HAVERHILL — The Selectboard placed the town administrator on leave one day before he submitted a resignation letter. While Tom Galinat intended to go amicably, he feels the board has mishandled the situation.
“It’s clear that the board’s direction does not match my ethical background, my moral backbone,” Galinat said Thursday by phone.
Galinat, 43, explained that he discovered improper procedures related to audits and a forensic audit that he declined to specify, but said reporting it to the board left him in a “horrible spot,” leading to personal attacks.
“The retaliation was real, and it was scary,” said Galinat, who is not the first town administrator to make such claims.
Galinat resigned as town administrator after less than one year in the role. Before he took over in November 2025, Selectboard member Rod O’Shana served on an interim basis since June 2024. This arrangement came after former administrator Brigitte Codling stepped down and sued the town over her treatment in the role.
In a resignation letter dated Aug. 5, Galinat wrote that he simply did not have enough time to contribute to the town in the capacity he had been, which he later specified was about 50 to 60 hours a week.
One day before Galinat formally submitted his resignation – which said he’d stay until Sept. 4 – the Selectboard placed him on administrative leave. According to Galinat, the resignation had been discussed before then, and he did not receive a clear explanation for the leave.
Following a Tuesday article published in the Journal Opinion where Selectboard Vice Chair Ron Hurlburt said some employees were unhappy and felt Galinat was not “a good fit,” Galinat wrote a new letter addressed to the press claiming that the board retaliated against him for bringing concerns to light in good faith.
“I wish they chose to act upon these discoveries, instead they chose to act upon the employee they hired to find them,” said Galinat.
In a Tuesday interview, Galinat had spoken positively of the Selectboard and told the Valley News that he didn’t blame them for putting him on leave, considering how things unfolded with the last administrator.
But on Thursday, he took it back.
“I was being kind,” said Galinat. “That was a direct act to silence the only person who knows the truth,” he said of the leave notice delivered to his Peacham, Vt. home by police.
Reached by phone, Selectboard member Kevin Knapp declined to comment on the reason for the leave, and Chair Vickie Wyman refused to speak of the town administrator situation entirely.
Galinat clarified Thursday that he quit because of the auditing situation, which he said is under investigation, but declined to provide any further detail.
“It’s out of my hands at this point,” said Galinat.
Galinat believes the board needs to focus on modernizing rules that no longer make sense.
“For a town to be successful, it either needs to follow policy or change policy, but stop making these one-off decisions,” Galinat said Tuesday.
Galinat is not the first administrator in recent years to leave on bad terms. After the town voted at 2024 Town Meeting to change Codling’s role as town manager to town administrator, which gives her less autonomy, Codling resigned.
In her letter, she wrote that this came after a period of being “disrespected, insulted, harassed, criticized and threatened,” sparked by a contentious contract negotiation between the town and the Woodsville Fire Department.
“As Haverhill’s town manager, I have personally endured this treatment to a level that is unimaginable for municipal leaders,” Codling wrote in her resignation.
Codling’s case against the town of Haverhill and selectboard members at the time, Michael Graham, Kevin Knapp, Steven Robbins and Katie Williams, remains ongoing.
Haverhill’s next steps have not been determined. Knapp specified that Galinat is on administrative leave until the board can convene. As of now, there’s no interim administrator in place, though the board has been handling emails.
Galinat earns a salary of $115,000 per year, and he will be paid throughout his leave.
Knapp noted that the priority is getting caught up with audits, along with regular business. He believes the town is in a good spot to “hopefully find somebody faster than we did last time,” he said.
The Haverhill Selectboard is scheduled to meet Monday at 6 p.m. in the Clifford Memorial Building, though the agenda is not yet available online.
