by Gerry Nutter

When I was a member of the Lowell School Committee and the City was being sued to gain more minority opportunites for election to the City Council or School Committee, I asked the Council to allow me to attend the executive sessions and voice my thoughts on redistricting from a School Committee viewpoint.

The City Solicitor deemed that, even though the School Committee was a named defendant, ONLY the City Council had the power to do redistricting and supported by then Mayor Samaras, I was not allowed to participate.

They didn’t care what a School Committee member had to say! “NO RESPECT”

I still find it ridiculous that a District Lowell City Councilor receives a $25,000 stipend to represent approximately 13,000 citizens, while a District School Committee member receives a $12,000 stipend to represent approximately 26,000 citizens.

Now, in my new position working for the city as part of the Lowell Workforce Board in Connecting Activities – Youth Business Specialist and spending more time at schools throughout the Greater Lowell Area and watching the absurdity of the current School Committee and expecting to be told that since I was a city employee I could NOT hold both positions and could not collect a stipend, I asked the Massachusetts Ethics Commission for their view.

According to the Mass Ethics Commission, I was correct.

“If the City Council did not designate School Committee members special municipal employees, then you would have to decide which municipal position you would like to hold. In those circumstances, § 20 would prohibit you from holding both. 

Waiving receipt of the stipend that School Committee members are entitled to receive will not eliminate the § 20 prohibition for you. If you were elected to the School Committee, you would still be a municipal employee of the City who had, in addition to the municipal employee position on the School Committee, a financial interest in your contract with the Greater Lowell Workforce Board, a municipal agency of the City”

Just to try and see if there was another avenue, I asked the Ethics Lawyer would the conflict be waived if I instead worked for the Greater Lowell Tech (NOT THAT THEY HAVE OFFERED) and served on the Lowell School Committee and declined taking the stipend?  This time I was surprised by the answer!

“Alas, same § 20 problem.  You would be on the Lowell School Committee and have, in addition, a financial interest in your contract for the GLRVTH, another contract with a City agency because the City is a member of the Greater Lowell Regional Vocational Technical High School District.  Although the Voc. Tech. High School District has its own school committee, see https://www.gltech.org/about-us/school-committee/home, Lowell is part of the Voc. Tech. District (it has three elected members from Lowell).”

Now I was really confused.

We have a Lowell City Councilor who is serving his 2^nd term, running for a 3^rd term and declines the stipend but is able to serve?  So I asked, “Why can a City Councilor do it, but I can’t, or couldn’t if elected to the School Committee?”

I received my answer, and much like what I was told by the City Solicitor, it come down to the fact the when creating the law and exemptions the School Committee was shown “NO RESPECT”!

“Section 20 mandates a general restriction on your having, in addition to the School Committee position, your financial interest in your municipal job even though you first had the municipal job, before getting elected to School Committee. You cannot have, in addition to your municipal/special municipal employee position, a financial interest in any type of contract with your municipality, unless you qualify for an exemption specified in § 20 of G. L. c. 268A or in regulations the Ethics Commission has promulgated, 930 CMR 6.00.

For example, one exemption in § 20 states: “This section shall not prohibit an employee of a municipality with a city or town council form of government from holding the elected office of councilor in such municipality, nor in any way prohibit such an employee from performing the duties of or receiving the compensation provided for such office; provided, however, that no such councilor may vote or act on any matter which is within the purview of the agency by which he is employed or over which he has official responsibility; and provided, further, that no councilor shall be eligible for appointment to such additional position while a member of said council or for six months thereafter.  Any violation of the provisions of this paragraph which has substantially influenced the action taken by a municipal agency in any matter shall be grounds for avoiding, rescinding or cancelling such action on such terms as the interest of the municipality and innocent third parties require.

No such elected councilor shall receive compensation for more than one office or position held in a municipality but shall have the right to choose which compensation he shall receive.”  (emphasis in bold type added). 

So, if you were elected to the City Council, the above exemption, the “city councilor’s exemption,” could be available to you with respect to your pre-existing contract with a “municipal agency,” the Greater Lowell Work Force Board.  

But an analogous exemption does not exist for someone elected to the School Committee.  For whatever reason, the Legislature did not include something like the city councilor’s exemption above also for school committee members.  None of the regulations in 930 CMR 6.00 applies to someone being on a school committee and having, in addition, a financial interest in another, contracted position in the same municipality.  Some exemptions apply to having a pre-existing financial interest in, for example, a lease of real property with a municipality.  But those would not be available in your circumstances.

Please, tell me how it makes any sense that I could be a City Employee and a Lowell City Councilor (unpaid) but NOT be an unpaid member of the Lowell School Committee?

Nutter for Council?

If I want to work and not be paid, I’d be hosting a daily podcast or writing a weekly column for InsideLowell!