Solicitor Recommends City Appeal Before Rehiring Employees

Attleboro's solicitor said the city will likely appeal a Civil Service Commission's decision to order the Attleboro Redevelopment Authority (ARA) to rehire former ARA Director Michael Milanoski and ARA Chief Financial Officer Meg Ross. 

Attorney Robert Mangiaratti will recommend to the city that a complaint against the commission be filed in Bristol County Superior Court, he said Friday afternoon after receving the commission's

"We believe the hearing officer made inaccurate findings of fact and not based on evidence and that the officer made errors of law," Mangiaratti said. "We will be making a recommendation to the ARA to appeal and assume they will decide to appeal."

If the ARA agrees with the city solicitor's recommendation, Mangiaratti said, they will file a complaint and ask that the Civil Service Commission's decision be reviewed. 

In the meantime, the employees' attorney, Colin Confoey, has sent a letter to ARA Chairwoman, former Attleboro Mayor Judy Robbins and the ARA's attorneys, saying his clients are "eager and available" to return to their positions and that they are "looking forward to resuming work on the ARA's projects as soon as possible."

The letter also asks Robbins to contact Confoey to discuss reinstatement of Milanoski's and Ross's positions, their back pay and restoration of benefits which they are entitled dating back to Nov. 13, 2009, according to the commission's decision.

A two-year legal battle

Friday's announcement was the latest step in a two-year battle between the two former ARA employees, who were terminated by the ARA because of alleged pressure by Mayor Kevin Dumas.

When they were fired in November 2009, they were told it was because the ARA did not have enough money to hold their jobs. The employees, however, saw it differently and appealed the decision. A hearing was held and the city's personnel director, Janice Silverman, decided against Milanoski's and Ross' appeal. 

An effort has been made to settle the case, sources say, but neither party could agree on a settlement.  

The case was brought before the Civil Service Commission, which after several hearings, decided in favor of the employees. The commission ordered the city to rehire the employees and pay back pay and benefits from the time they were fired until they are reinstated. If they were reinstated today, Milanoski might be paid approximately $200,000 in back pay and benefits and Ross about $143,000 (not including interest).

The commission based its decision on testimony by the two employees, Robbins, Dumas and Attleboro Director of Budget and Administration Barry LaCasse. 

"There were six days of hearings, over 100 exhibits of evidence introduced by both sides and the commission issued a well-reasoned and detailed decision," said Confoey, the employees' attorney.

Mayor criticizes decision

"I am extremely disappointed in the outcome in this matter with the Civil Service Commission," Mayor Dumas said in a statement provided through his secretary. "The commissioner chose to ignore the evidence of the financial disarray and I find this reprehensible.

"The current ARA board did the right thing, as they acknowledged the financial collapse that the prior members did not. This was not only the prudent thing to do, it was the responsible thing to do concerning the taxpayers' dollars."

ARA Chairwoman Robbins said: "It seems to me that we have a lot of problems and the fact that the ARA is in recievership by court order, I don't have any comment to make."

Inside the 94-page decision

The commission's decision was based on 260 findings of fact that were introduced into evidence spelled out in a 94-page document. Some of the findings include:

• Mayor Dumas harbored a personal animus toward Milanoski and Ross long before there was any evidence of a lack of ARA funds. 
• Mayor Dumas' actions "starved the ARA of funds" until Milanoski was removed from his position.
• Max Volterra, a former ARA board member and supporter of Dumas, resigned his position on the board after he found the mayor's actions against Milanoski "troubling" and "unwarranted."
• Testimony and documentary evidence paints a "convincing picture of a mayor who used every tool available to him to oust Milanoski from the ARA while also ensuring that he had plausible deniability in the event his actions were ever subject to review. 
• Mayor Dumas and Barry LaCasse, as part of substantive conversations about LaCasse's appointment to his current position in 2007, discussed Milanoski's future as the ARA's executive director.
• Mayor Dumas cited serious patterns of Milanoski's broken relationships with local, state and federal agencies, but neither Dumas nor the ARA provided a single case alleging inappropriate conduct by Milanoski (other than an unconfirmed issue with an electric company). 
• Mayor Dumas in his own testimony said he lobbied ARA board members to adopt his plan to bring the economic development director position under the mayor's office. Each member refused his request to demand Milanoski's resignation. 
• In an e-mail communication between Volterra and City Councilor Brian Kirby, Volterra asked several times that the city and ARA work together and put differences aside for the good of the city. Kirby agreed each time, but said only with the resignation of Milanoski. "Max, I agree to put aside differences, with the exception of the resignation of the executive director and bringing the ARA back under the control of City Hall. You want help from the City, the City needs a goodwill offering from the ARA. With the resignation, many things become negotiable."

The ARA was 'bankrupt'

"No matter how much the commissioner wants to make this about me, the fact remains that the ARA was virtually bankrupt," Dumas said. "There isn't a person in the city who has followed this matter who doesn't realize this fact."

The former employees are hopeful that the city will follow the commission's order, according to Confoey. 

"We're hopeful the ARA and the city will comply," he said. "If they choose not to, we'll be prepared to defend any legal action the city may pursue."

The ARA has 30 days from the date of the decision to file the complaint. 

"We'll be ready well before that," Mangiaratti said.