By Steven Porter
Portsmouth Herald, N.H.
ALFRED, Maine — The man who has been in charge of the York County Jail for years is on track to be fired Wednesday for mishandling the circumstances of last year’s major COVID-19 outbreak at the facility.
The sheriff recommended that Lt. Col. Michael Vitiello’s employment as jail administrator be terminated, and the county commissioners expressed agreement Friday with the sheriff’s recommendation, according to York County Manager Greg Zinser.
The commissioners are slated to take the final step in the firing process at their meeting Wednesday morning. If they review and approve the findings of fact, then Vitiello’s employment will officially end, Zinser said Tuesday.
Vitiello has received nearly $95,800 in compensation from York County since he was placed on administrative leave last summer, Zinser said.
In a six-page letter outlining the rationale for his recommendation, York County Sheriff Bill King notified Vitiello more than a month ago of the plan to fire him.
The letter faulted Vitiello for imposing a “no mask” policy for corrections officers and incarcerated people in the jail’s housing units because Vitiello had a hunch the masks could cause inmates to panic.
Even with the benefit of hindsight — after the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention had identified 48 cases of the virus among York County Jail inmates, 18 among staff and 16 among household contacts of staff — Vitiello refused to take any responsibility, King wrote in the letter.
“There was simply no good explanation for discouraging and prohibiting the wearing of masks in the housing units. Instead of admitting and accepting that it was a challenging time and that in retrospect we could have done things differently, you have chosen to deflect all blame on me,” King wrote.
“I have said publicly that mask wearing may not have prevented the COVID outbreak, and I am not certain to this day that it would have prevented it, but your refusal to assume any responsibility and your quickness to assess the blame upon me is alarming,” he continued. “It further erodes my trust in you and in our ability to work together in the future.”
During a county commissioners meeting on Friday, Vitiello said he didn’t believe he could require staff to wear masks or undergo heightened health screenings without first reaching a new agreement with the National Correctional Employees Union, according to the Portland Press Herald.
King also faulted Vitiello for remaining on a preapproved leave of absence even after he was notified of the outbreak unfolding at the York County Jail.
“For you to remain in California, working at another facility while we were battling the largest outbreak (at that time) in the state is disappointing,” King wrote. “I would have hoped that you would have abbreviated your trip to return home to assist and start your quarantine period earlier. Your decision not to return was poor judgment and eroded my trust in you.”
King accused Vitiello of mischaracterizing their working relationship and refusing to collaborate with county and state officials.
King’s letter cited the findings of an independent investigation, which resulted in a 39-page report released publicly in February. After reviewing hundreds of pages of documents and interviewing 19 witnesses, including administrators, supervisors, corrections officers, private contractors and inmates, the investigator determined “the primary cause” of the outbreak was the jail’s “failure to implement best practices” that were being recommended by public health officials, the Maine Department of Corrections and Gov. Janet Mills, the report states.
An earlier report by a group of public health researchers, published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, laid out the details of how epidemiologists believe the jail outbreak unfolded as part of a broader network of outbreaks stemming from a “super-spreader” wedding Aug. 7 in Millinocket.
One guest who attended the wedding returned to work thereafter at the York County Jail. The staffer began experiencing symptoms Aug. 14, including a cough, muscle ache, runny nose, sore throat and a new loss of taste, according to the CDC report. Despite these symptoms, the staffer was allowed to work daily eight-hour shifts in two separate jail housing units for the next five days, Aug. 15-19.
Zinser has said the jail staffer didn’t believe the symptoms were serious at the time, didn’t attribute them to COVID-19, didn’t seek medical advice or assistance and didn’t report any health concern to management until the day he was tested, which is when he disclosed that he hadn’t been feeling well.
None of the deaths linked to the wedding-related outbreaks were associated with the York County Jail outbreak. One incarcerated man contracted the virus and recovered, then he died from a stroke in October. Maine CDC doesn’t count his death as a COVID death, though the state’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner determined COVID was a contributing factor.
It’s unclear whether Vitiello intends to challenge the decision in York County Superior Court. His attorney, Michael Waxman, did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment.
During a commissioners meeting on Friday, Waxman said Vitiello’s actions do not warrant dismissal and that the sheriff’s loss of confidence in Vitiello is not sufficient cause for termination under state law, according to the Press Herald’s report.
King’s attorney, Linda McGill, declined to comment Tuesday on the commissioners’ decision Friday to agree with the recommendation to terminate Vitiello’s employment.
“Even though the hearing was held in public at Mr. Vitiello’s request, this was and is a personnel matter and comment would accordingly not be appropriate,” McGill said.
Although the commissioners have been meeting in person, they have been holding their public meetings via Zoom, which allows members of the public to view a livestream online and also make public comments when permitted. But the commissioners meeting on Friday was held in-person only.
Zinser said Friday’s meeting was not recorded. Draft minutes from the meeting were not yet available, as of Tuesday.
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