Doucette later said he felt that he had been disrespected by Kessler, who mispronounced his name with a confrontational tone.

“He said some things to me, and I’m not going to put up with disrespect. But we talked after the meeting and he seemed to calm down, and he seemed to understand what I was saying to him,” Doucette said.

After the hearing, Kessler said he disagrees with Doucette’s interpretation of state code.

Kessler said he will consider an appeal of the decision, but that he might not try to file a new petition.

“I’m kind of ready to move on from this. We have some other investigations of City Council members that are ongoing which are fresher and more interesting to me at this point,” he said.

Kessler is expected to appear in a city court again on April 6. He faces a misdemeanor assault charge stemming from a January incident in which he said he punched a man in self-defense. Kessler said the man accosted him while he was collecting signatures for his petition. A judge last week dismissed an assault charge filed against Kessler's alleged assailant. A prosecutor in that case said video evidence showed Kessler was not assaulted.