An Orono town councilor is pushing the town to change how it handles legal settlements involving discrimination after a six-figure one last year surprised some councilors and members of the public.
Dan Demeritt wants to see settlements of discrimination and harassment complaints against Orono, its employees or its municipal officers come before the Town Council for approval in a public vote. This didn’t happen last June, when Orono agreed to pay $110,000 to Avinash Rude, a former employee who filed a Maine Human Rights Commission complaint against the town.
“It was surprising to me that the council did not have a formal opportunity to be heard and have the final word on a settlement of $110,000 involving the town,” Demeritt said.
Councilors were informed of the situation, but because of the town’s ordinances and financial controls, the sizable settlement was handled without the council’s consent, he said. It was the town’s second major one in the last seven years.
The $110,000 for Rude and Portland-based Maine Employee Rights Group included payments from Orono’s insurer. They were structured in a way that did not meet the $5,000 expenditure threshold requiring the council’s approval, Demeritt wrote in a Jan. 4 memo to the council.
In the document and during a meeting Monday night, he proposed adding a section to the purchasing ordinance that requires the council to approve any legal settlement of this nature involving the town, regardless of the dollar amount.
Among the points made in his proposal is one that calls for the town manager to notify the council within 72 hours of receiving a written complaint alleging discrimination or harassment or initiating an investigation into such an allegation.
Demeritt later withdrew his proposal with the understanding that discussions would continue later this month. He said he sensed it would have passed at the meeting, but he trusts that councilors want to collaborate further on the idea, even if they aren’t yet ready to support it.
Demeritt will work with interim Town Manager Cornell Knight and the town attorney to draft a standalone ordinance that will go to a public hearing in February and council vote in March, he said.
His proposal raised a few concerns from the town’s attorney, Matthew Tarasevich of Bernstein Shur. He advised Orono to address litigation matters involving personnel by amending its internal control manual rather than an ordinance, which is more cumbersome and requires public hearings.
Demeritt’s language could draw the council into discussions about personnel matters that are within the purview of the town manager, Tarasevich wrote to Knight on Dec. 19, 2023. While it is good practice for the manager to keep councilors informed about pending claims so they are not surprised by them or questions from the public, ultimately “it is better for the council to stay at the ‘35,000 foot level’ on personnel matters,” he wrote.
Legal advice should inform policy discussions, not end them, Demeritt told councilors during Monday’s meeting.
Four councilors appeared to lean in favor of his ideas, though some were unsure where the language would fit best. One clarified that whether it was added to an ordinance or the manual, an amendment of this nature would be legal.
“When it comes to situations where the town manager is in a situation of jeopardy, if we are cut out of that loop, we are basically a non-entity even though we are the only group to oversee that position,” said Councilor Matthew Powers, who supported Demeritt’s proposal.
Council Chairperson Geoff Wingard, who was absent, wrote in an email to councilors that handling the issue outside of the internal control manual raises a host of unintended consequences that will limit the town’s ability to negotiate settlements.
“The town council is not an investigative body in personnel matters, and we are not equipped to judge the veracity of competing claims against the town or town employees,” he wrote.
Councilor Sarah Marx noted that wherever the language ends up, it should be visible to the public.
