The Schuylkill County Commissioners voted to fire Drug and Alcohol Administrator Melissa Kalyan

at their meeting Wednesday.

By a vote of 2-1, Commissioner Gary Hess vote no. Commissioners Barron “Boots” Hetherington and George Halcovage Jr. voted yes.

Hetherington said he had “confidence” in Human Resources director Heidi Zula, Elaine Gilbert, who is the administrator of mental health developmental services and the drug and alcohol program, County Administrator Gary Bender and First Assistant Solicitor Glenn Roth.

Commissioner Hess was unavailable for comment immediately Wednesday.

The Times News has obtained a copy of letter Kalyan provided to the commissioners. It details her accomplishments in the office, her experiences there and her last day of work.

Zula said Kalyan had been an employee with the county during two time periods. The first one was from July 2000 to April 2005 when she was a case manager specialist within the department. The second time was from June 2008 to Oct 2021. She was an assistant administrator and then was promoted to her most recent role in Dec 2011.

Read Thursday’s edition for more on this story.