EXTRA EXTRA BIG HEADLINES FROM WINCHENDON!

Thefts investigated before release of town employees Executive session minutes detail discussion of situation surrounding DPW workers Damien Fisher News Staff Writer WINCHENDON — Five municipal employees who left their jobs since February had been investigated for stealing from the town, according to documents released this week. Gary Niles, Geary Priest, and Mark Anderson all left their jobs with the Winchendon Department of Public Works in June after they signed documents admitting to stealing town water. The situation was discussed during a June 14 executive session of the Board of Selectmen, the minutes of which were released Monday. Mr. Priest declined to comment when contacted Tuesday. Mr. Niles and Mr. Anderson could not be reached for comment. According to the minutes and the respective separation and release agreements the three men signed with the town — which were released Tuesday — they all tampered with their water meters in order to avoid being billed for water used. According to the minutes, officials first became aware of the situation when United Water, the firm the town contracts with for water service, was fine-tuning the new meter reading system in town. Some of the accounts came back reading zero water use and were flagged, the minutes indicate. When the information was looked at more closely, four accounts came back showing four to six weeks of average use, followed by six weeks of no usage at all.  “This (pattern) was repeated and indicative of meter tampering,” the minutes state. Three of those accounts belonged to Mr. Niles, Mr. Priest and Mr. Anderson, and the fourth belonged to a United Water employee, according to the minutes.  The United Water employee involved will no longer work in Winchendon, the minutes indicate. The three former DPW employees agreed to pay restitution and give up accrued sick time. The discussion in the June 14 minutes also involved an investigation into stealing from the town’s transfer station. Two employees — Patrick Mullins and Donald Perini — left their positions at the station earlier this year, and their respective separation and release agreements with the town were also released Tuesday. According to the minutes, Mr. Kreidler stated at the meeting that the men’s “actions led them to no longer being employed.” On February 28, Patrick Mullins resigned from his position as the foreman at the transfer station, and Donald Perini  resigned as a laborer at the transfer station on March 1. Neither Mr. Perini nor Mr. Mullins could be reached for comment. According to Mr. Perini’s release agreement with the town, he admitted to stealing scrap metal from the transfer station, selling it at local scrap dealers and pocketing the cash. The agreements states Mr. Perini did this with another town employee. Mr. Perini also agreed to make $300 restitution to the town. Mr. Mullins makes no admission in his release, but agrees to waive his rights to pursue any legal action against the town, and the town agrees to not pursue action against Mr. Mullins. At the time, Mr. Mullins and Mr. Perini were the only town employees assigned to the transfer station. In the case of Mr. Priest, Mr. Niles and Mr. Anderson, selectmen Chairman Robert O’Keefe wanted the town to pursue criminal charges, according to the minutes. Mr. Kreidler countered that firing the men and charging them criminally would have resulted in them losing their pensions. “Just purely through a humanity perspective, (Mr. Kreidler) said he couldn’t set into motion an action that these people of 34 and 27 years of service to the town would most likely result in the loss of their pension,” the minutes state. According to the minutes, Mr. Kreidler also spoke of his need to protect the town from any legal entanglement, such as a wrongful termination lawsuit, a union arbitration or any other possible liability. Mr. O’Keefe questioned the decision to not charge the men with a crime, given the earlier investigation at the transfer station and the subsequent departure of its two employees. Some of the water thefts occurred after the two transfer station employees resigned, according to the minutes. “O’Keefe asked what does this tell us? Kreidler responded they did not get the message. O’Keefe said the message has been received; that it is not a deterrent and they are not listening,” the minutes state. The minutes state Mr. Kreidler put forward a plan to get the three DPW employees to resign, freeing the town of liability while still making it a punitive action. According to the plan outlined, instead of allowing the men to simply resign and leave with their pensions, the three men would have to give up some of the financial benefits of resigning. According to the release agreements signed after the meeting, Mr. Niles, Mr. Priest and Mr. Anderson all agreed to  give up their accrued sick time. Certain union employees in town can accrue sick time and vacation time and get paid for that time upon retirement. Mr. Niles would have been due more than $2,000 in the accrued sick time benefits, while Mr. Anderson was in line for more than $5,000 in sick time and Mr. Priest for more than $10,000 in sick time. Under the terms of the agreement, Mr. Niles agreed to pay the town $251 restitution and waive all accrued sick time. Of that sick time, 25 percent of the value would go to the town’s water enterprise fund “for damages caused by the (employee’s) actions.” Mr. Niles was paid for all accrued but unused vacation time. Mr. Anderson made a similar agreement, paying the town $678 restitution and waiving the right to sick time accrued. Again, 25 percent of the sick time value went to the water enterprise fund, and Mr. Anderson was paid for vacation time. Mr. Priest agreed to pay $26 restitution and waive his accrued sick time, with 25 percent going to the water enterprise fund. Mr. Priest had no accrued vacation time, according to the agreement. According to the June 14 minutes, Mr. Kreidler told selectmen such a deal in which the transfer station employees  simply left and one made restitution was in the best interest of the town. When three other DPW employees were caught stealing from the town eight years ago, one of those employees was fired, but got his job back through union arbitration. The deals did not sit well with all the members of the board, the minutes indicate. “(Selectman Elizabeth) Hunt voiced her concerns that the Town Manager was being too soft and had concerns in the future with him not being able to fire someone,” the minutes state. Mr. Kreidler defended his actions, according to the minutes, saying each case needs to be handled on an individual basis and the town’s best interests need to be balanced against the possibility of criminal action. The town manager stated “the bottom line is what is best for the town,” the minutes indicate. Mr. O’Keefe said the town will take a hard line against future theft, according to the minutes — stating “we will not tolerated this ever again” — and he expressed his hope that the situations discussed at the June 14 session would come to the attention of the public.