Amid growing public backlash over his behavior during a heated salary debate regarding the incoming town administrator, Select Board member Shawn McDonald was asked to publicly apologize at the Board’s Monday, May 19 meeting — though his apology came with conditions.

“I will apologize to everybody for my tone,” McDonald said. “I will not apologize for anything else.”

The events unfolded after the Finance Committee, shocked by the quick turn around in hiring the incoming town administrator Cody Haddad and the accompanying salary of $225,000, made the decision to decrease the allocated funds to the position in Fiscal Year 2026 by $24,000. 

During the May 5 Select Board discussion, Finance Committee Chair Robert Gauvin announced his resignation in protest of the contracted pay. His final day will be after the June 3 Town Meeting.

McDonald, upset by the pay reduction which he said could jeopardize the contract and leave the town open to possible litigation, responded to Finance Committee members in a manner that has since been deemed “disappointing” and “inappropriate,” by members of the Board.

Select Board members each noted an influx of communications over the last two weeks from the community voicing concerns for the way the discussion transpired as well as the actions of the Finance Committee.

At the May 19 Board meeting, Select Board member David Tatelbaum proposed that McDonald issue a written apology, citing violations of the town’s code of conduct, particularly concerning member behavior, respect for the process and decorum during public meetings. The motion was amended for the apology to be delivered orally.

Tatelbaum said in the early days of his public service, he was a town meeting member and saw the negative effects of a government lacking proper communication and respect for one another first hand.

“This issue goes beyond any individual here — anybody here,” he said. “This is about how town government works.”

In a 3-1 vote, with McDonald abstaining, the request was accepted.

As a primary author, McDonald said he’s more than familiar with the code of conduct.

“To be honest with you, I’m ashamed that my verbiage and demeanor that night got out of hand,” he said. “I will apologize for the tenor of the discussion that night. I will not apologize for the content. For a solid year, I worked with this board to get a town administrator and to have a wrench thrown into this just basically got me upset.”

Select Board member Heidi Silva Brooks noted communications with Haddad following the meeting have confirmed that the Finance Committee’s actions did put the contract in jeopardy.

McDonald highlighted some of the comments made at the Finance Committee meeting where the reduction was made. He noted how members admitted they did not have a right to negotiate the amount. Additionally, the motion to reduce the line item had been made by the chair, which he says is almost unheard of.

During Haddad’s interview process on Monday, April 28 a letter was delivered to one of the board members, with the Finance Committee recommending Gary Carreiro, interim town administrator and treasurer and director of budget and finance, for the position.

“They have a right to make their decision, but to actually reduce the line item in the salary budget in the contract — if you put two and two together, to me, that’s almost sabotaging the whole thing,” McDonald said.

Silva Brooks said she believes there are “eggs on more faces than Mr. McDonald’s” in the salary debate. 

“That is also why I included in my statement that when making a statement or writing a letter one must be careful to either, within the statement, body of the letter or at the signature or qualifying endorsement of the statement to make it clear that the content either represents their personal position or, by a motion and vote of a board, is the position of the entire board, committee, etc.”

She also announced the Board would be reviewing the code of conduct in the coming weeks. 

“I think each of us has to think in our personal actions — either at the meeting of May 5 or at any point in time — whether [we’re representing] the town and our own personal reputations to the best light we can,” Silva Brooks said.