The West Tisbury building inspector is scheduled to be arraigned next month after an alleged incident at the annual town meeting in April.

The Edgartown District Court issued a summons to inspector Joseph Tierney to appear before the court on July 17 for a charge of assault and battery on a person over 60 or disabled, according to court records. 

West Tisbury police investigated Mr. Tierney after resident Leon Brathwaite claimed that Mr. Tierney pushed him during annual town meeting at the West Tisbury School on April 8. 

Both men were attending the town meeting and Mr. Brathwaite told police that Mr. Tierney tried to get him to stop talking while a speaker was at the microphone, according to a police report. 

Mr. Brathwaite claimed he leaned in to better hear Mr. Tierney when Mr. Tierney pushed him, putting a pause on the town meeting while paramedics treated Mr. Brathwaite, police wrote.

Mr. Tierney told police that he “used his arm in a backhanded motion which contacted Mr. Brathwaite,” according to the report.

Mr. Tierney first went to a clerk magistrate’s hearing in Falmouth District Court. The closed-door hearings are often held in misdemeanor cases to determine if someone should be formally charged in trial court. 

“The clerk found probable cause,” Mr. Tierney’s lawyer Thomas Orr told the Gazette. “Mr. Tierney will receive a summons to appear for an arraignment at a later time.” 

As Mr. Tierney awaits his arraignment, the town of West Tisbury set terms on which Mr. Tierney could continue to work in town government. 

The select board approved a “last chance” agreement at its meeting Wednesday. Under the terms, Mr. Tierney would have to complete a conflict resolution course and forfeit a week’s worth of vacation time. He would be terminated if there are any future offenses or failure to comply with the agreement.

The agreement stated Mr. Tierney had violated employee standards of conduct, but had an “unblemished past record of performance and his lack of any prior discipline…” 

“Mr. Tierney has assured the Appointing Authority that he is aware of the seriousness of the situation, accepted responsibility for his actions, and is committed to not repeating similar conduct,” the agreement stated.

Mr. Tierney did not respond to a call from the Gazette this week and his attorney declined to comment. 

  The last chance agreement was approved in a 2-1 vote by the board, with select board member Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter as the lone dissenter. He said that the only reason he voted against the motion was due to the wording of “unblemished past record.” 

“[There] was an issue involving Mr. Tierney about his verbal behavior,” he said. “I don’t call that an unblemished record. It was resolved...but the word ‘unblemished’ means nothing. That was something.” 

While select board member Jessica Miller didn’t disagree with Mr. Manter, she didn’t find that the issue would warrant having to send the agreement back to the lawyers to fix. 

“It doesn’t change the impact of the document and the purpose of the document would not be changed,” she said. “So I’m comfortable saying it as is.”