STRAFFORD — Officials say behavior by a disgruntled resident they have characterized as disruptive and disconcerting has led them to limit access to the Town Clerk’s Office for everyone until further notice.
In response to more than 200 emails from resident Keith Billian, 66, and his subsequent impromptu visits to her office, Town Clerk Lisa Bragg, with the Selectboard’s support, has decided to make office hours by appointment only.
In addition, the board is discussing a new digital communications policy with the town’s attorney.
The notice to switch the clerk’s office to appointment-only was issued Aug. 14 and will remain in effect until at least mid-October when the issue will be “revisited,” according to the notice.
“This has been a lesson, and what’s really sad about all this is we used to have a pretty open environment here… this has stopped that.”
Strafford Selectboard Chairwoman Toni Pippy
“This has been a lesson, and what’s really sad about all this is we used to have a pretty open environment here… this has stopped that,” Strafford Selectboard Chairwoman Toni Pippy said in a recording of an Aug. 14 board meeting.
Though the written notice cites “unscheduled visits from members of the public” as cause for “delay and disruption” to town work, the actual cause is tied to a more specific incident, Pippy said.
Email spurs police involvement
Billian has sent more than 200 emails since December, half of which were sent this summer. And on Aug. 9, Pippy said, the town “received an alarming enough email for us to do a well check” on Billian.
Pippy said at the Aug. 14 meeting that she did not want to go into detail on the contents of the alarming message.
Billian emailed the town four times on Aug. 9.
In an email sent around 9 p.m., Billian wrote about the welfare check by police. The email included insults to the Selectboard, expletives and Billian’s account of the interaction with police.
In the next few days, Billian visited the town office multiple times, Pippy said.
“The office staff was getting very nervous about the tone of the emails” and decided to lock the town office while inside, Pippy said.
At one point, Billian went to the office and “pounded on the door,” causing the office staff to retreat into a different room. Billian then left and came back a short time later, knocking on the door again at which point the staff called 911.
In an email to the Valley News, Billian denied that he “was viciously pounding on the door demanding to let me in” and said the whole account of threatening town staff was “fabricated” and “a scam.”
“A true case of defamation of character,” he wrote.
On Aug. 13, Windsor County Judge Daniel Richardson issued Bragg, the town clerk, a temporary order against stalking against Billian, according to a police affidavit. This document was made public in the affidavit, but further court proceedings were held in confidential session.
Bragg declined to comment when reached by the Valley News.
On Aug. 16, police served Billian the orders. He violated the order against Bragg within minutes by emailing her three times, according to the affidavit.
Just 16 minutes after police served the order to Billian, who “refused to sign” it, he sent the first of the three emails, according to police.
He sent the next email three minutes later and the last 1.5 hours after that.
In the third email Billian also denied the allegation of stalking, writing in all caps: “I ONLY KNOCKED AT THE DOOR A LITTLE LOUDLY ONCE SEEING YOU WHERE STOMPING ON MY RIGHTS.”
Around 4:15 p.m., about 20 minutes after Billian sent the third email, five law enforcement officers, including three Windsor County Sheriff’s deputies, a Royalton Police officer and the Royalton Police chief arrested Billian at his home.
Billian was charged with three misdemeanor counts of violating an abuse prevention order, according to a police affidavit. Each charge is punishable by up to one year in prison, a $5,000 fine or both.
For his part, Billian said while in custody “alone in the interview room” he “was handed paperwork by an officer today but was not aware he could not email contact” Bragg, according to the police affidavit.
Origins of the matter
Billian alleges he has been “discriminated against” by the town and Strafford Selectboard members, he said in an email to the Valley News. He noted that the chain of emails with town officials “all started” from him asking about a concern.
In the earliest email sent on Dec. 16, Billian makes no specific request of the board, though he references past conversations and asks the group to address his concerns.
“When you deem someone to be unnecessary, (by not replying) you are discriminating,” Billian wrote in a separate email sent the same day.
In the emails, Billian asks few specific questions nor does he make clear requests for assistance.
“Any concerns he had relating to town business were addressed,” Pippy said in an email to the Valley News. “Ninety percent of his emails did not pertain to town business and were worrisome.”
“Being a public official gives us less rights than a citizen/taxpayer, which required us to read these emails in case there was something town related, which was unpleasant to say the least,” Pippy added. She declined to comment further on the matter.
Many of the emails include insults and profanity directed at elected officials and town staff and many also pertain to national, rather than town politics. A large portion of the emails are specifically directed at Pippy, though not sent to her alone.
In other messages, Billian seems to use the general town clerk and Selectboard email addresses to write open letters or to share poetry. Many are written using all capital letters and include incomplete thoughts and sentences, spelling errors and misused words.
Digital civility policy
In a mid-August meeting, Pippy shared a draft digital civility policy with the Selectboard that “encourages” both town employees and residents to “engage respectfully even when disagreeing,” focus feedback on government rather than personal issues, and avoid spreading misinformation, name-calling, threats and other misconduct in digital communications.
“The town recognizes and respects first amendment rights while affirming the need for civility,” Pippy read from the policy.
The policy is under discussion in response to emails sent by Billian, which Pippy told the board in a recording of the Aug. 14 meeting, “are ongoing and full of insults and blame for things we did not do.”
Creating guidelines for digital communications would not violate First Amendment rights or state law, town attorney Mike Tarrant advised the board during the meeting.
“When folks have issues with government they do have certain constitutional rights but they’re not unlimited,” Tarrant said. The board can restrict or provide guidelines for communication “as long as services are available” to residents.
If a message does not have a clear request or question “it’s not on municipal government to draw out of people things that they may or may not want,” Tarrant said, adding that the board does not have to respond to such messages.
“One hundred percent Strafford is not alone,” Tarrant said, adding that “the vast majority, if not all municipalities in Vermont” have experienced similar issues.
The Legislature even began to work on the open meeting law and public records act at the end of the previous session to “alleviate some of the pressure” from people “using and weaponizing” these policies, he said.
The board did not vote on Pippy’s draft policy at the mid-August meeting and planned to continue discussing it.
The board is scheduled to meet Thursday, Sept. 11 at 6 p.m. in the Strafford Town Office.