Georgetown board dismisses firefighter's 'ridiculous' claims of harassment

GEORGETOWN, Mass. — The Georgetown Board of Selectmen has dismissed allegations made by an embattled fire Lieutenant that the city’s IT contractor created a hostile work environment.

In a special meeting held September 17, the board heard allegations from Lieutenant Craig Lampert against the town’s IT contractor, Robert “Red” Kelly, over temporary passwords.

According to the meeting’s proceedings, Lieutenant Craig Lampert and another member of the fire department were terminated earlier in 2018. However, as Town Attorney Tim Zessin explained, the town agreed to bring both back to work in August through a settlement agreement signed over the summer.

During the re-onboarding process for Lieutenant Lampert, he alleged the temporary passwords assigned to him and the other employee were intended to be “offensive or somehow retaliatory for actions Mr. Ricker … had taken in the past.”

Lt. Lampert claims Kelley deviated from a standard temporary password assigned to new hires when he assigned temporary passwords to Lampert and the other employee.

Lampert says the passwords assigned were Franklin1736$ and UnionFire1736!, which he claimed were a sex act and an insult respectively. Lampert claims the Union Fire reference was meant as a reference to the original firefighters being volunteers and that calling a firefighter a volunteer is a slight. He also alleges “Franklin” refers to a sex act.

Kelley asked the council to hear the allegations made against him in an open meeting session September 17, which was posted to YouTube by Georgetown Community Television.

Kelley defended the temporary passwords, stating there is not a standard temporary password and he simply chose those because they are interesting references to fire department history.

Chairman Joseph Bonavita called the allegations ‘ridiculous’ and noted the need for a special hearing and presence of the town attorney cost the taxpayers.

“We’re going to write a check for something completely ridiculous tonight,” Bonavita said. "I think when we write a check, it's going to be one of the most un-useful set of monies we've every spent."

Ultimately the board found the town’s policy against harassment was not violated and cleared the accusations against Kelley.

“I’m very sorry that this has happened. It’s things that happen in employer, employee relationships. It’s too bad that it got to this stage. It’s very disturbing – especially some of these allegations,” Selectman Doug Dawes said.

Lt. Lampert did not appear at the meeting and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cox Media Group