By Mike Donoghue, Senior Correspondent
The Woodstock Village Trustees say they are planning again to try to withhold their upcoming decision from the public on whether Police Chief Joe Swanson should be demoted.
The Village also has announced the latest demotion hearing will begin at 9 a.m. on Monday at the Masonic Lodge at 30 Central Street.
While the demotion hearing had been planned for a few weeks, the Village never confirmed for the public the time and the specific location of the hearing until after the Vermont Standard went to press this week.
The Village also has now released proposed hearing rules, similar to those imposed during Swanson’s first demotion session in March 2025 in the windowless basement of the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department with limited seating.
Among the repeated rules is a decision by the Trustees to withhold from Woodstock taxpayers the findings of the board when the decision is made.
“At the completion of the hearing, the Trustees will begin deliberations and will issue a written decision within two weeks to the legal representatives to Chief Swanson and to the Village of Woodstock,” the rules noted.
“In accordance with municipal policy, the decision will not be made available to the public. Chief Swanson may share the decision if he chooses, as it is part of his personnel record,” the Trustees said.
There will be a rush to deliver a decision because two Trustees will be leaving the board at the annual Village Meeting on St. Patrick’s Day, Brian Monaghan, the attorney for the Village Trustees, explained in a public email to both sides.
However, last time, the Vermont Standard filed a Public Records request, and the Village Trustees, after a special closed-door meeting, eventually reversed themselves. They voted 4-0 — with Trustee Brenda Blakeman absent — to make public their final 47-page demotion report.
The report supported the effort by Municipal Manager Eric Duffy to demote Swanson from police chief to patrol officer. However, a state judge later ruled the Village Trustees had failed to follow the law and reversed the action.
Trustee Chair Seton McIlroy, when asked at the public meeting last spring about the board’s reversal motion, declined to explain the move. Instead, McIlroy told the audience Duffy could be asked about the board’s move. The Trustees then quickly adjourned without taking a vote to adjourn.
Duffy never returned phone calls after the meeting with answers.
This upcoming hearing on Monday will have more seating, but apparently less parking available for the public than a year ago. Much of it will be on street parking.
Media members will be admitted at 8 a.m., while the public can enter the lodge at 8:30 a.m., according to Monaghan. Seating is first come first served, he said.
If the hearing is not completed by 5 p.m., it will resume at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, March 3, at the Masonic Lodge, he said. WiFi will not be available on site.
“As this is a quasi-judicial proceeding, the public will not be allowed to make public comments at the hearing,” Monaghan said.
The Trustees also want all attendees to sign in, so they can be included in the official meeting minutes. Attendees also will be asked to read and sign a list of rules for attendance, Monaghan said.
For those unable to attend, the hearing will be live-streamed and recorded via Zoom by Woodstock Community Television (WCTV).
While court sessions and other public meetings allow the attendees to come and go during testimony, the Trustees are asking the public to enter and leave only during breaks “in order to preserve the integrity of the hearings.” The phrase was not defined or explained.
The Trustees expect to take breaks every hour and a half to two hours, the rules note.
Monaghan wrote in his email that the Village has rejected a request to delay the hearing while Swanson continues to recover from spine surgery in late December.
Instead, the Village will consider the motion for a delay as a request under the Americans with Disabilities Act and will try to make reasonable accommodations for the police chief, Monaghan said.
The last medical report from Swanson’s lawyer, Linda Fraas, indicated that her client had not been cleared to return to work, and he is unable to sit or stand for extended periods.
“The Board’s perspective is that the fact of Employee presently receiving Workers’ Compensation benefits is a separate issue from whether he is ‘disabled’ for the purposes of this Loudermill hearing, and whether he is able to attend,” Monaghan said. Loundermill is the name given to employee hearings.
“It remains Employee’s obligation to demonstrate that he is entitled to the requested accommodation. Counsel has indicated that she will attend the hearing on Employee’s behalf,” he said.
Fraas said that with Swanson absent, she will not be able to consult with her client. She had suggested a late March hearing or later, as initially proposed by the Village, would be better.
The Village has now backed away from the late March suggestion.
“Moreover, the Board does not accept any request to delay the hearing beyond March 2nd and 3rd, as any further delays would be an undue hardship for the Board and Village as Employer,” Monaghan said.
Much like the first demotion hearing, which lasted 14 ½ hours on March 19, 2025, The Village is pushing this hearing forward.
“Accordingly, there is no other time in which to conduct the hearing. The Board must issue a decision prior to that election, as a change in Board composition would not be workable in the circumstances. The request for delay is therefore an undue hardship and the Board thus denies it,” Monaghan wrote.
The Village plans to rely on the transcript from the first hearing and does not plan to start with any witnesses.
Swanson plans to use affidavits and other documents, and possibly some testimony, to show the demotion by Duffy was improper. Fraas has maintained that some witnesses in the first hearing committed perjury or gave misleading testimony.
While Duffy, as the municipal manager, was able to get his employees to voluntarily show up for the first demotion hearing, he has declined to make a similar effort on behalf of Swanson’s defense, Fraas has said in legal filings.
Parking is available for the public and media at East End Park and on the street along U.S. Route 4/Pleasant St./Central Street. Attendees are asked not to park in the adjoining parking lot as the spaces are reserved for Simmons House and Ottauquechee Health Center.
The link to watch the hearing via Zoom is available on the agenda, which is posted on the Woodstock website.
