by Frank Schroth

This afternoon at a sparsely attended meeting the Milton Board of Selectmen took a third vote on Town Administrator Kevin Mearn’s employment. They officially ended his employment with the vote.

The first vote was taken in executive session and violated the open meeting law due to failure to put it on the agenda. The second vote was taken in open session. However, the motion they voted on was not to renew Mearn’s contract. Mearn continued to report to work as his employment had not officially ended. This afternoon at 3:00PM the selectmen addressed that issue, passing a motion that ended is employment as of the vote, appointed Annmarie Fagan the interim administrator, paid Mr. Mearn through today along with accrued vacation time,  and stated that he was not entitled to a severance or other lump sum payment. He was also asked to effectively leave his gun and badge on the table as it were and vacate town hall after gathering his possessions. The vote as with the previous two was 2 – 1. Hurley voting against and Sweeney and Keohane voting for not renewing

The severance may become a sticking point. The question lingering is whether failure to renew the contract is the equivalent of termination without cause.

Several residents spoke although Citizen Speak was not an item on the agenda. Chair Hurley invited people wished to speak to do so. Two spoke in support of Mr. Mearn and one (Gregory Zazula) said, “I am not sorry to see him retire.” He did not share the same positive experience with Mr. Mearn that others had described. Mr. Zazula said his issues went back years but he did not specify what they were. He thanked the Selectmen for a “fresh start it [the twon] badly needs.” Robert Burke, past US Navy Commander, asked the selectmen, referencing the need to move in a new direction; “What the new direction is and the bad direction has been.” Sweeney and Keohane declined to respond to the request. The selectmen have a policy as does the School Committee of not responding to questions posed during Citizen Speak.

Here is a short video of the motion in which Mr. Sweeney who makes the motion details the terms of the end of Mr. Mearn’s employment. While the video quality is not great; the wording of the motion and the points it makes are.