Jennifer Sasso addresses the Dunkirk Common Council. P-J photo by M.J. Stafford

Dunkirk Mayor Kate Wdowiasz has sued former city dog control officer Jennifer Sasso.

Meanwhile, the Common Council has brought on Wayde Forster as Sasso’s replacement.

City Attorney Elliot Raimondo apparently served Sasso with the lawsuit at a Common Council meeting Tuesday. Sasso had just gone to the podium during the public comments period to criticize the city government’s handling of the dog shelter. Raimondo then rose from his seat, walked over to her holding the court papers in a manila envelope, and told her she was served.

Sasso’s contract was not renewed at the end of March, and she bit City Hall for its alleged mishandling of the dog control shelter in a series of social media posts and emails to the OBSERVER.

According to Wdowiasz’s lawsuit, some of the criticisms got personal, and constitute defamation.

The lawsuit posts as an exhibit a comment allegedly made by Sasso on another social media post. Sasso suggested Wdowiasz is having an affair with a local fire chief, and “getting off her bar stool and putting the drink down is the first thing that could help her administration.”

The suit, filed in state Supreme Court’s Chautauqua County branch, seeks “Damages on the amount of $327,000 which is the mayor’s salary over the course of six years.” It also wants $857.92 paid back for items Sasso allegedly stole from the city. Another exhibit posts receipts for the items she allegedly pilfered.

atract after March of 2026 due to issues with the quality of Sasso’s work,” the lawsuit states. “Instead of moving on from this matter, Sasso stole city resources in her departure … constituting the misuse of public funds.”

The court filing argues that “while defamation and slander carry a higher burden for public officials … this burden has been reached with ‘actual malice’ with recent Facebook posts” that harm Wdowiasz’s professional reputation.

For her part, Sasso said she attended the council meeting “to stand for the dogs who can’t speak for themselves — the dogs who suffered because the city chose to not to follow the law.

“They chose not to listen, they chose not to act, and I’m here to confront the slanderous lies that have been used to distract from their suffering. … instead, you failed by neglect, silence and inaction. For months I raised concerns about the conditions the dogs were living in… I reported the lack of supplies, the unsafe environment, the absence of proper protocols,” and alleged failure to follow state laws.

Sasso continued, “While the dogs were suffering, I reached out again and again and asked for one simple thing: I asked for a meeting, a conversation, a chance to address the problems — but they got worse. Not once, not twice, but 14 separate times I asked for a meeting.”

Not long after Sasso spoke, the council moved ahead with hiring Forster as her replacement. He will work for $1,600 a month, under contract until Sept. 30. At that time, Forster and the city will negotiate a new contract if each party is satisfied with the services provided.

Wdowiasz told the OBSERVER Thursday that Sasso was “brought in by (former councilpersons) Abby Yerico (Zatorski) and Nancy Nichols as a savior” for the city’s troubled dog shelter.

As a contractual employee, “I was never her direct supervisor,” Wdowiasz said.

“She was supposed to go to Human Resources for anything she needed.”

Instead, the mayor alleges, Sasso consistently went behind City Hall’s back to get things done — and ran up bills the city cannot afford.

“She throws out state Agriculture and Markets Law and that we are required to fully vaccinate. We are not,” Wdowiasz said. “The only thing is we have to make sure a dog has its rabies vaccine and is licensed in the city before it is released.”

Sasso has alleged the city demanded that she get dogs euthanized. “That was never a demand that the city made to anybody,” Wdowiasz claimed. On the other hand, she said, log records show Sasso had two dogs euthanized and cremated — the cremations incurring extra charges for the city.

“She was way overstepping what her job duties were,” Wdowiasz said of Sasso. The mayor complained Sasso took food from the shelter, gave it to residents, and bragged about it — but that undermined the local Pet Pantry.

As to Sasso’s personal attacks online, Wdowiasz asserted, “She doesn’t have the right to talk about me that way, or the chief. She is tarnishing my reputation, potentially harming my career after I was mayor.”

Wdowiasz called Sasso a “disgruntled employee.”

The mayor also sought to clear up a controversy about donations for the dog shelter that are held at the City Clerk/Treasurer’s Office. Sasso has alleged they were misplaced.

“Any donations should come to the clerk’s office, and if anybody feels they donated and it didn’t get to the dogs, they should let us know.” Wdowiasz said. “The clerk’s office is now under 24-hour camera surveillance,” she noted.