Clifton-Fine's ex-chief loses Ticonderoga job

The former administrator at Clifton-Fine Hospital was fired from his job in Ticonderoga after five months.

The board of directors of Inter-Lakes Health had a special meeting to dismiss Roger A. Masse from his position, which paid an annual salary of $160,000. Mr. Masse was administrator at the Star Lake hospital for five years before moving to Inter-Lakes. He was replaced at Clifton-Fine Hospital by Robert P. Kimmes.

Mr. Masse, Oneonta, didn't return a phone call for comment. Joan W. Grishkot, Inter-Lakes board chairwoman, said that Mr. Masse wasn't meeting the board's goals.

"We realized the vision we had and he had were not compatible," she said. "We gave him a list of objectives and really, none were approached. We have things we want to do that weren't on his agenda at all. We realized early on this wasn't going in the right direction."

The Inter-Lakes complex includes the 15-bed critical access Moses-Ludington Hospital — which has had 17 permanent or acting chief administrators since it opened in 1981 — Heritage Commons nursing home, assisted senior apartments, and a dental clinic.

As at Clifton-Fine, Mr. Masse didn't move to the community, but lived in Ticonderoga during the week and returned to Oneonta on the weekends.

"That didn't help," Ms. Grishkot said.

Inter-Lakes will provide Mr. Masse with a severance package.

"We have no hard feelings. There's no animosity," Ms. Grishkot said. "Ours is not an easy job."

Before he was at Clifton-Fine, Mr. Masse worked at Tioga County's Senior Care Facility, but lost his job through corporate downsizing. He worked from 1990 to 1995 in Watertown, at what was then known as Mercy Center for Health Services, as vice president of human resources and long-term care.

He also worked at Margaretville Memorial Hospital and Mountainside Residential Care Facility in Delaware County and as vice president for hospital operations at Fox Hospital in Oneonta.