Officials Reveal Who Conducted Faulty Criminal Background Check

Oxford Officials at July 9 Meeting

From L to R : Maintenance Supervisor Matt Ozman, Town Attorney Lyndsay Ryan, Commissioner Katrina Greer, Commissioner Tom Costigan, Commissioner Norm Bell, Town Clerk /Treasurer Vickie Sharp, and Town Planner Marilyn Williams

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It had been seventeen months since the Town of Oxford was forced to schedule a town meeting in the Oxford Community Center due to overwhelming expected attendance. The first time it was held there it was in response to the sudden retirement of long time Oxford Chief of Police Patrick Maxwell.

Since then, most meetings have been held in the town's administration building in the upstairs meeting room.

Things changed last week when the town announced the sudden hiring and almost immediate dismissal of Michael Calvert, brought on to be town manager. Citizens discovered that Michael Calvert had not only caused problems in his previous job in Liberty, South Carolina, but the town had missed a troubling criminal record.

In 1994, according to a Washington Post article Michael Everett Calvert allegedly exposed himself to children while wearing pantyhose.  He was charged with two counts of taking indecent liberties with a juvenile and posted a $25,000 bond.  Police had received reports of "seven" different incidents of a "pantyhose-clad man" approaching juveniles in various parts of town, including near Leesburg "Elementary School."  

Calvert was dismissed from a job he never should have been interviewed for.

People wanted answers.

How Calvert was hired and what was the involvement of the retiring Oxford town manager in that process? Who was responsible for a mistake that potentially cost the town money but also put residents at the mercy of a person with a criminal past? The normal response that "it is a personnel issue" wasn't cutting it for many.

Cheryl Lewis's Last Gift To Oxford - Easton Gazette

Now What? How Does Oxford Move Past Latest Hiring Scandal? - Easton Gazette

The town had to move their meeting to the much larger Oxford Community Center auditorium due to a flood of citizen emails/letters on the topic. On Tuesday night, July 9th, the OCC was packed. Extra chairs had to be brought in and even then, people were left standing in the back of the room.

The meeting was called to order.

After all stood for the Pledge, Mr. Bell, the new town commissioner, was sworn in. He won the position in June by only 12 votes, the second fewest in recent history since Mr. Costigan won his seat by merely two votes back in 2022. The current election had been an extremely contentious one with allegations of dirty tricks, citizen harassment, and sign stealing. The turnout to vote was over 400, one of the largest turnouts in Oxford history.

Norman Bell (Left) Is Sworn In

After a nice round of applause for Mr. Bell, the meeting was called to order and promptly went off the rails into territory that had never been entered in the history of the town.

It is the practice after each election cycle to elect a new President of the Commissioners. The office usually goes to a sitting Commissioner. Current President Tom Costigan, after lauding his own public service in the town, started the nomination for a new Commission President by praising Norm Bell and his service on town Committees and then nominating Bell, a person who had been a commissioner for less than ten minutes, to the office of President of the Commissioners.

Commissioner Katrina Greer, who was elected in 2023, then made a statement regarding her qualifications and nominated herself for the position. Greer has been the sole champion on the Commissioners for transparency in town government and has been fighting for needed changes in town processes during her entire tenure. The vote started.

Costigan voted for Bell.

Greer voted for Greer.

Bell was next. He took a deep breath, paused, and looked over the crowd. Then he quietly voted for himself. With that, Clerk/Secretary Vickie Sharp announced him as the new President of the Commissioners. Did we say he had been a Commissioner for less than a half hour?

In the back of the room, one resident, a former commissioner and Bell supporter who is considered by many as a man who pulls the strings of Oxford town government, had his eyes glued on the people on the stage. As soon as Bell announced his vote, he turned to someone near him and gave him a high five. Then, he promptly left the meeting. The ex-Commissioner saw what he wanted.

Clearly, this unprecedented action had been in the works for a while. In a world where we hear the word "collusion" all the time many asked if Bell had been part of a deal with Costigan that made Bell President of the Commissioners. **

After all, Greer has been a lightning rod on the Commissioners as she has prodded and searched town reports and documents in an attempt to bring full transparency to all facets of government. She is blunt and to the point, much to the chagrin of those who see the town as their own personal fiefdom. Greer is not one to take orders from people, but she cares about getting citizen input instead of keeping the public out of the loop.

And let's face it, there are many in town who prefer that the truth stay hidden.

The good news with the situation is that the President of the Commissioners is NOT the Mayor and has no more power than any other Commissioner. Still, the slight to the female member of the Commissioners was an alarming one.

The crowd did not react well to this and were extremely vocal with their support of Greer and displeasure with the vote. Commissioner Costigan stood up, angrily thrust his hands in the air, and chastised the audience to quiet down as his face turned red with outrage. " Hey, please don't interrupt our meeting!" he screamed.

"You work for US!" someone in the crowd yelled.

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Perhaps someone should remind Mr. Costigan that these ARE the people he works for, not the four or five in the inner circle he generally caters to. And, it's not HIS meeting, it's the meeting of the TOWNSPEOPLE. Elected in 2022, he has yet to understand any of that.

Costigan then read the following statement regarding the hiring of Mr. Calvert as Town Manager: "Through multiple interviews, we thought we had secured the services of the best candidate possible using the information we had available. I'm disappointed to admit that we were wrong. I'm someone who believes that you learn from your mistakes, but it does little good to dwell on them. With that in mind we must move forward and work to create the best and most efficient town government." He went on to praise current town staff and departments and to promise a better search process next time.

His statement ended with, "Having this competent staff gives us time. Time to do things right. It gives us time to reflect. Most importantly, it gives us time to develop a plan that should lead to a successful outcome. It is crucial that we do not rush this process. Once developed we can take that plan to a professional search firm that we will have selected with the expectation that they will bring us carefully selected, vetted candidates."

Costigan seems to have selective memory regarding his opinion regarding a search firm when Lewis announced her retirement. At the time, he and Former Appointed Commissioner Botkin were against taking their time and hiring a search firm. They didn't want to spend the money. They wanted the hiring done quickly, before Lewis walked out the door. They thought they would find a strong candidate after thirty days of a search through the town office (i.e. Cheryl Lewis). This brought Mr. Calvert to Maryland before the town had time to send out proposals to search firms.

Everyone knows where that got Oxford. And now Costigan wants us all to forget and move forward. Of course he does.

The meeting continued with discussion of the new search for a town manager and Greer proposed a resolution to "have a search firm conduct the search for a new town manager. The process of finding the right firm and the right fit might take several weeks, and we will be looking for input, but we should tell the public that we have a plan that we are going to use professional services." The Commissioners voted to engage a search firm. What seems to be up in the air is HOW and WHEN they will look over proposals and choose one. Bell suggested they take their time, but Greer stated that the search needs to get started soon to make sure we don't put too much strain on our town office.

After all, the town is three months behind already in searching for a new town manager.

In the meantime, she recommended that the Commissioners help oversee some of the office load by each taking a different area to focus on and help with if needed.

The meeting then moved to public comment.

During public comment, mosquito spraying and buffers imposed by the State due to citizen complaints, and the recent trimming of trees around electrical wires were some of the topics. There were also questions about the disastrous hiring process.

Resident Jan Greenhawk* thanked the town for finally deciding to use a professional search, but said citizens needed to know what happened during this one. She asked if the town did a criminal background search on Mr. Calvert, when it was done, when it was presented to the Commissioners, and who did the background search.

Town attorney Lindsey Ryan answered that they had done a background search prior to Calvert's hiring, and it had been presented to the Commissioners. Greenhawk asked again, "Who did the background check?". Ryan paused and then answered, "The town office." Greenhawk persisted and asked, "Who specifically in the town office did the background check?"

Ryan again paused and then responded, "The former town manager through an online search." When asked which online service Lewis used, Ryan said she didn't know.

Many in the crowd either nodded or gasped. The lawyer's admission re-enforced the suspicions of many residents. They had warned against using the former town manager in the search for her replacement. At the very least they thought she would give a halfhearted attempt. At the worst they thought she would sabotage the town's process. Now, with this revelation, residents found out that Lewis either didn't disclose to Commissioners how the search was done and the service used OR she claimed not to remember.

Resident Scott Rensberger followed up by asking, "Am I the one person who first let the town know about Michael Calvert's past?" Again, a long pause and then Commissioner Greer responded, "Yes." More gasping and head shaking in the crowd.

That last set of questions told many residents everything they needed to know. A criminal background check on Michael Calvert was not diligently or thoroughly conducted by the previous town manager. Without Rensberger and fellow citizen Ron Walker doing their own background investigations, the town would have put citizens in a potentially perilous situation with Calvert's hiring.

It was a meeting that revealed so much. So much that Oxford's residents never thought they would see.

People left the meeting that evening wondering how in the world this beautiful little town had suddenly become such a hotbed for controversy, incompetence and corruption. They saw an election for President of the Commissioners that didn't make sense, heard confirmation that a town employee had not been fully open on the hiring process to replace her, and saw a former President of the Commissioners try to avoid accountability for his decisions. It was almost beyond belief.

It's seventeen months since the last standing room only meeting at the Community Center, and though the town has made changes, the town government still struggles with giving ALL citizens the information, input, and respect they deserve. It's not an unusual problem in the United States right now at all levels, but it's sad that it should exist in a small town on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

The hope that the people of Oxford have is that the Commissioners have learned their lesson and will start doing the right thing for everyone, not just their supporters or a small group of town influencers. They have to hope that their calls for openness and transparency will work. They have to hope that Commissioners will follow the Charter and the Code and act with impeccable character even when it doesn't benefit their friends. They have to hope that more people than just a select few will get involved in running the town. They have to hope that they will be treated with respect by their commissioners instead of being shouted into silence when a commissioner doesn't like what is being said.

Hope is great. But, it won't get these things done.

The only way to do that is to ask questions, demand answers, expose lies and potential corruption, and come to meetings and hold our leaders' feet to the fire. We need to know our charter and our code and speak up when things are done incorrectly or unethically. This is uncomfortable and makes those who constantly search for the truth the target of vitriol from those who prefer it stay hidden. It is the only way that the town can come together for ALL of us.

*Yes, I know I am referring to myself in the third person. It's for clarity.

**WRITER'S NOTE: I will be interviewing Norman Bell today at 1 p.m. I have met Commissioner Bell and talked with him several times. I have found him to be an honest man who truly wants to serve the town. Unfortunately, the actions of Tuesday's meeting have left many people wondering if he will be beholding to the same group that controls Costigan. As usual, only time will tell.

OTHER EVENTS: Obscured by the controversy created by the Commissioners was the promotion of Brandon Bobbick to the rank of Sergeant by Chief Chris Phillips. Bobbick has been a member of the Oxford police since last summer.

Chris Phillips promotes Brandon Bobbick to Sergent as Bobbick's wife looks on.

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EXTRA NOTES: Sadly, many other issues exist in the small town that need to be addressed quickly. The town, according to Commissioner Greer, is operating with a $750,000 working deficit. The Strand Project is in violation of the American with Disabilities Act because there is NO handicapped access to a public beach at the Strand or at Lover's Lane, even though the contract for the project included one. The rocks and logs on the Strand have been identified as "attractive nuisances" that can get the town sued. Flood mitigation measures are in the works, but the priorities identified are unclear. Committees and Commissions assignments are given out as favors, turning these groups into power brokers. A current Ethics Committee member (who is still listed as the chairman) has written slanderous emails regarding certain town employees and citizens yet remains on the Committee. Other Committee chairmen ignore rules themselves while autocratically forcing others to adhere to them. There is a lot of work to be done in Oxford and a lot of change that has to happen.