Michee! Bolder, Chairman oS Sarah E. MacDonald, Vice Chairman Dedham Town Hall James A. MacDonald 26 Bryant Steet Carmen E, Delle Tacano Dedham, MA 02027 Paul A. Reynolds ‘Yel (781}751-9100 ‘Williom G, Keegen, I CaN Ae oe neiak Town Adminiswator Fax (781)751- Board of Selectmen Fax (781}751-9109 | Netey A Baer Web Site Asst. Tovin Adminiswator www dedhan-me gov January 26, 2010 Ms. Rita Kaleos 3117 Main Street Walpole, MA Dear Ms. Kaleos: Please be advised that you are dismissed effective immediately srom your position as the Director of the Dedham Council on Aging, The reasons set forth below, taken separately or im any combination, form the grounds for your dismissal. I regret that this action is necessary. LTHE CONFLICT OF INTEREST LAW. ‘The Massachusetts’ Conflict of Interest Law prohibits an employee, inoltding a Department Head like 8 COA Director, from hiring and/or determining the compensation paid to the employee's son. M.G.L, c, 268A, § 19 reads in pertinent part ) Except as permitted by paragraph (b), a munscipal employee who participates as such an employee in a particular matter in which to his knowledge he, his immechate famuly or partner, a business organization im which he ig serving as officer, director, trustee, partner ot employee, or any person or organization with whom he is negotiating or has any arrangement concerning prospective employment, has a financial interest, shall be punished by a fine of not mose then three thousend dollars or by imprisonment for not ‘more then two years, or both. (my underlining)(b) It shail not be a violation of this section (1) if the municipal employee fi advises the official responsible for appointment to his position of the nature ané circumstances of the particular matier and makes full disclosure of such financial interest, and receives in advance a written determination nade by that official that the interest is not so substantial as to be deemed likely to affect the integrity of the secvices which the municipality may expect from the employee, Section 23 of the Conflict of Interest statute prohibits an enuployee from using hisfber position fo secure an unwarranted privilege of substantial value for themselves or others, from acting in a manner which gives a basis for the impression either that they are improperly influenced by another person, or that someone is unduly enjoying their favor because of kinship. (my underlining). I. YOU VIOLATED THE COI LAW WHEN YOU HIRED YOUR SON AND THEN DETERMINED EACH WEEK WHAT HE WOULD BE PAID BY THE COA AS AN EXERCISE INSTRUCTOR. years. On or about May 2009, you hired your son, Nicholas McDonough, who does usiness as “Muscles in Motion,” to work as an exercise instructor for the COA and he continued in that capacity until J discovered what you had done in December, 2009 ‘What you did was a clear violation of the CO! law ‘When I confronted you about it, you insisted that you did not know you had violated the law. You pointed out that members of the COA Board knew that McDonough was your son, You also noted that there are related Town employees in other Town Departments However, I do not concede that you did not know that you were violating the law for reasons that include the following. © Itis common knowledge that it is dlegal for a public employee to directly hire a member of the employee's immediate family, including a son. This is the most basic provision of the CO! lew; © You cannot cite a single instance where a Dedham Department Head has hired his/her son or daughter, © When you advised COA Board Chairwoman Leanne Jasset that you intended to hire your son, she said words to the effect that you had better be sure to “cross the Ts and dot the Is.” If you truly did not know about the prohibition against hiring your son, this should have alerted you to at least ask questions. You did not. In any event, you were responsible for the decision, not Ms, Jasset or any other Board memberEven if'| accepted your assertion that you did nol know the most basic provision of the COl law, your failure to know convinces me that you are uot competent to serve asa Department Head, i.., the Director of the Council on Aging, 8. YOU DO NOT HAVE PROPER RECORDS TO SUPPORT WHAT YOU PAID XOUR SON AND, THEREFORE, IT WOULD APPEAR THAT YOU PAID) HIM FOR MORE HOURS THAN HE WORKED. The COI law also prohibited you from determining your son’s compensation. But you did so anyway. On a regular basis, you determined what he should be paid, including how many hours he should be paid for and his hourly sate, You even had him use your computer to prepare his invoices. Worse yet, you do not have sufficient documentation to support what you authorized for payments to your son. When I first learned that you had been paying your son to conduct the exercise classes, I directed you to provide me with all of the supporting documentation. I gave you several days to do so. You advised me that your son conducted classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday (“possible class days”) and was paid $37.50 per class/hour. You then provided me with attendance sheets for the classes, When I checked the payinents to him against the classes documented by the attendance sheets, the payments exceeded the documented classes. For example: dune 1-12, 2009 ‘There were six (6) possible class days from June 1-12 According to attendance sheets, only 9(nine) classes were taught. Your son submitted a bill, which you paid, for 29 (twenty mine) classes/hours of work June 26-July 8, 2009 ‘There were six (6) possible class days from June 26-Iuly 8 According to attendance sheets, ouly 10 (ten) classes were taught ‘Your son submitted a bili, which you paid, for 21 (twenty one) classes/honrs of work July 10-July 22, 2009 There were six (6) possible class days from July 10-July 22.According to attendance sheets, only 12 {tweive) classes were taught ‘Your sou submitted a bill, which you paid, for 27 (twenty seven) classes/hours of work July 24-August 3, 2008 There were five (5) possible class days from July 24-August 3 According to attendance sheets, 9 (nine) classes were taught ‘Your son submitted a bill, which you paid, for 22.5 (pwenty two and a halt) classes/ hours. ugust 5-17. 2! ‘There were six (6) possible class days from July 10-Tuly 22 According to attendance sheets, 10(ten) classes were taught. ‘Your son submitted a bill, which you paid, for 27 (twenty seven) classes/hours, August 31-September 18, 2009 There were nine (9} possible class days from August 31-September 18. According to attendance sheets, 12 (twelve) classes were taught Your son submitted a bill, which you paid, for 22.5 (twenty two and a half) classes/hours, ‘There were five (5) possible class days from September 21-30. According to attendance sheets, 8 (eight) classes were taught Your son submitted a bill, which you paid, for 16.5 (sixteen and a half} classes/hours, October 2-12, 2009 ‘There were five (5) possible class days from October 2-12 According to attendance sheets, 10 (ten) classes were taught ‘Your son submitted a bill, which you paid, for 21 (twenty one) classes/hours October 14-26. 2009There were six (6) possible class days from October 14-26. According to attendance sheets, 10 (ten) classes were taught ‘Your son submitted a bill, which you paid, for 22.5 (twenty two and a half) classes/hows, Qetober 28-November § 2009 ‘There were five (5) possible class days from October 28-November 6. According to attendance sheets, 6 (six) classes were taught. ‘Your son submitted a bill, whieh you paid, for 15 (fifteen) classes/hours There is no dispute that you do not have the attendance sheets to back up the number of classes fox which you paid yout son. About three, weeks later, at your disciplinary hearing, you brought in your desk calendar and your son’s daily planner and offered that as documentation of his hours worked. Even then, you acknowledged that you paid him for seven (7) more houss on his June 1-12 invoices than your calendar and his calendar showed him working during that time period. You said that he had actually worked the 7 (seven) hours but that he did so on May 31", when he performed 7 (seven) hours'of non- instructional work-—-opening, unpacking and setting up exercise equipment. ‘At best, the “records” of your son’s work hours are incomplete and, therefore, insufficient, I cannot tell for certain from reliable records whether your son worked all of the time that you paid him for. Simply put, you do not have documentation that persuasively supports all of the payments. At a mininzum, you should have been able to provide an attendance sheet for every class and a contemporaneous time sheet and work description, if nol an objective witness, to support his hours outside of class. You should have known that the fact that it was your son who was being paid made such docnmentation particularly important Tf you did not purposely pay your son for more hours than he worked, you may have done so mistakenly based on shoddy documentation. Again, you have failed to meet the minimum standards for a Department Head C. YOU CREATED 4T LEAST AN APPEARANCE OF IMPROPRIETY-—- ANOTHER VIOLATION OF THE COLLAW--IN THAT YOU PAID YOUR SON FOR TIME BEFORE AND AFTER THE CLASSES HE TAUGHT WHEREAS THE PRIOR EXERCISE INSTRUCTOR WAS PALD PER CLASS AND RECEIVED NOTHING FOR SERVICES PROVIDED BEFORE AND AFTER.| | ‘There is no dispute that you paid yous son per hour as opposed to per ciass. The prior exercise instructor, Eileen Smith, was paid per class. She got nothing extra for anything she did prior to or after the class ‘You contend that, with the purchase of several thousand dollars worth of exercise equipment that coincided with you hiring your son as the exercise instructor, it was necessary to transport it back and forth from the COA Center to St. Susanna Church because classes were taught at both locations. You assert that your son was required to set up and break dowm the exercise areas at the Church end the COA facility. Tem not convinced thet your son should have been paid per hour as opposed to per class or should have received the same hourly rate~-$37.50---for non-instructional time that he received to instruct. Ms. Smith, who you presented as a witness at the hearing on January 8, 2010 and who is an experienced exercise instructor, stated thet it is standard practice to pay aCOA exercise instructor by the class. At a minimum, your direct involvement in the purchase of several thousand dollars worth of exercise equipment for your son’s classes and the compensation arrangement with him created the appearance that you were treating him more generously than other exercise instructors because he was your son. D. EVEN AFTER ] WARNED YOU THAT YOU COULD BE DISMISSED FOR I i, YOU DID NOT TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT WHY YOU PERMANENTLY REPLACED THE PRIOR EXERCISE, INSTRUCTOR WITH YOUR SON. ‘You were wamed when I investigated this matter that if you failed to tell the truth, you could be dismissed for that reason alone, separate and apart fiom any discipline imposed for your underlying conduct ‘You insisted at the January 8” hearing that your son was the only exercise instructor that you could get to replace Ms. Smith temporarily in the late spring and summer of 2009 when Ms. Smith resigned abruptly, Based on my discussions with local exercise instructors and facilities, that is not true. ‘You said that you only intended for your son to be an interim replacement for Ms. Smith ‘You and Ms, Smith agreed that, although she had resigned in May because she wanted some time cff, she was highly regarded by those she instructed and you and she agreed she was going to come back in September, 2009. However, you contended that Ms. Fasset and Maureen Teti, the two Board members most active in the exercise program, leamed of this plan, told you not to have Ms, Smith return and told yon to have your son continve.as the instructor. Ms. Teti says that she never had any discussion with you about Ms. Smith's retum. Ms. Jasset denies that she ever told you not to rehire Ms. Smith. (MMs. Smith agrees that you told her that the Boaid did not want her back, but that she never heard thet directly from any Board member.) In any event, it was your decision to make.I. CONCLUSION ‘You commitied a blatant violation of the Conflict of Interest law when you hired your son as an exercise instructor, You knew or should have known that it was a violation. You did not have sufficient documentation to justify the hours thet you paid your son. As ‘is mother, you should not have been the one io determine what he would be paié or to “check” his hours You created an appearance that your son was receiving favored treatment by purchasing several thousand dollars worth of exercise equipment when he began as exercise instructor and paying him for non-instructional time at the rate of $37.50 per hour. Prior to your son, the exercise instructor was paid per class, regardless of the time spent before and after class. You falsely stated that COA Board Members essentially forced you to continue to retain your son as exercise instructor because they told you not to re-hire Eileen Smith. Moreover, when confronted about these actions, you stubbornly refused to take responsibility for your actions. You blamed members of the Board. You even blamed me for not “‘raizing” you Because of your actions and inactions described above, I simply do not have the trust or confidence that you will properly perform your duties as the Director of the Council on Aging, You are dismissed effective immediately. Please return any and all Town owned property including cell phone or any Town documents that you may have in your possession, Please return these items by the close of business on Friday, January 29, 2010 Regrettably, coy fh pith, suk oils fi” William G. Keegesi, it Town, Adminjgtiator Ce: Blayne Alanis, Esq. Personnel File Leo Peloguin, Esq,