Crude Facebook messages exchanged between Essex Selectboard members during a virtual public meeting underscore the depths of a contentious debate on whether Essex Junction should separate from Essex Town.
Now, Essex Junction is a village within the town.
The messages show Patrick Murray, vice chair of the selectboard, and Elaine Haney, former chair of the selectboard, sharing messages aimed at constituents during the public comment period of a meeting on March 25. It was Haney’s final meeting on the board; she lost her bid for reelection earlier in March.
In the messages, Murray suggests Haney should tell a constituent to “f-off,” and later refers to another as “an ass.” Haney described one portion of public comment as “Assholes on parade!”
“It was clearly inappropriate to be talking during the meeting electronically; I take full responsibility for that,” Murray said in an interview. “It was definitely not an OK move on my part, but I issued the apology for it, and hope to move on past it.”
Essex is Vermont’s second largest community, with about 22,000 people split evenly between the town of Essex and the village of Essex Junction. Residents in the town outside the village said the merger proposal would have unfairly shifted the tax burden onto them.
The merger was rejected by slim margins on Town Meeting Day and in a reconsideration vote in April.
Murray issued an apology at a selectboard meeting on April 19, and in a now-archived post on his personal Facebook page. Haney also apologized on her Facebook page, which she said only friends now have access to.
“I agree that my comments were inappropriate, and I certainly won’t do that again,” Haney said in an interview.
At the meeting April 19, Murray said he regretted that the exchange took place, but stopped short of apologizing for the content of the messages. He added that he would not step down from his role as vice chair or resign from the board.
One resident at the meeting called the incident “an embarrassment,” and urged Murray to resign as vice chair. Another expressed disappointment with Murray’s apology for “still blaming others.”
Many residents also voiced their support for Murray and Vince Franco, the third selectboard member involved in the messages. Murray said more people have reached out to him over email to express their support than have reached out to call for his resignation.
Murray first posted the comments to his Facebook page in an effort to own up to the consequences, he said. He archived the post after about a week.
The messages were also published by The Essex ReTorter, a newsletter run by Essex residents and merger opponents Irene Wrenner and Ken Signorello. (The publication is unaffiliated with The Essex Reporter, a local newspaper.)
The messages were revealed in a public records request filed by Mary Post, a longtime Essex resident. She and her husband noticed that Haney seemed to be distracted and looking off-screen during the public comment period of the meeting, she said, and filed the request on April 7.
The request also revealed that Haney had exchanged comments with Franco as well, but the messages didn’t include timestamps and were not published by Wrenner.
Wrenner, who was on the Essex Selectboard for 12 years until 2019, said she was “horrified” when she first saw the messages.
“Part of your job is developing that hard shell and thick skin, and find a way to absorb it,” Wrenner said. “I just can’t think of anything more offensive.”
One of Murray’s texts specifically targeted Signorello, calling him “an ass” for comments he made about work done by town staff to estimate the cost of a separation between the village and the town.
Murray said he wouldn’t apologize for that message, and “would say it in public as well, for [Signorello’s] actions at the time.”
Signorello said he wasn’t personally offended by the messages — rather, he thought they reflected the way the selectboard had been operating for some time. His main concern was that the messages indicate that the town’s elected officials don’t listen to all voices.
“Even if I’m perceived as an outlier, an ass, you still have to consider [my view] to bring you to the center,” Signorello said.
Murray said he had never before exchanged messages insulting residents with members of the selectboard. His exchanges have been limited to innocuous technical points or smaller questions, he said.
With merger plans seemingly out of the question, the village is moving forward with alternatives. Villagers passed a nonbinding proposal in April, advising the village government to draft a separation charter, which would make Essex Junction an independent city.
Should separation plans advance, the two communities would have to figure out how to handle the Essex Police Department, among other currently shared services. The department has served both communities since the 1980s.
Though no longer on the selectboard, Haney confirmed that the village trustees have asked her to chair a communications outreach group on separation.
“It’s been kind of a difficult time, tempers are high, so hopefully it’s just something people are able to move past,” Murray said.
