Dalton Cultural Council Quits After Chair Fired
DALTON, Mass. — The Select Board's decision to terminate the town manager's executive assistant, Alyssa Maschino, has had a ripple effect.
Maschino's colleague in the town manager's office, Kira Smith, said Thursday she was submitting her resignation.
And the Dalton Cultural Council has resigned en masse.
Maschino has been the chair of the council, which is charged with promoting the arts, humanities and interpretive sciences as a way to improve residents' quality of life. One of its tasks in planning Dalton Day.
Dalton Day would not be what it is if it weren't for Maschino, council clerk and recording secretary Mary Ferrell said. “We believe in the things that she accomplished with us and it just wouldn't be the same without her."
Ferrell said the firing caused her to re-examine her opinion, trust, and respect for some of the board members and further demonstrated the importance of participating in local government.
Linda Galok, a member of the council, described Maschino as hard-working and never failing to respond to an email or call.
"It appeared to me that she was not only underpaid and underappreciated, a lot of the work she did was as a volunteer on her own time," said Galok. "If you fire someone every time they make a mistake, and I'm not convinced she did, you won't have an employee left."
She's also resigned her seat on the Open Space & Recreation Committee, saying, "Unfortunately, due to recent events, I no longer feel safe serving the town as a volunteer."
Maschino was placed on administrative leave by a vote of the board, which charged Town Manager Thomas Hutcheson to work with the town's legal counsel on terminating her employment as of Tuesday, Feb. 18.
The Select Board accused her of "betrayal" for forwarding an anonymous letter to iBerkshires, which the writer had cc'd on the missive. The letter addressed to the Select Board complained about a Facebook post by board member Marc Strout related to the special election and the lack of professionalism and ethics in town leaders.
The board did not read the letter nor acknowledge its receipt at the Jan. 28 meeting.
When asked who had the authority over hiring and firing, Hutcheson, in an email, cited sections of the town code, including that "all recommendations for appointments and removals by the Town Manager shall be subject to ratification by the Select Board which shall act upon each appointment and/or removal."
Hutcheson did not speak during the Thursday's meeting, aside from requesting that town counsel explain the need for a "date certain" and the issues involved in that.
"The morale has never been lower and it's a very sad day for a lot of folks who live and work in Dalton," said Town Clerk Heather Hunt, whose office was the subject of Strout's Facebook post. "Morale has been less than optimal for about six months but has gotten worse in the last four weeks ... feels like we are working in the battle zone.
"Hopefully, things will slow down."
