The agenda for the November 2 Board of Selectmen meeting includes an unusual three possible executive sessions where board members may discuss matters in private.
Two of them — one near the start of the meeting and the other at the end — are to discuss complaints or charges brought against a town employee. The third executive session is to “discuss strategy with respect to litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares.”
Board Chair James Craig said he was not at liberty to say whether the two similar sessions are about the same employee or complaint or are two different issues — or the nature of the litigation to be discussed in the third session.
A written complaint against Town Administrator Tim Higgins and former Assistant Town Administrator Mary Day was leaked to LincolnTalk and the Lincoln Squirrel in September. Director of Planning and Land Use Jennifer Burney alleged that she was the victim of discrimination, harassment, and intimidation by Higgins and Day relating to her requests to work flexibly and from home under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
The allegations resulted in a temporary suspension of LincolnTalk by its moderators and an investigation by Lincoln police, because a copy of the complaint posted there was doctored to appear that it had come from a Lincoln resident who had nothing to do with the matter.
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