Two Selectmen Heated Over New Hire With Kraft Group Ties

FOXBOROUGH, MA — A routine hire announced at Tuesday's selectmen meeting turned into a debate about conflicts of interests and hiring practice.

Assistant Town Manager Mary Beth Bernard announced that Amanda Smith is the town's new community information specialist. She comes to Foxborough with a project management background and spent a year and a half working for the Town of Franklin.

Smith was a finalist in two previous job searches which included over 500 applicants. She was interviewed for the newest opening after the town received no applications from an internal posting.

While the filling of a position at Town Hall is usually non-controversial, selectmen Jim DeVellis and Ginny Coppola were concerned due to Smith's ties to the Kraft Group. Her husband, Jeremie Smith, works for the company as a manager of external affairs/business development.

Both Town Manager Bill Keegan and Bernard said they were unaware of the relationship until after the hire was made. Smith, who will take minutes as part of her job, has signed a confidentiality agreement and will be subject to the state's ethics law, meaning that she will not be in the room for any executive session discussions involving the Kraft Group. Town Counsel Jack Dolan said the hire is fine as long as she does not have greater level of information than the public.

The assurances that there would be separation was not enough for the two board members.

"I have strong reservations about this hire," DeVellis said. "I suggest looking on Facebook or at the meetings because she's been at no less than four or five meetings in the last year - public meetings, retirement meetings, social functions."

Despite the use of a confidentiality agreement, DeVellis and Coppola said they were worried about the lack of a formal search and that the Smiths would share information with each other, but Bernard reiterated that Smith was the top candidate of a list that was used for two recent searches, telling the board is it common practice to not conduct a full search for a position if they have a fresh list of candidates.

"I just looked at 500 applicants and she rose to the top of two searches. In my experience, having done this my entire career, while the list was still warm, you go back to the one you really like," Bernard said.

The conflict would not be the first time a town employee would have to leave the room during executive session. It was pointed out that another town employee who takes minutes is married to a member of the steel worker's union, meaning that she cannot take part in any private sessions about negotiating strategy with the union.

"I think it's important to note that it's common for employees to have situations where they recuse themselves. It happens in police and fire when you have members of the same families working for the same organization," Keegan said.

But reassurances from Keegan that Smith would honor her confidentiality agreement or face termination were not enough for Coppola and DeVellis.

"I'm really concerned about information that's in the selectmen's office. Everything goes through that office," Coppola said.

DeVellis said he understood that the town can't ask a candidate about their marriage, but questioned why a candidate wouldn't volunteer that information if there was possible conflict or why the town isn't checking candidate's social media pages. Dolan said he would not expect a candidate to do give up that information and he recommended against the use of social media to screen a candidate because it may lead an employer to make inaccurate conclusions about a person.

Smith starts her new job Monday. Bernard said 99 percent of Smith’s job will not be impacted by her conflict.

"You will be impressed with her professionalism and how skilled she is," Bernard said.

Editor's Note: Jeremie Smith formerly worked at Patch as an editor for Medfield and Foxborough.

Image: File Photo