Last Woodstock chief demoted in part for his haircuts

By Michael Donoghue, Vermont News First

A version of this news story ran in the Vermont Standard on Thursday.

The acting Woodstock Police Chief was captured on video getting his hair cut while working last week — one of the complaints that led to the recent removal of former police chief Joe Swanson.

The video and still photographs of Acting Police Chief Chris O’Keeffe are circulating on social media, including on the Facebook account of Woodstock lawyer Nicholas Seldon, Swanson’s husband.

O’Keeffe was getting his haircut at First Impressions Salon and Spa, which is owned by Brenda Blakeman, one of the Village Trustees voting 5-0 in April to approve Swanson’s demotion.

Swanson had come under fire for his management style, including a messy office, non-matching socks and for going to Hartford to get his hair cut, possibly on village time.

Now O’Keeffe finds himself in the video spotlight for getting his hair cut on village time — except he is doing it in town and at a salon owned by a village official.

The video could soon become an exhibit in the two legal actions Swanson has filed in Vermont Superior Court over his demotion. 

The candid camera case began to unfold when Seldon spotted a marked Woodstock Police cruiser parked outside Blakeman’s salon on Central Street last Friday shortly before 9 a.m.

In the video, Seldon is walking up to the windows of the salon to confirm O’Keeffe was inside getting a haircut.  He started shooting video through a large window and O’Keeffe is captured in a chair covered by a cape, getting a trim and Blakeman standing nearby.

The video captures a few seconds before Blakeman realizes somebody is at the large window for the business.  The video also shows her walking over to a window and making an obscene gesture for a couple of seconds apparently toward Seldon.

Blakeman moves to the front door of her shop, walks outside and yells “Nico take a hike.  Go get a real job.”

Seldon retorts, “You’re such a (expletive) hypocrite, Brenda.”

He adds, “You are such a fraud,” as they both mumble parting shots in the video accessed by the Vermont Standard.

Selden’s Facebook post notes in part, “This is corruption. This is nepotism. This is discrimination.”

He notes the apparent irony of O’Keeffe getting a haircut from a salon operated by a Village official who helped demote Swanson.  Seldon said Swanson occasionally clocked out to get a haircut at a competitor of Blakeman.

Blakeman, reached at her shop on Tuesday, appeared miffed that the Vermont Standard had learned about the public video.

She said she thought the video had been taken down on Sunday, but was told clips were still available on Tuesday. 

“I can’t talk right now,” Blakeman said, noting she was with a customer.  She promised to call back and did on Wednesday just before deadline.

She confirmed much of what the video showed and said her customers and staff were unhappy they might be caught on camera.

Blakeman said she went to her front door to close it to try to ensure Seldon did not enter the business. She said she thought Seldon had been there longer than the video showed and that it had been edited.  

When reached later, Seldon said he had no intention of going inside the business.  He said the video lasted 33 seconds and he had stopped for no more than 45 to 60 seconds.

“The video speaks for itself,” Seldon said.  He said another stylist actually spotted him first on the sidewalk. 

O’Keefe declined comment when reached by phone on Tuesday.   When asked when he might, O’Keeffe said, “probably never.”

Municipal Manager Eric Duffy failed to respond to voice and text messages seeking comment this week before the Standard’s deadline.

Village Trustee Chair Seton McIlroy also did not respond to voice and text messages before the deadline this week.

Duffy and McIlroy have not offered any comments in several weeks as legal proceedings for the community continue to unfold.

Duffy was the Village official to file administrative charges against Swanson and moved to have him demoted from chief during a six-month personnel dispute.

Duffy is the lead named defendant in a $5 million lawsuit filed by Swanson over his demotion.

Also named as defendants in the civil lawsuit are McIlroy, Blakeman, Vice Chair Jeffrey Kahn, and fellow Trustees Frank Horneck and Lisa Lawlor, and both the town and village of Woodstock.

Also named a defendant is the Burgess Loss Prevention Associates of Lebanon, N.H..  The owner, William Burgess, was hired by Duffy to do interviews of employees about Swanson’s performance prior to demotion.

A recent motion to try to add O’Keeffe to the 31-page lawsuit is still pending before Vermont Superior Court Judge H. Dickson Corbett.

The lawsuit maintains the defendants were involved in the “extraordinary unlawful efforts” to remove Swanson as the police chief and to “demote” him to patrol officer.

Corbett did rule recently that the five Woodstock Village Trustees had failed to properly follow the law during the demotion process.

“It appears to the court that the reasoning of the village trustees was erroneous,” Corbett said in his three-page ruling.