriating town resources, by
making a photocopy of the newspaper, and intimidating town employees by
placing the photocopy in front of the employees' mailboxes.
"Wow,
a piece of paper. Do you know I haven't taken my money from the
Planning Board, two stipends? Do you know I donated all the drinks one
year for the Memorial Day parade? And all the hours I put in this town
and you are coming after me for a piece of paper and a little ink," Mr.
Holdcraft said. "I can say what I want to say, as long as it's, you
know, not bad."
Despite Mr. Holdcraft's apologizing for
"making a funny image" of Mr. Snyder and leaving it near the mailboxes,
Mr Snyder's saying he accepted Mr. Holdcraft's apology and the two men
shaking hands, Mr. Snyder still made a motion to suspend Mr. Holdcraft
from the advisory board. The motion wasn't seconded and failed.
However,
Selectman Linda M. Lincoln, vice chairman of the board, made a second
motion that a "verbal written warning" go into Mr. Holdcraft's file and
be reflected in the meeting minutes, which was seconded by Mr. Snyder.
The motion passed 2-1, with Stephen J. Comtois II, chairman of the Board
of Selectmen, voting against it.
Now why would these selectmen want to take Mr. Holdcraft off the advisory board ? Payback for his speaking out ? I thought that was taken care of when they wrote their letter of verbal warning. Is it insubordination if a board member fails to agree with the selectmen on matters of the budget, or are they simply doing their job ? I would say the advisory committee members are doing their job ! Who does the advisory board/advisory committee work for ? I would say it is the members of the community, aka the tax payers. The right to free speech is the most important right we have in my estimation, and threatening anyone with loosing their job is unacceptable, when they are using their right to free speech. it would seem to me that if a member of any board wants to be treated with respect, they have to earn it. Think about that ! This, by the way is my opinion. Bev.
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