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Date: 10/14/2021
EAST LONGMEADOW - East Longmeadow Town Councilor Mary McNally’s letter of resignation was read into the record at the Oct. 12 Town Council meeting. In it, she described a hostile work environment in which one member of the council consistently treated her with what was later described as “harassment” and “abuse.”
“The complete lack of a modicum of professional courtesy, the insidious negativity and suspicion, the continuous pattern of overreaching by a particular councilor into matters which the charter clearly identifies as the responsibility of the manager and disingenuous communication and misrepresentation of facts to other councilors have created a work environment which I find intolerable,” McNally wrote in her resignation.
In her letter, she praised the town department heads and said the majority of the council had been supportive of her, but that it was not enough to outweigh the treatment by the unnamed councilor.
McNally stated that the pattern of behavior had been ongoing since August 2019 when she began working for the town. Town Council President Michael Kane said that he felt the town “owed her a sense of protection,” against a hostile workplace.
Councilor Kathleen Hill reflected that she was “immensely saddened and frustrated,” by the situation. “There is no council rule to address bad behavior,” by other councilors. She noted that a code of conduct she had proposed earlier in the year had been voted down. The only measure that can be taken during a councilor’s term is a citizen’s referendum for a recall, which Hill remarked, “perhaps that needs to be left on the table for any registered voter to ponder after this meeting.” She called on the councilor in question to “do the right thing,” and resign.
Councilor Marilyn Richards spoke about the role of the councilors in McNally’s departure and said the behavior had been witnessed by them all. “We have each had an opportunity to raise our voices and say, ‘stop,’ and it hasn’t happened,” Richards told her colleagues. “This is a form of abuse and harassment and I’m sorry that it got this far.”
East Longmeadow has recently seen a number of high profile municipal employees exiting the town, including Health Inspector Donna Bowman, Health Agent Aimee Petrosky and Deputy Director of Recreation Geordie Emmanuel.
McNally’s last day is Dec. 3. A plan to find a replacement has yet to be announced. Reminder Publishing will follow this story as it develops.