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Board of Selectmen Minutes 3/23/11
Members present:        Mark Karlberg, George Fuller, William Cavanaugh

Others Present: Craig Kleman, Colleen O’Connor, George Roberts, Barbara Stuhlmann, Rob Gorden, Howard Lerner, David Scribner-Berkshire Record, Geraldine Galliher, Mark White, John Vachula, Rita Furlong, Victor Breen, Dick Lindsay-Berkshire Eagle, Patricia Portieri, Paula Cianfarani, Jean Godbout, Robin Greenspan, Herbert Greenspan, Nicole Miller, Michael Morrison-Sandisfield Police Chief, John Polastri, Meredyth Babcock, Philip Adams-WMCOPA, Allen Stratton-WMCOPA, Richard Marchese-WMCOPA, Thomas Austin-WMCOPA, Roberta Sarnacki-Otis Police Chief-WMCOPA, John Cotton-WMCOPA Chief of Police Retired, Justin Elovirta, Esther Balardini, Madelaine Elovirta, Jan Elovirta, William Elovirta, Attorney John Collins, Robert Ronzio, Dan Andrews, Bob Denley

7:00 PM Meeting opened.

George Fuller asked if anyone from the audience was recording this meeting.  Bill Elovirta advised that he was audio taping the meeting.

George advised that the purpose of this meeting was to conduct a hearing to discuss the potential dismissal of a public officer.  He also advised that there would be no public input; the only people that will be allowed to speak are Bill Elovirta, Jack Collins and the Selectmen and Craig Kleman, the new Town Administrator and Nina.  He asked Bill Elovirta if he wanted this hearing conducted in an Executive Session.  Bill declined stating that he wished it to be conducted in open session.  

Bill read a letter that was sent to Bill Elovirta advising him of the hearing tonight.  Mark read a letter from the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission.  Before he read the letter, Mr. Collins asked that George recuse himself because there was a conflict of interest for him to act on this issue.  George asked what he was talking about.  Mr. Collins explained that Bill Elovirta was instrumental in the investigation that lead to George’s arrest which amounted to George spending time in prison.  He said since this time George has tried to get Bill to do certain things which he has refused to do.  He also advised that George had a girlfriend who tried to contact Bill.  George asked what he was talking about.  He stated that he is just putting him on notice and he would be filing a complaint to the Ethics Commission because he is in violation of the Conflict of Interest Law.  He said if he is wrong then he is sorry but if he is right then George might be voiding anything that the Board does at this hearing and would be facing a fine of $10,000.  He said it was George’s call.  Mr. Collins also made some other accusations.  George asked him to prove any of the accusations that he just made.  He just advised that he would be filing a complaint to the Ethics Commission.  George advised that he would not recuse himself from this hearing.  Mark read the letter from PERAC.  This letter states that Bill Elovirta is in violation of Chapter 415 of the Acts of 1987 in which he has reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 and could no longer be acting as Police Chief.  The letter states that if he is aggrieved by the determination of this commission he could file an appeal but he could not act while the appeal is pending.  Mr. Collins advised that for the past 35 years he has worked as legal counsel for the Massachusetts Chief of Police Association.  He advised that the law, Chapter 415 of the Acts of 1987, was repealed in 1990.  He also advised that when Bill Elovirta retired as Highway Superintendent, he retired from Group 1 of the retirement system.  If he worked only as police chief and he retires, it would be from Group 4 of the retirement system.  This is not the case and because of this, he is not covered under the same law which was stated in the letter from PERAC.  Mr. Collins stated that at this hearing certain evidence is brought up and acted on.  This letter from PERAC is considered hearsay by Mr. Collins.  He advised that there are other towns in the Commonwealth that are in the same boat.  The police chief association has tried to help some towns and what was done was that an article was placed on the warrant at a meeting to make the voters make the decision as to whether the chief can stay longer.  This was done in West Springfield and the Town of Sheffield.  He is suggesting that instead of having a long drawn out battle, that he suggested two different things.  One would be to have the town vote to allow him to stay longer or not.  If the town votes to have Bill stop acting as police chief right now then he would do this and there would be no lawsuit against the town.  If the Town votes to keep him longer, then the legislature would be petitioned decide to allow this.  He also advised that PERAC sent its opinion but it does not have the ability to enforce this.  He feels that while this is pending, the Board could decide to keep Bill in the position of Police Chief only in the form of administration so Bill could not act as a uniformed police officer.  Mark stated that the only opinion that PERAC made was that a chief was a uniformed member of the police department.  He also stated that if the town’s representatives feel that the town should vote on whether or not to keep Bill or not then he would assume it was because the law was still in effect.  If the law was not in effect, wouldn’t the representatives pass this along to the towns?  Mr. Collins advised that it is the common sense way to approach this rather than spend large amounts of money trying to figure this out.  Mark feels that they should change the law.  George asked if the law does not apply to State Police, then why didn’t the police association follow suit and change the retirement age?  Briefly discussed the insurance liabilities and Mr. Collins advised that there was a law passed that excludes the police department from these liabilities.  Bill Cavanaugh stated that by putting this on a town meeting, the town is petitioning the legislature to keep Bill longer than what the law states.  But Mr. Collins stated that this law was repealed.  If the law was repealed than why is he asking the town to vote to change it?  Bill also stated that Mr. Collins said that all the letters presented in this hearing is hearsay because there was no one here to back them up.  He asked if the town would need the governor present to rebut the letter?  Mr. Collins advised that at a hearing there needs to be someone present to prove that what they stated in a letter that was submitted as evidence was true.  He said that the town should check with its legal counsel to see if this law was amended.  George tried to contact legal counsel but was unable to reach anyone.  Bill advised the audience that he feels that Bill Elovirta has done a wonderful job as police chief but if this law is true and the Board still lets Bill continue as Police Chief then they would be putting the town at risk and he does not want to do that.  Mr. Collins would like the Board to hold off on acting on this until it finds out whether or not this law was abolished.  If the law was found to be abolished then the Board would need to decide how to move forward.  If the law was found not to be abolished then the Board would need to decide how to proceed.  Bill wants to get the Attorney General’s interpretation of the law before they act.  George asked Bill Elovirta if he was okay with not working as police chief for two weeks until they get an answer.  Mr. Collins said no.  Bill Elovirta advised that he just had surgery and is not at this point able to do anything except administrative detail anyway but he would be okay with just doing administrative duty for now.  Bill motioned to restrict Bill Elovirta to administrative duty and not perform uniformed duty until this gets resolved, Mark seconded.  George opposed.  Motion passed.  The hearing adjourned at 8:15 PM.

Nina advised that she received a petition from some voters for a tax amnesty program.  The Selectmen will need to place this on the warrant for the Annual Town Meeting.  Nina will have the town clerk verify that the signers of the petition are registered voters.

8:20 PM Mark motioned to adjourn, Bill seconded.  All in favor.

Reviewed payroll/expense warrants.



Respectfully submitted,                                                         _______________________________
Nina Weiler, Secretary                                                          George Fuller, Chairman