Council exonerates city officials after investigation

Cloquet city councilors voted unanimously Tuesday to exonerate two city employees — city administrator Aaron Reeves and human resources director James Barclay – on Tuesday, following investigations of allegations made by former Cloquet police chief Wade Lamirande.

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

In the email 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 the investigation of a complaint he filed with the police department in 2017 that he says was “sanitized” before they saw it. Lamirande also made allegations about Barclay’s role and actions regarding the investigation of his complaint about the police department.

The council hired a third-party investigator, Michelle Soldo, to investigate all of the allegations by Lamirande. So far only the Barclay and Reeves investigations appear to have been concluded.

Making carefully and identically worded motions regarding both employees, councilor Kerry Kolodge motioned that “the city council determines that the disposition of allegations … is exonerated … and that no further actions on the allegations will be taken.” He added that Mayor Roger Maki should consult with legal counsel to draft any appropriate notice to the employees, who were both in the room, along with Brandon Fitzsimmons, a Twin Cities attorney with Flaherty & Hood who contracts with the city for legal personnel issues.

Both Barclay and Reeves said they were happy with the council’s decision after the meeting.

“I guess all I can say is the council decision speaks for itself,” Reeves said. “The council hired a very well-respected third-party investigator that completed the investigation and based on those findings, the council made the findings it did tonight.”

Barclay agreed.

“I’m pleased with the council’s decision. I think it speaks for itself,” he said.

Councilor Lara Wilkinson also suggested the city notify Lamirande about the city’s disposition of his complaints. She also asked for clarification regarding what councilors could say about the complaints, which was very little beyond confirming that the complaints were filed, investigated and no action was taken.

“Based on data privacy laws, the city can share no further information about the complaints,” Fitzsimmons said.

Reached by the Pine Knot News after the meeting, Lamirande expressed some surprise.

“All I can say is I can’t control what others told Michelle Soldo about this. It must be contrary to what they told me,” hd said, explaining that he would have expected a different decision otherwise. “I know what they told me and I told the truth.”

Lamirande confirmed that he has been interviewed by Soldo twice already.

Although no audience members addressed the council after the meeting, councilor Steve Langley did ask two questions during the council comments portion of the meeting.

He wondered if the city should “send the complainant a bill,” meaning Lamirande.

“One, the city’s retained an investigator and you’ve retained myself, so the bills will be to you,” Fitzsimmons said. “There’s no legal mechanism to recoup those costs.”

Langley also suggested that “since these allegations proved to be unsubstantiated,” the council might save some money and direct Reeves and Barclay to investigate Langley, rather than continuing to pay the third party investigator.

Maki and Fitzsimmons both pointed out that the investigation of Langley was already underway, and the council had approved retaining an investigator regarding the allegations against Langley in March.

Fitzsimmons explained that only the city council members can police each other.

“Though you may rely on the advice of [an attorney or city administrator], you all get to decide how things are handled, for example, when there are complaints about one of you,” he said. “You all get to decide collectively.”