Underhill residents will go to the polls later this month to decide whether to remove Peter Duval from his post on the town selectboard.
The Oct. 19 recall vote comes in the wake of charges that Duval has violated the board’s conflict of interest policy and failed to conduct himself in a professional and respectful manner while in office.
Duval was elected to the seat in March 2020 in an uncontested race. His term concludes in 2023.
“Duval pushed our limits, as a town, beyond what we feel is appropriate,” said Kurt Johnson, a former Underhill selectboard member who helped organize the recall vote.
Johnson said that in his view, Duval has acted in his own best interest rather than the town’s, and made it difficult for the selectboard to function.
“He has strong opinions about the way things should be. He’s difficult to compromise with, and he doesn’t seem willing to change,” Johnson said.
Duval declined to speak for publication about the matter. However, information from selectboard minutes makes clear that he does not believe he has had a conflict of interest with the town or behaved inappropriately.
The recall effort began to take shape five months into Duval’s term when a small group of Underhill officials sent two letters to the town leadership, including selectboard Chair Dan Steinbauer, laying out a list of concerns and grievances regarding Duval.
One of the letters, written by former Town Administrator James Beebe-Woodard, described violations of the selectboard’s conflict of interest policy. The other, written by a team of town staff, zeroed in on “previously documented and ongoing abusive behaviors towards town staff, as well as an ongoing misuse of his role as an elected official.”
Beebe-Woodard alleged that Duval had violated the selectboard’s conflict of interest policy when he asked the town’s lawyer to provide him with information about all litigation the town was involved in during the state’s 2020 fiscal year. Beebe-Woodard saw this as an issue because Duval had been in litigation with the town over a Development Review Board decision during the 2020 fiscal year, according to selectboard minutes.
The selectboard, with Duval recused, held a hearing on the matter and came to the conclusion that Duval did not violate the policy, finding that it was not clear that he had asked for those documents specifically to gain confidential information about his specific interactions with the town. Soon after, Beebe-Woodard decided to leave his post as the town administrator.
Duval had wanted to turn his residence into a four-unit complex, but the proposal was found to be in conflict with local zoning regulations.
In the other letter, four town employees claimed Duval had abused his position as a selectboard member and mistreated town staff.
Beebe-Woodard, Town Clerk Sherri Morin, then-Planning Director and Zoning Administrator Andrew Strniste, and Finance Officer Jennifer Silpe-Katz all signed on to the letter detailing concerns about inappropriate behavior.
“Peter Duval continues to create a deeply unpleasant work environment for Town Hall staff,” they wrote. “Mr. Duval routinely makes derogatory and belittling remarks towards staff and the Town’s counsel in a manner that is neither appropriate for a productive and collegial work environment, nor for the role of an elected official whose role is to serve the town.”
In August 2020, Morin wrote and circulated a petition to amend the town charter to allow for the removal of selectboard members before the end of their term.
“I chose to do that because his behavior was such that it was creating roadblocks for local government to the point that it was causing difficulties among the staff,” Morin said in an interview. “It just wasn’t working.”
On Town Meeting Day 2021, residents voted to approve the charter changes.
Soon after, the same group started another petition, this time urging voters to support a recall vote. The group was successful in getting the issue on the ballot, securing 415 signatures in the town of 2,578 registered voters.
Voting will take place at town hall on Oct. 19 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
If residents choose to recall Duval, he would be removed from the selectboard immediately and would not be able to run for office again for 12 months. If the recall vote fails, townspeople would be barred from petitioning for another recall vote for the same period of time.
