GRAY, Maine — The Gray Town Council voted Tuesday night to formally censure Councilor Michael Johnson, after colleagues read aloud a profane email he sent to a resident and accused him of repeatedly walking out of meetings before votes.

The council approved the resolution by voice vote at a special meeting on Nov. 10. Johnson was not present. The resolution states that the council "does hereby formally censure" Johnson, "finding his conduct to be a breach of the council rules and expectations of public office."

The council chair said in an opening statement that a censure "is just symbolic," but that "recent public statements and electronic correspondence" from Johnson had "fallen well short" of the council's code of conduct. The chair said that "personal disparagement, profanity directed at community members, or circulation of unverified claims outside open meeting" undermine public confidence.

Email read aloud

Councilor Gass read part of an email Johnson had written to a resident. In the passage read at the meeting, Johnson called the resident "the biggest piece of s---" and wrote, "You don't like my language, f--- off."

"If at any point in my professional life had I used that speech, I would have been fired," Gass said, adding that Johnson "could have resigned at any time" and "there would have been absolutely no shade cast on him."

The chair said that email was what prompted the censure. "This to me was just over the line," the chair said.

Gass also tied the episode to national politics, saying last week's election was in part "a repudiation of the kind of vitriolic speech we've had to listen to from the Trump administration" and that "that's kind of the level that we're looking at here in town, sadly." Gass also said other councilors had not always followed council rules and urged them to "consider their own behavior."

Missed votes

Another councilor read through meetings since August that Johnson had left early or missed, including votes on a data center moratorium, a winter maintenance program and several appointments. "He's never been to a meeting here since," the councilor said of Johnson's in-person attendance after August.

The chair also disputed several claims Johnson had made in an email and on Facebook, including about the library budget and the finance committee, and said "there's no discussion going on to cut services at the library." The chair said, however, that Johnson was correct that he had not missed enough consecutive meetings to be removed under council rules.

Residents split

During public comment, a resident who supported Johnson said the council scheduled the meeting knowing he was out of town for work and questioned whether proper notice had been given for the special meeting. "It is a tool of public shaming," the resident said of censures.

The chair said that in a conversation the week before, Johnson "did state that he wasn't going to attend" and that the time would have been changed if he had asked.

Another resident said they had written to Johnson asking him to consider resigning and read from what they said was his reply: "If you want me to step down, I gladly will, if you can cut a check for 500K." The resident called it "blackmail" and urged the council and the public to "pressure him to leave."

A third speaker said a person sharing views on Facebook "should not be, by itself, the grounds for censorship," while another resident urged councilors to "assume good intentions" and suggested the town consider expanding the council to seven members.

Johnson did not speak at the meeting.