Mike Hartman Is Not Stoughton Town Manager, Judge Rules

STOUGHTON, MA — Michael Hartman is no longer the town manager of Stoughton, a Norfolk Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday.

An injunction to stop the town from preventing Hartman from performing the duties of the town manager was denied by Judge Michael Ricciuti. As it stands, Stephen Anastos, a former selectman, is now the interim town manager as voted by the board Tuesday night.

Ricciuti wrote in his decision that Hartman’s contract stated that there is nothing in Hartman’s contact that required the board to both give him six months notice of termination and go through a discharge process.

“To accept Hartman’s argument that the Town had to follow both mechanisms would not only require the Court to rewrite the 2014 agreement, it would also require it to find that Hartman served at the 'will of the selectmen.' Further, doing so would impose an unjustified and significant expense on the Town: were discharged required in the case of non-renewal, the Town would be obligated to pay severance. The 2014 agreement did not impose that burden on the Town,” Ricciuti wrote.

The town charter states that a town manager can be discharged from the position with a four-person vote by the selectmen.

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Hartman came to Stoughton in 2012 and was told by the selectmen in Dec. 2016 that his contract would not be renewed. On June 28, Town Accountant William Rowe was named the interim town manager. Despite arguments that Hartman needed to be formally discharged from the job, Ricciuti ruled the vote served as a notice that Hartman would not have a job when his contract expired about six months later.

Last week, Rowe sent a letter to the selectmen announcing his resignation from the position effective when a new interim manager started.

Below is the full decision:

Hartman Decision by DanLibon on Scribd

Image: File Photo