A former Underhill Selectboard member who was recalled from the board in October is running to get his seat back.
Peter Duval is seeking a three-year term on the selectboard this Town Meeting Day, some four and a half months after residents voted 570-23 to remove him from office. About a quarter of the town’s 2,578 registered voters cast a ballot on the issue.
“Frankly, I’m shocked,” said Town Clerk Sherri Morin, who spearheaded the recall effort. “We didn’t think when we recalled him that he would turn around again the following year to run.”
Duval was elected to the board in 2020 as a write-in candidate, but the effort to recall him began within months of that election, centering around complaints from a group of town officials that Duval had mistreated staff members and was difficult to work with.
In August of that year, several town staff — including Morin; James Beebe-Woodard, who was town administrator; Andrew Strniste, who was planning director and zoning administrator; and Finance Officer Jennifer Silpe-Katz — described their concerns with Duval’s behavior in a letter to Dan Steinbauer, the selectboard chair, and Dean Haller, a human resources consultant.
“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,” they wrote.
Another letter, written by Beebe-Woodward, included allegations — which were not substantiated — that Duval had violated the selectboard’s conflict-of-interest policy.
Duval was involved in litigation with Underhill when he was elected to the selectboard, appealing a decision by the town’s Development Review Board in court. Duval wanted to turn his residence into a four-unit complex, but the proposal was rejected.
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 terms, and residents approved the charter changes on Town Meeting Day in 2021.
Soon after, the group of Underhill officials started another petition, urging voters to support a recall vote. The group went on to garner enough signatures to get the issue on the ballot.
Following his recall, Duval wrote in an email to VTDigger: “Landslide! What a relief.”
In an email Friday, Duval said he is running for the selectboard this year so voters have a choice on the ballot other than the seat’s incumbent, Bob Stone, who is seeking reelection. Stone currently serves as the vice chair of the board.
“I run in 2022 for the same reason that I ran in 2020,” Duval said. “I feel compelled to ensure that there is some democracy in Underhill, some real choice.”
He said his campaign platform includes transparency in local government, asking “good questions” and reviving the town’s trash sticker program for curbside collection of trash and recyclables, among other issues.
Stone, who is a captain in the Underhill Jericho Fire Department, said he is running to address topics including relationships among town employees, highway infrastructure and road safety, and developing and supporting local recreational opportunities.
He declined to comment specifically on Duval.
“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done in the town of Underhill,” Stone said. “I enjoy working with the residents and working with the town employees.”
Morin said this week that in the months since Duval was recalled, he has continued to attend selectboard meetings and, at times, neglected to follow new rules of procedure the board adopted at a meeting in December 2021. While the old rules explicitly allow public comment following discussion of each item on a meeting’s agenda, the new rules do not.
Duval said at the Dec. 21 meeting he was opposed to this change and felt it would stifle debate on important issues, according to meeting minutes.
During a selectboard meeting on Jan. 27, Duval raised his hand to comment on an agenda item, but was told by Steinbauer, the chair, he would have to wait until a public comment period at the end of the meeting to do so. Duval spoke anyway, stating he wanted to ask questions to a meeting attendee who was about to leave.
“He just continues to try to plow through and overtalk the chair,” Morin said.
Duval contended that his comments at the January meeting were in line with the board’s rules of procedure. One of the only ways to be recognized at a selectboard meeting, he said, is to speak up and get the chair’s attention.
“The Town does not benefit from public comments and questions if they are not asked and answered — or, tellingly, not answered — during a selectboard meeting,” Duval said.
Morin and two former Underhill Selectboard members, Kurt Johnson and Patricia Sabalis, said if Duval is elected for another term, they believe he would continue to have a strained relationship with town staff and other members of the board.
Johnson, who helped organize the recall campaign, said Duval was often in the minority on selectboard debates. That is not necessarily an issue, Johnson said — but what has been an issue is that “his approach to things just isn’t real appropriate.”
Duval maintained that it is good for Underhill to have someone on the selectboard who pushes back, and at times, slows down the debate.
“There is no democracy without a minority,” he said. “It is important to review matters in public and have multiple perspectives aired, scrutinized and debated.”
