'A Hostile Act': Swampscott Board Of Assessors Chair Fires Back At Select Board Member

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — A simmering public back-and-forth between Swampscott Select Board member David Grishman and Board of Assessors Chair Tasia Vasiliou boiled over into an hour-long succession of charges and countercharges at Wednesday night's Select Board meeting as Vasiliou and her fellow Board members were granted agenda time to answer Grishman's assertions of political bias from an Aug. 21 Select Board meeting.

At that meeting, Grishman used his Select Board time to accuse Vasiliou and members of the Board of Assessors of inappropriately soliciting abatement requests from those in the vicinity of new school construction and said his own property assessment had been targeted in retaliation for his attempts to speak out against the Board's actions.

• Swampscott Board Of Assessors Debate Boils Over At Select Board

But Vasiliou fired back at Wednesday night's meeting after requesting — and being granted — time during the agenda to address what she called the "false and defamatory statements" aimed at her and "a hostile act" against the Board.

"Your claims are slanderous," Vasiliou said in addressing Grishman. "They put my integrity into question and threaten my livelihood. This is not a joke. My integrity means everything to me. I cannot and will not walk away from this."

Vasiliou requested that Grishman retract his Aug. 21 statements and apologize to current and former Board of Assessors members. She also requested that Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald "be removed from the processing of any and all assessing business while we fill the open position for a new assessing agent."

What followed was a prolonged exchange of charges of bias, personal grievance and inappropriate actions between Vasiliou and her Board, Select Board members and Fitzgerald — during which Grishman restated many of his claims of misconduct when it came to the abatements from the Aug. 21 meeting, and Vasiliou accused Grishman of not properly disclosing a finished basement on his property report card.

"The role of the Board of Assessors is to be an unbiased board," Grishman said. "I would urge the Board of Assessors to review the Mass. conflict of interest laws — particularly the code of conduct section."

Select Board member Doug Thompson questioned why the item was placed on the agenda when it threatened to devolve into, essentially, what devolved into — saying Vasiliou could have expressed her objections in public comment.

But Select Board Chair MaryEllen Fletcher said she felt it was fair to allow Vasiliou proper time to address specific claims made against her by a Select Board member during a public meeting, and that she was informed by town counsel that the discussion could not be held in executive session.

Vasiliou said she posted an official Board of Assessors meeting during the time of the Select Board meeting so as to not violate any public meeting laws.

"I'm disgusted that we're here discussing this," said Select Board member Danielle Leonard, adding that she blamed Grishman for making the conflict a public spectacle. "This is a personal, individual resident matter that could have been outside of this body. None of us want to deal with this. None of us on the Select Board want to deal with this. But now I want to deal with it because I'm hearing that things are inaccurate and that there is interference that shouldn't exist."

Fitzgerald said his involvement in the Board of Assessors's actions came only after town employees expressed concern to him about the trouble they were having executing their jobs properly.

Vasiliou said she has requested that the state Department of Revenue independently examine the issues facing her board and its relationship with town staff and officials. The Select Board agreed to review the DOR's report at an upcoming meeting.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)