GREENFIELD — Just about four months after he was placed on paid administrative leave, the mayor has reinstated Police Chief Robert Haigh Jr., much to the shock of some city councilors.
Precinct 8 Councilor Doug Mayo said that while he understands City Council deals with financial matters and not personnel ones, Haigh’s return was disconcerting, given the number of people who spoke out against the chief at past City Council meetings following a May 6 civil jury verdict in Hampshire County Superior Court. The verdict found Haigh and the Police Department had racially discriminated against former Officer Patrick Buchanan, the department’s only Black officer at the time, when he was denied a promotion in 2014.
“That, to me, is a slap in the face to the council and also to the town itself,” Mayo said of Haigh’s reinstatement, which Mayor Roxann Wedegartner announced in a Wednesday evening press release. “A number of people … complained that they wanted him gone because he was found guilty of racism. … They want him to be held accountable.”
Some residents, including some that gathered to protest outside City Hall in advance of a council meeting, called for Haigh to be fired following the jury’s verdict.
Wedegartner has reiterated that the matter is a personnel one, and therefore out of the purview of City Council.
“I can’t stop (councilors) from thinking what they’re thinking,” she said. “I don’t need their permission to hire people, to fire people or to discipline people.”
Haigh and Police Lt. Todd Dodge, a lead witness who spoke on Buchanan’s behalf during the trial, were both placed on paid administrative leave May 6 in the hours following the verdict. Dodge had his paid leave of absence lifted and returned to his job in late May. The city is now waiting to hear whether its motion for a new civil trial will be granted.
In a statement released to the media while city councilors were in executive session on Wednesday, Wedegartner said the city had ordered an independent investigation into a matter that “involved a conversation between Chief Haigh and (Lt. Dodge) on April 22 in the parking lot of Hampshire County Superior Court, which Chief Haigh interpreted as an attempt to circumvent court proceedings regarding a possible settlement.”
Wedegartner had repeatedly emphasized the investigation was separate from the jury’s verdict.
“The incident that occurred was not something that should happen between two police officers who are involved in a lawsuit,” Wedegartner explained in an interview Thursday. “The allegations from the chief were serious enough that I felt that they warranted an investigation into who was telling the truth, what was the conversation.”
Wedegartner said the investigation, which was conducted by attorneys John Clifford and Daniel Williams of Clifford and Kenny LLP, was a result of the fact that the April 25 voir dire session — a conversation happening outside earshot of the jury — that pertained to the April 22 parking lot conversation was never unsealed by the judge.
The investigation was paid for using expenses for legal services that were already budgeted for by the city.
Following this investigation, the mayor said there is “no credible evidence that Chief Haigh violated city policy” and “insufficient credible evidence” to determine if Dodge violated city policy.
With those findings, Wedegartner decided to reinstate Haigh, effective Thursday. She added that she’s working with lawyers to determine whether the investigative report will be released.
“It’s a personnel decision,” she said of Haigh’s reinstatement. “It’s solely within my authority to make personnel decisions for the city of Greenfield. It is nowhere within the authority of the City Council.”
At-Large Councilor Christine Forgey, who said she had no official opinion on Wedegartner’s decision, agreed it was one that was outside of City Council’s purview. Forgey previously served as mayor in Greenfield.
“The (executive meeting) we had was a courtesy meeting from the mayor to let us know what was going to happen,” Forgey said.
Other councilors objected to the decision itself.
“(Wedegartner) is trying to rewrite history,” said Precinct 4 Councilor John Bottomley. “The Buchanan v. Chief Haigh and the city of Greenfield case was tried in court and the verdict is clear.”
“We were told we’d be informed every step of the way,” commented Mayo, who didn’t attend Wednesday’s executive session. “The next thing we hear is these attorneys, with no prior warning, had come to the conclusion he had done nothing wrong.”
Still, Wedegartner said she feels a “vast majority” of Greenfield wants a fully functioning Police Department.
“They now have a chief at the helm like they did before,” she said. “They have a police chief, they have a command staff, and they’re working with a severely reduced budget. The months coming forward are going to be difficult.”
Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.