Wendy Stearns
Springfield, Vt.
To the Editor,
On June 22, the Town of Rockingham/Village of Bellows Falls held a joint board meeting. Some of the agenda items were open meeting violations sent in by Chip [Stearns]. We both attended the meeting, not to get his job back, but to address those violations.
The Reformer’s front page headline on the Weekend Paper: “Boards find no merit in Stearns’ complaints.” Odd that they did fix/ratify the current violations, so they must have found something?! The Eagle Times weekend paper: “Former town manager successfully claims open meeting law violation, irregularities.” They seem to have got it right. The Reformer’s reporter is obviously biased, every time she brings up Chip’s name, she brings up the bridge debris.
Why did Chip agree to separate his employment? This is a summary of how I remember it:
March 2016-November 2016: The harassment by the new select board chair and other select board members began. I figure my husband’s confidence offended them. The select board chair met with Chip a few times representing the boards without any authority. I feel the chair was trying to intimidate Chip.
March 29, 2016: The joint board was presented with a letter from the department heads showing support of their manager. The select board chair chastised the presenter, intimidating anyone else that would want to come forward to show support.
During this time Chip and I had many late night discussions about continuing to work in this toxic environment.
On November 3, 2016 joint board enters into executive session. That night Chip was asked to meet with the town and village attorneys, and they asked him to sign a statement acknowledging that he will separate employment on November 8, 2016. He signed. Next day, he announces to his employees that he agreed to separate employment and will be doing so on the following Tuesday. He chose to share this with his employees because he cared about them and did not want to blindside them.
November 8, 2016, joint board accepts Chip’s letter of separation. Apparently, the trustees had no idea what was happening. Why? There is one trustee member who is on both boards and did he not share with the trustees what has been going on for the last eight months? Chip asked the trustees to accept his separation agreement, you cannot be successful in a work environment if you do not have the cooperation with both boards.
As manager, Chip wore many hats. He kept the cost of several line items down: finance, IT, worked the HVAC system (was called many times to come down to fix the heater/cooler). He was there during many storms helping out, he was there during the Hyde Hill flooding, not just standing around gawking at it, but working). Chip loved the work as manager/finance director; he enjoyed working with the employees, and he cares about our hometown. This is why we felt he should apply for the position again.
Sincerely,
Wendy Stearns
Springfield, Vt.
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