Two weeks ago, the Board of Selectmen granted a three year contract to Public Works Superintendent Karen Galligan. The change from single year to multi-year contract was voted on publicly but without explanation or discussion.
The contract gives Galligan a 2% raise for three years running. Last year, her one year contract afforded her a 4.33% raise. But minutes from that year’s Executive Session indicate her previous year’s raise had been kept small. The new contract provides five months severance pay unless termination is based on “gross misconduct”.
Contract approval followed an earlier admission that Galligan’s evaluation for this year wasn’t complete. It was also on the heels of a contentious statement by the Public Works Planning Board Chair calling out Galligan for exhibiting “tactless, unscrupulous, and evasive character”.
PWPB Chair Desiree Aselbekian made a public comment in response to an agenda item to reappoint committee members. She informed the board and public that she would not be seeking reappointment. She went on to read a statement condemning selectmen, the DPW head, and other Town officials for what she saw as lack of collaboration and disrespectful treatment of her board.
She specifically referred to the board purportedly failing to reach out to the PWPB on Transfer Station rules and regs:
Even though the PWPB and BOS agreed to a clarified charge three weeks prior, there was no attempt to communicate and reach out to the PWPB relative to the Transfer Station Rules and Regulations agenda item. Per the clarified charge, the PWPB has review and recommendation authority over this issue; yet the Town never informed me of the agenda item and/or deadline for submission of documentation for the BOS meeting.
It may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. But Aselbekian claimed it was consistent with past treatment by Galligan and Town officials.
Her statement raised the ire of Selectman Dan Kolenda.
When Aselbekian accused Galligan of flip-flopping on issues depending on her audience, Kolenda interrupted. Speaking over her, he asked BOS Chair John Rooney if there was going to be a debate back and forth with accused Town Officials in the room. Aselbekian responded:
There is no debate, this is my public comment. And I would appreciate it if you didn’t continue to bully me, every time I have a public comment. You continually have done that throughout your tenure on this board.
Rooney, spoke over both parties to end the argument. He said that he would allow the public comment but not engage in a back and forth unless Galligan wanted to.
Returning to her statement, Aselbekian said:
A vast majority of the time, she tells the PWPB one thing and the BOS another. This results in a contentious environment pitting me as chairperson against her resulting in a public perception that the PWPB is “out to get” the DPW and its Superintendent. Nothing could be further from the truth. Despite my best efforts to work collaboratively with her and your entire administration, it has been a struggle of epic proportions. Serving on the PWPB has confirmed my view of Ms. Galligan: she is a very intelligent woman who is knowledgeable in her field, but exhibits tactless, unscrupulous, and evasive character. This is not up to the standards of our Community. Her lack of leadership and inability to connect with residents has hurt the Town and many DPW initiatives in recent years.
You can read her full statement here.* Aselbekian followed the statement by saying that she wished sincere luck to the remainder of her board and whoever followed her.
Kolenda followed her statement by asking Town Adminstrator Mark Purple what Galligan’s latest review was. Purple responded that it was incomplete and not due until July 1st. There was no further public response.
Later that evening, approval of Galligan’s three year contract was unanimously approved. Selectman Paul Cimino took a moment to point out that the discussion was in Executive Session, but the vote was being made in public after the contract was posted in the meeting packet. No other comment or explanation was made.
[Editor’s Note: The most recently posted Executive Session minutes are from over a year ago. No more recent ones have been posted.]
Aselbekian is an outspoken participant in Southborough’s Town government. And it’s not the first time she accused Galligan and other Town officials of failing to meet professional standards.
In 2014, Galligan and Town Administrator Mark Purple were at the heart of a controversy over the layoff of an employee. At the time, Aselbekian petitioned the board to remove both from their jobs. She has continued to be publicly critical since.
Last September, she was publicly upset when selectmen chose to convene an ad hoc committee for prioritizing sidewalk projects. She accused selectmen of failing to see value in or properly use the PWPB. It was that discussion that led to the boards collaborating on the revised charge, just finalized in May.
The PWPB Chair’s term expires at the end of this month. Her re-appointment would have been up to Town Moderator, Stephen Morreale. Aselbekian and Morreale campaigned against eachother for the Moderator seat this spring. On Candidates Night, Morreale offended her with an off camera compliment she found demeaning. She called him out online for it.
Despite stepping down from public office for now, it won’t be the last we hear from Aselbekian. Last year, she launched the blog, Eyes on Southborough, “to be a political ‘watch dog’ on our local governmental affairs”.
Over the weekend, she posted her reaction to Galligan’s new contract:
I’m beside myself at how our employees are treated in the Town of Southborough. Management gets all of the perks and benefits, and Town SAP employees have to fight every year with Management, the Personnel Board, and Town Meeting just to get a couple extra bucks never mind extended sick leave without loosing seniority. . .
At the end of the day, the DPW Super in our Town is getting protection, benefits, and perks that no other DPW/highway department head gets in surrounding towns
So, its a safe bet that the soon-to-be-former PWPB Chair will continue to attend selectmen meetings and share her opinions with selectmen and the public.
*Editor’s Note: Aselbekian shared her written public comment at my request. Written prior to the meeting, it includes the statement that her memo on the Transfer Station wasn’t included in the public packet. During her live remarks she added “until recently”. The memo was in the packet posted online prior to the meeting.
I followed up and learned from Ms. Aselbekian that the original posted packet on Friday was different and didn’t include the memo. After she followed up with Mr. Rooney, a new version with the memo was posted Monday morning. Unlike in past practice I’ve seen on the Town website, this one didn’t note it was revised.
Updated (6/22/16 8:04 am): I added the final paragraph to the Editor’s note.
So burying a utility vehicle with snow while on camera is not “gross misconduct”
By all means lets give her a raise.
Has anyone started a blog or perhaps a Wikipedia would be better for all the crazy antics involving town officials?
I’ll make that my homework and send a link in when I get it going.
My thanks to Desiree and to Beth.
If your blog includes the antics of school officials, I will have beer and popcorn ready.
In my role as memory bank for some of our town government items, I will just note that the PWPB was created at my suggestion when I was a selectman (1978-81) and we had decided for efficiency sake to combine several town departments–the cemetery, water, tree, and highway. The Tree Warden was an elected position and the other three had three-member boards elected for three-year terms and each with its own superintendent.
Since we were eliminating three elected boards that had had provided more direct citizen involvement and responsibility and turning it all over to the Selectmen, I believed 1) that a PW planning board, although not elected, would still provide citizen involvement in what was becoming one of the largest departments in town and 2) that the citizen input would be an aid in helping Selectmen take on yet another responsibility (we had an administrative assistant, not a town administrator at the time). The three of us on the board (Lou Bartolini and Tom McAuliffe–both with MANY years of experience–being the others) agreed that it would maintain a welcome level of citizen participation.
Apparently that goal has not been furthered, perhaps partially because there is not a common understanding of the purpose of that citizen board.
Ms McDaniel brings up the great point that when we switched to 5 selectman and a town admin, we forgot to make the changes that really went along with it. It seems clear that not that we have the town admin running the day to day, the selectman don’t much care for the input that the various boards have to offer. This is one example and another would be the historic boards lack of input with regard to the various town meeting articles. I’m not making judgment one way or the other on whether or not that is the right thing, (one the one hand that was the point of hiring the town admin, on the other the more citizen involvement the better) but if they don’t want the input, they should really just remove the boards.
Honestly I do not have a horse int he race. I see the board doing their best, I see Purple doing his best, and Gillgalin and her department are always responsive. It sounds like the person with a chip on their shoulder is mad at what happens mostly from democrats in this state. Look at the recent hearings on the T and what the union head and his minions did. I dont think there is huge call for alarm. I think the three lawyers on the board are very careful of what they do. That being said I am also grateful that people are watching what others do to keep it honest. Thanks for serving.
So burying a utility vehicle with snow while on camera is not “gross misconduct”
By all means lets give her a raise
many thanks
Kish