GREENFIELD — Dani Letourneau, Mayor Roxann Wedegartner’s chief of staff since she assumed office in 2020, has announced her plans to resign, effective July 7.

In a notice sent to department heads and city councilors this week, Letourneau said that, while she is “overwhelmingly proud of the work we have done together under the mayor’s leadership over the last three and a half years,” she is taking a sabbatical — or, as Letourneau calls it, an adult gap year.

“It may not be a full year, but it may be,” she said. “I am going to rest, read, take a class or two, spend time with my loved ones and tend to my neglected garden.”

When contacted by phone Tuesday evening, Letourneau, 49, said it was not an easy decision to make, but one she’s been working on with Wedegartner for several months. The COVID-19 pandemic, during which her father died, led her to reevaluate her life.

“It’s time,” she said. “I’ve been pedal to the metal since 2020, doing all kinds of great stuff. … If I have this opportunity to not do paid work for a little while, I should do it.”

Wedegartner said Letourneau has been “an invaluable cog in how the city works.”

“I rely on her very heavily,” Wedegartner said. “She is really top-notch at what she does, so she will be missed, not just by me, but by staff and department heads. As chief of staff, she does a lot of the work of taking on issues, or concerns, that the department heads may bring to her.”

Still, Wedegartner said she understands Letourneau’s decision and is supportive of it.

“It’s been hard,” she said. “It isn’t just having to grieve the loss of a loved one, but how hard it is right now to be in government and to try to do the right thing and move — in this particular case — Greenfield forward and have negativity at every turn. That’s hard on all of us.”

Letourneau said she was proud to have worked alongside the mayor and department heads on several major developments, including the new soon-to-open Greenfield Public Library and the new fire station being constructed on Main Street, the Wilson’s Department Store redevelopment project, and the Wells Street homeless shelter expansion. Most notably, she said, she is proud of the city’s response to the pandemic and the vaccine clinics in 2021.

“I carry in my purse a Post-it note where I wrote down the number of vaccines we administered during the pandemic,” Letourneau said. “Greenfield did a great job.”

That Post-it note reads 17,487, she said.

Letourneau emphasized she is not “jumping ship” as Wedegartner seeks election to a second term.

“I’m not abandoning the mayor,” she said. “One of the reasons I wanted to do this job was her vision and her leadership. … She and I will always be friends.”

Letourneau’s involvement with the mayor began when Wedegartner announced her candidacy for mayor in early 2019. Wedegartner was elected that November. Prior to that, Letourneau was vice president of client services at a media distribution company and, before that, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Franklin County. She served on the 13-member City Council from 2006 to 2011, under the previous two mayors.

The mayor’s office is in the process of searching for an interim chief of staff. Wedegartner said that person will likely be picked internally, to allow for a “seamless” transition.

“We’ve set people up for success in the city government,” Letourneau said. “I feel like we’ve created some systems over the last few years that … make me feel a little better about leaving.”

Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.

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