Adams' Melville Shares Her Side Of Ethics Complaint
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The board accused Melville of violating a collective bargaining agreement when she visited the Council on Aging a day prior to the release of the town administrator's purposed budget. Melville is accused of revealing budget information to the employees without a union representative being present but she maintains that she did not reveal the details nor did she even know about the agreement that the Selectmen say she violated.
"The agreement of Feb. 16th, I didn't know anything about that. I think it is kind of hard to violate an agreement you don't know anything about," Melville said last Friday. "I never actually told them they were losing their jobs."
Sharing her side of the story, Melville said she went into the Council on Aging that February morning to talk to the director, Erica Samson, in hopes to gain insight on the budget decision to eliminate the social day program and a part-time administrative assistant position — a move she had not seen coming prior to seeing the proposed budget.
"When I saw the budget, I was really taken back about the social day program because I see that service as a vital program," Melville said.
While waiting for Samson, she ran into the part-time administrative assistant, whose job was set to be cut, and asked her if she had seen the budget. In that conversation, Melville said she did not reveal any details but told the assistant "you're not going to be happy, I know I'm not."
Samson joined the conversation and said it was not the right time and place to discuss the budget. Without getting answers, Melville admits she did go into the social day program where she told one employee that she will not be supporting the proposed budget. Again, Melville says she did not reveal the contents of the budget.
"I told him that 'there are sweeping changes purposed in this budget and I want you to know that I don't support it in anyway,'" Melville said.
That is when Samson, who followed Melville into the social day program, told Melville that the employees had not been notified, Melville said, and that was the end of the incident.
"Those employees were never, ever told that they were losing their job," Melville said.
On Friday, Melville provided a testimony dated Feb. 28 from Samson that told a similar story but says Melville had told the employees their jobs were being cut and forced Samson to meet with them. Both that letter and reports from Town Administrator Jonathan Butler state a meeting had been scheduled with the employees and union representatives to inform them of the decision and that Melville's actions undercut that meeting.
After the incident, Samson notified Butler of what happened and Butler, then Selectmen Chairman Michael Ouellette and then Vice Chairman Arthur "Skip" Harrington met with the town's labor attorney to discuss the incident. The attorney drafted a series of orders to disavow Melville's comments, ban her from entering some public buildings or speaking with department heads without Butler's permission as well as report her to the state Ethics Commission.
An emergency meeting was called for 6:30 that night to pass the orders. Melville did not attend that meeting despite being notified at 4:30 through a letter from the board delivered by a sheriff's deputy.
"Frankly, I didn't know what to do so I didn't do anything," Melville said. "I had no idea what the charges were."
Melville contended that the meeting did not obey open meeting laws but the state attorney general's office ruled on Oct. 25 that the board did follow those laws. That determination did not look into the cause of the meeting, only the way the meeting was posted and called. Melville contends that the whole meeting was unjustified.
"They could have dealt with my situation anytime," Melville said. "The actions were purposeful and malicious. Their aim, I think, was to humiliate me."
Board members and Butler have been at odds with Melville in the past and the selectwoman thinks the Council on Aging situation was a "chance" to try and get her out of office.
Since the orders were passed, Melville says she has been shunned by town employees who are afraid to talk with her because of the orders and her credibility has taken a hit.
But there are others who are encouraging her to continue ruffling feathers in Town Hall. But that will be more difficult now that the elected official has fewer privileges than the voters who elected her.
