DERBY — On Wednesday the mayor’s office released the resignation letter sent Monday by finance director Agata Herasimowicz.
The letter does not go into detail about why Herasimowicz decided to submit her two-week notice less than two months after the Derby Board of Aldermen & Alderwomen voted 8 – 1 to reinstate her after she had been put on administrative leave in March by Derby Mayor Rich Dziekan.
“I am writing to let you know that I will be resigning from my position and my last day will be August 26, 2022. If there is anything I can do to support this transition, I am available to help if needed,” according to the letter from Herasimowicz released by the mayor’s office.
Herasimowicz declined comment on Tuesday.
She was hired as finance director in July 2021. She was put on paid administrative leave in March.
Mayor Dziekan’s administration hired an auditing firm to investigate whether Herasimowicz violated Derby’s charter or city policies while doing her job.
The independent report found Herasimowicz had violated procedures when it came to issues such as purchasing camera equipment for the police department. But the report also found Derby government lacked specific written policies and procedures, and that the finance director’s actions were reasonable given the circumstances.
The Derby Board of Aldermen & Alderwomen voted 8 – 1 in June to reinstate Herasimowicz — after Mayor Dziekan raised a series of new allegations and publicly stated she should be fired. Alderman Charles Sampson, who was part of the hiring committee that hired Herasimowicz, voted against bringing her back because she had violated the process outlined in the city charter to make purchases.
Walt Mayhew, Dziekan’s chief of staff, noted two workers in the finance office requested transfers after Herasimowicz was reinstated. That apparently leaves the department now with one employee — an interim deputy finance director. He blamed Herasimowicz.
“The Mayor warned the Aldermen in his remarks that if the Finance Director returned this would happen. We were hopeful in being able to head this off by having the Finance Director participate in additional training when it came to interpersonal relationships and supervision of employees, which the HR Director was working on to address (as) areas well documented by Mr. Baklik as Chief of Staff as areas needing improvement,” Mayhew said in an email Tuesday. “Unfortunately, we simply didn’t have the time to put those support-based corrective actions in place and see the results.“
Herasimowicz has said Mayhew worked to undermine her role as finance director, and pushed her out of the city’s budget process.
Herasimowicz’ only performance review was conducted by Andrew Baklik, Dziekan’s previous chief of staff. It was a positive review overall, with the finance director receiving high marks in nine of 11 categories.
The performance review included sections that judged Herasimowicz on a scale of outstanding, very good, good, improvement needed, unsatisfactory, or not applicable.
Herasimowicz scored outstanding in four categories and very good in five categories.
Herasimowicz needed improvement in two categories: interpersonal relationships and judgment.
She received no “unsatisfactory” marks in her review.
In a story published Tuesday, Alderwoman Sarah Widomski, a Democrat and president of the Derby BOA/A, criticized the Dziekan administration, saying the mayor’s office politicized Herasimowicz’s role as the city’s chief fiscal officer.
Widomski also said the city has been in “crisis” since Baklik’s departure.
In response, Mayhew said Widomski looks to throw a wrench into anything the Dziekan administration attempts.
“We wish Agata well and hope somehow that miraculously Ms. Widomski will stop with the negative political discourse and nearly continual no votes on matters before the Aldermen and instead look to be a positive force for moving the city forward. One can hope,” Mayhew said.
The Dziekan administration released Herasimowicz’s resignation letter Wednesday after The Valley Indy requested access on Tuesday. The letter, a public document, had been in the possession of the city’s human resources department head, who works one day a week.
The letter, which is published at the top of this story, appears to have been sent to the mayor, with a copy going to human resources.
In the past, copies of letters of resignation in Derby were filed in the town clerk’s office, which made them easily accessible to the public.
On Wednesday, in response to a column by The Valley Indy criticizing the city for not having a coherent policy on freedom of information requests, Mayhew said all FOI requests should go to the city’s corporation counsel.
The move falls short of the Dziekan administration’s written promise three years ago to create and produce a FOI written policy, and to mandate employees attend a FOI public education session. The administration promised to do so in order to get The Valley Indy to drop a FOI complaint lodged against the city.
