The Stafford County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday night to censure and admonish Aquia district supervisor Monica Gary for “engaging in disorderly behavior and misconduct.”
The move came after the board read a statement at the opening of the meeting and later passed a resolution to strike the term “misconduct” from the record and retract the board’s finding and vote of misconduct regarding Mary Becelia from July.
Becelia was removed from the Central Rappahannock Regional Library Board over the summer on the recommendation of Gary. She joined the CRRL board in 2023.
In September, Gary attempted to rescind Becelia’s removal but was voted down.
According to the censure resolution read aloud during Tuesday’s meeting, Gary has been removed from all “boards, authorities, commissions and committees to which she was appointed to by the board.” In a heated discussion after the motion, Gary declared that the move was “retaliation” and “illegal.”
Becelia, who was present at the meeting along with her family and numerous supporters, spoke to the board during public comments.
“I’ve learned some powerful lessons over the past five months about local governance, about the rights and responsibilities that go along with citizenship and about what it means to be brave,” she said.
Becelia, a longtime Stafford resident who works at the University of Mary Washington, said despite multiple attempts to contact supervisors, she never heard from any of them.
“This is about seven people, six of whom could not have put a name to the face of the person they branded with misconduct,” Becelia said. “Five of whom had never met that person, and they were willing to accuse a fellow citizen of profound wrongdoing. Apparently, innocent until proven guilty is not at play in these cases involving citizen volunteers.”
Her husband, Clayton Calvert, made a statement as well. “It is troubling that this declaration of what is, essentially, a guilty charge was made with no representation for the accused, no witnesses for the defense and no provisions for an appeal.”
He later explained the charge of misconduct could bar someone from acquiring a government security clearance and stated that the incident “could make an impact on one’s livelihood.”
Robert Calvert, Becelia’s son, also spoke before the board stating that he was last before the dais during his Eagle Scout ceremony last year.
“(Supervisor Bohmke) mentioned that she hoped we would consider careers in public service, and I’ve actually been doing just that,” he said. “But after the apology she just delivered, I’m very discouraged…. I’ve been granted an unexpected lesson in the functioning of our board of supervisors.”
Calvert said his faith in local government had been damaged.
Other speakers questioned why Becelia wasn’t asked to present her side of the story before voting to remove her during a closed session.
The board statement, read by Chairperson Meg Bohmke, Falmouth district, stated “It is unfortunate that the board trusted the information provided by Supervisor Gary in closed session to be true and accurate.” A copy of the statement obtained by the Free Press shows that the sentence was inserted as a handwritten addition.
The censure resolution also stated that Gary “acted unprofessionally and without integrity” during closed sessions in November, when she was subsequently removed from the library board as the county representative. Supervisor Pamela Yeung, Garrisonville district, was appointed to the board at that time.
Yeung abstained from voting on Gary’s censure, later stating “two wrongs don’t make one right.”
In a statement to the Free Press, Gary said, “The Stafford BOS put a citizen volunteer through months of turmoil, taking illegal actions to remove her from the CRRL Board. When called to account, they chose to double down and attempted to cover up and politicize the matter.
“I spoke out and was “punished” for ‘making [the Board] look bad,’ being removed from the CRRL board and now every Board, commission and committee I have served on with integrity. This is a serious violation of the Civil Rights Act. If they have lost public trust, it is because they are indeed untrustworthy.”
