Council to investigate two city employees, police complaint

Cloquet city councilors took the first steps Tuesday toward an outside investigation of complaints filed by former Cloquet police chief Wade Lamirande.

Lamirande emailed Cloquet city officials, councilors and local media a list of complaints about Cloquet city councilor Steve Langley and current police chief Jeff Palmer on Feb. 6; he also included allegations against city administrator Aaron Reeves and human resources director James Barclay within the complaints.

After going in and out of closed meetings Tuesday, councilors voted to hire an outside, third-party investigator to look into the allegations against both Reeves and Barclay. They also stated publicly that there is a complaint against a Cloquet police officer and that the city will "follow appropriate policies and procedures," possibly including investigation of the complaint. They did not name the police officer.

At the same time, the city denied a request by councilor Langley that a possible investigation of him be added to that evening's agenda.

In response to Langley's request, city administrator Reeves explained that the city attorney requested the council wait until its March 19 meeting to discuss any possible investigation of Langley, because the attorney who will be reviewing the complaint would be present. Then he explained that the legal issues are different with a complaint about city staff versus a city councilor.

Lamirande attended the meeting, as did a roomful of other Cloquet citizens, including numerous police officers and former mayor Dave Hallback. Lamirande said he hadn't been contacted by anyone from the city other than receiving confirmation that his emailed complaints had been received.

He was pleased to see the council act, however.

"I think an independent investigation will provide some clarity to the issues that have been going on," Lamirande said in an interview with the Pine Knot News. "And I pretty much feel my complaint speaks for itself, although I'd be happy to answer any questions the investigator may have."

Other than voting to approve most of the bids on future City Hall renovations, the meeting was dominated by discussions about how to handle the allegations against city staff.

Reeves requested that the council leave the meeting open for the consideration of allegations made against him. The city administrator pointed out that he was mentioned only once in Lamirande's complaints, and suggested the council considering limiting the scope of its investigations to that specific instance.

In his complaints to the council, Lamirande claimed Reeves told members of the police department and the Citizens Advisory Board - a three-person volunteer board that has historically worked with the police chief on hiring, complaints and discipline within the department - to not speak with him about a complaint he filed with the police department in 2017.

"City administrator Reeves tells the CAB members not to speak to me about the complaint or process," Lamirande wrote to the council. "The CAB is a board that is tasked with improving trust and transparency between the department and the public they serve. This is a citizen advisory board; it is not city administrator Reeve's board."

He also said Reeves refused to meet with him to discuss Lamirande's hopes for an external investigation of his complaint due to conflict of interest.

Councilors Lara Wilkinson, Sheila Lamb and Kerry Kolodge led the discussion on how the council wanted to respond to the allegations against Reeves.

"I feel with all the allegations that we're dealing with, we need to take an approach that is as objective as possible and brings to light the facts," Wilkinson said, starting the conversation. "I advocate an external investigation with regard to any of these issues, so we can make our decision based on those facts."

Lamb said the ongoing issues - which followed the city council's actions regarding another former police chief, Steve Stracek - have separated the city for too long.

"I think it's in everybody's best interest and financially to do this formal investigation so we can take care of this once and for all, and bring our city back together again," she said.

Kolodge agreed with both.

"Taking no action is not an option for us at this time," he said.

After some debate and discussion with Brandon Fitzsimmons - a Twin Cities attorney with Flaherty & Hood who contracts with the city for legal personnel issues - about the scope of the investigation, the council went with a "hybrid" suggestion from Fitzsimmons. They voted 6-1 (Langley dissenting) to limit the scope of the investigation to the specific allegations about Reeves in Lamirande's letter to the city, while giving the designated elected officials (Maki and Kolodge), the third-party investigator and attorney authority to use their discretion to investigate any other allegations as they feel necessary.

When it came time to discuss allegations against Barclay, the human resources director requested the meeting be closed for the discussion, and was asked to leave the room along with anyone else who wasn't a councilor or the city's attorney. In his email to city officials, Lamirande made allegations about Barclay's role and actions regarding the investigation of his complaint about the police department.

After meeting in closed session for almost 20 minutes, the council reopened the meeting and voted unanimously to investigate the allegations against Barclay, following similar guidelines to those set for Reeves that would allow the investigation to be expanded if desired.

At 7:56 p.m., the council closed the meeting for one final agenda item: this time the reason given was "allegations of possible law enforcement misconduct." Behind closed doors - but visible through clear windows - the council debated for more than an hour, with one short recess.

No names or details emerged from that closed meeting, just the possibility of an investigation and a statement that the council will follow proper procedures.

Both Reeves and Barclay declined to comment on the council actions or Lamirande's allegations on the record. "I cannot comment on an active investigation," Reeves said. Barclay issued a similar statement Wednesday morning. When asked, Chief Palmer referred all questions to Reeves.

Neither Reeves nor Barclay is being suspended while the investigation is ongoing, Mayor Roger Maki confirmed during the meeting.

Former mayor Dave Hallback was the only person to address the council afterward, "to set the record straight," he said, holding a prepared statement in his hand. He told the council any information he had about an encounter between Lamirande and Langley came from Langley, his friend, not the police department. He also denied ever calling Brian Smith's union representatives about the outspoken carpenter. Smith was one of several people named by Lamirande whose bosses, or others, allegedly got phone calls after they were critical of the city council or police department.

Hallback - a retired police officer who worked with Lamirande for more than 20 years - also addressed Lamirande's complaints by casting aspersions on his character. Not long after Hallback called Lamirande a "narcissistic individual," Maki told him he needed to stop.

He didn't stop talking, although he did stop verbally attacking the former police chief.

"As mayor and before I left, I saw the police department running the best it has in the last 10 years," he said, a claim that was met with audible laughter by some audience members.

Hallback praised Reeves for doing an outstanding job and ended by saying that he hopes "our citizens can begin to focus on all the good and positive things that are going on throughout the city."

None of the councilors had any additional comments and the meeting was adjourned.