The Edgartown select board has terminated the town animal control officer after an internal investigation found she had disregarded town policies and the town manager’s direction.
Kimberly Andrade, who was hired in January 2022, and has been on paid leave for almost a year, was before the town’s select board on Thursday when the board took the action.
Board members made their decision based on the findings of a report compiled by a town hearing officer. The report found that Andrade transported an animal off-Island in a personal car, when she was directed to take a work vehicle; she completed work for the town of Aquinnah while employed by Edgartown, although she has maintained that she wasn’t compensated for the work. The town also found that she was uncooperative during the internal review, and that she violated a discrimination policy.
The report — completed by attorney Katherine McNamara Feodoroff, who interviewed town employees over a series of hearings in the fall and winter — concluded that the town had just cause to terminate Andrade.
“Andrade violated town policies in four distinct ways, three of which demonstrate a pattern of insubordination,” McNamara Feodoroff’s report states.
Andrade, after Thursday’s hearing, pushed back against the town’s decision, believing that she has been treated unfairly, and is being targeted.
“I loved my job, and I was very passionate about being a part of the community and helping out the community, so it’s very disheartening to have to go against Edgartown,” Andrade told The Times.
The town placed Andrade on leave in March after she brought a surrendered dog named Pepper, in her personal car, to Falmouth for spraying and microchipping. Town administrator James Hagerty testified, as detailed in the disciplinary decision report, that he had asked Andrade specifically not to take her personal car — which would open the town up to liability — and to take a work vehicle instead. Despite agreeing with Hagerty to use the work truck, Andrade had already made reservations with her personal vehicle. Andrade said the contrast in vehicle size, accompanied with Steamship cancellations, prevented her from replacing her current reservation with the ACO truck. She took her personal car instead, and the town found that she failed to comply with the directive of the town administrator as a result.
Andrade, however, is defending her actions, saying that doing the spaying and microchipping on-Island could cost up to $1,200.
The select board also found that Andrade engaged in unauthorized work for the town of Aquinnah while on paid leave from Edgartown, stating that she filled out a dog-bite report for the town. Andrade has insisted she was not compensated for the work. But as detailed in the report, town officials maintained that completing the paperwork, paid or unpaid, violated employment directives.
Andrade defended her actions, saying that as a volunteer animal inspector, she only delivered a written quarantine notice to two Aquinnah residents, and returned 10 days later to release the animals from quarantine.
The board additionally reviewed allegations that Andrade violated antidiscrimination policy, but details of these allegations were largely redacted from a hearing transcript included in the town’s internal report. The report states that her actions were “distasteful,” and that she showed disregard for an employee’s disability, reportedly hinting that the individual’s disability was being used as a false cover for performance issues.
According to the hearing officers report, “throughout the hearing, Andrade continuously noted that she never understood the individual had a disability.”
In the memo presented by Andrade and her lawyer, her attorney also noted that Andrade has worked with disabled people in the past, including time employed at the Edgartown School’s Bridge program.
Jack Collins, Andrade’s lawyer and father, who had previously been the town of Edgartown’s labor lawyer for more than a quarter-century, contended her termination.
“I have represented the town from around the state, and I was here for over a quarter of a century; never have I seen something so despicable,” said Collins, following Andrade’s termination on Thursday.
Andrade has maintained that she is being targeted because of a conflict that began a year ago, following a request she made to be paid for overtime hours, which was approved by the town, and to be paid for all overtime hours since she started working as ACO, which was denied.
During the Edgartown select board meeting on Thursday, Andraded said that she was hoping to have a discussion with the board, but instead the select board approved her termination and adjourned the meeting without any discussion.
Town administrator James Hagerty declined to comment.