A group of residents, whose participation reached 250 on Wednesday, sent an open letter to the Vergennes City Council last week requesting an explanation for a series of events that led to the resignation of then-mayor Jeff Fritz.
The letter asked the council to “revisit what happened and why,” preferably at its next meeting, which was scheduled for Tuesday evening.
Before that explanation was provided, two additional aldermen — Mark Koenig and Tara Brooks — resigned on Monday. Another alderman, Bill Benton, had resigned the previous Sunday, shortly after the mayor.
Vergennes is governed by a city council composed of the mayor, deputy mayor and five aldermen.
The resignations left the city’s remaining two aldermen and newly appointed mayor without a quorum. Per protocol, Tuesday’s regular City Council meeting was canceled.
Vermont statutes 24 VSA 961 and 24 VSA 963 require that the city hold a special election to vote in new officials. Residents are waiting to hear about the timeline for such a Covid-19-era election.
Amid the pandemic, a period of social unrest gleaned from nationwide race-based protests, and in the preliminary stages of a citywide conversation about the creation of a citizen oversight committee for police, the City Council’s authority in this town of 2,600 residents has been reduced to its most basic level.
The problems, first reported by the Addison Independent, began on July 16 with a string of texts between City Manager Daniel Hofman and former Mayor Jeff Fritz on the subject of creating the citizen oversight committee for police. Fritz claimed that “citizens are intimidated by our police, and a citizen group can change that.”
Referring to the idea that police might take the creation of such an oversight committee personally, Fritz texted to Hofman, “I don’t give two shits about their morale. They’ve demoralized citizens long enough.”
Fritz referred to Vergennes’ then-deputy mayor, Lynn Donnelly, and Alderman David Austin, who had both expressed concern forming the committee: “And if LJD doesn’t simmer down soon, I’m taking her to the woodshed,” another text from Fritz read. “Along with DA.”
Hofman then called for an emergency council meeting that night. “If there is people that feel intimidated and/or demoralized, this is an imminent problem that needs to be dealt with immediately,” he texted Fritz.
Fritz said he thought the matter would be appropriate for a regular meeting, but Hofman replied that he would email council members immediately.
Later, Fritz sent a gif of a smiling woman with the caption, “Honey, you’ve got a big storm comin’.” Hofman asked if Fritz was threatening him, to which Fritz responded with a gif of a laughing woman. “I’ll take that as a yes. Nice.” Hofman said.
“Hardly,” Fritz said. “LJD has pissed a lot of folks off.” When Hofman confronted Fritz about the threats, Fritz responded, “Oh heavens. Apologies. It’s been a rough day. I was trying to be humorous. Forgive me.”
The agenda for the special meeting held over Zoom later that evening read, “Discussion regarding accusations that the Vergennes Police Department is demoralizing and intimidating people.” It was attended by approximately 70 viewers.
Minutes into the meeting, Hofman detailed his correspondence with Fritz, displaying the text messages onto the meeting’s main screen. Donnelly, who joined the meeting sitting beside Austin, read a prepared statement, asking for the mayor’s resignation.
She said his position as mayor had been “grossly abused.”
“The ultimate bullying comes directly from you, Mr. Mayor,” she said. “Your threat to the city manager, David Austin and even more directly to me is an outrage.”
Fritz asked for a public discussion, and after hearing none, he agreed to file his resignation, and the council voted to accept. Per the city charter, Donnelly assumed the mayoral role.
During a public comment period that followed, some made remarks they had prepared for a meeting about oversight of city police. Others commented on the mayor’s resignation.
Vergennes resident Sarah Stroup expressed disappointment with the process.
“I don’t know what it means to move forward from this,” she said. “I know that this is an incredibly stressful time, and that public service is a service that people choose to do, incredibly taxing. But I hope, at the very least, that the city will revisit its communication protocol, because I believe that what happened could have been done privately.”
She requested that public officials refrain from communicating in ways not meant for public consumption, and that private communications not be aired publicly.
Alderman Bill Benton submitted his resignation the following Sunday morning.
“The events of the past few days have shown that our community is filled with vitriol and mistrust,” he wrote in an email to city officials. “The road forward will be time consuming and difficult. I have a heavy workload, close family and new grandchild. I do not have the time or the energy to fulfill the commitment that will be necessary to bring our community back together. I wish our community the very best going forward.”
On Monday, Koenig and Brooks followed suit, filing resignations with the City Council within 45 minutes of each other. Fritz also filed his formal letter of resignation.
Koenig cited process complaints in his resignation, and said that while the aldermen’s resignations were planned separately, all were uncomfortable with moving forward with city business.
“We could slow this down for a month or two while the special election is handled, and get some new people in there,” Koenig told VTDigger. “Let the city decide who it wants to represent it.”
Stroup, who emphasized her friendship with council members in her comments at the July 16 meeting, said she’s looking forward to a resolution.
“I really want us to be able to get on the other side of this,” she told VTDigger. “I’m so disappointed that the meeting was canceled yesterday because I know a lot of people were looking forward to an opportunity to express their views and to learn more about what did happen and what else could happen. We’ll see.”
