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Kingston finance director resigns; board rereads letter after partial recording failure
Summary
Finance and HR Director Paula Mahoney submitted a resignation citing micromanagement and unprofessional remarks; the Select Board reread her letter at its meeting and apologized for a missing recording from a prior departmental meeting.
Paula Mahoney, Kingston’s finance and human resources director, submitted a resignation dated April 28, 2025, saying her last day would be May 13, 2025. The Select Board reread Mahoney’s letter at its public meeting after members said the item had not been fully captured on the town’s meeting recording.
In the resignation letter read aloud by Select Board Chair Glenn Koppelman, Mahoney wrote that her decision “comes after 2 years of persistent challenges, including a lack of professional respect, ongoing micromanagement, and inappropriate unprofessional remarks made by certain board members.” The letter said some remarks implied favoritism — Mahoney quoted being referred to as “my drinking buddies” — and described the comments as “entirely unethical and inappropriate.”
Koppelman told the meeting the resignation had been accepted “with regret” at the prior board meeting and that Mahoney had been cooperating with a transition. He said the board wanted to address public questions after social media discussion about whether the earlier reading had been recorded. “Part of the meeting was missed and did not get broadcast or recorded and we do apologize for that,” Koppelman said, explaining the town’s usual video technician was unavailable and the board operated without the usual support.
Susan Ayer, the board’s administrative assistant, said staff had contacted the technician when they learned he was reachable, and that the board had tried to capture as much as possible. The board did not take additional personnel action on the resignation during the public portion of the meeting.
The board did not provide further detail on staffing for Mahoney’s duties beyond saying she was completing a transition during her remaining time. Koppelman said there was no intentional deletion of footage and that the rereading was intended “to put that to bed.”
The Select Board moved on to other agenda items after the rereading; questions about any follow-up personnel process were not resolved in public session at that time.
