Acting Town Manager, Kim Bernard discovered a controversial setup where town council emails sent to the group page were secretly blind copied to administration and staff. Believing this practice violated public trust and citizen privacy without proper consent, Bernard immediately eliminated the routing system. While councilor Bouchard and Paul worried this change might reduce accountability for unresponded messages, Bernard strongly maintained that secret monitoring was unethical and harmful to community relations. Ultimately, the discussion highlighted the ongoing tension between maintaining transparent municipal business and protecting the confidential communications of everyday residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Acting Town Manager Kim Bernard was contacted on 10\/6\/2026 and asked for the following:
A copy of the email discussed
How long has this policy been in place?
Which employees were being copied?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As of 10\/16\/2026 the Acting Town Manager has only provided a copy of the email<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n 9\/25\/2026 Email from Kim Bernard to the Town Council It should be noted that a statement from former Town Managed Shaun Mulholland contradicts Bernards comments. See Shaun Mulholland Responds to \u2018Blind Copied Emails\u2019 Allegations<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
While setting up my town hall email, it was discovered that anytime a citizen or whomever wanted to email you all at the “Towncouncil” email, it would bcc the Town Manager and a few other staff members. I for one, think this is a trust and privacy issue as the person emailing the group has no idea it’s being seen without their knowledge as it was intended for your eyes only. At this moment, I do not feel comfortable with it. I had a discussed with the IT department to remove it. He told me he did not set this up. I am not sure how long this has been set up like that. Should for any reason you feel this should remain, and I can’t imagine you would, please let me know.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n