Framingham Mayor, Council Tussle Over 'Public Tongue Lashing'

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Framingham Mayor Yvonne Spicer and some City Councilors are at odds after an exchange at the last City Council meeting. Several Councilors thrashed Chief Operating Officer Thatcher Kezer over problems they've had getting responses from the mayor's office.

On Tuesday, Spicer sent a letter to the Council demanding a public apology for the "public tongue lashing of municipal employees."

The spat stems from the Nov. 7 Council meeting. As usual, Kezer took to the podium at the end of the meeting to deliver news from the mayor's office. Several Councilors — including Judith Grove, George King Jr., and Cheryl Tully Stoll — questioned Kezer on a variety of issues.

But it was an exchange with District 4 Councilor Michael Cannon — who has clashed with Kezer in the past — that appears to have riled the mayor's office.

Cannon criticized how long it takes the administration to respond to emails. He brought up recent email exchanges with Superintendent Robert Tremblay and state Rep. Maria Robinson, where he received responses to questions within minutes. Emails sent to the mayor's office, Cannon said, go unanswered for sometimes as long as six months.

Then, Cannon accused Spicer and Kezer of "setting a tone of complacency" at City Hall.

"But it's incredibly hard to [work] when leadership in this building — department heads, division head — are encouraged not to be cooperative and collaborative with members of the City Council ... it makes it very difficult to serve the people that elected us," Cannon said.

Spicer called the Cannon's claim about purposefully uncooperative department heads "deceptive and wrong."

"To publicly shame employees is neither helpful nor professional and it contributes to a toxic work environment. Everyone that is employed in my office and throughout the city of Framingham strives to provide the greatest customer service to our community," Spicer wrote.

Kezer's grilling didn't end with Cannon.

King asked if the mayor's office was still abiding by the city's customer service policy. King said one of his constituents emailed the mayor's office asking a specific question — but only got a form letter in response.

"We're not ignoring [the customer service policy]," Kezer said.

"You are ... [the policy] has specific timelines for responses to emails and phone calls. You’re not complying with it," King said.

Grove told Kezer she had been told by someone in the mayor's office to submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request when she called to ask for information. At-Large Councilor Cheryl Tully Stoll warned Kezer to keep his job as a public servant in mind.

"We are all public servants, no matter how big your salary is," Tully Stoll told Kezer. "So I would hope that instead of abandoning customer service that perhaps you’d spend some time spreading the word around your office so the people of Framingham can be heard by the people they’re paying."

Then Cannon came back, accusing the mayor's office of "abusing" FOIA and "hampering meaningful collaboration" with Councilors. Council Chair Dennis Giombetti used his gavel to stop Cannon, but sent Kezer off with some advice.

"Take the messages ... I think the message is universal here that there is an issue," Giombetti told Kezer.