Dismissed city employee Deb Smith is questioning the findings of an outside investigation into complaints she made about South Portland’s top leaders prior to her layoff.

Smith said this week that she and her attorney, Maria Fox, received a copy of the independent report commissioned by the city after the February layoff.

But Smith said the report prepared by consultant Michael Wing failed to address specific complaints she made about alleged mismanagement at the Community Center, where she worked as operations manager for 27 years.

“Nothing in the report answers any questions I put forth,” Smith said Monday. “The examples I gave of mismanagement, the specific issues that happened… there are no references to them in the report.”

City Manager Jim Gailey declined to discuss the report, the findings or his reaction to it. Wing, the outside consultant, could not be reached for comment.

Gailey has refused to discuss Smith’s complaints since she filed a written report with the city outlining them.

“Similar to Deb Smith’s letter of March 24th, the City must treat the report as confidential under Maine State statute, 30-A M.R.S.A. Sec. 2702(1)(B), but a copy has been provided to Deb Smith’s attorney, Maria Fox, and she is certainly free to release a copy of it,” Gailey said in an e-mail to the newspaper.

Fox did not return calls for comment on Monday on whether she will publicize the consultant’s report.

Smith has declined to detail her complaints about management practices at the Community Center, on the advice of her attorney.

But, Smith said Monday, she and Fox have requested an appointment to meet with Gailey. She said they want to discuss the report and why her complaints were omitted from it.

Gailey already refused to meet with Smith once, right after she and four other longtime city employees lost their jobs in budget cuts.

The other laid-off workers are: Reta Nappi, librarian; Dave Gaudet, Public Works operations manager; benefits coordinator Pam St. John; and library clerk Monica Dubay.

The layoffs were met with an outcry from members of the public. Many residents knew firsthand the work of the career employees: Smith, operations manager at the Community Center; Young Adult Librarian Reta Nappi; Public Works operations manager Dave Gaudet; benefits coordinator Pam St. John; and Monica Dubay, library clerk.

The city manager had ordered the outside consultant’s review to appease public concerns raised about Smith’s layoff in particular.

Smith has indicated she became concerned about management at the Community Center after Dana Anderson promoted pool supervisor Tim Gato to his deputy chief. Anderson heads public works, parks, recreation and libraries.

Anderson is on paid leave because of unrelated allegations of embezzlement made in a civil lawsuit by the International Association of Affiliated Basketball Officials.

Anderson maintained his innocence and the case was settled out of court.

But Anderson has been on leave pending a financial audit of his department. He has declined to comment on the layoffs; Gato has been in charge during his absence.

Mayor Tom Blake said Monday that all contact the city has had with Anderson since he was put on leave has been through his attorney, Greg Frame.

He declined to say when the audit may be completed or speculate whether Anderson will return to his job.

Meanwhile, Gailey said Monday night at the City Council meeting that the city must keep the report relating to Smith’s concerns private to protect the confidentiality of personnel.

Blake said he was not given a copy of the report but that he is confident in Gailey’s ability to manage the situation.

Blake noted that a committee of city workers has formed and met for the first time to update South Portland’s 16-year-old personnel policy. The update, in part, will examine how the city handles promotions and dismissals, two practices criticized in the wake of the February layoffs.

At previous City Council meetings, several residents called on the city to clarify personnel policies. Residents complained about the manner in which the five employees were dismissed. Most were given a few minutes to collect their things and leave.

They also complained about Gato’s promotion without other candidates being considered for the job.

Councilor Patti Smith, who works as a human resources director, also had offered some broad suggestions for improving personnel policies.

Monday night, the barrage of complaints seemed to be abating. Three members of the public voiced concerns.

Comments focused on the dismissal of Nappi, who oversaw the Young Adult Resource Room, which was closed and locked.

School teacher Courtney Ferrell said the layoff of Nappi and the closing of the Young Adult Resource Room at the main library left a void in her daughter’s life.

“She has not checked out a book since the layoffs,” Ferrell said. “She hangs out in the little kids’ room at the Library.”

Ferrell said she could only compare the loss her daughter feels to how the members of a Little League would react, if suddenly they lost their coach and playing field. “Those kids could still play ball but they would miss the camaraderie of having a coach, a place to play and a team.”

Peggy Smith of Mitchell Road said that dismissing the young adult librarian is in effect disenfranchising adolescents, a population she described as “most unlikely to advocate for themselves.”

She said that being a librarian is more than just sliding “books across a counter.”