By Theresa Knapp

Former Selectman Brian Keyes indicated at his last Select Board meeting on May 8, that he may pursue legal action regarding comments made by Select Board Chair Glenda Hazard at the board’s Oct. 24 meeting after the resignation of former Town Administrator Diana Schindler. 

At the May meeting, Keyes said, “I was advised by my counsel not to do anything until my tenure was up, my tenure’s up so we’ll see where that goes.”

At the Oct. meeting, Schindler said the board, which was under Keyes’ chairmanship for the majority of her tenure, “didn’t fulfill its obligations regarding my contract by not setting goals and objectives for me to implement, it has made it impossible for my performance review and contract renewal to be administered fairly and effectively.” 

Following Schindler’s statement, Hazard (who had since become Chair) said, “I can’t help but want to thank Brian Keyes and the band of persistent past and present town officials who have successfully created a hostile work environment for the Town Administrator; and I also wanted to thank them for impeding our efforts to get a future Town Administrator because I’m sure that any candidate that Googles Hopedale is just going to run in the other direction.” 

Keyes then filed a complaint against Hazard which was then discussed at the board’s meeting on Dec. 12 when Keyes acknowledged “there is a threat of litigation because I’m very upset.”