WATCH: Stoughton Selectman Resigns During Meeting; Having Second Thoughts

STOUGHTON, MA — After a heated exchange with a citizen over a long running issue culminated in a shouting match, pointed fingers and a phone call from his daughter, one selectman announced his resignation in the middle of a selectman meeting this week.

Selectman Peter Brown announced Tuesday in the middle of the meeting that he will resign his position on the Stoughton Board of Selectmen. It came following a tense exchange with and Patricia Colburn, an active supporter of the selectmen recall effort who came to speak during the citizen's comment portion of the meeting.

Colburn took to the mic to express her support for the recall and called the meeting an embarrassment. She claimed the selectman went on Facebook to “name call and stir the pot.” Brown, for his part, denied attacking residents online and as he defended himself, became agitated as Colburn interrupted him and then stepped away from the mic. He said he was not going to be berated.

(Subscribe to Stoughton Patch for updates on this and other local stories.)

“Don’t shake your head, this is the type of stuff you do all the time. It’s frustrating as heck to sit up here and serve and listen to your divisiveness that you promote,” the selectman said. “You call us out and say things and expect us to take it? I posted one time, I defy you to find another post and that was because you attacked the microphone.”

In August, on the “Citizens Against The Recall” Facebook page, Brown said Colburn “inappropriately, unprofessionally and ever so rudely rushed to the microphone, disrupted the decorum of an official meeting and created a hostile takeover,” at one point during a public meeting.

READ MORE

• 3 Selectmen To Face Recall Vote
  

Brown is one of three selectmen facing a recall vote slated for December 5. At a recent meeting, he asked for the residents petitioning for the recall to appear in front of the board to address just why they are pushing for the removal of him and two other selectmen including David Sousa and Robert Cohn.

At one point during a public meeting Brown noted he could force them to appear by subpoena, but later said he wasn’t going to use legal action. Some residents said that comment sounded like a threat.

Minutes after the exchange, Brown announced that he was leaving the board.

“I just got a call from my daughter who is visibly upset. [She] told me I was an embarrassment and I agree with her. I am going to apologize to the residents of Stoughton and officially resign. I am no longer going to be on the Board of Selectmen. I am giving my notice this instant. I’m only upset that I got upset with [Colburn]. I’m resigning at this moment. I’m done. When my daughter calls me and calls me an embarrassment because I can’t control my temper... It’s time to step aside,” Sousa said.

Brown has yet to submit a formal resignation letter and later told the Enterprise that he’s going to take a few days to think about his decision.

Image and video via Stoughton Media Access Corporation