By Mike Donoghue, Senior Correspondent
A Vermont Superior Court judge has taken under advisement arguments by lawyers for the Village of Woodstock and its former Police Chief Joe Swanson on whether he was properly demoted by municipal manager Eric Duffy this year.
Judge H. Dickson Corbett heard 15 minutes of arguments by each side during the video hearing on Tuesday afternoon. He also will consider the written filings both sides have submitted during the case. “The court will take the matter under advisement and issue a written decision soon,” Corbett said before adjourning the hearing.
The demotion case has generated considerable attention in the Woodstock region since it began. About three dozen computers with an unknown number of interested persons tuned into the video arguments. They included local residents, lawyers, media, and at least two Village Trustees.
Burlington lawyer John H. Klesch, on behalf of the Village, argued that there was “substantial evidence” to support reasons for the demotion.
He said the case “is a limited, on-the-record review of a quasi-judicial body’s determination made after a hearing process.”
Klesch said the court must side with Woodstock if there is any competent evidence in the record to support the decision by the Village Trustees to uphold the demotion made by Duffy.
Attorney Linda Fraas, on behalf of Swanson, disputed the claims made on behalf of the Village. “There is nothing in the record that will support this as a matter of law. This does not require judicial discretion. It just requires applying the law to the facts in this case, which do not support anything that the Village is trying to sell,” she noted.
“And it makes no sense, and what has gone on is unconscionable, actually, for this year, and that is why we are here today to ask this court to please end this ordeal, reinstate Chief Swanson, let everyone move on,” Fraas said.
The battle between Duffy and Swanson began in October 2024 when the manager put the chief on the sidelines following a motor vehicle complaint involving the chief’s husband. Vermont State Police and the Vermont Criminal Justice Council both cleared Swanson.
Duffy, however, hired a private detective to interview village police employees and town emergency dispatchers to see if they objected to his management style. Based on the interviews in the report, Duffy demoted Swanson. The Village Trustees heard the appeal in March and, in April, voted 5-0 to uphold the removal.
Several employees had expressed frustration with the police chief because they said he had a messy office, wore mismatched socks, and had unkempt hair. They claimed the chief also did not tell his employees where he was going when he left the police station, and they complained their boss did not always answer his phone.
Swanson wants to return to his old job. Duffy wants Swanson to remain demoted to a patrol officer, the lowest rank in the department.
The Vermont Standard plans to have more details and reactions in the print edition next week. The court arguments were heard as the weekly newspaper had an early deadline due to Thanksgiving.
Once Judge Corbett issues his written findings, the losing side will be free to appeal to the Vermont Supreme Court.
The Village also finds itself in the middle of a separate $5 million civil lawsuit also pending in Vermont Superior Court by Swanson, with multiple claims including unlawful discharge from his job. The other named defendants include Duffy, Interim Police Chief Chris O’Keeffe, Trustee Chair Seton McIlroy, and the private detective firm.
