Infuriating Councilors, Buebendorf, Murphy Drop Ethics Complaints

In a move that angered other members of the Town Council, councilors Candy Buebendorf and Gary Murphy have dropped the ethics complaint they had brought against Board of Assessment Appeals member Rosetta Jones.

Murphy attended the special town meeting on Wednesday and read a letter announcing their decision.

Buebendorf, Murphy and Jones all have been nominated to run for Town Council in the upcoming election. Buebendorf and Murphy have been nominated by the Democratic Town Committee, and Jones by the Republican Town Committee and the Independence for Montville Town Committee.

Buebendorf and Murphy filed their complaint in May, saying that Jones had given information about another ethics complaint to the Bulletin newspaper, and that by doing so, she had violated Montville’s Code of Ethics.

The paragraph in question in the Code of Ethics says that “No public officer or employee with respect to any contract or transaction which is or may be the subject of an official act or action of the Town, shall, without proper legal authorization, disclose confidential information concerning the property, government or affairs of the Town, or use such information to advance the financial or other private interest of himself/herself or others.”

In the letter that Murphy read on Wednesday, he and Buebendorf wrote that they were dropping the complaint because of the length and incompleteness of the investigation, that “the undue delay has placed the ethics complaint in the midst of political election activities,” and because “the unanticipated expense of a protracted investigation has the potential of placing an unwarranted burden on the taxpayers of Montville.”

They pointed out that though the complaint was filed on May 9, only they have been interviewed. Neither Jones, who was the subject of the complaint, nor the Bulletin reporter or Town Assessor Lucy Beit, both of whom were mentioned in the complaint as potential information sources, had been interviewed.

Bruce Chudwick, attorney for the town, said it had simply been impossible to schedule the interviews. "My view is that it’s very important to have the two parties to the action be addressed first," he said. "That never did occur with Ms. Jones. We never were able to get together."

While the investigation continued, the letter said, "the political parties in Montville have endorsed candidates for the upcoming municipal elections... Ms. Jones has been endorsed as a candidate for Town Council by the same political parties that are represented by four members of the current Council, two of whom are running for re-election to the Town Council and one who is running for Mayor.

“It seems unrealistic to expect,” the letter said, “given the context of the active political environment and Ms. Jones’ candidacy, that the Town Council will be able to reach any unbiased conclusions regarding this ethics complaint.”

Councilor Dana McFee was outraged by the letter. “They didn’t think we could be fair,” he said, adding that he thought this was “a cheesy way of getting out of something they were premature in doing. I don’t like it at all.”

McFee, who has been nominated to run for council by the Republicans and the Independence for Montville parties, said “I think this has been one big political game.” When it became time to show their cards, he said, “there were no cards to show.”

Council Vice Chairman Ellen Hillman, also nominated by the Republican and Independence for Montville parties, also took exception to the statement, as did Council Chairman Donna Jacobson, who has been nominated as a candidate for mayor by the Republican and Independence for Montville parties. 

“I think this is a travesty,” she said. “The process was followed. It was followed meticulously. And by pulling out of the process and withdrawing the complaint, it gives the connotation of ineptitude by at least four councilors, and that is unwarranted and unacceptable.”

Councilor Billy Caron, nominated to run for council by the Democrats, said that he “wasn’t happy with the report, and I don’t really think the report was fair to Ms. Jones, or to the taxpayers. In an investigation, you look into everything. It is a process for everybody that’s involved.”

Jones, who had asked that the complaint be heard in public, said she was relieved, if a little short-changed, as she had done a lot of research in order to defend herself against the complaint.

“I just wanted to state for the record that tonight’s proceedings are the result of a very big misunderstanding,” she said. “It was never my intention to create the perception of a personal attack on anyone, especially a colleague.

“From the beginning of this incident and up to now, as chair of the Board of Assessment Appeals,” Jones read from a letter she had written,  “my focus has been to ensure the integrity of the process. By its very nature, the BAA’s discretionary powers to reduce, increase, and add names to the assessment list of property owners who were omitted, engenders an adversarial culture amongst property owner, assessors, and board members.

“The current revaluation, precipitous decline of home values, the town’s extraordinary reliance on property taxes, and every increasing outcry of an unfair tax burden; calls for all BAA’s to be competent, fair, objective in the execution of its duties to ensure property valuation are just and equitable, and that long-term community ties do not result in advantage for some over others.”

That Murphy and Buebendorf dropped the complaint, Jones said, “resolves an issue that should never have gone to this extent.”

Editor's note: The letter from Buebendorf and Murphy, Jones's response and the Montville Code of Ethics may all be found in the photo box that accompanies this story.