Public hearing for Kalcos today at Dedham Town Hall

By Michele Morgan Bolton, Globe Correspondent

A public hearing will be held today at 10 a.m. at Dedham Town Hall to address the firing of Dedham Council on Aging Director Rita Kalcos, whose dismissal has caused an uproar in the town and a harsh back and forth with town officials.

Kalcos, an 8-year employee, was terminated in January, accused of violating state conflict of interest law by hiring her son as a temporary fitness instructor.

Kalcos says she lost her job as payback for asking the chairwoman of the council’s board to stop sending friends and customers of the business she manages to the agency to obtain services meant for senior citizens.

Council on Aging board chairwoman Leanne Jasset, who works at Wardle's Pharmacy and is an elected member of the town's Board of Health, has soundly denied that allegation.

In an interview last week, Kalcos told the Globe she asked Town Administrator William Keegan for a public hearing while the disciplinary process was ongoing, but was told she couldn't have one.

However, the town charter provides for such a hearing if a request is made within five days of a disciplinary action, Kalcos and others said.

Keegan said he scheduled the session, but that there is no "smoking gun."

The firing has raised questions with many of the town's 6,500 seniors who have thrown their support behind Kalcos.

Russell Poole and Richard Browne, a current and former member of the Council on Aging board, respectively, have each said the punishment Kalcos received was too harsh. They said a letter of reprimand or other more benign treatment should have sufficed.

Selectman Carmen DelloIacono said he also disagrees with Keegan's decision, but he
also admitted at the same time that is is the town administrator's call to make as Dedham's hiring and firing authority.

Friday's hearing will be held in the lower conference room at Town Hall, 26 Bryant St.

In this kind of procedure, the public may attend, but not comment. The only parties who may speak are those who are involved, or called to submit testimony, Keegan said.

Kalcos said she is grateful for the opportunity to be heard.

"I want to bring it all out,'' she said. "I want to clear my name. I have worked very hard, and it's just sort of amazing how someone can take it all away from you."

Bolton can be reached at mmbolton1@verizon.net