At the most recent Board of Selectmen meeting, held Monday, Aug. 18, First Selectman Bill Brennan read a statement from town counsel Ken Bernhard in response to a complaint the town received from Marissa Lowthert, dated June 16.
In that emailed complaint [included as an image, below], Lowthert details correspondence with town officials, including the selectmen and Bernhard, regarding “repeated, false, publicly televised statements about me and my family and our Wilton Public School Special Services experience.” She writes that, “Town Counsel ‘duped’ the Board of Finance Chairman and my attorney with a false claim that I had publicly offered to waive Attorney Client Privilege and all confidentiality for my children’s educational and medical records.”
Lowthert tells the town officials, “The Board of Finance has removed Bernhard as Counsel. The Board of Selectmen needs to consider the same course of action,” adding, “…the First Selectman and the Board of Selectman [sic] need to acknowledge and address the ‘Town Counsel’ problem.”
Brennan read Bernhard’s response [also included as an image below] to Lowthert’s complaint. In that response, Bernhard writes that he doesn’t “recognize or acknowledge as being accurate” the facts as presented by Lowthert. He adds that, “The best I can do to understand the basis for her complaint is that it connected with a minor, but very understandable, misunderstanding involving her demand for an investigation into the negotiations between BOE counsel and her counsel. From her public comments, I was under the impression that she was prepared to waive her attorney-client privilege in order to facilitate the investigation she was demanding.”
When Brennan asked the selectmen if they had any comment. Richard Dubow said, “From my perspective I think Ken has done a terrific job for us, and I continue to value his good counsel.”
Brennan replied, “I read this statement several times when I got it. I said, Ken’s comments are reasonable. I do not think there was any ill intent. I think there was a misunderstanding involved and that’s what it boils down to. Ken has been our town counsel for over 20 years; I’ve worked with him personally for over nine years. I have complete confidence in him, he has very high integrity, he is a terrifically experienced town counsel and I accept his statement. I don’t think that there is any further action that’s required.”
All the selectmen agreed with Brennan, who then said, “I think that really ends it. This was a complaint, and I wanted to be sure we responded to it. It’s been a crazy couple past couple months but I thank him for getting the statement in.”
On May 13, Lowthert and her husband, Christopher, filed a ‘notice of claim‘ with Wilton’s town clerk’s office, notifying the town of their intent to file suit against the town over indoor air quality issues. Included in that notice were current and former elected officials, town employees, the school district, the Board of Education and the Board of Selectmen. Specifically named on the list of individuals–which the notice says the list may not be limited to–are 34 people.
Last spring, Lowthert raised questions regarding the Board of Education handling of a settlement reportedly offered to the Lowthert family, alleging that the BoE and Wilton Schools’ former superintendent Dr. Gary Richards tried to engage her in a “‘secret’ settlement process” and have tried to “pay me more than $267k for my silence.”
Over the summer, the Board of Finance began an audit of the BoE actions in the case. According to draft minutes from the BoF meeting on July 29, Lynne Vanderslice, acting chair on this audit, “said that they haven’t seen anything wrong. She said that when you look at the information, what’s happening seems reasonable and there’s no need to do a special audit or to hire a lawyer or look for outside professional assistance. She suggested talking about the recommendations and putting together a letter which would be sent to the Board of Ed and to [current superintendent] Dr. [Kevin] Smith.”
Marissa Lowthert email to Town officials June 16 [click to enlarge]
Response from Town Counsel Ken Bernhard [click to enlarge]
