Dejavu...all over again!
Déjàvu…it’s the feeling of having an experience all over again, but not really. Well, the faces have changed, but I, (we) have indeed seen this before. I am talking about the recent firing of Bev Cyr, the Administrative Assistant for the Board of Health.
Some of my colleagues might not agree with my statement, but that’s a frame of mind thing and we get to disagree on that. Nonetheless, I (we) have been here before.
I have been blessed with meeting many really good people in this Town; people of honor, courage who stand tall for their beliefs; people committed to holding their public officials to the highest of standards. Bev is such a person. She lives (sometimes at her own personal peril) these standards. At this meeting on August 25th, Bev was terminated from the job she loves. I want to extend my appreciation and thanks to her; she was a professional, hard working employee and was a warm welcoming face in the townhouse.
Anytime we see this type of incident, we need to ask why? You, the voters, need to ask why? What was at the core? Was it sound management, a power struggle or something in between? Were the action of public officials truly rooted in the public’s best interest or was there underling personal or political connotation?
I hope everyone knows that government is unlike the private sector; public officials have a higher standard to uphold. Their actions are subject to public scrutiny by virtue of who and what they are and who they represent: you.
Regretfully, a person has lost their job in a very public fashion. From my perspective, I want to take the opportunity to better understand why and how we can prevent this sort of thing in the future. I want to look at reforms that give you, the public, a heightened level of confidence. I invite comments from both sides of the issue. I hope they can be enlightening in two ways: What went wrong with the system and what can we do to prevent “Déjà vu all over again."
As always, the Moderator will not allow personal attacks, so let’s discuss this logically and sensibly.
posted by Alex McCurdy at
10:58 AM
10 Comments:
It gets tough when you mix politics and work and that appears to be what happened here. Both parties played politics and the Health Board had the power to remove one of them. Voters now must pass judgment on the political motivation of the Board. In this case the blame lies with the authority having jurisdiction. They should have managed the situation or put professional managers in place to take care of personnel issues.
Please look into the minutes of the Board of Health, they're on line at the town website. There are some really strange discussions contained in there which will give some insight into this debacle.
I would like to express my experience with Bev at the Board of Health: helpful and informative. She guided me through a tough time and made more sense than anyone with the process. Thank you Bev, and I wish you the very best of luck. I am so sorry this situaltion happened.
Please look at the minutes for some information on this.
If you were at the same meeting that I was Ms. Cyr was given the opportunity to have her issue dealt with in executive session and CHOSE to have it heard in open meeting. As you can imagine I have a hard time feeling like this embarrassment was thrust upon her.
The actions of certain members of the BoH towards Bev Cyr are in part a result of Town infrastructure deficiencies. Clearly these members have never taken a management course and are obviously unfit to manage but the Town shares in the blame:
o The belief that, and supported by Town officials, "At Will" employees can be terminated without justification. This fosters poor work morale and poor management practices.
o Some elected Board members thus believe they have the right to hire/fire at will administrative personnel that report to them.
o To help mitigate these issues all Board administrative assistants should report to an appointed Town administrator to provide for consistent, fair treatment and office continuity, stability. Also, loose the "At Will" wording in the bylaws and add some "employee rights" wording.
Thank you,
John
Hello Anonymous - I was at that meeting and what I saw and heard was a stiff-backed approach that relied on legal mumbo-jumbo. The fact of the matter is, is that this is a real person that was dealt with in an unreal fashion. Throughout the meeting, I kept thinking that the whole thing was needless; five people against one! You may be correct that the embarassment was not thrust on Bev...but the stacked deck certainly was.
In the quest to find out what went wrong, we should look at what has happened after the fact. The Selectmen has endorsed exploration of a re-organization that would place employees such as the BOH clerk under the supervision of a full time manager. Furthermore, they have used the hiring freeze to compel the BOH to accept that model. While the BOS pubically supported the BOH, they appear to be keenly aware that there was a problem. What's wrong?? They were a day late and a dollar short.
Oh, come on. Let's look at the truth here. This woman refused to follow the directives of the Board of Health. She endorsed a candidate running against an incumbent, she refused to follow any direction that she was uncomfortable with, her fate was sealed.
This comment has been slightly edited only to follow blog rules.
Ms Cyr's decision to an open meeting was intended to allow inclusion of the residents in attendance. Please look at and for minutes; apparently, the minutes of hte termination meeting (Aug 25th) are not available.
Note: This reader included questions regarding Ms. Cyr's rights and is concerned about whether the proper procedure under the Open Meeting Law was followed.
In my post, I was hoping we could take a look at what happened, learn from it and set about the task of identifying solutions for the future. This is a somewhat volatile issue that draws sides. I am a little uneasy with some of the comments as they approach anger and resentment.
All in all, I suspect there will be many more issues raised, disagreements and loggerjams to go and that is an unfortunate waste of time and effort if this is indeed dejavu.
The short of it is did something go wrong? Why? and how do we prevent it in the future? I am committed to that. I am also committed to fair and equitable treatment and professional management of employees. I believe in the First Amendment and the right to fair treatment. I believe two people can come to different conclusion from the same set of facts.
Because this was a government action, we get to then pick it apart and attempt to fix the broken pieces. If you, the voter, finds that part of the problem is one or more of your elected officials then please keep that in mind when the time comes to vote.
Bev’s dilemma only demonstrates lack of objectivity among board members working together. Boards want to totally control the harmony factor. The Board of Health denied public input at the termination hearing. That kind of says it all. I believe the last two members elected were unopposed in the election. Littleton voters clearly need to be re-energized in town government. Westford now has 5000 petition signatures opposed to the asphalt plant, that’s a lot, but it’s too late for these interested parties, Westford boards created this problem, anticipating the public cry. We need to clean our government house at all levels.
Mr. McCurdy is really trying to keep his promise of transparent government, but cannot succeed alone.
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