Woodstock town supervisor Bill McKenna has announced that an independent investigation has cleared him of charges of sexual harassment. The complainant, councilmember Bennet Ratcliff, says it is not up to McKenna to declare the matter closed.
According to McKenna, Poughkeepsie attorney Laura Wong-Pan, who specializes in employment law, conducted the investigation that exonerated the supervisor and an employee. She says it’ll cost the town more money if she is hired to amend her report.
Ratcliff said there were “material inaccuracies,” and that Wong-Pan was willing to ask follow-up questions and amend the report.
McKenna disputed Ratcliff’s account and shared an email chain between Wong-Pan and members of the town board.
The attorney said she had informed Ratcliff the report was final and not open for further edits.
However, Wong-Pan acknowledged Ratcliff’s proposed changes were “substantive” and that he had requested changes to some statements made by McKenna and disputed others. Ratcliff also proposed to change statements he had made to the attorney.
Wong-Pan advised the town the revisions would take time and cost more money. “To respond to these comments may require engaging in any additional interviews, giving the supervisor a chance to respond, and preparing a supplemental memo to the board.”
McKenna said he didn’t want to accrue more fees.
Ratcliff charged that the supervisor had taken control of the process from the beginning by calling an illegal meeting for the purpose of hiring an investigator, and that he has continued controlling it by declaring the investigation closed.
In an August 17 emergency meeting, the town board had appointed councilmember Reggie Earls to locate an impartial third-party attorney who could conduct an independent investigation into Ratcliff’s allegations and a counterclaim by McKenna that the allegations were equivalent to harassment.
Emergency meetings are generally discouraged. Shoshanah Bewlay, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government, had said the session likely wasn’t within the spirit of the law. She said someone could have been informally told to go find qualified attorneys, or that the town attorney could have been asked to recommend outside counsel. The board would then have voted in public at a later date to retain the outside attorney.
Ratcliff criticized the supervisor for what he called mishandling of other situations.
“This is how small actions of completely irresponsible nature by the supervisor become big problems for the Town of Woodstock,” Ratcliff said. “Bill is declaring the investigation closed and his name cleared. The supervisor has overseen every aspect of this investigation into his own behavior, so who needs the findings? Bill clearing himself was always in the cards.”
Councilmember Laura Ricci complimented the investigation. “I thought she was very thorough,” Ricci said of the work of Wong-Pan, who had questioned her along with other town officials. “I’m happy with the findings,” said Ricci, who added that she had found a lot of holes in Ratcliff’s accusations. “However, I’m not happy the town had to spend $3600.”
McKenna and Ricci said Earls was chosen because he was impartial
Ricci is running on the November ticket with McKenna. Ratcliff was the complainant, and councilmember Maria-Elena Conte was a potential witness.
Earls, who is not seeking re-election this year, said that because many potential candidates had conflicts due to friends or relationships it had been difficult to find an attorney who could in such a situation be impartial
“We are indignant for the citizens of Woodstock, who had to pay over $3600 for this asinine investigation,” McKenna said. “We are, however, heartened by the solidarity.”
Ratcliff had written that he and Conte had arrived early for an August 8 executive session he thought started at 6 p.m. but didn’t start until 6:15.
“When we walked in the door, we saw what appeared to be inappropriate workplace conduct in the supervisor’s office by Bill McKenna and a town employee,” he had written. “What I saw made me very uncomfortable. But it was also not the first time I had seen something like this happening with the supervisor. I am interested in having a respectful workplace culture, and feel it is important to separate professional conduct and personal behavior. What I saw was definitely not okay.”
Ratcliff criticized the supervisor for what he called the mishandling of other situations.
McKenna said he had dropped the harassment counterclaims against Ratcliff when he learned it would have cost taxpayers an additional $3600 at minimum in attorney fees.
Ricci advised Ratcliff, who is opposing McKenna in the November 7 general election, to stop spending so much time trying to bring McKenna down for various alleged misdeeds and work on behalf of the people. “I think he should be focused on doing the job of town councilperson,” Ricci said.
Also still pending are the outcome of parallel complaints Ratcliff has filed with the town human rights commission and ethics board.
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