Leaked harassment allegations against Higgins result in uproar

(Editor’s note: this story was updated on October 1.)

A copy of a formal discrimination complaint by one town employee about another was posted to the LincolnTalk email list on September 29, and police are now investigating because the email that included the post was “spoofed” — fraudulently signed in the name of an elderly resident who knew nothing about it.

The electronic trail began on September 16 when Director of Planning and Land Use Jennifer Burney wrote up a complaint against Town Administrator Tim Higgins and emailed it to members of the Planning Board and the Board of Selectmen. Thirteen days later, someone included that complaint in a post on the LincolnTalk email list, which has about 1,500 subscribers.

The post’s header said it was from “Debra French” with the subject line “Compliant [sic] Filed by Jennifer Burney + Mary Day re: FEMALE HARASSMENT AND FIRE DEPARTMENT INSULTS made by Tim Higgins.” The preamble said in part, “I received this message below and find myself in deep concern over the severe allegations made! No women should be going through this!” It was received and automatically posted to LincolnTalk at 11:32 p.m. on September 29. 

There is, in fact, a Lincoln resident named Deborah French whose first name is spelled differently, but she was horrified to learn about the spoofing when police came to her door. It’s unclear who notified the police.

“I’m speechless. The police just came and told me about it,” French said on Wednesday. “That’s awful. I think anybody who knows me knows it was not from me, but I would love other people to know it too. I’m not tech-savvy at all — I was brought up with pencil and paper.” French’s late husband John French, who died in 2018, served on several town boards and committees and was also town moderator for 16 years.

Earlier on Tuesday evening, the Lincoln Squirrel received an almost identical email, but from a different return address (Thisis Anonymous <anonylincolnma@gmail.com>). The Squirrel has shared details of that email with Lincoln police. Chief of Police Kevin Kennedy would not comment on the matter.

Spoofing, according to the FBI, is when someone disguises an email address, sender name, phone number, or website URL to convince the recipient that they’re interacting with a trusted source. However, it’s unclear if spoofing is a crime if the sender is not aiming to defraud the recipient financially, install malware on their computer, or extract personal information.

Burney’s allegations

The LincolnTalk post included a copy of a September 16 email from Burney to the Planning Board and Board of Selectmen. It outlined complaints of discrimination, harassment, and intimidation alleging that Higgins targeted Burney and former Assistant Town Administrator Mary Day, who left her job unexpectedly in late May. 

Burney wrote in the complaint that she requested leave last spring under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to care for a family member. In coordination with experts she consulted, Burney agreed to a plan that would require her full-time presence to provide that care, she wrote.

Higgins asked all town employees to return to work in person on June 1, but Burney was still caring for her daughter and needed to continue working from home. She wrote that on May 28, “Day informed me that she would have paperwork within a week for potential options to those with schedule conflicts. I was quite concerned by the shocking message sent on a Saturday morning from Mr. Higgins, May 30th, stating that Ms. Day had resigned from her position effective immediately.”

In the complaint, Burney said that “Ms. Day confided in me that she did not resign, and in fact had to hastily leave the office after experiencing extreme intimidation by Mr. Higgins,” after which Day allegedly sought medical attention “due to the stress he caused her both in this situation and past scenarios.” Day could not be reached for comment.

Higgins “continued to try to delay and deny my FMLA leave, asking me to reconsider, while delaying and refusing to file the paperwork needed,” according to Burney. He “reluctantly” allowed her to begin leave on June 9 but then “berated” her upon her return on September 2 when she requested a hybrid home-and-office work schedule to accommodate her family member’s schedule. “Mr. Higgins verbally attacked my job performance by suggesting I give nothing to the town and all I do is, ‘take take take’,” she wrote.

Board of Selectmen involvement

At the June 22 Board of Selectmen meeting, Higgins told the board he planned to promote Parks and Recreation Department Director Dan Pereira to the Assistant Town Administrator position, which Day had vacated just over three weeks previously. At the same meeting, he announced that Burney had taken an FMLA leave of absence and that Assistant Director of Planning and Land Use Paula Vaughn-McKenzie would be acting Planning Director.

On September 21, five days after Burney’s email complaint to town officials, the Board of Selectmen met in executive session before their regular open meeting (as allowed by state law) “to hear a complaint against a public officer, employee, staff member or individual,” according to the meeting agenda.

“Please be advised that the Board of Selectmen had previously received the complaint that was recently published on the LincolnTalk listserv,” board chair James Craig said in an email to the Lincoln Squirrel on Wednesday. “The board has initiated an investigation that is being conducted by an independent third-party investigator. To respect the privacy of all parties, the board will not comment further on this matter pending the outcome of the investigation.”

Burney’s complaint also alleged that Higgins engaged in “unethical behavior and unprofessional comments” when he allegedly referred to the Lincoln Fire Department as “a bunch of Neanderthals.” A former member of a Lincoln town board governing body who asked to remain anonymous said, “That stuff is not a surprise to me… I’ve heard that stuff out of his mouth many times.”

Also at the June 22 meeting, Higgins praised the performance of acting Fire Chief Brian Young and recommended his permanent appointment to the position. 

Planning Board member Gary Taylor noted on Wednesday that the Board of Selectmen are handling the issue as a confidential personnel matter. As to who might have sent the emails to LincolnTalk and the Lincoln Squirrel, “even if I knew, I wouldn’t comment at this point — it would be speculation,” he said. “We all have to honor our obligations for confidentiality in everyone’s interests.”

Reactions from Higgins and Burney

“I need to defer to the Select Board for any comments regarding the Town’s response to the charges that have been made,” Higgins said in an email to the Squirrel. “I support the need for a thorough independent investigation and have committed my full and open cooperation to the process. I have faith and trust in the Town’s processes.” In a follow-up email, he added, “I do not want to compromise the integrity of the Board’s investigation in any manner. I have faith that people will discern the truth.”

“I can confirm that I sent emails to the Board of Selectmen and Planning Board with a complaint against Tim Higgins,” Burney told the Lincoln Squirrel in an email. “I DID NOT send any emails to you or to Lincoln Talk. I consider my letter confidential and was addressed to the Boards and not to the public. I have no idea who sent that as only Board of Selectmen and Planning Board members were in receipt of my email.” Asked for further comment, she wrote in a second email, “At this time I have no comment and I’d really like everyone to respect my privacy. Thank you for your understanding.”

LincolnTalk suspended temporarily

Early Wednesday morning, the three volunteer LincolnTalk moderators sent out an email saying that, as a result of the spoofing, all posts would be held for approval until further notice. As of 10 p.m. on Wednesday, nothing had been posted since the service was suspended that morning. Previously, anyone could sign up for a free LincolnTalk account by supplying an email address and then post messages directly to all other members.

“We are cooperating with the police investigation… and proceeding with extreme caution,”said Margit Griffith, one of the moderators. “We want to get things back up and running as soon as possible, but we need to investigate safeguards as much as we can with our listserv provider… seeing what we need to do to protect ourselves and LincolnTalk. We’re now a little gun shy and we’re saddened that people used LincolnTalk in this way.”