Ousted Walkersville commissioner rejected town's reappointment offer

Jan. 7—Ousted Walkersville Commissioner Michael McNiesh had two opportunities from the town to be reappointed, but rejected both, according to the town and McNiesh.

According to a joint statement from Burgess Chad Weddle and the Town Commission on Friday, as well as a Facebook post from McNiesh, the town emailed McNiesh an offer in November to reappoint him.

However, McNiesh declined since he would have had to acknowledge that he had three unexcused absences from meetings, which triggered his removal from office.

In a closed session on Sept. 29, Walkersville commissioners unanimously voted that McNiesh had too many unexcused absences from town meetings, which meant, under the town's charter, that he had to forfeit his office.

McNiesh challenged that vote and requested a public hearing. During an Oct. 26 hearing, commissioners upheld their initial decision, 3-1. Commissioner Michael Bailey switched his original vote and voted no during the public hearing.

McNiesh missed meetings on Aug. 24 and Sept. 14 while away for job training. He called in by phone to a Sept. 29 meeting, also while away, but town officials say phone participation does not count as attending a meeting.

Due to the vacancy that was created, the town could appoint someone or hold a special election. The town decided to hold a special election on Feb. 13. McNiesh is among those who have filed to run.

The town has not decided how to fill an impending second vacancy on the commission. Bailey said he is resigning this month.

The town said in its statement Friday that a resident tried to help broker an agreement to bring McNiesh back into office. Then, the town made a specific offer to McNiesh allowing him to be reinstated, in the form of a resolution.

In a Facebook post Friday morning, McNiesh wrote that the town on Nov. 8 emailed him a resolution that would allow him to be reappointed as commissioner. If McNiesh agreed to it, he would have been reinstated effective Nov. 9.

"Whereas, the Commissioners desire to end the division in the Town and not hold a special election, and this resolution is offered in the spirit of recognizing, acknowledging, and adhering to the adopted Charter of the Town but also allowing Mike McNiesh to continue in service as a Commissioner," the first clause of the resolution says.

In three other clauses, the resolution says McNiesh would acknowledge missing three regular meetings, that phone participation does not count as attendance, and that he was aware his absences were unexcused and he should have requested that commissioners excuse them.

McNiesh said in an interview Friday that he was "a little incredulous" about the resolution.

He said he initially thought the offer sounded nice, but as he kept reading, he became offended that he was asked to agree with statements he didn't support.

"Why would I admit to something I disagreed with?" McNiesh said. "It felt like, really, they were trying to catch me in a lie."

In their statement, Weddle and the Town Commission said the Nov. 8 offer was one of two "good-faith opportunities" McNiesh had to be reinstated.

The week before the Oct. 26 public hearing, the statement said, a town resident acting as an intermediary asked Weddle and commissioners if McNiesh could be reinstated if McNiesh acknowledged missing three meetings without requesting excused absences, and if he requested that the Commission excuse his absences.

"McNiesh initially agreed to this but then changed his mind the Monday before the hearing," the statement said. McNiesh, however, said he never agreed to the offer.

McNiesh confirmed that a resident — who he would not identify — pitched him the idea of acknowledging his absences and asking for commissioners to excuse them. The resident spoke with the town.

"After I considered it, I decided I wasn't going to take that road, because what exactly was I apologizing for?" McNiesh said.

In an interview Friday, Weddle said that if McNiesh followed through with the agreement, he would have been reinstated.

Commissioners Mary Ann Brodie-Ennis, Gary Baker and Tom Gilbert said through phone and email interviews that they never had direct contact with McNiesh during discussions that went through the resident.

Bailey said McNiesh texted him, asking for advice on the potential agreement. Bailey said he told McNiesh he thought it was a good idea, but it was McNiesh's decision.

After the communication through the resident failed to result in an agreement, Weddle said, the town emailed the proposed resolution to McNiesh on Nov. 8. McNiesh said he edited the resolution, deleting the three paragraphs of acknowledgement, and sent it back to the commissioners on Nov. 9.

The commissioners did not respond to his edited version, according to McNiesh.

McNiesh said he posted on Facebook on Friday about the town's offer since he was hearing rumors of the town putting out a statement about the offer and McNiesh rejecting it. He said he was worried it would be missing context.

Bailey said the commissioners wanted McNiesh to be accountable for what happened before reinstating him.

"That was everyone's line in the sand," Bailey said.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the date of the Walkersville special election. It will be held Feb. 13.

Follow Clara Niel on Twitter: @clarasniel