Staff Writer 

South Portland’s director of parks, recreation and public works has been put on paid leave pending a review of an audit of his department, according to City Manager Jim Gailey.

Gailey wrote in an email that Dana Anderson’s leave began last Friday morning and, as of Tuesday, he did not know when it would end. 

Gailey wrote Anderson’s leave was “for the submittal of the review of [former city employee] Deb Smith’s letter and for the auditors to explore the financial controls of the department.”

Anderson could not be reached for comment prior to the Sentry deadline. 

 “You never know you’ve got a problem until you’ve got a problem, and then you (try) to fix it,” Councilor Linda Boudreau said on Monday. “We have been through a hard time. This is going to be the story that is told for the next 50 years. We’re talking about a bad situation, it’s not good anywhere, it hurts and is tying everyone in knots.”

Boudreau’s “bad situation” refers to the public’s negative response to the layoffs last February of five city employees under Anderson’s supervision, including former Community Center Operations Manager Deb Smith. Since the termination of her position, Deb Smith has expressed concern that her job was eliminated due to a disagreement with Anderson in November. In March, she filed a report with the city, a document Gailey has refused to provide to the public, citing state statue that allows information about municipal employees to remain confidential. 

On Monday night, Councilors Patti Smith and Jim Soule supported a plan Smith said was primarily focused on “asking for better transparency” within all areas of the city. 

“I really struggled with the feedback from the public,” Patti Smith said. “I ran on transparency as a candidate and I felt like I wasn’t really being true to myself.”

Soule said he would support Patti Smith’s plan – which calls for the formation of new personnel policies and public involvement – being implemented either by an outside consultant, a task force or a committee. The proposed plan prompted other councilors to speak their thoughts on the public attitude and Anderson’s administrative leave.

“In looking back, we could have done a better job,” Soule said. “Implement some of these recommendations to make us a better council for this community.”

Other councilors questioned the purpose of the proposal. 

“We do have a personnel policy. It was probably drafted without the strongest of legal review and support. It gets us in trouble, it has gotten us in trouble and we need our attorneys to look at it, revise it and come back to us. There’s this idea we’re going to get our pound of flesh out of someone,” Boudreau said. “There have been implications and insinuations by everyone against Jim Gailey, Dana Anderson, [South Portland Parks, Recreation and Public Works Deputy Director] Tim Gato, [Human Resources Director] John McGough, [Assistant City Manager] Erik Carson, [Library Director] Kevin Davis. It feels like we’re after a pound of flesh from someone for laying off five employees. A lot of innocent people have been targeted in such cruel ways, I don’t think it helps anyone.”

Councilor Jim Hughes said he felt there were already enough policies within city government to respond appropriately to future layoffs that could result in public controversy, and said it was “wrong to put Dana Anderson on leave without having any evidence of wrongdoing.”

“We have no police evidence of anything,” he said. “It is our responsibility to speak up and say you can disagree, that’s fine, but we don’t have to do anything. Loudest isn’t rightest.” 

Staff Writer Nate Jones may be reached at 282-4337 ext. 233.