FAIRMONT– The Fairmont City Council gathered on Monday for another special meeting, which was a continuation of a special meeting it had last week that only lasted a few minutes. The two items on the agenda dealt with allegations against Council Member Britney Kawecki.

Despite the nature of the meeting, the city’s attorney was not present at the meeting, either in person or by the phone.

Mayor Lee Baarts provided some background on the matter and said that on Nov. 10 the council had a special meeting on preliminary consideration of allegations against Council Member Britney Kawecki, at which point the council, in a 3-2 vote, opted to move forward with a hearing regarding the allegation.

It was also said at the meeting on Nov. 10 that the hearing would need to be held in the next 30 days. However, on Dec. 8, when that was supposed to take place, the meeting was adjourned after a short time as Baarts said he did not think procedures had been followed correctly and he suggested the council adjourn pending further consultation with legal counsel.

The first item then on Monday was to consider extending the hearing beyond 30 days.

Council Member Jay Maynard said, “We unfortunately last week found ourself not holding the hearing that had been scheduled and in the process of doing that we denied Councilor Kawecki the opportunity to present her case. I believe that fairness demands that we give her that opportunity and to do that we need to extend the hearing out until today.”

He made a motion to extend the hearing past 30 days. Council Member James Kotewa was in agreement and seconded it. He said he wanted Kawecki to be able to speak so that the council could move forward and “put this to bed.”

Kawecki, however, said that 30 days was up and that the case was dead when 30 days was up. She also shared that she did not agree with calling Monday’s meeting a continuation of a previous meeting, as it had concluded.

Maynard asked whether the motion as listed was provided by legal counsel. City Clerk Betsy Steuber said it was not provided by legal but that she had modified it and based it off of a prior script provided by legal for the last meeting on Dec. 8.

In a roll call vote, the motion to extend the hearing another 30 days passed 3-2 with Council Members Kotewa, Maynard and Wayne Hasek in favor and Council Member Randy Lubenow and Kawecki opposed.

The meeting then continued to the second agenda item, which was the hearing. Baarts provided some instruction and said that Kawecki would not be able to speak while he went over the allegations.

The allegations had largely to do with social media postings and email exchanges. Of the six that Baarts read, they included that “Council Member Britney Kawecki posted or disclosed private personnel data on a current or former city employee to members of the public without authorization from city council for disclosure,” and “Council Member Britney Kawecki used her position as a city council member and/or council member at large to improperly influence the outcome of official city action, including but not limited to, city administrator hiring process.”

He asked whether the allegations sounded appropriate, to which he received some verbal “yes” responses from the council.

Baarts then told Kawecki that she could give a response to the allegations, which she was made aware of on Nov. 6 by former interim city administrator, Jeff O’Neill.

Kawecki spoke about what she understood to be the details of the complaint, which was filed on Oct. 6. She read from the start of the complaint which said, “Councilor Kawecki posted a video to Facebook that contained lies about city staff. She lied about the harassment investigation between her and myself saying it was a sham investigation and that she was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing.”

Kawecki, however, read from the motion on the first referenced investigation and pointed out that she was directed not to have direct written contact with that complainant, which she hasn’t. Kawecki was adamant that she is entitled to her opinion that it was in fact a sham investigation and that she can post that on her Facebook page.

She continued to respond to the six allegations by both explaining her actions and denying any wrongdoing.

Kawecki also referenced an email that has been floating around Facebook and who leaked it to Todd Smith. She said that no evidence links her to the leak.

Kawecki further said that the city attorney said it does not know who leaked the private and privileged correspondence and that multiple people had access, including the complainant, the city administrator, multiple legal counsel and six city council members.

“Assigning blame to me is purely speculative,” Kawecki said. “The email was not clearly marked as private or privileged. It was sent to multiple parties, including council members and staff.”

After addressing more allegations and providing explanation, Kawecki held up a folder and said there were some print outs of posts from her Facebook page, but there were even more print outs from the City of Lakes Open Discussion Facebook page, which it’s been alleged she made herself or asked that another administrator of the page make.

“I am being blamed for the posts on the City of Lakes Open Discussion page. That’s what I’m being blamed for… I do not post those on his page. I do not make him do anything. He is his own person. This is speculation and false accusations,” Kawecki said.

She added that it is personal bias against her.

After Kawecki said her piece, Baarts asked if any of the other council members wanted to reply.

Kotewa asked Kawecki whether she’s been on Todd Smith’s computer. She admitted that she has been on his computer but said that she has not posted on his page from his computer and has not been in his place of business when he is not there.

Kotewa also asked Kawecki why she recently changed the name of her professional Facebook page from Britney Kawecki, Council Member at Large to Britney Kawecki, A Council Members Perspective.

Kawecki said she changed the name of the page because she wanted to.

Kotewa and Kawecki shared some back and forth and Kotewa said that these issues are why he wants to address and/or change the council’s code of conduct, to avoid anything that could be misconstrued.

“At this point, we need to come together as a council, as city staff, as a community to make this a better place,” Kotewa said.

He spoke about the loss of respect between council members, city staff and the community members. He pointed out that in everything Kawecki said, she did not accept any blame.

Kawecki spoke again and remained adamant that she can share her opinion on her Facebook page.

“We can build a 26 page code of conduct and this and that, but I believe that city council members, we’re elected and elected officials, no matter what they are… we were elected to serve the people that elected us to provide our opinions,” Kawecki said.

She said that no code of conduct should restrict her freedom of speech to share her opinion.

“Unless I am openly and utterly, purposefully defaming anybody and lying openly, that is wrong. But what I state is what I believe to be true. As long as that is what I believe, there’s nothing wrong with that. I have that right as a citizen and as an elected official,” Kawecki said.

Kotewa said he believes that council members need to be held to a higher standard when it comes to running a social media page. Kawecki responded and said that those same standards need to be applied to all council member’s social media pages.

Kotewa said he wanted to make a motion to move forward and come up with a code of conduct by Feb. 28.

However, Lubenow had a piece to say, too. He agreed that there needs to be a code of conduct, but he also encouraged the council to remember that it’s a $200 a month job.

“Who’s going to want to serve Fairmont when every email, post you make, everything you say, every place you go…. I think we have to be careful. We’re human beings. We have lives outside city hall,” Lubenow said.

He was in agreement that it’s time to move along and said that he wished people didn’t post as much on social media.

“You’re allowed to say anything you want. That’s your first amendment right. But I think we need to get back to serving the citizens,” Lubenow said.

Council Member Wayne Hasek said he agreed with some earlier statements from Kotewa and Lubenow that Facebook should be used both differently and less.

“I don’t mind if somebody says, ‘yeah we have a meeting,’ or something of that nature, but when it’s personnel issues and things of that nature, Facebook is off limits. I think you’re really pushing it,” Hasek said.

Kotewa made a motion that the complainant, Kawecki and the mayor should meet to resolve any issues, which will come to the council at the Jan. 12, 2026 meeting with the complaint then withdrawn and a revised code of conduct in force by March 1 of 2026. Lubenow seconded the motion.

In a roll call vote, the motion passed unanimously.