TIVERTON —Town Administrator Matt Wojcik and Council President Denise deMedeiros responded this week to allegations made by Recreation Commission Chairwoman Susan Gill when she, and two other members, resigned last Monday night from the commission.

The responses by Mr. Wojcik and Ms. deMedeiros came after after this paper went to press Tuesday.

In their resignations, the three voiced objections to what they believed was a lack of support from, and communication with, town officials, and ill treatment they say they received from the officials, particularly from Mr. Wojcik and Ms deMedeiros.

The occasion most immediately at the forefront of the differences between recreation commission members and town officials was the recent holiday tree lighting ceremony at Town Hall and Fort Barton School that attracted an estimated 1,000 visitors on Saturday night, Dec. 5.

Ms. deMedeiros, who said she had been involved in the tree-lighting celebration in years past, said in a phone interview Wednesday night, that "this year I found out the whole thing had changed."

She said that she and a friend, the late Lt. Gerald R. Leduc, a Tiverton firefighter who died in a failed water rescue attempt on Stafford Pond in August, 2008, had together been active in planning and carrying out the celebration in its earlier days.

"The whole thing was very personal to me. It had nothing to do with me being Town Council President," she said of the recent contretemps with recreation commission members.

Ms. deMedeiros said she had been approached by Ms. Gill to be involved this year "only after she had the whole thing done. I did not know about this until I saw the flyer." She was referng to event planning since late September, and to a flyer a week or so before the event announcing the schedule of the Dec. 5 activities.

On the matter of not returning phone calls, as Ms. Gill had alleged, Ms. deMedeiros said "I did return her phone call. I called and talked with her husband and left a message."

The night of the tree-lighting ceremony, Ms. deMedeiros said, "I stayed home and did not get involved in it. I wanted the event to be about the kids. I wanted this to be about Susan and her event."

About Ms. Gill's resignation, allegedly as a result of differences between them regarding the tree-lighting ceremony, Ms. de Medeiros said Ms. Gill "was going to quit anyhow."

For his part, asked by e-mail to respond to Ms. Gill's allegations, Mr. Wojcik answered by e-mail late Tuesday.

"The Christmas event was by all accounts a smashing success. As has been pointed out, the event was and is about only one thing: young children enjoying the holiday season," he wrote.

"I do not believe any further detailed comment on the planning process could in any way be productive. I regret that Susan feels the way she does and do not want to have this one incident cloud the overall impression of her achievements as Chair of the Recreation Commission," he said.

"From time to time people in my position are unable to bring parties together for the good of the whole. I hope going forward the progress that has been made is not lost, and that we can rebuild the team on the Recreation Commission. In my opinion, Mrs. Gill's tenure as chair of the Tiverton Recreation Commission has been marked by significant progress in modernizing and improving the Commission's offerings to the youth and overall citizenry of the Town."

Mr. Wojcik praised Ms. Gill for her work on the Recreation Commission.

"Along with her fellow Commission members, she instituted a number of policies, with my full support if not occasional initiative," he wrote, "to maintain recreation facilities, balance competing demands for scarce resources, and require insurance and background checks from leagues and employees. Her management of the recreation budget has led to drastic improvement in the overall level of services provided to the public at a much lower net cost to the taxpayer."

In his e-mail, Mr.Wojcik said, "In the course of serving as a change agent, Mrs. Gill inevitably encountered those who were not supportive of change, and I did in fact provide a significant amount of behind the scenes defense of her decisions."

Concerns about relations between commission members and town administration were not limited to Ms. Gill.

Vice-Chairwoman Susan Zmich, in her resignation letter, had written, "Volunteering should be a job that is supported by the people that oversee the volunteers. On multiple occasions the committee has worked diligently on its duties only to have the town leaders withdraw their support at the last moment, without showing full knowledge or interest in the tasks before them."

"As the negativity and lack of support from the town leaders remains without improvement," Ms Zmich said, " I have lost my desire to continue to give my time and effort to this task."

Recreation commission member Kristen Plourde, in her letter of resignation, noted the work the commission had done over the last year, but said "Unfortunately, our town leadership has not backed or supported us even after we put forth programs they had asked for. On many occasions we have been embarrassed and humiliated. No volunteer should be treated that way."

A fourth commission member, Tom Pearce Jr., had already resigned because, as he said in a Nov. 12 e-mail to Town Clerk Nancy Mello, "my personal responsibilities do not allow me to commit the time and energy necessary to be an effective member."

The four resignations leave the seven-member commission without a quorum, and without even the ability to convene a meeting. There has been an open position for some time, and only two members (Chris Roemlein, John Cordeiro) remain.