Patten’s former deputy clerk filed a four-count federal lawsuit against the town and two former officials in U.S. District Court this week for alleged employment discrimination and retaliation that she claimed violated civil rights law.
Laura White, who was terminated from her municipal appointment as deputy clerk in September 2023, alleges that the town, former Town Manager Gail Albert and former Select Board Chairman Cody Brackett violated her First Amendment rights.
The suit states White was fired after she detailed alleged illegal actions taken by town officials and stated her personal opposition to Wolfden Resources’ failed Pickett Mountain Mining Project.
White is not the only former Patten official to allege a retaliatory firing after reporting illegal acts by town officials. Last year, Albert, who was also terminated by the Select Board, said that during her tenure the board asked her to perform illegal activities related to town funds or actions that violated federal and state employment law.
“I was often in a moral and ethical dilemma because I was asked to engage in these behaviors from my supervisor, the Select Board, and I had to keep pushing back,” Albert said in a November Bangor Daily News interview. “I’m a whistleblower and I was retaliated against.”
White is calling for a jury trial, reinstatement of her position, back pay and benefits and compensatory damages to be determined at trial for the alleged harms caused by the actions of Albert, Brackett and the town.
In her suit, White alleges the town, Albert and Brackett violated the Maine Human Rights Act and the Maine Whistleblowers’ Protection Act, laws that protect employees from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation in the workplace.
The act prohibits discrimination based on protected characteristics such as race, sex, or disability. Under the act, it is illegal for an employer to fire, threaten, retaliate or treat an employee differently because they reported a violation of the law.
White also alleges Albert fired her after she sent the personal letter to the Maine Land Use Planning Commission in opposition to Wolfden’s petition to rezone its property on Pickett Mountain. The remaining counts allege Albert and Brackett individually violated her civil rights.
“All of Ms. White’s protected conduct addressed matters of substantial public concern, open-records laws, and a major state regulatory proceeding before the LUPC,” according to the court documents.
The First Amendment protects the right of a public employee to speak as a private citizen on matters of public concern, and prohibits a government employer from retaliating against an employee for exercising that right, according to the law.
Issues related to White’s employment escalated after she transcribed minutes from a July 19, 2022, Select Board meeting that included negative comments related to the proposed Wolfden project.
Wolfden had applied twice to the Maine Land Use Planning Commission for a change in zoning for 374 acres at Pickett Mountain near Patten and Mount Chase. The zoning change would have allowed Wolfden to apply with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection for a state mining permit.
Without the commission’s approval, Wolfden would not be able to proceed with its plans to mine minerals like zinc, copper and lead at Pickett Mountain. The LUPC denied Wolfden’s zoning application in 2024.
During the 2022 meeting, Select Board member Rae Bates said that in a meeting set up by fellow board member Gregg Smallwood, she met with Wolfden Vice President Jeremy Ouellette, who admitted Wolfden was $38 million in debt and that investors didn’t believe they could meet state standards for clean water, according to the court documents.
On Friday, the Bangor Daily News obtained a copy of the July 19, 2022, meeting minutes, confirming White’s allegations.
White transcribed and printed the minutes, but Ouellette asked Smallwood to have his comments to Bates removed from the minutes. The board voted to authorize the removal. White claimed that was illegal based on the Maine Municipal Association’s advice.
Albert allegedly told White later that the minutes she kept were too long and detailed. White said she wrote detailed minutes because of concerns including the legality of certain Select Board members’ actions.
“She believed Selectman Gregg Smallwood had a conflict of interest with the Wolfden proposals that were before the Select Board because he was renting property to Wolfden while he advocated for Wolfden and voted on the company’s proposals,” the lawsuit states.
During this time, Ouellette was visiting towns in the region to garner public support for the mine. The LUPC solicited public comment regarding the rezoning application. White, on a Saturday on her private computer, sent an email to the LUPC to express her concerns about the project, the lawsuit said.
When Brackett discovered the letter, he allegedly posted it on his Facebook page and wrote a public comment “inviting scrutiny of her employment and precipitating a public campaign to terminate White,” court records said.
During a Sept. 19, 2023, Select Board meeting, attendees “explicitly called for her termination,” according to the lawsuit. Albert told White on Sept. 20 that the town had seized her computer for an investigation, and on Sept. 22, she placed her on paid administrative leave, pending the results of the computer investigation.
The BDN attempted to obtain the Sept. 19 meeting minutes from the town’s digital archive, but they were not listed.
Albert fired White that same month.
The next court action is due in 60 days.
