Q. All the articles here on Joanne Lown states she blamed her actions on the dealth of a co-worker.  I thought it was due to the fact her mother died in Florida as stated in the Poughkeepsie Journal.  I raised a question then why she returned to work before getting over the lost as being a civil service employee (not an elected official) has bereavement days, vacation and personal days whichshe certainly must have had.  To date, nobody has explained that one to me.


Joanne Lown was on vacation supposedly visiting a sick parent on Florida (although one source indicated that they had seen Joanne Lown in Hyde Park with this parent around that time period) when the position of bookkeeper was terminated.  There was no death in her family at that time.

Joanne wrote a letter to an auditing firm explaining that her deceased co-worker, who held the position of a
clerk, was the person ultimately responsible for the errors that were made in the town's bookkeeping records, rather than herself.  This letter is published on this website in a recent blog (Re: Clueless individuals and an incompetent attoney). The writers should point out that Joanne sent this letter to the INCORRECT auditing firm. The firm that is addressed in the letter is one that was assisting the town with organizing the records for 2009 rather than the firm that was conducting the audit. The writers at the HV News Lies are of the opinion that it is in rather poor taste to shift the blame of your accounting errors onto a recently deceased co-worker and is an indication of the lack of integrity that one has in doing so.

On a side note, numerous sources at Town Hall have indicated that Joanne Lown has returned to Town Hall to settle personal scores rather than doing actual work and acting as the office snitch...costing the town approximately $100,000 which includes all the fringe benefits she is receiving.