Animal Control Officer Not Made Whole

To the Editor:

In respond to the letter last week to The Bee [“Questions About Animal Control Officer,” Letter Hive 11/6/09], Carolee Mason has not yet been reimbursed for her legal fees nor her COBRA payments. Carolee Mason has been out of pocket about $10,000 due to this whole ordeal. She only makes $40,000 a year. A quarter of her pay lost due to the town firing her for no reason with only allegations from someone who refused to leave her name and didn’t show up at the hearings. Her COBRA payments were about $3,500, which she would not be out of pocket if not fired. Her lawyer bills were about $6,000, which she would of never needed to pay for if not fired. This is common sense and she needs to be reimbursed. I don’t understand why the town is taking their time making her whole. The town has a serious lawsuit on their hands and lucky for them she hasn’t sued because $75,000 would be a drop in the bucket. I am sure all of the town employees that were involved in the hearings got paid and some probably received overtime.

I hope the town makes good on this because if we have to go to court to get reimbursed it’s going to cost the taxpayers more money.

Anthony Mason

50 Deep Brook Road, Newtown                            November 10, 2009