The Edgartown personnel board sent a letter of reprimand to the town planning board last week following a grievance that was filed claiming inappropriate behavior by an elected official toward a town employee.

Planning board assistant Georgiana Greenough filed the grievance against board member Fred Mascolo on Feb. 2, following a heated exchange at a Feb. 1 meeting.

The personnel board letter was sent to the planning board on Feb. 10.

“No single board member . . . should be allowed to intimidate or make inappropriate remarks at their own discretion to other board members, staff or employees,” personnel board chairman Maureen Hill wrote in a Feb. 10 letter to the planning board. “It is of the highest importance that elected board members oversee the workings of their board and management of staff in a responsible and professional manner. Board staff cannot be subjected to any behavior from elected board members . . . that could be construed as intimidating or abusive.”

The exchange at the Feb. 1 meeting arose when Mr. Mascolo asked Ms. Greenough to stop making facial expressions, and then asked Ms. Greenough to speak with him away from the board round table. The grievance letter has not been made public.

The personnel board recommended that the planning board call a meeting to “discuss proper meeting etiquette and demeanor,” and reminded planning board chairman Alan Wilson that he is charged with overseeing all the activity of the board, including staff issues.

“A board member cannot take it upon themselves to chastise a staff member or display the kind of behavior referenced in Ms. Greenough’s grievance letter. It is the responsibility of the entire board to ensure this behavior is never tolerated,” Mrs. Hill wrote.

She also reminded the planning board of the town’s healthy workplace bylaw.

At a planning board meeting Tuesday morning Mr. Wilson read the healthy workplace bylaw into the record, as well as the personnel board letter.

At the conclusion of regular business at a planning board meeting on Tuesday night, discussion continued over the grievance when Mr. Mascolo requested that the minutes from the Feb. 1 meeting be revised to remove a written account of the exchange between him and Ms. Greenough. The written account reads:

“After the vote and prior to the applicants and general public departed, Mr. Mascolo looked at Georgiana Greenough and in a raised voice said, ‘You’re killing me with the facial expressions.’ Subsequently he said ‘Look at me when I am speaking to you. Focus on what I am saying. Can you do that?’ He continued to speak about facial expressions. Ms. Greenough did not respond. He then said, ‘I want to speak to you in private.’ Mr. Mascolo repeated ‘I want to speak to you in private.’ Ms. Greenough shook her head and slowly got up from her position and she and Mr. Mascolo walked into the break room. Mr. Mascolo closed the door. A few minutes later, they returned to the meeting and the board continued their business.”

On Tuesday night Mr. Mascolo took issue with the paragraph.

“It wasn’t a raised voice, it was a normal speaking tone,” Mr. Mascolo said. “I didn’t say, ‘I want to speak with you in private.’ I said, ‘May I speak to you personally for one minute . . . in the other room?’ Before I did that I asked Alan [Wilson] for a recess. I said, ‘Give me two minutes please,’ and you said, ‘yes.’”

Board member Robert Sparks suggested the board “strike this part of the minutes” from the record.

“Let’s all move forward, I don’t want to sit here and argue over words,” Mr. Sparks said. “Let’s leave that out and agree we’re all moving forward.”

The board voted to remove the account from the minutes, and Mr. Sparks crossed out the offending paragraph with a pen.

Reached by telephone yesterday, Mr. Mascolo said the account in the minutes was simply inaccurate.

“The accusation was unfounded and inaccurate and I would never do anything of the things that she insinuated,” he said. “There were some procedural issues; we needed to learn to move forward on how to make the planning board a better board and we’ve all done that.”

Ms. Greenough had no comment.