Select Board Is Attempting to Force Heather Lennon Off The Historical Commission

 

 

By Adobe Firefly AI: "Decisions Being Made In A Dark Smokey Room"

Steve Kerrigan clearly bit off more than he could chew when he attempted to force Heather Lennon off the Historical Commission.  Heather is a long-time member and the current chair of the Lancaster Historical Commission:  for the past two months Select Board Chair Steve Kerrigan has been spearheading a one-man campaign to remove her, including attempting to "file a resignation" on her behalf.  No town volunteer should have to endure this nonsense -- and the town shouldn't have to pay for this.  It should have been resolved two months ago when it started, and it needs to end this evening.

 

 

At their September 5th meeting, during a "Resignations & Appointments" agenda item, the chair stated that the board was "announcing" the resignation of Heather Lennon.   (See that at 6:35:00 in the meeting video, here.)   Things did seem a bit off:  There were immediately objections from the audience, which Chair Steve Kerrigan stiffled, and attempted questions from board member Alix Turner, which the chair refused to allow.

Later, in public comment at that meeting Linea Lakin and several other residents stood to describe and denounce the mess.   You can watch Linea's comments in the recording here, starting at 1:54:00.

The Item ran an article about the situation after the meeting.

As it turns out, Heather has not resigned and has no intention to resign.  The "resignation" originated from a phone call Steve had with Heather on August 9th.   He asserts that he received a verbal resignation in a phone call with Heather that he was then entitled to write up and submit to the clerk on her behalf.

I reached out to Heather that week and she went over the situation with me in detail.   She is very open that in her call with Steve Kerrigan that she expressed frustration and that she would quit.  Steve Kerrigan filed a resignation "on her behalf" after speaking with her on 9/9. 


We can file resignations for other people?  Don't tempt me.

There's no reason to think that Steve Kerrigan can file a resignation for anyone other than Steve Kerrigan.  Perhaps anticipating this sort of situation, state law stipulates that "No resignation of a town or district officer shall be deemed effective unless and until such resignation is filed with the town or district clerk or such later time certain as may be specified in such resignation."

If Heather wanted to resign, she's more than capable of writing it herself.  Kerrigan is clearly trying to string together a circumstance where he's empowered to file resignations at the request of others.

A Planned September 6th Historical Commission Meeting Was Scrubbed From the Website

According to Heather the Historical Commission had a meeting posted on the town website for September 6th, but they weren't allowed to hold that meeting.  At the end of August it was "scrubbed from existence" on the website.  I couldn't find any trace of it.    It wasn't cancelled by the request of the historical commission.   It's not typical to do that, even when a meeting is cancelled -- normally boards post a cancellation -- and no one would take responsibility for removing it.   Even if Heather Lennon had resigned, the board would still have had a quorum left to meet.

Kate Hodges says "her office has not been involved" with the cancellation.

        

Steve Kerrigan refused to take responsibility for the cancelled meeting, but was more opaque.   (The Select Board has no authority over the Historical Commission beyond appointing it's members.)  "These are matters between the Historical Commission and their appointing authority."

        

It's not clear who other than the Historical Commission would have the authority to cancel a Historical Commission meeting.  Given the murky circumstances of this whole situation, this may become a more serious issue in the future.

The Latest in a Series of Lancaster Human Resources Misadventures

Tonight at 6PM the Select Board will meet, and Heather Lennon's situation needs to be resolved.  Letting this drag on for even one more day, when there is a long-serving human volunteer caught in the middle, is too long. 

This is the latest in a series of disastrous adventures in HR for Lancaster over the past two years.   Last summer the disastrous "Brownie Gate" debacle -- in which Select Board member Alix Turner was accused and absolved of a variety of wrongs in her position at the Community Center at great expense to the town, led to then Select Board Chair Jason Allison stepping down "for the good of the town."    After the end of the public meeting tonight, the Select Board will meet in executive session to discuss a settlement with former Assistant Town Clerk Amie Martin.