Along with the notice of claim filed against the Town of Fountain Hills by Shea-Connelly Development in March, a second claim was filed against Planning and Zoning Commission Chair Michael …
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Along with the notice of claim filed against the Town of Fountain Hills by Shea-Connelly Development in March, a second claim was filed against Planning and Zoning Commission Chair Michael Archambault, stating that, in late February, he posted “false, defamatory” information about N-Shea, SCD on Facebook.
In April, it appeared that the results of Archambault’s actions had moved the Town Council to call for his job, as an item to consider his possible removal as P&Z chair appeared on the April 21 agenda before being removed.
According to the original claim, Archambault had spoken out on social media against N-Shea and Shea Development, as well as the Town Council.
In the claim, Archambault is quoted as having posted statements that the developer building the Morningstar project was not following building codes, had installed wet drywall and started the project “with an ‘at risk’ grading permit.”
The posts continued, asking “how long is the Mayor and Council going to allow this fiasco to go on,” among others.
On March 30, Mayor Linda Kavanagh wrote to Archambault about the matter of the derogatory comments made on Facebook, citing said posts as a violation of the Town’s Code of Ethics. The correspondence ends with a request for his resignation from the Planning and Zoning Commission.
A second correspondence was sent on April 5 explaining that, without response, Archambault’s possible removal would appear on the April 21 Town Council agenda. Before the meeting took place, however, the item was removed.
According to Kavanagh, the item was taken off the agenda temporarily due to pending litigation and, due to Archambault’s position, the town was obligated to provide legal counsel.
“The complaint filed by N-Shea was in some ways different from the agenda item, though somewhat related,” Kavanagh explained. “I was requesting Archambault to step down from the commission, not directly because there was a complaint filed against him, but because of violations to the Code of Ethics and his method of questioning the town staff, bypassing the town manager as required.”
Kavanagh explained that, beyond that, she is currently limited in what she can say due to pending litigation.
Archambault was also limited in what he could say, referring The Times to attorney Gary Popham.
Popham explained that a request for preliminary injunction was filed for the case but denied, so the civil case is ongoing and still in the early stages.
Due to the ongoing litigation, Popham was similarly limited in the information he could provide.
