Blogger Kelley refiles ethics complaint

By Scott Merzbach
Staff Writer

Published on September 28, 2007

Community watchdog Larry Kelley says on his blog that he is so confident that the Ethics Commission will void the recent votes of two Select Board members that he will donate $10,000 to charity if he is wrong.

Kelley filed a revised Ethics Commission complaint Tuesday alleging a conflict of interest against two members of the Select Board after they gave a financial break to the University of Massachusetts, an institution to which they both have ties.

On Saturday on Kelley's blog, onlyintherepublicofamherst.blogspot.com, he challenged Town Manager Laurence Shaffer to a $10,000 bet on the Ethics Commission's decision. By press time, Shaffer hadn't taken up the pricey challenge.

Another conflict?

Kelley's refiled complaint Tuesday updated an earlier Ethics Commission filing against Select Board member Rob Kusner, a UMass mathematics professor, by adding board member Alisa Brewer to it. Brewer's husband is a full-time lecturer at UMass.

Kelley's complaint comes after the Select Board, acting as the town's Sewer Commission, voted 3-2 on Sept. 17 in favor of eliminating the charge issued to UMass through the Sewer Enterprise Fund for effluent water, the byproduct of sewage treatment, which UMass uses to provide steam in the campus heating plant. Brewer and Kusner were part of the majority.

"They should have recused themselves from the vote," Kelley said. "As far as I'm concerned, the state will overrule this."

The approval of this waiver is a key part of an agreement in which the university is expected to pay $422,000 to the town this year for providing ambulance and fire protection service to the campus. Amherst is slated to receive $140,000 in unanticipated payments as a result of the partnership, which last month Town Manager Larry Shaffer called a "watershed agreement."

If the two "yes" votes are voided, it would mean that the waiver, which is supposed to extend for five years, would not be approved.

Kelley filed the initial complaint Sept. 20, noting that, because Kusner is a full-time professor at the university, his vote could have benefited his employer.

Ethics Commission rules state that elected officials cannot take any official action that would affect their financial interests or the financial interests of their immediate family, their spouses' immediate families or their private employer.

To dispel the appearance of a conflict of interest, the commission encourages the use of public disclosures, which are made in writing and filed with the city or town clerk prior to an action. Oral disclosures are also encouraged during meetings for inclusion in minutes.

Both Brewer and Kusner made this oral disclosure at the meeting, though Brewer did not, at the time, have a written disclosure on file at the town clerk's office. Kusner said he believed he did.

"I have such a blanket disclosure on file, I think it covers it," Kusner said.

On Monday, both Brewer and Kusner filed new written disclosures with Town Clerk Sandra Burgess.

In his disclosure, Kusner wrote that his "sphere of influence" at the mathematics department at UMass is disjointed from the matters contained in the strategic partnership. Kusner also filed a categorical disclosure that reads, in part, "I will participate in any such matters objectively and with the best interests of the Town of Amherst in mind."

Brewer noted that her husband is a lecturer and director of biology computer resource center. "As a Select Board member participating in particular matters related to the University of Massachusetts, I only participate in determination of general policy and the interest of my husband is shared with a substantial segment of the population of the town," Brewer wrote.

Burgess said it is fairly routine for elected officials to file disclosures with her office.

Kelley last week described the strategic partnership as a horrible deal for the town, even though it has been signed by Shaffer, Superintendent Jere Hochman and then UMass Chancellor John Lombardi. The town is already using the $140,000 in new money through the deal toward building revenue assumptions for next year's town budget.

Those who have supported the strategic partnership see it as a first step toward getting not only UMass, but also Amherst and Hampshire colleges, into agreements to help offset impacts on the town.