By Mike Donoghue, Senior Correspondent
A state judge has issued a preliminary injunction this week that forces the Village of Woodstock to delay hiring or appointing a new police chief until a court can decide if Joe Swanson was improperly removed from the post by the municipal manager and Village Trustees in April.
Swanson’s lawyer, Linda Fraas, said in Vermont Superior Court on Monday that municipal manager Eric Duffy was in a rush to promote Police Sgt. Chris O’Keeffe from acting chief to permanent chief without a recruitment process.
Fraas told the court during the video hearing that such a promotion could lead to irreparable harm and that the village could end up having two police chiefs if Swanson is successful in his legal fight.
Swanson has appealed to Vermont Superior Court his demotion by Duffy — and later supported by the five trustees after a hearing — from police chief to patrol officer.
Swanson also has filed a $5 million lawsuit against Duffy, the five trustees, the village, the town and a private detective firm that did an internal investigation. Swanson also recently asked the court to add O’Keeffe to the lawsuit on the grounds that he colluded with Duffy on the removal and for getting named as the presumed replacement, court records show. The request remains pending.
During the court hearing, attorney John Klesch, on behalf of the village, tried to block the preliminary injunction request that wanted to keep the status quo until all legal arguments could be considered by the court.
Judge H. Dickson Corbett asked Klesch, who was in Burlington, if the village was willing to hold off naming the new police chief. Klesch said he needed a brief recess so he could call Duffy in Woodstock to discuss the court’s question. The faces on the defense side made clear they were not happy with the idea.
During the break in the action, Corbett explained to those tuning into the video hearing that normally a lawyer would be able to chat with their client during an in-person hearing.
After conferring for five minutes, Klesch and Duffy were back on the video conference and the attorney sounded reluctant when indicating the village would hold off on a new chief.
“The village is concerned that it presents some difficulties, but is willing to certainly follow the court’s lead on it,” Klesch said.
Fraas did tell the court that Swanson was not trying to block the village from following through on its plan to hire a new patrol sergeant to fill O’Keeffe’s old post.
She did warn the village could end up with two sergeants if Swanson wins back the chief’s job and O’Keeffe has to go back to his old post as a patrol sergeant and the new hire had been made.
Fraas said Swanson would not stand in the way of the village having to pay for two sergeants when only one was budgeted.
The Standard has learned that the village has been in discussions with a veteran Vermont State Police trooper to fill the sergeant’s slot.
Duffy filed a sworn affidavit in court at 9:14 p.m. Friday trying to support hiring a police chief and a patrol sergeant.
The manager also provided conflicting information about how the police union wanted Swanson treated when he was reduced to patrol officer. Swanson is a former local union president.
Duffy claimed in the affidavit, “Officer Swanson was assigned the lowest rank in WPD because the police officers Union, NEPBA, did not consent to the village’s request to credit his years of service toward seniority.” Duffy attached emails he exchanged with a police union official, Christopher Hoar, that appear to tell another story.
One email from Duffy to Hoar on April 22, said in part, “The village is strongly requesting that the union agree to grant Mr. Swanson his total seniority of 18 years as a union officer with the Village of Woodstock.”
Duffy added, “As you know, he was demoted to patrol officer, and I believe that his past service should be recognized when he returns to the department.” Duffy added he copied Cpl. Kirsten Murphy on the email because she was the current president of the local bargaining unit.
Hoar appears in his response to Duffy on April 25 to give the green light for full compensation for Swanson as a patrol officer.
“The contract is clear regarding seniority,” Hoar wrote.
“The Municipality does have management rights to allow additional benefits such as additional compensation for their previous experience which I feel would absolutely be appropriate considering Joe Swanson’s experience and expertise,” Hoar said in thanking Duffy.
Addressing the issues
“There is kind of a lot to address,” Corbett said as he started the one hour court hearing.
By the end, both sides agreed to provide more legal briefs addressing the likelihood of success on the merits based on the contract Swanson signed.
The judge gave Fraas until next Monday, June 16 and Klesch until the following Monday, June 23. Fraas will then have four days to file any rebuttal.
Klesch asked that in an effort to speed up the case, Woodstock might not need all seven days and could Swanson respond within four days of when the village filed its brief. The judge said yes.
Corbett said the court would make a final decision about whether to extend the preliminary injunction as expeditiously as it can.
Klesch had kept pushing the court to deny the preliminary injunction motion even after it was clear the judge wanted to hear more from both sides.
As the hearing started, Corbett asked both sides to outline the requests they were making.
Fraas said she brought the preliminary injunction request in conjunction with the appeal of the demotion. She said she asked Klesch if the village was willing to hold off on naming a new police chief while the legal case was resolved, but Woodstock rejected the idea.
She said all information that she had collected showed the appointment of a new chief was “imminent.” Fras said she wanted to help preserve the court’s right to make the correct remedy.
Fraas said it appears Woodstock was going to make an appointment without going through the normal hiring process used for past police chiefs. She said the hiring process would normally take months, while an appointment could be immediate.
“This is the first time your honor that any independent neutral objective person that doesn’t have a stake in the outcome or isn’t advising somebody with a stake in the outcome to actually look at the situation,” she said about the Swanson demotion.
“It is a very extraordinary measure, I understand, but this is an extraordinary circumstance,” Fraas said.
Duffy initially announced he planned to demote Swanson, but never said what rank. Later Duffy said Swanson would become a patrol officer.
Swanson appealed to the five trustees — chair Seton McIlroy, vice chair Jeffrey Kahn, and members Brenda Blakeman, Lisa Lawlor and Frank Horneck — who held a 14 ½ hour marathon session in a windowless basement room at the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department in March. They eventually announced they were siding with Duffy, who spent 4 ½ hours on the witness stand defending his demotion decision.
Duffy maintained he had lost faith in Swanson, who he hired to run the department in July 2023. The demotion came just months after Duffy had given Swanson a positive annual review in July 2024.
Fraas said she believes the evidence will show there was an abuse of power.
Fraas also said it is a simple contract issue. Swanson had a contract with Woodstock and he wants the terms enforced. There was no provision for a demotion, she said.
“It was a material breach,” she said.
She said there would be no way to reinstate Swanson if Woodstock was allowed to hire a new chief while the appeal was pending. She said they were looking for a pause in the hiring of a new chief.
Fraas said the hiring appeared to be imminent because Woodstock said it would not hold off and because of some information contained in the new affidavit filed by Duffy.
She said there was no objection to O’Keeffe continuing in the acting police chief role that he has held since mid-October when Duffy placed Swanson on paid administrative leave.
Fraas said the financial and emotional suffering that has been inflicted on Swanson can be compensated in the civil lawsuit.
Klesch argued that there was no case law cited by Fraas to support Swanson’s fight.
Corbett had to ask twice if Woodstock was seeking to appoint a replacement chief immediately.
The first time, after a pause, Klesch said he believed the manager should be given discretion.
Corbett asked a second time. Klesch said he could not give a potential date. He followed with “the manager does not wish to be restricted from appointing a chief at this time.”
Klesch said the village had voluntarily withheld the hiring while the preliminary injunction was pending.
The judge then asked Klesch if a hiring would impair the court’s ability to reinstate Swanson as police chief.
“Yes,” Klesch responded.
The judge then gave both sides a chance to argue the merits of their positions.
Fraas said Swanson worked for 20 years to attain the post and was hired after a national search determined he was the best person for the job.
She said it was basic contract law.
“Any first year law student could look at the contract and could determine that it does not allow for demotion,” she said. “It’s a material breach.”
“The town just went rogue,” Fraas said. It took a remedy not allowed by the contract, she said.
The Judge asked Klesch to zero in on his argument.
Klesch said it was easy for the court to deny the injunction request, especially if looking at the likelihood of success on the merits.
He said Swanson did not brief some of the legal points about the evidence nor if the conclusion was appropriate.
Klesch said the village did not terminate Swanson’s employment. Duffy made a determination that Swanson could serve as a patrol officer, despite shortcomings in his job as chief, Klesch said.
Demotion is objectively less severe than outright termination, he said.
Fraas said changing Swanson from his contracted position as police chief to a new position as a patrol officer would be akin to Duffy being removed as municipal manager and turned into an office secretary.
“This is a forced demotion,” she said.
The judge asked Fraas if the demotion decision was supported by just cause then should Woodstock have fired Swanson.
“Yes, they should have fired him if they thought there was just cause, but they did not take that position. They didn’t do a just cause analysis in their decision for termination. They did it for demotion…” she said.
Instead the village humiliated Swanson by putting the police chief into the lowest position of patrol officer, she said. It came after Swanson had served the community faithfully, got shot in the line of duty and had a stellar work record, she said.
Klesch also told the judge that not all the exhibits from the 14 ½ hour demotion hearing hosted by the trustees were submitted by Swanson on appeal.
Fraas said that was correct because she focused on the relevant items. She said some things were unimportant or irrelevant, like the 900 pages of phone calls that Swanson took while off-duty or on vacation.
The judge told Klesch he was free to add any missing exhibits to the 940 pages that were submitted by Fraas as part of the public file. He said he would also consider the recent affidavits submitted by Swanson and Duffy in his decision.