PITTSFIELD – When one employee quits in a busy town office, no one really notices. But when six veteran employees leave, residents and others begin paying attention.

At Tuesday night’s Town Council meeting, freshman Councilor Christinalyn Cote questioned why Town Clerk Yvonne Mailman, a seven-year veteran, had become the latest to resign.

“Why are we losing such highly qualified and trained people?” asked Cote.

At least one former town employee blamed the turnover on Town Manager Kathryn Ruth. Since Ruth was hired two years ago, six employees – including two department heads – have quit. Those who left had more than 40 years of combined service to the town.

Eileen Wright, who worked in the town office for 61/2 years and is married to Councilor Jack Wright, said she recently resigned because of the negative work atmosphere created by Ruth.

“I had to leave because I was becoming physically ill. I enjoyed my job,” Wright said late Tuesday. “I loved my co-workers and she just destroyed that. She squeezed the life out of it.” Wright said that since she has left the town office, dozens of people have asked her why the council isn’t aware of what is going on.

“How can they close their eyes to what is happening?” she asked. “[Ruth] has an agenda. She wanted us all gone so she could hand-pick her own staff.”

Mayor Peter A. Vigue defended Ruth during the meeting, saying that he had been a councilor for six years, four years longer than Ruth had been town manager, and that employees had been leaving throughout that time.

In the two years before Ruth’s tenure, four town office employees left: Three retired and one job was eliminated.

Vigue said that it was not the council’s job to deal with personnel matters and suggested that councilors who had questions about the situation could have a private meeting with Ruth.

Throughout the discussion, Ruth sat quietly at her desk and did not comment. Three attempts to reach her for comment after the meeting were unsuccessful.

Along with Vigue, several other councilors also praised Ruth. Councilors Debra Billings, Timothy Nichols and Michael Gray all applauded Ruth for a job well done.

During the meeting, councilors voted to appoint current office manager Vicki Braley as interim town clerk after Mailman’s resignation, which becomes effective Jan. 15. A new clerk will be sought.

Mailman said earlier in the day that she was not leaving her position for a new job. She left because of what she called a tense, unbearable work atmosphere.

Mailman’s opinion about working conditions in the town was backed by several former employees and others.

Former mayor and town employee Yvonne Young confronted the Town Council last month during budget deliberations when Ruth restructured the town office, eliminating a position held by a 15-year veteran employee while creating a new, nearly identical position one desk away. Young told the council they should be ashamed of how they treated the employee.

At the time, Ruth defended her decisions, saying eliminating the position was done solely as a cost-saving and department efficiency measure.

Deborah Fletcher also left the town after working as the bookkeeper for seven years. “I don’t recall ever feeling respected,” she said Tuesday. “There were such unreasonable expectations. There was more work given to me than could possibly be done in a 12-hour day.”

After Fletcher left, the council opted to outsource the bookkeeper’s payroll obligations.

But Fletcher said her reasons for leaving went beyond the workload.

“My mental health, my physical health, was more important to me than showing up and wondering what the ‘crisis’ of the day was going to be,” said Fletcher.