SIDELINED: And none too happy

I’ve served on Hayden’s Veterans Affairs Commission for the past eight years, volunteering countless hundreds of hours towards Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Patriots Day, Hayden Days, various parades, Santa Claus, etc. Last Friday, after putting together a stirring 9/11 Remembrance ceremony, I was summoned to the city administrator’s office and confronted with a city employee’s complaint that I made a comment that made her so uncomfortable that she is unable to attend any more meetings that I, too, attend. The comment was, “Would you consider going out with an old, fat guy like me?”

While maybe inappropriate during working hours, it’s not life altering or traumatic enough to run and complain to Human Resources! My position is she should have made it clear that she didn’t appreciate the comment, which, by the way, was in jest, and to keep contacts professional and work related. Then I’m warned. But we were friends on Facebook and had brief personal conversations in the past. I thought we had a good working relationship, but obviously, I was sadly mistaken.

The city asked for my resignation. I was stunned and saddened, as the decision had already been made, evidenced by the administrator’s comment that the mayor, who I thought was my friend, was on board with that decision, without even hearing my side! Now I’m first to admit that my big mouth sometimes gets me in deep doo-doo, but in this case I was bushwhacked by a snowflake in need of a safe-space.

DAVE SHELDON

Hayden