Lincoln County EMA Chief Tim Pellerin’s passion for his profession has brought untold benefits to the county, grant monies received, training programs created, policies adopted; all of which has helped weave Lincoln County fire companies into an even more cohesive force than they were before he arrived in 2005.
Yes, Pellerin’s take-charge style can and has rubbed some people the wrong way. However, even his detractors are likely to admit that Lincoln County’s top emergency man is very good at what he does.
When the chips are down, as they most certainly were during the Patriots’ Day storm in 2007; during the Washburn & Doughty fire in 2008; and, among numerous other occasions, Pellerin shines.
All of which is to say that if the complaints publicly aired in front of the Whitefield Board of Selectmen Monday night are true, it indicates a troubling lack of personal judgment. Unfortunately, Pellerin would not be the first extremely competent, qualified public professional to show private feet of clay.
We are in a strange area here, because it is not apparent an actual crime was committed and no charges were filed. Essentially, what is at issue is a private matter between adults. As your newspaper, we would be inclined to allow it to stay a private matter except for two key points.
Although the issues are private, Pellerin is most certainly not. He is a public official who serves not only in Whitefield, where he is the ranking fire chief, but all of Lincoln County as our EMA director.
The issue of fraternization between a supervisor and a subordinate presents any number of potential problems for everyone touched by the relationship. Absent the rare happily-ever-after ending, these situations almost never work out for the better, which is why many workplaces have policies in place forbidding such activity.
However, there is no such policy in place in Whitefield, and absent coercion, which was not alleged, it is not illegal. However, it stands to reason that taxpayers in Whitefield should expect better judgment from their fire chief.
The other reason we report this sordid affair is because the charges were leveled in a public session of the Whitefield Board of Selectmen. As reluctant as we are to report a story of this nature, we are equally reluctant not to report it.
In this case, we feel the board would have been within their rights to declare an executive session to take up what was obviously a personnel matter. On the other hand, if they determined this was a personal issue, they would have been equally justified in declining to hear the details of Mathews’ complaint.
As it is, because they did neither, and Pellerin’s personal reputation takes the public hit, as Mathews no doubt intended, Pellerin might actually have the basis for a defamation lawsuit against both Mathews and the town.
However this situation works itself out, it’s an ugly affair all around.
