There is a special irony in retired attorney, Wendy Sibbison’s, op-ed complaint, “The Buck Stops with the Mayor,” (Recorder, Nov 23). That is, retired attorney Sibbison seems to think the American judicial system operates as a one-way street. Further irony is that she was an appellate attorney for much of her career; yet appears to believe that the City of Greenfield and Police Chief Robert Haigh do not have a right of appeal, the same right of appeal that would be available to Patrick Buchanan had the Buchanan and Dodge v. City of Greenfield and Robert Haigh case gone the other way. The city and its insurer are exercising their right of appeal, which is where we find ourselves today.
It is worth pointing out again that Buchanan and Dodge v. City of Greenfield and Robert Haigh was a civil trial for monetary damages for which there was a finding of discrimination based on racial animus; it was not a criminal case with a verdict of guilty. That said, a finding of “racial animus” in our Police Department was personally and professionally devastating to hear for myself and for the police chief, especially given the many documented judicial errors in the trial. Nevertheless, the city and the Greenfield Police Department will continue to do the work they must do to correct any opportunities for or instances of racial bias to occur in the department going forward.
Sibbison also makes assumptions about disciplinary and promotional procedures within the Greenfield Police Department that are not backed by a full understanding of the facts or the departmental procedures themselves as well as assumptions about the common practice of offering settlements, again not backed by a full understanding of what actually occurred. Throughout 2020, 2021 and early 2022 on several occasions, with my full understanding and agreement, the city’s attorneys and the insurance company offered retired officer Buchanan and his legal team the opportunity to settle the case. Each time the offer was denied in favor of seeking monetary damages through a jury trial, which is approved in our judicial system. So, no, I “alone am not responsible for prolonging” this case, which began years before I took office.
As for her opinion that I could have done more due diligence, again there’s an assumption that I did not do that based on all of the information I had at the time. In court as a witness I truthfully answered only the questions put to me by the plaintiff’s attorney. Why would I have done anything differently? It is true that as a new mayor I trusted Chief Haigh’s judgment of who should be promoted based on his, by then, years of experience working with his officers. There are many factors that go into promoting police officers to higher rank. It is not true that I did “no due diligence or investigation” of the promotions. I had available to me a great deal of information regarding Officer Buchanan’s performance as it would relate to his quest for promotions over the years.
Court cases and trials, like water flowing, find their own way as they navigate our laws of due process, otherwise known as a fundamental principle of fairness in all legal matters, both civil and criminal, especially in the courts. Let this one run its course.
Roxann Wedegartner is the mayor of Greenfield.