Tiverton Town Council Hearing On Charter Complaint Against Town Clerk Monday

The Tiverton Town Council will hear testimony tonight on whether the town clerk violated the town's charter when ruling on a separate October charter violation complaint.

Resident and former School Committee candidate Justin Katz accused Town Clerk Nancy Mello of violating Sec. 1211(a) of the town's charter when she dismissed a complaint in October that accused a Tiverton School Department employee of displaying political messages on her desk in the Fort Barton Elementary School's main office.

After conferring with the town's solicitor, Andrew Teitz, Mello investigated the complaint in accordance with her charge within of the town charter. Ultimately, she recommended the council take no action on the complaint, deciding that the complaint lacked merit because the Fort Barton secretary did not "knowingly" violate the charter and did not know the political significance of the pins.

"It was not a cursory, or careless investigation as he suggested in his complaint," said Mello in an interview. "I was very thorough in my investigation."

In his complaint, Katz states that the October complaint against the school department employee was wrongfully dismissed by Mello and should have warranted a hearing before the full Town Council.

"A clerk's investigation, review, and dismissal of a complaint on its merits constitute an egregious violation of due process," state Katz in his complaint. "It has no parallel in any other area of the clerk's duties described within the charter, and a review of every charter complaint as yet filed in the town of Tiverton shows it to have no precedent and, indeed, to contradict prior practice."

At tonight's Town Council meeting at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall, 343 Highland Road, the council will convene as the Charter Monitoring and Complaint Review Board to entertain Katz' complaint.