EASTHAMPTON — Less than 24 hours after the City Council discussed his compensation Wednesday, Assistant to the Mayor Evan LeBeau resigned from his part-time duties as clerk of the Licensing Board, saying that he felt “singled out” by Council President Koni Denham.
“I felt singled out and unfairly attacked by an elected official that should be supporting all city employees,” LeBeau said in an interview. His resignation followed a Wednesday City Council meeting where the fiscal year 2027 budget was approved and his compensation was discussed.
LeBeau stepped into the role of the clerk — overseeing administrative tasks and records for the Licensing Board which meets approximately 12 times a year — after being hired as Mayor Salem Derby’s assistant in January, following the Nov. 4 municipal election.
As part of that budget, Derby requested a $1,500 stipend for the Licensing Board clerk, but the council voted to include only $1,200 on Wednesday. A council motion to increase the stipend to the originally requested $1,500 failed in a 4-4 vote. Denham advocated at a previous Finance Committee meeting to remove the stipend entirely.
“A council president used an open public meeting to impugn a $45,000-a-year, junior employee who felt intimidated and targeted, and resigned,” Derby told the Gazette. “From my perspective, that’s not really governance, that’s intimidation.”
Wanting to remove the stipend was not personal, Denham said, reasoning that she was fulfilling her job as a councilor to find cost savings during a budget season when the City Council has been told by multiple residents it should not “just be going along,” with the mayor’s budget.
“What’s really disturbing is that this was made to become personal and we’re talking about a position,” Denham said. “We’ve heard again and again that City Council shouldn’t be just going along and we tried to make fair cuts.”
The Licensing Board typically meets at 4 p.m. on the first Monday of the month, during the Municipal Building’s office hours. Denham argued that employees should not receive a stipend for additional clerical work when it falls into their standard city employee hours.
“To provide someone a stipend during their work day, that to me feels like they’re double dipping,” Denham said. “I’m astonished, I don’t think that’s fair to our pay-plan workers.”
Denham said the clerical duties were previously included in the job description of executive assistant to the mayor, held by Lindsi Sekula when Mayor Nicole LaChapelle was in office.
When Derby transitioned the role from a $92,000 executive assistant position in fiscal year 2026 to an hourly assistant position earning approximately $45,000 a year, the clerical duties were removed from the description. When Derby was elected mayor, he reduced the responsibilities of the position saying that he didn’t “need a high-level assistant,” referring to the role held by Sekula, who lost to Derby at the Nov. 4 municipal election.
“I want Evan to be successful, I’ve known this individual for a long time but I think it’s really disrespectful to take a job description, completely cut it down, tell the public that you want it down because you just want someone to greet people at the door, then turn around to try and provide them additional funds,” Denham said.
Derby said in an interview that other employees who serve as clerks on various boards — such as the City Clerk for the City Council — perform clerical work during the day and are compensated more than what Lebeau would have been, arguing the same situation is identical. He added that LeBeau has not been paid yet for his duties as Licensing Clerk because the stipend was not established when LeBeau started as his assistant.
“The reason for cutting the stipend was objecting to paying for work done during the work day … but this is not a unique situation,” Derby said.
Denham said during the Wednesday meeting that there was a previous Licensing Board meeting when she felt LeBeau seemed to “represent the interest of the mayor” as opposed to “working for the Licensing Board and providing them support.”
Derby said it was inappropriate to bring up LeBeau’s performance at a public meeting without discussing it personally or with Human Resources, and denied that LeBeau supported the mayor over the Licensing Board. Derby said administration will attempt to fill the position, but it will remain vacant for the foreseeable future.
“I don’t have any aspirations for licensing,” Derby said.
“Show that you’re doing a good job, but I’m not suddenly going to give that person a $1,500 raise,” Denham said. “I think that’s so incredibly disrespectful to our paid-plan employees.”
