No Criminal Charges Following Missing Records Investigation in Chicopee CHICOPEE, Mass. (WGGB) — While noting that the actions of former Chicopee Mayor Michael Bissonnette were “inappropriate,” the Mass. Attorney General’s office says that it will not seek criminal charges over concerns of deleted or missing public records. Back in January 2014, Chicopee Mayor Richard Kos asked the state to investigate after thousands of documents and files were reportedly missing after Kos took office. Kos explained at the time that some city departments may have had partial information that would be helpful, but there is nothing to be found in the Mayor’s office. In a letter sent to Kos on Tuesday, John Verner, Chief of the Attorney General’s Criminal Bureau, outlined the investigation, saying in part that “Mayor Bissonnette’s handling of Chicopee’s records was less than exemplary.” The A.G.’s office says that city employees delivered several boxes of documents to his private law office and that while those were largely filled with material pertaining to his law office, some public records, including constituent letters, were interspersed. When investigators asked about those documents, Bissonnette reportedly said that he must have accidentally put those records in the boxes as he quickly worked to clean out his office. Verner goes on to say that at the request of City Solicitor Marshall Moriarty, a email was sent Bissonnette and city personnel indicating that those leaving office should save any electronic files to their department’s shared drive. On January 6, 2014, the city’s IT department reportedly found that all electronic files saved to the Mayor’s shared drive were deleted. Verner’s letter says Bissonnette reportedly admitted to investigators that he deleted the contents of a shared drive, but Bissonnette claimed his sole motivation was to leave the mayor’s office in a more orderly condition than it was left to him by the prior administration. “Fortunately, the IT Department promptly discovered what had happened and was able to recover the deleted files,” Verner explains. The state investigation was also not able to identify any specific public record that Bissonnette or his staff illegally destroyed. Verner explains, “Mayor Bissonnette’s actions were inappropriate. Current law provides no civil remedy for this office to pursue, under these circumstances. Thus, in the absence of an identified public record that was unlawfully destroyed, we have little or no basis to pursue criminal charges.” Verner also notes in his letter that “there are significant deficiencies in the City’s record retention practices, most notably a lack of record retention training, the absence of a transition strategy for a change in administration, and an inadequate electronic data backup infrastructure.” In a statement, Kos says: “While we acknowledge that the investigation conducted by the office of Martha Coakley, did not rise to the level sufficient for criminal prosecution, it is highlighted in their response that conditions existed reflecting that the former mayor’s handling of Chicopee’s records was “less than exemplary’ when deleting and removing records, and that his actions were “inappropriate”.” Mayor Kos adds that his goal is to develop guidelines to prevent something like this from happening again. You can CLICK HERE to read the letter from Coakley’s office to Kos.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 22:36:23 +0000
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