Politics & Government

Town Employee Files Grievance Against Selectman

Seekonk's executive assistant says Dave Parker "went after my reputation, my character, my credibility."

Anne Rogers, executive assistant for the town of Seekonk, has filed a grievance against Selectman Dave Parker, who she said "went after my reputation, my character, my credibility" at the May 30 selectmen meeting when he read out loud email exchanges he had with the Boston Passport Agency that mention her name. Parker said he actually spoke in favor of Rogers at the meeting.

Rogers read her grievance to the board at the meeting this week on Wednesday. She said Parker had implied she lied about passing a test that would allow her to issue passports. 

"These slanderous accusations question my character and my reputation with the appearance of deceit and the supposition that I produced fraudulent documents," Rogers said. "This should not be allowed to continue and I am asking for a public apology from Mr. Parker."

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At the May 30 meeting, Parker read out loud a series of exchanges he had with the Boston agency in which he was following up on why the selectmen's office had not been granted the right to issue passports. For the office to be allowed to this right, Rogers had to pass an online test. Parker said at the meeting, "our secretary [Rogers] took that test as you know, and she passed that test. And it's been over a year since she passed that test."

According to an email he read, Parker asked the agency if it had the records that she passed the test. Rogers said on Wednesday that at that point he had implied she lied about passing it. Parker told her that was not what happened. He knew she had passed the test, Parker said, and in the email he was trying to find out if the Boston agency also knew this.

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"My whole thing in this was definitely nothing negative against Anne, in fact I was kind of saying to them that 'she did what she was supposed to do, why haven’t you responded?,'" Parker said. 

Town Administrator Pam Nolan said she would consult with legal counsel about how to proceed with the grievance process.


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