North Canaan reckons with Town Hall turmoil: Breaking down the timeline

NORTH CANAAN — The following is a timeline of events involving the North Canaan Town Clerk, Jean Jacquier. This timeline begins with the November 2023 election and relies on public records and previous Lakeville Journal reporting.

November 2023: Brian Ohler (R) is elected First Selectman. Jacquier (R) is elected to her fourth term as Town Clerk.

January 2024: Ohler filed a complaint with state Attorney General alleging misconduct by Jacquier, including improper security of the vault, posting candidate campaign material in Town Hall and untimely stamping of documents.

August 2024: Jacquier filed a lawsuit against the Town of North Canaan seeking reimbursement for legal fees. The case is still pending.

Oct. 9, 2024: The Attorney General’s office released the results of its investigation, which “found evidence of misconduct and neglect of duty in three areas: (1) improper security of the vault outside of the Town Clerk’s hours of operation; (2) improper posting of campaign materials in Town Hall; and (3) untimely stamping of documents received by the Town Clerk’s office.”

No further action was taken by the AG’s office. The letter “strongly recommend” Jacquier implement changes to her practices and review standards governing vault security, political activity by municipal officials, and stamping or endorsing documents.

Feb. 3, 2025: Jacquier walked out of the Town Clerk’s office, “stating that she could not stand the turmoil and had conflicts with the first selectman and the clerk in the office of the building official. This has left [Marilisa] Camardi, the part-time assistant town clerk, to serve as acting town clerk, in charge of the town clerk’s office” (from Torrington Superior Court’s Sept. 24, 2025, decision in a subsequent lawsuit filed by Jacquier against Assistant Town Clerk Marilisa Camardi).

March 12: The Board of Selectmen vote to suspend Jacquier’s pay until she returns to work. Ohler and Selectman Craig Whiting (R) voted to suspend, Selectman Jesse Bunce (D) abstained (Bunce is a registered Republican endorsed by the Democrats to run against Ohler for First Selectman).

July 22: The North Canaan Democratic Town Committee (DTC) held its caucus and voted for a slate of candidates for the municipal election of Nov. 4, 2025. The candidates included Jacquier for town clerk and Carol Overby for the Board of Finance.

There is a form to be filled out and submitted to the Town Clerk’s office. On this form candidates supply their name, address, the office they are running for and the term, and a signature.

Overby, who was at the caucus, did not include that she was running for the finance board on the form.

July 23: North Canaan DTC chair Chris Jacques met with Jacquier, who was not at the caucus, to fill out the form. Jacquier also did not include the office she was running for. “Jacquier admits this was a mistake” (from the Sept. 24 decision).

The filing deadline was July 23, 4 p.m. At 3:34 p.m. Jacques filed the DTC endorsement form with Camardi, the assistant town clerk, who accepted it and stamped it as received.

From the decision: “This was Camardi’s first experience with municipal elections as she had worked in the office for only one and one-half years. Likewise, this was the first time Jacques had submitted a certification of party endorsement form.

“Shortly thereafter on July 23, 2025, the first selectman and Cheryl Duntz, a member of the Republican Town Committee, asked to see the [Democratic Town] Committee’s certification of party endorsement form. They reviewed the form and then left. Camardi left at 4 p.m. on July 23, 2025.”

July 24: Camardi, while preparing the legal notice of the candidates for the Waterbury Republican-American, noticed the omissions by Jacquier and Overby. Along with the certification of party endorsement forms, town committee chairs also file two forms with the Connecticut State Elections Enforcement Commission. The missing information was on the SEEC Form 1, so Camardi edited the endorsement form to add “Town Clerk” to Jacquier’s information and “Board of Finance” to Overby’s.

Aug. 6: This was the deadline to gather signatures to petition to fill a party endorsement vacancy, which existed for the Democratic slate for Town Clerk and Board of Finance because of the faulty paperwork.

Aug. 7: Ohler emailed Heather Augeri at the Secretary of the State’s (SOTS) office and attached the DTC endorsement form as it was submitted before Camardi added the words “Town Clerk” and “Board of Finance” to the form. Ohler asked Augeri if the form was valid and Augeri responded it was not and Jacquier and Overby could not be on the November ballot.

Sept. 5: Jacquier and Overby filed a lawsuit against Camardi, the acting Town Clerk, and requested an accelerated court schedule because the election was coming up.

The case was tried Sept. 12, with Jacques, Jacquier and Camardi testifying. There were additional appearances in court on Sept. 15 and 16. On Sept. 16 both parties rested their cases.

Sept. 23: Camardi submitted her letter of resignation from the role of Assistant Town Clerk.

Sept. 24 Judge Ann E. Lynch of the Superior Court, Litchfield District ruled against Jacquier and Overby, stating, “The plaintiffs did not substantially comply with Connecticut General Statute 9-391 by filling out forms that pertain to completely different statutory requirements relating to campaign financing.

“This court cannot ignore the mandatory requirements of §9-391. Accordingly, this court finds that Camardi properly determined that Jacquier and Overby’s names cannot appear on the ballot for the November 2025 election.”

Sept. 29: Jacquier comes to Town Hall and is ordered to leave by state police.

For what followed, see accompanying coverage of the Oct. 6 Board of Selectmen meeting.