|
The employees were fired in April after
speaking to a lawyer the town hired as a fact-finder to rout out
chatterboxes.
They say questions about a close relationship
between Town Administrator David Jodoin and a female employee,
identified only as "A" in the lawyer's report, drifted into Town
Hall sometime in March. They say they weren't the only ones who
discussed the rumor, and dismissed it as untrue after briefly
talking about it.
"We didn't start the rumor, nor did we say
there was an affair going on," Joanne Drewniak said Tuesday. "We
didn't have time like they think ... to sit around and just gossip.
That is so untrue."
Drewniak worked for tax assessor Sandra Piper;
both were fired. Also fired were code enforcement officer Michelle
Bonsteel and her assistant, Jessica Skorupski.
The women now known as "The Hooksett Four"
comprise about a quarter of the town's staff, including two entire
departments. They are well-known in Hooksett, home to about 13,000
people.
"We're the first door they hit when they come
in Town Hall," said Piper, who said she loved her job handling
property tax bills.
"They leave our offices smiling," said Bonsteel,
who described code enforcement as her passion.
The women say they were told that nothing they
said to the lawyer would be held against them. Then they were fired.
The ensuing publicity has given the rumor new life, the women say.
"It's still out there and it's rattling like a
rattlesnake," Piper said.
Town officials and their lawyers aren't
talking. Two town lawyers did not respond to phone messages left
Tuesday. All nine members of the Town Council either declined to
comment to The Associated Press or did not respond to voice
messages. Jodoin declined an interview request by e-mail.
[to top of second column]
 |
The fact-finding report said he was upset by the rumor because he is
happily married with two children. "He does not
want his family life to be threatened and does not want his career
to be tainted by a false accusation," fact-finder Lauren Irwin
wrote.
The women say what upset them about the rumor
was the perception of impropriety by the public and preferential
treatment "A" was receiving, including higher pay than Drewniak and
Skorupski despite having less seniority and experience.
"What an insult," Piper said. "Doesn't length
of time and length of service count for anything in this community?"
Each woman had received positive work reviews
and is appealing to get back her job. Skorupski's and Drewniak's
firings were reviewed at a hearing last week; Piper's and Bonsteel's
hearing is pending.
The woman are not optimistic, partly because
their appeals are before the council that fired them. The council is
to rule on Skorupski's and Drewniak's appeals on Friday.
"The Town Council has said that they will hear
an appeal of their own ruling, so you know you don't feel overly
warm and fuzzy about that," said their lawyer, B.J. Branch.
The women hope public pressure will help.
Several hundred people have signed a petition seeking their
reinstatement, and Piper said the women are planning to produce red
T-shirts proclaiming "Rehire the Hooksett 4" with a bulls-eye printed
over the heart.
At the Brick House drive-in on Hooksett Road,
diner Claudette Burbank said she wishes the women well.
"I really don't think it's fair," Burbank, 61,
said between bites of french fries. "We all know everybody gossips
about their bosses."
[Text copied
from file received from AP
Digital; article by Beverley Wang, Associated Press writer]
 |
