EAST LONGMEADOW – In response to the Dec. 11 Town Council meeting in which a resident brought forth a petition that called for non–renewal of East Longmeadow Town Manager Denise Menard’s contract, the Town Council met on Jan. 22 to host a public hearing on that matter. Following the hearing, the Town Council voted unanimously to take the petition under advisement.

At a Council meeting on Oct. 23, resident and petitioner Jeffrey Bosworth, along with his business partner John Mazzarino, expressed their concern toward the town’s planning process. At the Dec. 11 meeting, Bosworth brought forth the petition, advocating for the Councilors to not give Menard a salary increase. Additionally, they suggested her contract not be renewed in December 2019, when her term ends.

Bosworth’s petition displayed over 100 signatures from residents in East Longmeadow who, presumably, felt the contract of the town manager should not be renewed.

At the Jan. 22 Town Council meeting, the Council conducted a public hearing with respect to Bosworth’s petition. Five residents, four who are employees in the town, spoke in support of Menard.

East Longmeadow resident and Board of Health member Karen Robitaille explained that she has had a “nothing but positive” relationship with Menard.

“This is the balance of power that we voted for,” Robitaille explained, referencing the statement made by the petitioners that Menard has “limitless” power. “The Town Manager does not in fact have the limitless power the petitioner refers to.”

Robitaille continued, “Per the rating scale given, Ms. Menard went from above average: usually exceeding performance standards, to somewhere between average: generally meeting performance standards, and above average: usually exceeding performance standards.

“This in no way says to me that Ms. Menard has not fulfilled her duties in such a manner warranting a non renewal, quite the opposite in fact. I find it extraordinary that she has been able to maintain all positive ratings given the complexity and difficulty of guiding our town through an entirely new governmental process.”

Resident and member of the Historical Commission Bruce Moore came before the Town Council and explained that he worked with Menard to fix multiple infractions within the Historical Commission and was pleased with the outcome.

“There were multiple infractions, to keep it brief, going on there, and with Denise’s help and a couple members of the Town Council, the situation has been alleviated and we now have a functional board on the Historical Commission,” Moore explained. “With all the idiosyncrasies of everyone in this room and every board member that is appointed or elected in this town, there’s no one person alive that can satisfy everybody all the time. You’re gonna have some disgruntled people here and there.”

Planning Board Chair George Kingston shared that for several months when the Board didn’t have a permanent director, Menard helped to keep the Planning Board “alive and functioning.”

“Denise has also hired a director, who with no disrespect to the previous director, has brought a new level of professionalism to the department and is doing an outstanding job of bringing us to the 21st century in planning,” Kingston said. He added, “There has been a lot of turmoil in planning, we know that, and part of it is that we are now asking people who come to Planning to present plans that meet the standards that are necessary to get the records straight. Sometimes that doesn’t always make people happy, but the department is functioning better than it has in my 11 or 12 years now as a Planning Board member, so thank you.”

Executive Director of the East Longmeadow Council on Aging Carolyn Brennan shared her experience with seniors at the center. Two men asked her if she knew about the petition, and when she looked at it, she shared with the Town Council that at the bottom of the petition it had, essentially, a disclaimer stating that if they’ve signed the petition they had read a separate page of information explaining what the petition stood for.

“Seniors were never shown that signature; 40 people on the list are aimed age 60 and over,” she said. Brennan then noted that she knows some people understood what they were signing, however she also knows some signers were not shown the additional information that they should have read prior to signing.

“I’m not here to address the content, but the process. In the future, I’m asking the public to always be mindful when asking individuals to support a cause or a petition. Please respect the powerful right we have to petition a governing body,” she closed.

Closing out public comment, resident Susan Grimaldi shared that she frequently sees Menard attending town events, talking to residents.

“I’ve never seen this woman turn anybody down saying enough is enough, she doesn’t put you off, she puts you in contact,” Grimaldi said. “I’ve never seen a harder working individual than what I see in Ms. Menard, and that’s why we came here tonight, because as far as I’m concerned–somebody petitioning saying she doesn’t deserve a raise–when you work this hard, this is not an easy job especially being the pioneer. There’s a lot of toes you’re going to step on; not intentionally but that is the course of this particular position.” She added she recommends a raise for Menard that her performance level deserves.

Following the close of public comment, the Town Council had the opportunity to share their thoughts on the petitioner and what residents had said.

Council member Paul Federici explained that on the petition, he noticed there was one couple who had signed more than once. He also shared that he noticed a signature of a “life–long friend” on the petition, so he decided to call the friend and ask why he signed the document. Federici stated that his friend said the petitioner was outside Big Y, said “sign this,” and didn’t tell his friend what the petition was. While he noted it wasn’t “brilliant” of his friend to sign the petition, he didn’t believe this was the only case that signers weren’t aware of what they were singing.

Council member Joseph Ford shared a similar experience, stating he called two people and asked them if they knew that the petition was about Menard. One of his friends, Ford explained, believed the petition was about “general corruption” and the other asked who Menard was.

“To use a petition is a nuclear option; it’s code red, worst-case scenario, we’ve got to assemble the masses because the government is completely out of control,” Ford said. “That is simply not the case and the damage that’s been done by this petition, in essence, has done more harm to the town of East Longmeadow than anything that was alleged within the petition.”

Ford closed his statement by noting he felt it was premature to discuss Menard’s contract as it is not up for 11 months. “In the meantime I don’t have a problem voting for her raise,” he said.

Town Council member Kevin Manley shared that for the first two years on the Town Council he was the Council Chair, and he worked close with Menard.

“There’s no validity to the complaint in my opinion,” he said, adding, “To character assassinate someone on a piece of paper based on some heresy and rumor, of .6 percent of the population or whatever number that is, it’s ludicrous,” he said.

Town Council Chair Kathleen Hill stated that she echoed the remarks that have been made and that the Town Charter was designed with the help of the Collins Center and the nine charter members on the commission, and it is, what is called a “strong town manager” model, which is what voters voted on. Additionally, she added that toward the end of this year she will be looking for volunteers to sit on another Charter Commission for the specific purpose of looking it over and for looking for ways to refine it. Following the refining period, the Charter will go back to voters in June of 2020 for subsequent passage.

“Please know that we all sit here and know that there’s always room for improvement,” Hill said. “I will go so far as to say, maybe 5 months ago Denise and I had a conversation about the Charter and she noted the strong town manager model might be too strong.” She continued, sharing that Menard will give recommendations to the Charter Commission to give a shift of some power to the Town Council.

“I don’t know details, but there is an acknowledgement by the manager that some modifications need to be made,” she said.

At the close of the public hearing the Council voted to take the petition under advisement.