SEQUIM — The president of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce opened the floor on Tuesday to questions about the recent firing of Executive Director Lee Lawrence, but declined to answer many of them.
“We would not have done this unless we felt it was absolutely necessary,” Joe Borden, chamber president, told about 50 people gathered for a chamber luncheon.
“There are questions that I’m not going to answer.”
Lawrence — a former Sequim Citizen of the Year — was fired on Friday after accepting the position six months ago.
He “was not meeting board expectations,” said Borden in an e-mail sent to chamber members Monday.
Lawrence, reached by cell phone Tuesday afternoon, declined to comment.
“At this stage of the issue, I have no comment on this matter, but thank you for the call,” he told the Peninsula Daily News before hanging up.
Borden told the group Tuesday, “I am sure there are many questions.
“But sometimes it is better not to ask some of those questions.”
The board met on Thursday to discuss Lawrence and requested his resignation on Friday.
He declined to give it, so the board terminated him, Borden said.