Residents fill North Canaan Town Hall to hear from selectmen

NORTH CANAAN — At the Oct. 6 meeting of the Board of Selectmen, speakers had to use a microphone sound system so those in the back of the audience could hear them as residents filled the meeting room for the last selectmen’s meeting before the Nov. 4 election.

In the month leading up to the October meeting, state troopers were called to Town Hall to remove Town Clerk Jean Jacquier, whose return to work after nearly eight months of absence followed a judge’s decision to upholdher removal from the ballot as a candidate.

Democratic Town Committee (DTC) chair Chris Jacques spoke during the public comment period at the start of the meeting.

He said that First Selectman Brian Ohler deliberately waited until after the Aug. 6 deadline for nominating petitions to be filed to alert the Secretary of the State’s(SOTS) office about the faulty DTC paperwork and that the Republican candidate for town clerk, Krystian Segalla, had used a nominating petition because of a similar error on the Republican Town Committee’s part.

He said the Republicans were notified but the Democrats were not.

“When standard procedures for correcting errors are selectively applied there are serious questions about fairness in our electoral processes.”

Ohler then spoke for about 40 minutes about the controversies surrounding Jacquier and provided his timeline of events.

“This has been a long two years, I won’t sugarcoat it,” he said.

He said complaints about Jacquier’s conduct as town clerk go back to the previous administration and that he received at least six complaints early in his term.

He said he had no choice but to act on the complaints.

Ohler responded to charges that he or Paul Mattingly, who is the selectmen’s executive assistant and filling in as assistant town clerk, had manipulated Town Hall security video footage that was the subject of a Freedom of Information Act request from the DTC.

Ohler said the reason there are gaps in the footage is that the video system uses a motion sensor, which does not provide continuous footage.

“So yes, there are long periods with no recording.”

He said allegations that the footage was altered are baseless. “We don’t have the capability.”

Ohler said that he and Cheryl Duntz did examine the DTC endorsement form (missing the information for Jacquier and Overby) shortly before 4 p.m. on July 23.

He said he did not have advance notice of the errors on the DTC form but did see the paperwork. “I went in on deadline day and took a photo.”

Ohler said candidates and party officials usually look at the candidate filings so they know who they are running against. “That’s how I found out you were running for First Selectman,” he said to Selectman Jesse Bunce.

Ohler said the Republicans were not notified of the missing signatures on the endorsement slates for candidates Krysti Segalla and Tucker Whiting. He told The Lakeville Journal that RTC secretary Cheryl Duntz noticed the missing signatures while double checking the forms on July 30. She then asked for advice from the SOTS office and learned the candidates could petition to remain on the ballot if enough signatures were attained and filed by Aug. 6.

As far as querying the SOTS office on Aug. 7 about missing information on the DTC slate, Ohler said he was within his rights as first selectman to do so.

Ohler said that in early February 2025 he assumed Jacquier had left her position. He said one person had asked her about an absentee ballot and Jacquier replied that she had received it but was no longer Town Clerk. He showed an email sent from Jacquier to the Adkins Printing Company on Feb. 7 instructing them not to send grant materials because she had left the job.

When asked about the email to Adkins, Jacquier confirmed she sent it and stated “there was a good reason for it. I knew I was not in the office for a time. There are reports that have to be filed on certain dates for that grant also, the grant has to be done by a certain date or the money has to be returned, and I did not want to take responsibility for that. And of course my assistant had never really done it on her own before so I was being very safe and saying, I just don’t want that responsibility since I’m not there.”

Ohler said he made contact with Jacquier’s husband who said she was finished with the job.

“So what would you assume?” Ohler asked the audience at Town Hall.

Moving on, Ohler said the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC) was investigating Jacquier as of July 10 for soliciting for candidates in Town Hall, untimely stamping of documents and failure to fine candidates forlate campaign filings.

The Lakeville Journal has confirmed the SEEC investigation is ongoing.

Ohler said Jacquier came to Town Hall on Aug. 14 at 7:45 a.m. and found the locks had been changed, which Ohler said was done back in March.

Ohler described Jacquier as “enraged” and said she “proceeded to tear down all the signs” on the door of the town clerk’s office.

The state police were called. Ohler said Jacquier was ordered to leave and did so. He said he had to restrict Jacquier’s access to Town Hall until her intent could be determined, and that if Jacquier wanted to return to work she must have her legal team get in touch with the town’s lawyers to make that happen.

“To date this has not happened.”

Jacquier provided copies of emails to The Lakeville Journal that were sent by her attorneys to North Canaan town counsel Randy DiBella. On March 11 attorney Jeffrey Mirman wrote “Ms. Jacquier has not abandoned her office” and intends to return to work when she feels ready. On Aug. 14 attorney John Kennelly wrote Jacquier did not resign and cannot be locked out of the office. He requested a set of working keys be provided to Jacquier.

Ohler said Jacquier returned to Town Hall at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 29, sat down at a computer and asked for a copy of the current key.

Jacquier told The Lakeville Journal she went to help prepare for the election.

The state police were called again, and again Jacquier left.

Ohler said he has an obligation to maintain the security of Town Hall, and particularly the Town Clerk’s office and the documents and records therein.

He noted that Jacquier is still technically the town clerk. “I did not remove her,” he said. “We’re restricting access until we know her intent.”