The Essex Regional Retirement Board's decision to re-elect Timothy Bassett as chairman late last Friday came as a complete surprise to at least one board member.
It also caught the attorney who represents the state agency that oversees public retirement boards off guard, but it doesn't change the agency's decision that the chairman's seat remains vacant.
Shortly after Ipswich town Treasurer Kevin Merz was elected to the board last Tuesday as the representative of the Advisory Council, he got a call from Bassett advising him of the Friday meeting.
Merz said Bassett told him the purpose of the meeting was to retake votes on issues the board had discussed at a Jan. 25 meeting, which the Essex County district attorney's office ruled was improperly held.
Bassett's re-election was one of those actions that had been declared invalid, but Merz said Bassett explicitly told him that was not going to be taken up Friday. The agenda circulated prior to the meeting did not mention a vote on Bassett's appointment.
Yet when all items on that agenda had been taken up Friday, Bassett said he had to recuse himself so the board could discuss his re-election, and he left the room.
Bassett could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission ruled late last month that the retirement board had not re-elected Bassett within the 30 days immediately following Dec. 31, 2008, as required by law. The state agency further concluded it is the only body that now has the authority to appoint a successor, even if that is Bassett himself.
The commission has posted the job opening and intends to name a chairman next Tuesday, Feb. 16.
The retirement board's vote, taken after the unorthodox 6 p.m. Friday meeting, didn't change that outcome, said Barbara Phillips, general counsel for the state commission.
"Our position remains the same," she said. "Once the 30 days ran out, we were the only one" who could make the decision about a chairman.
Merz abstained from the re-election vote.
"I don't believe it was a valid vote," he said yesterday. "The general laws are quite clear that it is up to PERAC. I do not want to be part of an illegal vote."
After board members William Martineau, Glenn Morse and Katherine O'Leary voted to reappoint Bassett, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2009, they discussed hiring an attorney to fight PERAC's decision, and Merz again objected.
"I was blown away that they are going to waste money fighting something that's that clear," he said.
He said he asked if any board members had read the statute regarding the appointment of a chairman.
"They all turned their heads down," Merz said.
Should PERAC select someone other than Bassett, Phillips said the commission has the jurisdiction to replace him.
"If we need an action enforced, we ask the attorney general to step in," Phillips said.
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