Newton City councilor criticized for ‘foot massage’ texts to colleague

Local News

“OK, the foot massage sounds creepy, but it’s always [what] my wife wants,” said one Newton City councilor to another via text message.

A Newton City Council committee will discuss an ethics commission proposal Wednesday after one Council member sent inappropriate text messages to another last month.
Josh Reynolds/The Boston Globe

A Newton City Council committee will discuss an ethics commission proposal Wednesday after one Council member sent inappropriate text messages to another last month.

The text messages were an exchange between Council Vice President Rick Lipof and City Councilor Brenda Noel, who described the texts she received from her colleague as “inappropriate, unwanted, and unwelcome.”

The exchange, which Noel said happened during a Nov. 20 City Council meeting, included a tense discussion around Newton coming into compliance with the state’s MBTA Communities Act and how Noel should conduct herself when the Council takes up the topic.

“In the words of the anchorman: Keep it classy, San Diego,” Lipof told Noel. “You can tell me to go ‘F’ myself, but I just felt like saying that, and you’re not the only one I’ve sent it to.” 

Noel responded by telling Lipof he was lecturing her, something she told The Boston Globe he has done before when it comes to doing her job as a councilor.

When she told him he should feel bad for the string of text messages, Lipof said he owed her a “foot massage.” 

“I owe you a drink, a dinner, a foot massage,” Lipof said. In the next text, “OK, the foot massage sounds creepy, but it’s always [what] my wife wants.” 

Lipof’s last text said he blamed his prior texts on “COVID fog.” Noel told the Globe she then blocked him on her phone.

The text messages were posted publicly with the Council’s Programs and Services Committee Dec. 6 meeting agenda, which also included a letter from Noel that called on her fellow councilors to consider and “establish a set of standards by which we conduct business that is more in line with what you might expect in professional settings.”

She included in the letter that she went to the City of Newton’s human resources department as well as the city clerk, but she was informed that the city’s employee conduct policies don’t apply to the City Council. Susan Albright, the Council president, also told Noel that there were no policies in place by the Council to investigate conduct issues, but agreed they should look into it. 

Lipof said he supported Noel’s proposal that the Council consider an amendment to add an ethics commission.

He also sent the Council an apology letter, which he shared with Boston.com Wednesday. Noel had not initially shared who the texts were from in her proposal, but Lipof started the letter by admitting the texts were from him.

“I feel terrible that my texts made my colleague feel uncomfortable and for that I have apologized,” the letter read. “While we are all human and often develop comfortable relationships with our colleagues in how we communicate about life and work, I now understand completely how this exchange made my colleague feel.”