In a video posted to Instagram on Monday, Sept. 21, Woodstock Supervisor Anula Courtis said she encouraged Michael Innello, the Level 3 registered sex offender hired by the town as a maintenance worker in 2025, to find another job and leave town employment.

Innello resigned from the Custodial Department on Sept. 11 after obtaining a commercial driver’s license to pursue work elsewhere. Courtis’ account provides new detail about her role in his departure.

The video comes as Courtis runs for another term as town supervisor. Former acting town clerk Meghann Reimondo is mounting a write-in campaign for the same office.

“There were a lot of people who wanted to know what happened, and I don’t feel that I’m disclosing anything terrible here. I encouraged him to go get another job that would pay him more money and leave Woodstock,” Courtis said in an interview.

Courtis said she began discussing Innello’s departure with Allen VanLeuven, the head of the Custodial Department, as early as January, when she took office.

VanLeuven said Courtis did not speak directly with Innello about leaving, but that he passed her messages along. He said Courtis periodically asked about Innello’s progress toward obtaining his commercial driver’s license, which Innello began pursuing around May.

“Nothing was ever forced or anything,” VanLeuven said. “I don’t think she wanted to fire him. I think she wanted him to leave on his own.”

The town board voted to hire Innello in March 2025. Former Supervisor Bill McKenna knew about Innello’s criminal history but did not disclose it to the other board members before the vote. They said they did not know he was a Level 3 registered sex offender, the classification indicating the highest risk of reoffending under New York’s system.

After learning of his history, the board voted 3–0 to terminate Innello’s employment in July 2025. McKenna did not file the termination paperwork with Ulster County and returned Innello to the town payroll without board approval in August. Innello stayed on the payroll until his resignation.

Courtis said the board considered several ways to end Innello’s employment after she took office. She said his union representation and the end of his probationary period in September 2025 made termination difficult. Courtis said she did not attempt to negotiate with his union.

One option under consideration, she said, was an overhaul of the Custodial Department that would require maintenance employees to re-interview for their jobs. Courtis said she ultimately preferred that Innello leave on his own terms.

“Michael understood that there were several ways in which he was going to leave. I needed to think through the smartest way for all of us — for him and for our town,” Courtis said.

Communications Workers of America, the union representing Innello, declined to comment on the circumstances of his departure. Innello did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Courtis said she had hesitated to discuss the conversations publicly because she feared doing so could interfere with Innello’s search for another job.

“It wasn’t media worthy at the time,” she said. “I had to make a judgment call.”

Courtis also addressed broader concerns about staff turnover in the video.

“I’ve heard concerns about the number of town employees who have left since I took office,” she said.

She said staffing changes in the Building and Police departments were intended to address backlogs and understaffing. In the police department, she said, more than six paid positions had been occupied by employees who were “on the books” but not coming to work.

Police Chief Clayton Keefe said some of those positions were held by inactive part-time officers, who have no minimum-hour requirement. Two were held by full-time officers who were not working: One took a disability retirement, and the other was out on a medical disability. Keefe said employees were given the option to return to work or leave the department.

The department now has 10 full-time and eight part-time officers, and all available positions are filled, Keefe said.