Dennis Releases Disciplinary Report on Rec Director

DENNISVILLE – During the March 12 Dennis Township Committee meeting, Mayor Zeth Matalucci read a multi-page report from a legal investigator regarding allegations that disciplinary actions entailing the job performance of Recreation Center Director Kim Herron, were the result of gender discrimination, which then changed to allegations of retaliation by Matalucci and Business Administrator Pat Moran.
A large turnout of self-described “supporters” of Herron, including her mother and brother, assembled. That turnout, coupled with a resolution authorizing an increase in the professional service contract with Barker, Gelfand, James and Sarvas for conflict labor counsel portended another step in the employment-related controversies regarding Herron’s implementation of her duties.
Robert Herron, Kim Herron’s brother, the first to speak during public comment, set the tone when he asked, “Isn’t this the firm that represented Moran in 1999 in Galloway while he was a police officer there? How can you say this lawyer is at all independent and provided a fair review of what’s been going on with Kim? And how can you justify paying what you said was going to be $5,000 and now is more than $14,000 to Dennis taxpayers? The township already has a labor counsel and if this person can’t be considered independent, what are we paying for?”
In response to the issue of possible bias, Moran provided additional information after the meeting. He noted, “I wanted to clarify that the matter was brought up previously and it was my understanding there wasn’t an issue. I did misspeak at the meeting, though, because it was my belief that Mr. Scott, who had done work on the case, was the attorney assigned to the case. However, Mr. Barker was actually assigned to represent Galloway Township at the time, 20 years ago.”
Over called-out questions and comments from the audience questioning the bona fides of township officials regarding consideration of Herron’s performance, attempts were made by Matalucci, Moran, and committee members to restore an orderly process for disseminating information and timelines in the allegation process regarding Herron’s employment status.
Facts such as whether Herron had “claimed” or merely “indicated” gender discrimination were in dispute, along with the composition of lawyers of the firm in question in 1999, in 2013 for another complaint and in that instance.
Matalucci read verbatim from the report, including timelines dating back to 2017 until the present. In sum, the report concluded that Herron was considered to be a caring and diligent employee in carrying out her recreation center duties.
However, as quoted by Matalucci, the report also found that she and Moran had different management styles that resulted in her failure to “follow the chain of command;” insubordination in consulting with Moran in hiring a plumber and not following acceptable protocols to obtain quotes for services; seeking snow removal for the recreation center without consulting with Moran who had the “big picture” of where township public works employees should be dispatched and deployed; and other infractions related to her refusal to follow directions and to accept the promotion of a  township employee; and her sometime accusatory, agitated and argumentative demeanor.
The report, as read by Matalucci, reflected that there was no gender discrimination by Matalucci or Moran against Herron, although Herron averred during the meeting that she never wanted to allege this type of behavior against either.
“It is our prerogative to make changes as elected officials, but she’s not following our direction,” said Matalucci. “Elected office trumps her experience. We actually have offered her abeyance of disciplinary action for six months but she refused.”
Committee voted to accept the findings of the report and thus there would be no action taken against any of the people accused based on the findings. According to Moran, “There have been no changes in Herron’s position, title, employment status or schedule and disciplinary actions, proposals and procedures are pending and have not occurred as of yet.”
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.