Selectman Patrick Hargreaves has come under fire for allegedly trying to use his position as a member of the board to influence a police officer during a June 13 confrontation with a patrolman.

In a letter written to Town Manager Jonathan Sistare on June 15, Chief of Police Paul Donovan accused Hargreaves of improper and unethical behavior after a verbal exchange with officer Michael White at 23 School St. According to Donovan, White was on patrol when he found a Stacey Tree Co. boom truck blocking the free flow of traffic without warning signs, with several workers in street clothes directing motorists around the vehicle.

According to Donovan, when White directed the workers to shut the job down he was approached by a man – later identified as Hargreaves by officer Eric Dugas, the second officer to arrive on the scene – who said he would call the town manager in regards to the incident. Donovan wrote that Hargreaves also told White that he would bring the matter up at the next selectmen meeting.

“Clearly, this was a threat and an improper attempt to influence the official act of a police officer in the performance of his sworn duty,” Donovan wrote. “Such an improper action is not only unethical, but in violation of RSA 49-D:4, Non-Interference by the Elected Body. Mr. Hargreaves has been trained in this RSA and has had other instances where this type of violation was brought to his attention, yet he continues to act in this illegal and unethical manner.”

Donovan also charged Hargreaves with contacting a local newspaper, the Salem Community Patriot, to tell them that the Police Department had shut down a volunteer project.

“Selectman Hargreaves’ outrageous conduct reflects poorly on the Town and Board of Selectmen. It ... should be investigated by the Board of Selectmen for action,” Donovan wrote. “We ... have been frequent victims of his improper and unethical conduct, as well as the disrespectful and negative barbs that he tosses out in public on a regular basis.”

At a Monday, June 22, board meeting, Hargreaves fired back, accusing the the department of lying about his contact with members of the press while defending his conduct during the incident.

“I am guilty as charged for volunteering my time. I am guilty as charged for saying I was a selectman. I should never have said I was a selectman ... I told everybody I would drop it. I did not want this to get that far. I don’t see where I was out of bounds,” Hargreaves said.

Hargreaves also maintains that he did not initiate contact with a newspaper and told the board that he had been called by a reporter in connection with the volunteer work being done on School Street.

Though the selectmen chose to table the matter until a public disciplinary hearing scheduled for the July 13 meeting, Chairman Arthur Barnes said the incident had broken new ground for the board.

Under state statute, a member of the elected body would forfeit their seat if found interfering with an officer performing their duty through procedures outlined in the town charter, but the Salem town charter has no such procedure.

“According to the RSA, we have to follow the procedure in town charter, but the town charter is silent. I guess the procedure that I intend to follow is adhering similarly to what used to be a discipline hearing back when I was in the Fire Department,” Barnes said. “We’re still in the fact finding mode. That will be concluded at our next meeting. Because this involves one of the five of us, under the RSA it must be public.”

According to Barnes, both sides will be able to present their accounts of the incident before the board arrives at a final decision. Given the lack of guidelines in the town charter, Barnes said there was no way of determining any of the possible outcomes from the hearing ahead of time.

Police officials confirmed yesterday that there had been an incident involving Hargreaves, but declined to comment until the matter had been settled by the board.