Hagerstown council makes statement on Joseph Jefferson, dispute over contract

Hagerstown officials this week recognized Joseph Jefferson for his efforts in local cycling initiatives, but also weighed in on his treatment by local tourism officials for not retaining him for this year’s USA Cycling event.

“There is no coincidence that this certificate of appreciation is being given tonight,” city Councilman Lew Metzner said during Tuesday night’s meeting.

Mayor Bob Bruchey presented the certificate, saying Jefferson has been instrumental in the coordination and promotion of Antietam Velo Club cycling events for the past nine years.

The club’s annual Tour of Washington County event included numerous races this past weekend, including a Friday night criterium race downtown.

“The amount of hours that is put in for a race that we have just had, and the amount of hours that Joe put into the race last year, the national, is extraordinary,” Metzner said. “We as a body wanted to recognize those efforts and make that public statement.”

Just before those comments, Metzner said the council and mayor could not “ignore the obvious” and “wanted to clear the air” after Jefferson’s treatment by local tourism officials dating back to last fall.

That’s when Jefferson went public about his dispute with the local tourism bureau, Visit Hagerstown, which decided not to renew his contract to serve as the local director of operations for the 2019 USA Cycling Amateur Road National Championships, which kick off Thursday.

“We as a body are not happy with the way (Visit Hagerstown) has handled the situation,” Metzner said to Jefferson. “We are disappointed with it. We don’t understand it. Any interventions that were attempted to be made by some, if not all, members of this body were rejected. We want you to know that.”

Metzner said there was a past meeting in which the city council was “chastised” for not making a public statement on the matter.

“Let there be no misunderstanding; it’s being made tonight,” he said.

Visit Hagerstown President Dan Spedden didn’t immediately return a phone message seeking comment Wednesday.

Earlier this year, Jefferson lobbied elected officials to question the tourism bureau’s lack of progress in reaching a new deal. He was upset Visit Hagerstown didn’t retain him for the same role, claiming the agency owed him $12,000 in accordance with a memorandum.

Jefferson had a signed one-year contract for 2018, but the other document was never signed.

Spedden has said organizers of this year’s event decided not to hire a local operations director, instead splitting the work up into other positions.

The tourism bureau tried multiple times to negotiate a role for Jefferson for this year, although Jefferson disputed Spedden’s account. Jefferson later called “the optics” of his treatment “alarming.”

On Tuesday, Jefferson thanked city leaders for the recognition, but emphasized that what happened to him “should never happen to anyone within our region who works to make our county and city better.”

”I would encourage our city officials to work with our county officials to make sure we acknowledge and understand that we have people within our region who do great things for our community,” he said. “We need to move past these consistent coincidental acts of exclusion, and move towards actions that represent purposeful inclusion.

”If we do that, Hagerstown can be better than it ever was before.”