DANVERS — Want to run for mayor, city councilor or for a seat on the board of selectmen in your community? Spend five or 10 minutes with your city or town clerk, and you're likely to learn everything you need to know.
Claiming a seat on the Essex Regional Retirement Board is apparently a lot more complicated, and fraught with legal land mines.
Kevin Merz, Ipswich's town treasurer, wants to be elected to serve on the board as the representative of its Advisory Council.
Trouble is, Merz has spent nearly two months trying to find out how to run for the post, and he still doesn't have an answer.
In an e-mail on Sept. 30, Merz asked retirement board Chairman Timothy Bassett to explain the election procedure. Bassett's response, a week later, was cryptic.
"The board has asked legal counsel to outline the election process," Bassett wrote. "I will follow up with you after I have received the memo."
At the board's last meeting on Nov. 5, Merz said he once again asked Bassett to inform him of the requirements to run and was told legal counsel had not yet responded. Since then, Merz has heard nothing.
Bassett has also not responded to Merz's request, in the same e-mail, for a list of all Advisory Council members, and the member units they represent, which would presumably assist Merz in his campaign. The Advisory Council members are the financial representatives of the towns, school committees and other entities the board serves.
A call to Bassett last week seeking an explanation was not returned.
A symptom of other problems
Bassett's claim to the necessity of legal advice notwithstanding, the legislation that created the retirement board when county government was abolished in 1997 seems to clearly outline the procedure.
Essentially it simply calls for a majority vote at a meeting of the Advisory Council held for the specific purpose of electing someone to represent it.
Barbara Phillips, general counsel for the Public Employee Retirement Association Commission, which oversees every retirement board in the state, was perplexed by Bassett's response.
While she said she couldn't comment specifically on the Essex board's procedures, the legislation that created all such former county boards does seem simple enough.
"Maybe there's something I'm not aware of, but I don't know what's so hard about the election," Phillips said.
Roberta Josephson, the town treasurer in Rockport, currently holds the three-year term Merz would like to take over. Her reign ends Dec. 31, leaving little time for Merz to mount a campaign.
Josephson said last week she's "been so busy with other things," she hasn't had time to think about whether she will run for re-election.
"It's been an honor to be in that position," she said.
Merz said he's seeking Josephson's spot because he thinks he's a better fit for the position, and because he wants to "make sure people have trust in that board again." He believes that trust was violated when District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett's office admonished the board several months ago for holding its meetings without giving public notice of them as required by law, a practice the board apparently engaged in for years.
Many town officials have expressed growing dissatisfaction with the retirement board for more than a year.
For months, they asked the board to transfer its investments to a state agency that has had better long-term returns. The board reluctantly relented earlier this month, but town managers and administrators are convinced the board still needs to be restructured.
Merz's plight only reinforces that belief, some said.
Middleton Town Administrator Ira Singer guffawed when told of Bassett's response to Merz.
"Here's a board that's not even able to respond to a public inquiry about an elected position," he said. "They should be able to tell anyone what the procedure is."
Officials have found backing for some of their gripes.
This summer, a state overseer rolled back increased fees the board was charging local towns after it attempted to unilaterally reclassify police and fire dispatchers, thereby allowing them to retire five years earlier than most town employees.
Manchester Town Administrator Wayne Melville also chuckled when told Merz was getting no response from Bassett, then ticked off a short list of other transgressions.
"Why are they not responsive to requests for public records? Why don't they think they need to ask permission to talk to town employees during working hours?"
He said board members seem to have no interest in the concerns of taxpayers, who help fund retirees' pensions.
"They believe they exist solely, solely, for the benefit of the retirees," Melville said.
Staff writer Steve Landwehr can be reached at 978-338-2660 or by e-mail at slandwehr@salem news.com.
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