Dear Editor:

I have just read the commentary from the YMCA Board of Trustees about their decision to let Mary Baudo go. It comes as no surprise to me that they are “disappointed in the Boothbay Register” for reporting this legitimate and compelling story on the front page.

Many of us recently wrote to the same board requesting its explanation for eliminating the Wellness Director position and asking them to reconsider their decision. In their blanket response to all of us who sent letters and emails, we were not apprised of the information shared with you in this commentary.

Rather, the board’s reply to us was quite brief and to-the-point, stating in part, verbatim: "In response to your desire for the transition of Mary's departure on February 15 to be reconsidered, the plan that started in the fall of 2013 developed jointly by Mary and Andy will continue."

How on Earth, and when, did a plan for reorganization “developed jointly by Mary and Andy” morph into “a personnel matter which couldn’t be publicly addressed” and “a matter of personal privacy and respect for an individual’s basic human rights”?

Oh, what a tangled web we weave.

Anybody who has run an organization knows full well that good management does not allow personnel issues to fester. Absolutely no festering allowed. If a disagreement between management and personnel occurs, it is resolved in a day or maybe a week in order to avoid a resultant massive decline in morale. Out with the old, in with the new.

Either this reorganization at the YMCA (elimination of the Wellness Director position) is not the result of a personnel issue or that "personnel issue" has been ineptly and unfairly mismanaged for months.

Instead of saying how wonderful Mary was and how much we're going to miss her, shouldn't we be addressing the root problem? The total lack of transparency? The truth?

Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of their YMCA. Where is the outrage, people?

Helen Heidi Larsen
Boothbay