Some employees contradict testimony, claim they’d stay
By Mike Donoghue, Senior Correspondent
The Woodstock Village Trustees have been provided with lengthy proposed findings of fact on behalf of both Municipal Manager Eric Duffy and Village Police Chief Joe Swanson as part of their ongoing employment feud.
The trustees could use both documents as the board writes their own findings concerning the efforts by Duffy to demote Swanson to patrol officer.
The proposed findings of fact are based on a nearly 14.5 hour public hearing in the basement of the Windsor County Sheriff’s Office on March 19.
Duffy, who hired Swanson as chief after a nationwide search in 2023, placed him on paid administrative leave in October 2024 and announced this spring that he wants to demote him after losing faith in his work.
Lawyers for Duffy submitted a 34-page memorandum outlining their theory in support of the proposed demotion. It contained 151 separate factual claims based on the testimony at the marathon hearing.
Swanson’s defense lawyer has countered with a 22-page memorandum that pokes holes in Duffy’s claims. It has 212 factual claims.
Also breaking this week are reports from several police and dispatch employees that they have no intention of leaving the department if Swanson is restored as chief. That now contradicts testimony that was offered during the public hearing.
During the demotion hearing three police officers and three civilian employees said they would quit or probably start looking for a job if Swanson returned as chief.
Some witnesses, who were allowed to provide hearsay testimony, indicated others in the department would also go out the door.
Now fulltime Police Officers Elizabeth Turco and Sanuj Arora and part-time Officers John Linton and Denel McIntire said they were not part of any possible walkout plan.
Also, veteran part-time dispatcher Katrina Porch wrote she was not involved in any talk about a walkout. She wrote she is trying to stay neutral in the case.
The Vermont Standard was provided copies of their letters.
Lawyers for Swanson and Duffy were battling in recent days on whether the Village Trustees should be provided copies of the employee letters in light of the possible false impression left at the hearing.
Attorney John H. Klesch, on behalf of Duffy, objected to the trustees getting the letters, while attorney Linda Fraas, on behalf of Swanson, believed they were relevant.
The letters countered some of the sworn testimony provided by some employees: Police Sgt. Chris O’Keeffe, Cpl. Kirsten Murphy, part-time Officer Mark Donka, Police Administrative Supervisor Michelle Sutherland, emergency dispatcher Elizabeth Therrien and parking enforcement specialist Terri Poljacik.
They testified they would quit or probably start looking for a new job if Swanson was reinstated. Some noted other employees also would leave.
Swanson, who is paid $2,030 a week, started his 25th week of paid leave on Tuesday.
It remains unclear when the Village Trustees might rule on the demotion issue.
Trustee chair Seton McIlroy did not respond to a phone message seeking comment this week.
Duffy declined comment this week.
Fraas, on behalf of Swanson, said she is hopeful the trustees will see there is no justification for a proposed demotion once they take a complete look at the evidence — or lack of evidence — in the case.
Fraas said the legal fight will continue if Swanson gets an adverse ruling.
“Chief Swanson looks forward to receiving the trustees’ impending decision and hopes that he will soon return to his duties serving as Woodstock’s Chief of Police,” she said in an email to the Vermont Standard.
“It is anticipated that if the trustees unlawfully terminate Chief Swanson’s contract and attempt to ‘demote’ him to patrol officer as Town Manager Duffy requests, the Village and Town of Woodstock will face significant consequences including protracted litigation, additional extensive legal fees, and civil suits for wrongful termination and breach of his employment contract, defamation, and discriminatory practices,” Fraas told the newspaper.
The main issue appears to be whether Swanson did things that warranted his removal as police chief with no warning, or whether Duffy should have ordered corrective action.
Duffy had provided Swanson in July 2024 a positive annual evaluation that said the department was running smoothly and there were no employee problems or concerns.
Three months later, Duffy reversed course after he said he heard from some employees. He said he had considered firing Swanson, but in the end said demotion was proper because he was still a good officer.
The lawyer for the Village Trustees has said the board does not plan to make its decision public. Attorney Brian Monaghan of Burlington said the board believes it is a personnel matter.
Swanson insisted that the demotion hearing be held in public. Swanson and his lawyer maintained he had nothing to hide.
However, the public will eventually learn the decision when they see Swanson either wearing the chief’s badge and patrolling Woodstock, or he is wearing an officer’s badge and the post of police chief is advertised.
Duffy and the Village Trustees did much to discourage transparency, including moving the hearing into a small dungeon-like room. There also was one final last-minute attempt by Duffy’s lead lawyer, Klesch, to move the case behind closed doors. Monaghan rejected the request noting Swanson wanted it open to the public.
The trustees had moved it out of Town Hall with a 385-seat theater and into a windowless basement hearing room at the sheriff’s office. It was capable of holding only about 40 people and had obstructed views due to three pillars. Media coverage was restricted, including allowing only one television camera crew in due to space.
Both sides had until last Friday to submit their proposed findings of fact and any legal conclusions of law.
The two sides took different approaches.
Duffy’s lead lawyer Klesch filed his response with the trustees at 11:50 p.m. Friday night — 10 minutes before the deadline.
Some facts were pretty basic, like Woodstock uses the town manager form of government and Duffy picked Swanson to be the new police chief in June 2023.
Klesch and co-counsel Matt Bloomer noted after each of their 151 listed proposed facts that the information had been provided by one or more named witnesses.
None of the facts Duffy’s team proposed appeared to be listed as coming from Swanson.
Klesch and Bloomer also included proposed facts that Swanson later testified were untrue.
One example was when employees made claims that Swanson was absent from work one day and apparently had gone to court to watch his husband, local lawyer Nicholas “Nico” Seldon, at a trial.
Swanson countered that claim when he testified that he was approved for vacation time on that day. Duffy was never recalled by Klesch to the witness stand to dispute Swanson’s statement, yet Klesch’s proposed findings maintain the police chief was missing in action that day.
Fraas seemed to focus more on Swanson’s signed contract and the police policies. The contract said Duffy and Swanson “agree to act in good faith” and that “any differences that arise between them shall be worked out at the lowest possible level,” she noted.
Fraas also maintained throughout the case that no complaints about Swanson’s management style had been raised by Duffy or employees until after he was put on paid leave in October 2024.
At the hearing, Duffy spent about 4.5 hours on the witness stand. He appeared to be more on trial than Swanson.
His answers on cross examination by Fraas often appeared evasive. Duffy took long pauses to answer, even for yes/no questions. He often asked for questions to be repeated. The manager also responded to questions by asking his own questions. Duffy, who has been the manager for just over two years, also often mentioned he did not remember things in the Swanson case.
By contrast, Swanson was on the witness stand for less than an hour. He was the final witness and appeared nervous at times. It was clear everybody wanted to be finished as the clock ticked toward midnight, and Swanson appeared to rush through his testimony at times.
Swanson mostly disputed claims made by Duffy and some employees from the Village police department and town emergency dispatch center.
The hearing adjourned at about 12:20 a.m. Thursday, March 20 following brief closing arguments.
The hearing did get contentious in mid-afternoon when Monaghan attempted to throw out Swanson’s husband, Seldon, on the grounds of smirking in the audience.
Some audience members and Monaghan engaged in a shouting match. Before it ended, Seldon’s dad, a lawyer from California, and both Swanson’s sister and his mother, Victoria, the wife of longtime municipal manager Phil Swanson, were also escorted out.
Phil Swanson’s name is on the Woodstock Public Safety Building, which houses police, fire, rescue and the emergency dispatch center.
Swanson’s paid leave began Oct. 15, two days after a traffic incident on High Street involving two drivers, including Seldon. Swanson was a passenger in Seldon’s car.
The Vermont State Police eventually conducted an independent investigation into the incident and said no charges were warranted.
When employees reportedly provided Duffy with complaints about Swanson, Duffy hired a private detective and kept the chief on paid leave.
Duffy asked the Vermont Criminal Justice Council also to investigate Swanson, but it eventually ruled the chief had done nothing wrong.
That left Duffy going forward on his own with complaints the employees had made that were boiled down into a 17-page internal report by Private Detective William Burgess of Lebanon, N.H.