BY SUSAN WARE
After 112 days out of work, the Hooksett Town Council voted 5-1 on Aug. 1 to offer Michelle Bonsteel her old job.
Bonsteel, a code enforcement officer and department head, was fired on April 11 along with three other town employees for gossiping about a possible relationship between Town Administrator David Jodoin and another town employee.
Former assessor Sandra Piper; Joanne Drewniak, Bonsteel’s assistant; and Jessica Skorupski, Piper’s assistant, also appealed their terminations but were denied.
The four women were internationally known as the Hooksett Four when their termination for gossiping hit the news. Drewniak and Skorupski appealed to the Town Council in May, and were denied two weeks later.
Piper appealed on July 18 and the council unanmoiusly denied her appeal.
Bonsteel will receive back pay and a letter of reprimand in her employee file. She returned to work on Monday, Aug. 6.
Neither Bonsteel, Piper or their attorney, Jon Meyer, were present at the July 25 meeting.
The lone dissenter in the decision to reinstate Bonsteel was Councilor Jason Hyde, who said he backs his original decision to terminate the four town employees.
“As a business decision, I don’t think it is wise to reinstate a department head who behaved the way she did. It was unprofessional, uncalled for, and a dereliction of duty,” said Hyde.
Bonsteel could not be reached for comment.
As for Piper, a former department head who worked for the town for 37 years, the Town Council felt differently.
“She does not have the same defense as Michelle Bonsteel. I realize that it is not wise to get rid of an assessor at this time, but her termination was warranted,” said Councilor David Ross.
Hyde reiterated his position, adding “I am more emphatic with Sandy Piper. For a department head to act so unprofessional, to try to undermine authority, her actions could have brought harm to the town.”
Piper could not be reached for comment.
The Town Council heard Bonsteel’s and Piper’s appeals on July 18. Attorney Meyer told the councilors the women were simply repeating rumors about Jodoin that they had heard from residents and contractors who had business in town hall.
An independent investigator, hired by the Town Council to flush out the source of the rumor, said disputes this.
According to Lauren Irwin, the attorney who investigated the rumors, the four women admit to circulating a rumor they later said they believed was untrue. This, Irwin said, spoke to dishonest behavior.
According to Irwin, Skorupski called another Town Hall employee at home on March 14. This employee was out on medical leave and Skorupski told her that the temporary employee filling in for her was likely to get her job because there were rumors floating around Town Hall about an affair between her and Jodoin.
After Skorupski spoke to the employee, she transferred the call to Piper, who repeated the rumor.
Irwin said that Skorupski explained to her that she was calling the employee back and answering questions about rumors that the employee had already heard. Irwin was only able to verify the outgoing call from Town Hall.
After the phone calls, the employee on medical leave fired off an e-mail to Jodoin, who in turn asked Irwin to investigate.
B.J. Branch, the attorney representing Drewniak and Skorupski, filed a petition in Merrimack Superior Court on June 26 asking a judge to declare the terminations unlawful. The former assistants want reinstatement, back pay, legal fees, lost time for pension vesting and other out-of-pocket expenses, plus damages.
According to Meyer, Bonsteel’s decision to return to Town Hall doesn’t preclude her from a court case against the town.
“We’re planning to proceed with legal claims,” Meyer said. “We’re still dealing with four women whose rights have been deprived.”
As of mid July, the town has been billed $22,742 in legal costs related to the April terminations.