People on both ends of the recent firing of four Hooksett town employees are remaining tight-lipped, though one of the axed workers said more facts will surface as she and the others fight their dismissal.

Sandy Piper, Joanne Drewniak, Michelle Bonsteel and Jessica Skorupski, who composed the assessing and building departments, were all fired following a nonpublic town council meeting on Wednesday, April 11.

Several councilors, their lawyer, and Town Administrator David Jodoin said they’re prohibited from discussing the circumstances surrounding the firings because of privacy laws and town policies about personnel issues.

“It’s unfortunate this happened, but when issues arise, you can either address them or look the other way,” said Councilor Paul Loiselle. “I don’t think we were elected to look the other way.”

Said council Chairman George Longfellow, “I have no comment on it. I’ve got to let this thing play out.”

Piper, a 27-year town employee who headed the assessing department, also declined to discuss the specifics of the firings, but said they stem from “rumor and gossip” that “started from the outside and just took off from there.”

She and the other fired workers were shocked by their dismissal, and have hired multiple mutual attorneys to fight it, Piper said.

She also contends councilors never directly asked her or the others about the circumstances that led to the dismissals.

“That bothered me,” she said.

“After 27 years, I think I deserved a little more than that.”

Drewniak, Piper’s assistant in assessing, was a nine-year town employee. Bonsteel, the town’s code enforcement officer, worked in Hooksett for about two years, and Skorupski, an assistant in the building department, was in her ninth year of town service.

“The (council) made a decision and away we went,” said Piper. “We will be zealously fighting this.”

An attorney representing the fired employees couldn’t be reached by press time, but Piper said the town’s personnel policy gives the employees a 10-day window to appeal their firings to the council.

Town attorney Barton Mayer, from Upton & Hatfield, was onhand during the nonpublic session.

“It’s a policy of the town never to comment on personnel matters,” he said. “Even if we’d like to speak and get some things that have been mistaken clarified, it’s just not the right thing to do.”

Jodoin, who said he wasn’t in the Town Hall chambers when the council approved the dismissals, said, “There are two sides to every story. Since this is a personnel matter, this side can’t speak.”

Councilor David Ross said he takes offense to the notion that councilors are hiding behind the nonpublic cloak to conceal information.

“It’s kind of a sad thing the way we’ve been characterized,” he said. “It would be wrong – not only illegal, but morally wrong – for me to discuss it.”

The firings came as Hooksett is already short-staffed.

Former Finance Director Diane Savoie took a job as a controller in Concord earlier this year, and former Town Planner Charles Watson recently retired.

Highway and parks department head Dale Hemeon has told the council his department’s been short on employees for more than a year.

A new finance director was scheduled to begin work on Wednesday, April 18, and JoAnn Duffy, former assistant in the planning department, has been filling in as interim town planner.

Other spots in Town Hall have been occupied by temporary workers.

“Obviously it’s a concern to anyone if the town is running short-handed,” said Ross. “But you don’t fire anyone lightly.”

Piper said she’s not sure exactly if and when the fired employees may have an appeal hearing with the council, or if such a hearing will be made public.

“I’ve never done this before,” she said. “I don’t have a … thing in my personnel file.”