O’Hearne Retains Council Seat

By Chris Frost
EAGLE TIMES NEWS EDITOR
CLAREMONT — The Claremont City Council approved a motion to terminate a June 21 removal hearing held to determine if Ward 1 Councilor Andrew O’Hearne violated the city charter for allegedly interfering with the work of a road striping crew in front of his home last May.

City Attorney Shawn Tanguay opened the meeting by saying the Council is reviewing whether there is a legal standard to remove the elected official from office based on allegations made. “As a result of that, I’ve asked the Council not to accept public comments tonight,” he said. “It’s going to be a hearing between the Council and the impacted councilor and the witnesses that have been called tonight. I’m to blame for that, so if you have a complaint, come to me.”

O’Hearne asked Tanguay how the hearing would be transparent if the council packet did not come out until Tuesday, June 20, after the Friday deadline. “The public wasn’t notified what was in the packet because it wasn’t on the website to see,” he said.

Mayor Dale Girard said the packet went to the Council Tuesday morning, June 20.

Ward 3 Councilor Jonathan Stone found that information unacceptable because the information hadn’t changed since incident’s occurrence in May. “I don’t know why the public was deprived of the knowledge being sent out, waiting until the last minute, Tuesday, after a holiday,” he said. “It seems pretty non-transparent and lackadaisical as a city getting that information out to the public, the Council, and Mr. O’Hearne.”

Girard emailed City Manager Yoshi Manale on May 27, asking him, Police Chief Brent Wilmot, DPW Director Alex Gleeson, Police Commissioner Bernard Dube, Sr, Sergeant Cameron Blewitt and Councilor O’Hearne to attend. “At that time, I asked for statements from the DPW Employees,” Girard said. “The report that Sergeant Blewit made that evening and City Manager Manale. After speaking with Attorney Tanguay, it was told that we also requested the three DPW Employees to be present this evening.”

The DPW employees were notified but did not attend. They did not give a reason or any written notice.

Stone believes they discussed having the employees present to be questioned and to make statements. When he received the packet, he saw a statement signed by several individuals. “The statement that we did receive basically, in my opinion, was garbage in regards to who said what and who authored this document,” he said. “How do you have a group who signs off on a document? Who said what? There’s hearsay in the document itself.”

Assistant Mayor Deborah Matteau called it a serious matter and said the three DPW Workers involved should have written individual statements, “We should be able to ask questions and the accused should be able to ask questions,” she said. “I don’t think we can move forward with dismissal from the Council because the three people involved directly…with the councilor are not present and the councilor is entitled to due process…As much as I feel what happened is inappropriate…the councilor is entitled to face his accusers.”

Stone added that O’Hearne “should be able to address his accusers, which was removed from the hearing.”

Commissioner Dube said there was a concern about Public Works painting on Main Street with no police officers standing by. “I informed him that I’d make a call to the chief and have someone check it out,” he said.

Chief Wilmot said his first phone call about the incident came from Manale, which he missed, but was told Manale resolved the situation when he returned the call. “He (Manale) received a phone call from Councilor O’Hearne about a traffic hazard at the intersection of Union and Main Street,” Wilmot said. “He contacted dispatch and they sent a patrol car down to check it out.” He said Sgt. Blewitt determined there was no hazard and they had sufficient equipment to ensure safety.

O’Hearne was at the site, prompting Wilmot to send Blewitt back to the area to see if the matter had changed, but it hadn’t.

Manale read a statement about O’Hearne’s actions on May 11 and said, “At 7:54 p.m., I received a call from Councilor O’Hearne about DPW line striping in front of his home,” he said. “He informed me that the traffic coordination needed to be done more safely; it was being done incorrectly and he suggested that I contact the police supervisor to have an officer help with traffic. I informed him that I could not instruct the police because they do not report to me. However, if it is a security matter, I’d contact Chief Wilmot.”

He told O’Hearne it was done and O’Hearne said he’d go to the site and see if they did their job. O’Hearne said he would tape the area and Manale told Gleeson that DPW workers should to be prepared for questions about line striping.

Gleeson called Manale and said O’Hearne was at the location harassing the crew. “They were upset and trying to do their jobs as expeditiously as possible without any impact on Main Street traffic,” Manale said. “I told Director Gleeson I would visit the site and speak to Councilor O’Hearne.”

O’Hearne was in the coned-off work area when Manale arrived and O’Hearne told him he suggested how best to perform traffic safety while doing DPW work.

“I told the councilor to go home, which he did,” Manale said. “After speaking with the DPW men, they felt the councilor was instructing them what to do despite them telling him they were certified flaggers. He also informed them that the police commissioner was on his way to review the area and he had a big stick and did not mind stirring the pot.”

Manale said O’Hearne’s actions were inappropriate and disruptive to the DPW workers. “Therefore, I asked that Councilor O’Hearne issue a verbal apology to the men working that night, as well as confirm this would not happen again,” Manale said. “Councilor O’Hearne has given a verbal apology to the men working that night. However, he has not confirmed yet that this would not happen again.”

O’Hearne addressed the councilors and noted that the agenda was put together and not transparent. “I apologized to the city manager for not getting back to him but it won’t happen again,” he said.

Stone asked O’Hearne if he gave any orders and O’Hearne said he was not giving orders or instructions. “You can see the paint on the asphalt, and it was 6×8, but they weren’t painting where it had been painted before,” O’Hearne said. “I said someone will call and complain about this but you can do what you want.”

He said nobody but Manale asked him to leave the work area.

O’Hearne asked if any other documents related to the incident were not supplied to the Council or in the packet and was told no.

“Why did I get a letter from the City Manager’s Office? He basically asked me to resign,” he said. “It was signed by the mayor and it was duly authorized by the City Council?”

Attorney Tanguay wrote the letter dated June 1 but did not tell him if the Council authorized the letter.

“I know I did not receive any letter,” Stone said.

Girard said the certified letter was authorized after the previous meeting, apologized and said he wasn’t trying to hide information.

Ward 2 Councilor James Contois said the City Manager asked for an apology and they have an apology. “He said a few minutes ago that it wouldn’t happen again, so I would move that we dismiss, we remove any attempt to remove him and get on with the City’s business,” he said. Stone seconded Contois’ motion. It passed with all in favor, except councilors Nicholas Koloski and Spencer Batchelder. Koloski said he didn’t believe O’Hearne’s apology corrected the issue.