WOODSTOCK — The Village Board of Trustees this week decided for the second time to uphold the demotion of the police chief to the rank of patrol officer.
The 126-page decision came two weeks removed from a second round of quasi-judicial hearings on the removal of Joe Swanson — a nearly 26-year veteran of the Woodstock Police Department — from his role as police chief.
On Monday, the trustees issued a decision based on a two-day hearing held earlier this month. They determined there was just cause in Municipal Manager Eric Duffy’s demotion of Swanson to patrol officer, “given his serious and egregious violations of numerous workplace rules.”
Additionally, the trustees wrote that “Mr. Swanson was ‘negligent’ and ‘derelict’ in the performance of his duties … and he engaged in conduct unbecoming an office.”
The day after the trustees made their latest decision, Linda Fraas, Swanson’s attorney, filed an appeal in Windsor Superior Court.
In her over 60-page petition, Fraas made the following claims: that demotion of Swanson constitutes unlawful breach of contract, no “just cause” exists as a matter of law, no prior notice was given to Swanson before his demotion, no egregious acts were committed by Swanson, and there were also issues with due process and evidence of bias.
“I would say (the demotion) is another futile and destructive decision to once again try to illegally demote him from his contracted position,” Fraas said.
The trustees held the most recent round of hearings, on March 2 and 3, after a Superior Court judge reversed the first effort to demote Swanson. The judge found the trustees had not followed proper legal protocol last spring when they determined they did not need to find cause for demoting Swanson.
“We’re not surprised at all,” Fraas said in a Wednesday phone interview of the trustees’ decision. “We fully expect (the decision) to be reversed just like the first one.”
Swanson’s legal fight first began after Duffy placed him on paid administrative leave in October 2024 after a road rage incident involving Swanson’s husband. While investigations of the traffic incident by the Vermont State Police and the Vermont Criminal Justice Council found no wrongdoing, Duffy hired an outside investigator to look into Swanson’s performance.
That review led Duffy to demote Swanson to patrol officer. The trustees held the first hearing on Swanson’s demotion, which lasted 14 ½ hours, in March of last year. After the first hearing, the village board upheld Duffy’s decision.
Allegations by police employees recorded during Duffy’s outside investigation included that Swanson did not always adhere to specific working hours or was absent during the day, kept a messy office and sometimes reported for duty out of uniform. Police employees also alleged that Swanson did not respond to investigatory matters in a timely or thorough way and was inconsistent or unresponsive in exercising discipline.
During the hearings earlier this month, Fraas introduced new exhibits and affidavits alleging homophobic discrimination and double standards in how Woodstock evaluated Swanson compared to other employees and officials.
During cross examination, Fraas confirmed with Duffy during questioning that since interim Chief Chris O’Keefe took over last year, seven staff members had left the police department.
Bolstering her argument of disparate treatment in Woodstock, Fraas introduced over 60 pages of complaints by town residents and staff against Duffy that she said had not been adequately investigated.
A voice message left for Duffy was not returned by deadline on Wednesday.
She added that Swanson will soon be seeking to double the civil suit of $5 million filed against the town in May 2025 following the initial demotion.
“We think the latest decision has provided a basis for increasing our damages in the civil suit because it shows more malicious and unlawful actions,” she said.