After Abrupt Firing of Deputy Town Clerk, Council Wants Answers

Questions about accountability and processes in the Town Clerk’s office have been raised following the recent abrupt termination of a longtime town employee.

On Monday, the Town Council will discuss the possibility of conducting an operational audit of town administrative functions, including in the Town Clerk’s office, along with a possible hiring freeze for any administrative support staff pending the results of the audit.

Town Council Vice President James Seveney requested the item be placed on Monday night’s agenda following the termination of Deputy Town Clerk Patti Cofield on Feb. 9.

“She’s someone who worked for the town for [years] and 18 months after she was appointed deputy clerk, she was fired without any process,” Seveney said in an interview. “What was the process? I don’t know. I don’t like being in the dark.”

Seveney said some residents have asked him what happened and why Cofield was fired and he has been unable to offer any explanation.

Council members became aware of the firing the night of their Feb. 9 Town Council meeting when they saw that the deputy town clerk seat was empty.

Though the deputy clerk is a position that can be appointed by the town clerk, Seveney said, council members were caught off guard.

“The town clerk is an elected official, but the rest of that office, and all the money that funds that office, including the town clerk’s salary, is up to the Town Council,” Seveney said. “When things like this happen it’s indicative of a management problem or workplace relations or some sort of adverse environment and I want to get to the bottom of that.”

In his request to have the operational audit item placed on the council agenda, Seveney wrote that a desire for the audit reflects a “need to analyze and perhaps modify our human resources/personnel regulations and processes, assess staffing needs, and explore opportunities for consolidation and/or organizational restructuring to improve employee relations, provide better service for our citizens, and create business efficiencies in Town Hall administrative functions.”

Seveney said the audit could be paid for through “unused salary budget” and “should be considered for near term implementation, and could also be expanded to other administrative offices at the discretion of the Town Administrator.”

Also on the agenda is a request by Town Clerk Joanne M. Mower to appoint Katherine Inch to the position of Deputy Town Clerk, but Seveney said he won’t vote for any appointment until “I understand how this is going to really play out.”

“There’s nothing we can do about what already happened,” he said. “But I’m not going to be a party to a hiring action that puts another person in a similar situation.”

Seveney also said the audit would be a chance to clarify, once and for all, what exactly the town clerk’s responsibilities are. The job description, listed on the town’s website, lists a host of responsibilities typical of a town clerk, such as handling marriage licenses, preparing agendas and meeting minutes and handling correspondence between Town Council members, the town administrator and the public. But Seveney said there hasn’t been a concerted effort to take a close look at both the state law and the Town Charter to nail down the exact job requirements.

And in the end, the audit might reveal that the clerk’s office doesn’t need a deputy position through workflow improvements and other efficiencies. A third party review could show how much effort and how many resources it takes to meet the requirements under state law.

The goal is to increase accountability, Seveney said. As it stands, “the accountability is only to voters,” he said. From his perspective: “If things are going OK, that’s great. If they’re not, whats to be done?”