Swampscott Town Hall employees on the move

SWAMPSCOTT – Several employees in Town Hall have been moved to new departments and in some cases have assumed new positions.The town has been without an assistant treasurer and a technology director for months after former Information Technology Director Ted Lamonakis, 34, was arrested at his home by Beverly police in April and charged with nine counts of receiving stolen property. Lamonakis resigned in March after he was suspected of stealing computer equipment from the town and fraudulently using a town credit card.Since his resignation, Treasurer/Collector Denise Dembkoski has been serving as IT director in addition to her regular duties and said she will continue to do so.Town Administrator Andrew Maylor said the town would not fill the technology position. He said the money that was allocated for a technology director would be used to hire an assistant treasurer.”We re-evaluated the need for a technology director position,” he said. “And decided to fill the assistant treasurer position instead. Hiring an assistant treasurer and leaving the technology director position vacant will save the town approximately $12,000.”Cindy Beliveau, who was with the Treasurer/Collectors Office, will be serving as the assistant town treasurer, a position that was not funded in the budget for the current fiscal year.Maylor said it didn’t make sense to hire someone to fill Beliveau’s clerical position in the Treasurer/Collectors Office because given the budget it’s possible the town would need to lay off employees before the start of the next fiscal year.In order to cover the vacancy left by Beliveau’s departure, Maylor has reassigned several other members of Town Hall clerical staff.Brenda Corso, who worked in the Assessor’s Office, has been moved to the Collector’s Office. Michele Poste, who worked in the Department of Public Works, has been transferred to the Building Department.Purchasing Agent Cheryl Levenson will be assuming additional responsibilities in the Department of Public Works.Department of Public Works Director Gino Cresta said Levenson, who worked in the DPW years ago, would be an asset to the department.Lianne Belkas, who worked for the Building Department, has been moved to the Assessor’s Office.Maylor said the moves are possible because a few years ago he implemented a series of clerical staff rotations through different departments, which gave clerical staff members training in different departments.