For five weeks, the leaders of Florida’s assisted-living watchdog group pondered what to do with volunteer advocate Bill Hearne.

The 74-year-old former businessman had been “a real asset” to the state’s Long-term Care Ombudsman Program, the group’s top lawyer wrote in an email.

But Hearne also had an annoying habit of telling reporters, public task forces and his colleagues that the advocacy group was “in bed with” industry leaders it was supposed to oversee.

One of Hearne’s bosses called his behavior “toxic.” In the end, the desire to shut Hearne up trumped his contributions to the program, and state Ombudsman Jim Crochet dismissed him last month.

Crochet attached a copy of the dismissal letter to his staff to a Nov. 29 email that contained only one sentence: “This should be in the Miami Herald soon.”

Hearne says his supervisors never warned him that his complaints had become intolerable, though emails between his bosses suggest he was aware he was likely to be dismissed. He added that even if he’s not officially working for the ombudsman’s office, “that will not deter me in advocating for the residents of [long-term care] facilities one iota.”

Hearne, who lives in Miami, is among a growing number of volunteer elder advocates who have either been dismissed or have resigned in the wake of an ongoing purge of inspectors who criticize or challenge the program’s decision to move in a dramatically new direction. The programs’ new philosophy has pleased ALF owners and lawmakers who support their interests.

But it has not been embraced by many volunteers, who say the program — inspired during the Great Society program of the 1960s — is becoming a lapdog, not a watchdog.

A series of emails among Ombudsman program leaders obtained by The Miami Herald show administrators struggling to stanch the mounting discontent among volunteers — even opting to dismiss productive volunteers with hope the dismissals will stop the criticism from spreading.

The turmoil began early this year. Brian Lee, the Ombudsman at the time, exploited a provision in the country’s new healthcare reform law and requested ownership and financial documents from the state’s 680 nursing homes. Lee was sacked shortly after and replaced with Jim Crochet, a long-time administrator for the state Department of Elder Affairs, the ombudsman program’s parent agency. Crochet had been recommended by an assisted living industry group.

Since Crochet’s appointment, the number of inspections and investigations by his office have decreased after years of steady growth.

In fact, annual inspections have declined for the first time to just 86 percent — from increasing to 9 out of every 10 facilities in 2007 to visiting every home in the state the next year. By 2009, volunteers were even able to inspect many homes twice.

Volunteers investigated fewer complaints, as well. Every year since 2007, the program has increased the number of complaints investigated by staff, beginning with 7,617 complaints in the 2007 budget year. But in an annual report released by the program Monday, complaint investigations declined from 9,098 in budget year 2010 to 7,534 this year — a 17 percent reduction.

Erica Wilson, a spokeswoman for the program, said administrators are not sure why both inspections and complaint investigations declined — though she speculated that the decrease in annual visits could prompt a reduction in complaints, as well, as complaints are often received during annual assessments.