A Decision Made In Secrecy

And Haste

To the Editor:

After spending ten-plus hours at the hearing concerning the firing of Carolee Mason as animal control officer, and listening to the testimony of First Selectman Borst, Police Chief Kehoe, and human resource person Ms Ross, it seems to me they are trying to justify a decision they made in secrecy and haste, without any thought of the uproar it would create.

They are willing to ruin Carolee’s reputation and career on issues that could have been resolved had they done their jobs in seeing that she got the training needed to handle the recordkeeping involved in her job. And our taxes would not be paying the fee for the three high-priced lawyers representing Newtown, who attended the hearing.

Why didn’t Selectman Borst, Chief Kehoe or Ms Ross go to the pound and go over questionable records with Carolee? Instead they listened to complaints from people who were not willing to attend the hearing and testify under oath. And it’s odd these complaints didn’t get investigated until Carolee was away on vacation. It was handled in such an underhanded and secretive way it left me feeling there was some other issue involved. Is it possible someone involved in this wants her job?

In the 39 years I have lived in Newtown, I have seen the dog pound go from terrible to tolerable, to good and with Carolee, exceptional.

Carolee’s expertise is her love, compassion, and fearlessness in dealing with the animals and her friendly, outgoing manner with the public. The very qualities that make her good at her job seem to be the very qualities her superiors find unacceptable.

It will be a great loss to Newtown if we lose Carolee.

Marie H. Johnson

167 Hattertown Road, Newtown                                    June 10, 2009