Merrimack Valley

Former Methuen Mayor Pollard sticks up for ex-Chief Solomon

Denies she told purchasing employee to stay out of police business

By J.J. Huggins
jhuggins@eagletribune.com
Published: January 9, 2009

BOSTON — Former Methuen Mayor Sharon Pollard yesterday denied telling a city employee to stay out of Police Department business.

Pollard testified during an ongoing civil service hearing for fired police Chief Joseph Solomon, who is trying to get his job back.

Pollard rebutted a statement made by Methuen's purchasing administrator, Joanne Ouellette, who earlier said Pollard instructed her to keep her nose out of police purchasing matters.

"I would not have had that conversation with her," Pollard testified on Solomon's behalf. "No. Absolutely not."

Both Ouellette and Pollard testified under oath and under the penalty of perjury. "I was told to stay out of the police," Ouellette testified Nov. 6.

Mayor William Manzi fired Solomon on May 7, 2008, after a lengthy disciplinary hearing overseen by attorney Michael Marks. Solomon is appealing the firing to the state Civil Service Commission.

Marks recommended Solomon be fired for verbally abusing officers and allowing grant money to be misspent. He also said the Police Department broke the law when it used taxpayer money to buy marine equipment from Solomon's sister and brother-in-law.

Ouellette previously testified about a requisition order dated March 27, 2006, for a boat and supplies the Police Department bought from Merrimac Marine, which is owned by Solomon's sister and brother-in-law. The price was $6,770, according to city records.

City policy says that for purchases ranging from $5,000 to $25,000, officials are supposed to get price quotes from three different vendors, Ouellette said.

The boat order listed only Merrimac Marine. Nevertheless, Ouellette didn't say anything and drafted a purchase order to allow police to buy the equipment, she testified. By that time, Pollard had left office and Manzi succeeded her, but she said she still kept with the "stay out" policy with the police.

Methuen has hired attorney David Grunebaum to work with City Solicitor Peter McQuillan to press its case against Solomon.

Grunebaum asked Pollard if she had ever run into trouble with the state Ethics Commission, which she said she had.

The Ethics Commission fined Pollard $4,000 in 2007 for diverting $200,000 of city money to a nonprofit group she founded, the Festival of Trees.

Pollard said she committed the act "unknowingly."

Grunebaum told Civil Service Commissioner Paul Stein that the former mayor's ethics problems were relevant because "it is a credibility issue overall."

Pollard said Solomon informed her about his relation to the owners of Merrimac Marine. He told her that he disclosed the potential conflict of interest to the Ethics Commission, and Pollard determined he should not be involved in any purchases from the marina, she said.

Deputy police Chief Joseph Alaimo previously testified that he signed off on the boat purchase.

Regarding the grant spending, The U.S. Department of Justice said a group of officers that includes Solomon cannot prove they worked all the hours for which they were paid with grant money. Methuen received a Weed and Seed grant from 2000 to 2006.

City Auditor Thomas Kelly, who was called to the stand by Solomon's lawyers, said auditors from the firm Melanson Heath & Co. reviewed city records, including Weed and Seed records, in 2006 and said the books looked good. Methuen even won an accounting and reporting award from the Government Finance Officers Association.

Kelly e-mailed Solomon and told him the auditors were "very impressed" with his record keeping.

But later, a fraud investigator from the U.S. Office of the Inspector General said police had mismanaged the grant. Kelly said during an interview after the hearing yesterday that federal investigators looked deeper into grant spending then the auditors did.

Pollard had plenty of praise for Solomon. She testified that she worked well with him after naming him chief in 2002.

Pollard said the environment in the police station "was a very good one" when Solomon led it.

"I think the morale was very good. I think people got along very well."

The public hearing is being held at the Civil Service Commission at 1 Ashburton Place. It is scheduled to reconvene Tuesday at 9:30 a.m., when several police officers and a dispatcher are slated to testify.

Go BEHIND THE HEADLINES for more on the hearing.