WESTBROOK — The city’s former finance director has been banned from City Hall for another year.

Westbrook police served Susan Rossignol with a trespass notice Saturday at the request of Mayor Colleen Hilton and City Administrator Jerre Bryant, said police Capt. Tom Roth.

Rossignol, who was Westbrook’s finance director for 32 years, was served a one-year trespass notice in March 2010, two months after Hilton announced at her inauguration that she was not reappointing Rossignol.

Before the order was issued, Hilton accused Rossignol of repeatedly showing up at City Hall and disrupting employees. The mayor also sought a protection-from-harassment order against Rossignol, but a judge denied it, saying Rossignol’s behavior didn’t constitute harassment.

Rossignol, a lifelong Westbrook resident, spoke about the new trespass notice during a public comment period at Monday’s City Council meeting at Westbrook High School.

She said after the meeting that she has been to City Hall four times, to pay bills, since the first ban expired at the end of March.

Rossignol, 61, said she believes city officials are trying to make a point about her being outspoken at public meetings. “It’s a control thing, I think,” she said.

Hilton and Bryant wouldn’t go into details about why they feel the new ban is necessary, but Hilton said, “it’s not frivolous.”

“I believe that if employees express to me they don’t feel safe, I’m obligated to take action,” said the mayor. “It’s not a censorship issue. It’s a safety concern.”

Rossignol said she went to City Hall on May 2 to pay a bill and left town for a few days later in the week. When she returned on Friday, she said, her elderly mother told her that police had been looking for her.

Rossignol said she went to the Public Safety Building on Saturday and was handed the trespass notice.

“I was stunned,” she said.

Rossignol said she prefers to pay her bills in person rather than by mail because she enjoys seeing her former co-workers.

“I was going to go next week to pay my taxes when they’re due, but I guess not,” she said.

 

Staff Writer Leslie Bridgers can be contacted at 791-6364 or at: lbridgers@mainetoday.com