SWAMPSCOTT, MA — Swampscott Select Board member Katie Phelan concluded the latest in a recent series of board meetings that included multiple tension-filled exchanges with residents during public comment with an emotional plea for civility and respect amid contentious issues facing the town.
In recent meetings, residents have challenged the Board with harsh language on subjects ranging from the cleanup of King’s Beach to the proposed Hadley School redevelopment as a hotel to pickleball courts, and a pair of discrimination complaints filed against Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald.
(Also on Patch: Swampscott Select Board Backs Town Administrator In Complaint)
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Phelan led a five-month investigation into the complaints from August 2022 to February 2023, which concluded the actions Fitzgerald was accused of did not violate the town’s anti-discrimination policy nor did his conduct evince bias on the employee on the basis of their gender or sex.
The conclusions of that investigation were revealed on Wednesday night as Chair David Grishman and member Peter Spellios expressed regret that they sat silent two weeks ago during a series of public comment statements attacking Fitzgerald over the accusations.
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“It is becoming increasingly difficult to sit on the Board and really, truly try to keep the philosophical values that I am trying to keep,” she said at the end of a three-hour meeting, which began after 8 p.m. because of a prolonged executive session. “I have really tried — I am taking my time because I want to be very careful with my words — I try to sit hear and listen. There is a quote from the Rule of St. Benedict that says: ‘Listen with your heart.’ I am sitting here on this Board because I feel like there is something the community saw in me and that I can offer to this community.”
She referenced a resident who spoke during public comment and prefaced his remarks by telling the Board that he missed his 1-year-old’s bedtime because the meeting started late.
“I just want to be clear that it’s not a disrespect to him personally that we were late for this meeting,” she said. “We were doing other town business.
“I’ve advocated on this Board countless times for grace. People to have grace for one another. When we make missteps. When we make mistakes. People to have grace for themselves when they make mistakes. And to admit when they make a mistake. To own up for their mistakes. Forgiveness is something I advocate for and admitting a mistake is not a negative. Owning it and saying, ‘we could do better,’ we have in this meeting said that.
“It doesn’t feel that way at this meeting that we’ve done that.”
Phelan said she will continue to push herself and her colleagues to listen to the community and show respect for all members of the town while requesting such respect in return.
“None of these decisions are easy,” she said. “If they were easy, we would be making them readily in open for everybody to see at all times.
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“I will continue to sit here and listen in grace. And I would ask that if you are still listening at this ungodly hour, you will grant it to us when you are able. That doesn’t mean don’t push us. That doesn’t mean don’t say what you need to say. I’m not trying to silence anybody’s position.
“But I am asking that we do really, truly try to understand what it means to be professional, respectful and loving to each other in this room, on Zoom, and when we speak to each other. It is not an easy task but we are all up to it. I really implore us all to really strive for that level of respect for one another and respect for ourselves.
“Because my kids are watching,” she concluded as she got emotional. “They watch every Wednesday night to say goodnight to Mom. And every time that I sit at this table I try to be the best version of myself because they are watching. That’s the level we all should be having both from our community members and ourselves. So I implore that we try to live up to that.
“It’s not easy. And every day we can’t. But let us try.”
(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)
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