Intercepted emails led to Palmer police chief’s leave, body camera transcripts show

]What you need to know:

• Palmer Police Chief Dwayne Shelton was placed on administrative leave after then-City Manager Stephen Jellie intercepted emails in which Shelton allegedly criticized Jellie’s management decisions and coordinated with city police officers to speak against him at a city council meeting, according to police body camera footage.
• Jellie accused Shelton of "conspiring" with junior officers to undermine his management and ordered Shelton to turn in his badge and gun, citing the intercepted emails as evidence of insubordination.
• Shelton returned to duty last week. Jellie resigned Oct. 9 during a closed session with the council. He received a $75,000 severance package, marking his third resignation in two years. He served as Palmer’s city manager for 53 days.

PALMER — Palmer’s police chief was placed on administrative leave this month after now-former City Manager Stephen Jellie surreptitiously intercepted emails in which the chief allegedly criticized Jellie’s management decisions and coordinated with city police officers to speak against Jellie at a city council meeting, according to Palmer police body camera footage. 

Jellie ordered Chief Dwayne Shelton on administrative leave for allegedly "conspiring" with junior officers to address the council in protest of Jellie's employment, according to an unofficial transcript of a nearly 90-minute police body camera video recorded by Palmer Police Commander Shayne LaCroix during a private conversation with Jellie on Oct. 8. 

Shelton returned to work on Oct. 23 after his two-week leave expired. 

“I cannot continue to let leaders pit people against each other. I cannot have leaders conspiring with their subordinates against their superior,” Jellie said to Lacroix, according to the transcript. “You understand I monitor the email, right? Every time you sign into your computer, it says I can watch your email.” 

“I have all the emails between [redacted] and [redacted] going back and forth, writing letters conspiring to show up here. And, quite frankly, an attempt to overthrow your boss. Do you understand? Like, there's no way you and I can stand for that. If you hate me, we can't stand for that,” Jellie continued. “I'm saying we – you and I – cannot allow that sort of subversive behavior to go on in the police department. You can't have the chief of the police talking to a junior-level officer creating a subversive situation, trying to overthrow the city management.”

Jellie ordered Shelton to turn in his badge and gun on Oct. 8 ahead of the council meeting and appointed LaCroix as interim chief. He also instructed LaCroix to remove disorderly citizens from the meeting if requested by Mayor Steve Carrington and ordered by Jellie.

Shelton and about a dozen Palmer public safety employees spoke out against Jellie during the Oct. 8 meeting, saying he was working to cut their resources and downsize their departments. Their testimony followed a scathing statement from City Attorney Sarah Heath, who said that Jellie’s personnel practices posed an "imminent threat" of lawsuits. 

Jellie left the meeting during a break and did not return or give a reason for his exit. He has since said that he departed due to pain from what he later learned was a kidney stone. Carrington and Jellie did not order LaCroix to remove any citizens during the meeting.

Jellie resigned during a closed session with the council on Oct. 9. He received a $75,000 severance payout. It is his third such resignation in less than two years. 

Shelton declined to comment on the contents of his emails, Jellie’s decision to read them or the circumstances surrounding his administrative leave, citing potential pending litigation.

Shelton also declined to comment on whether Jellie violated any laws or security policies by reviewing police emails, which can contain information about ongoing criminal cases.

“This matter involving the police chief is entirely a personnel matter, and I cannot comment or provide input,” Jellie said in a statement Monday. “This information, in my opinion, should not have been released to the media,” he said of the body camera transcript. 

Palmer’s employee technology policy allows managers to access employees' city email. Employees are required to acknowledge the policy each time they log on to a city computer.

LaCroix, a 20-year veteran of the Palmer Police Department, activated his body camera when he entered Palmer City Hall for his meeting with Jellie, according to the transcript. He did not inform Jellie that he was recording.

State law allows police to record interactions and conversations without warning or consent. Under department policy, Palmer police are allowed to activate body cameras at any time they feel a recording is "appropriate or needed." They are prohibited from recording city employees without their knowledge "during routine, non-enforcement related activities," the policy states.

The transcript was obtained through a public information request. It is marked "unofficial" because it has not been reviewed to a standard that would allow it to be presented as evidence in court, Palmer police officials said. About half of the transcript is redacted to remove portions of the conversation that Palmer police officials said are related to privacy and personnel issues or could be part of future legal actions.

During the recorded meeting, Jellie told LaCroix he must perform his assigned duties or face suspension.

“Listen. I have a job to get done and so I'll give you a choice at this very moment. You can do your job or I'll suspend you right now pending a final decision on your employment. You have to, you have to look me in the face and tell me you will do your job,” Jellie said.

“I will do my job, sir,” LaCroix replied, the transcript shows. 

Carrington also joined the meeting for about 15 minutes to discuss public safety needs for the scheduled council meeting before being asked to leave by Jellie, the transcript shows. He said it was unlikely they would have to remove any citizens during the meeting.

“What’s more likely to happen with me is if, you know, starting the noise levels, getting a little loud or whatever is, I’ll say, well, shoot, we need to take a break,” Carrington said, adding that Palmer is “fairly normally even-tempered.” 

Jellie told LaCroix and Carrington that he worried the meeting could escalate into a physical altercation, something he said happened when he was city manager in Ogdensburg, New York.

“The Ogdensburg gang only got the whip when they got, like, physical, frankly. That was it,” Jellie said.

Officials in Ogdensburg said that while public meetings during Jellie’s tenure there were often raucous and unprofessional, they do not recall any instances of physical altercations in council chambers. Jellie resigned from Ogdensburg in late 2022 with a $50,000 severance package.

The Palmer City Council last week ordered an investigation into Jellie’s actions, focusing first on about 120 emails that officials say Jellie deleted in the hours surrounding his resignation. That review is ongoing.

— Contact Amy Bushatz at abushatz@matsusentinel.com.