Resolution or litigation over Lynn retire pay battles

LYNN – The Retirement Board is poised to resolve ongoing disputes with two high profile former city servants or face off with them in court.The board’s attorney and a lawyer for former Community Development Director Jansi Chandler will meet sometime in October to resolve a dispute over $132,000 in excess earnings state retirement officials said Chandler earned while working for a Boston development agency.The Retirement Board may move to reclaim the money if the Boston Redevelopment Authority does not pursue its option to collect the earnings.The state Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission (PERAC) in May said it wanted Chandler or the Boston Redevelopment Authority to pay back up to $151,000 in what state officials termed excess earnings.The commission claimed state retirement law limited Chandler to working 960 hours a year for the BRA. PERAC officials said she exceeded the limit by 690 hours in 2008 and by smaller numbers of hours in previous years dating back to 2000. The estimate of what Chandler owed was subsequently reduced.Chandler retired from city service in 1998 and receives a $35,600 annual city pension.Chandler has repeatedly stated since May that when she was hired for the Boston job after leaving her Lynn post, “I declared that I was collecting a partial pension from Lynn which was granted because I was not reappointed when the job of executive director was abolished and the department was organized. I was told Boston EDIC does not pay into the pension system and, therefore, restrictions do not apply. I believe that I am abiding by the rules.”The board will review the outcome of the meeting between board attorney Scott Merrill and Chandler’s attorney Stephen Smith at its October meeting. If members decide to recoup the excess earnings from Chandler they have the option of reducing her pension to collect the money or negotiating a monthly repayment plan with her.”If she owes $130,000 we are not going to expect it in tomorrow’s mail,” Board Director Gary Brenner said.The board is also trying to resolve a four month-long effort to reduce former Library Trustee Linda Bassett’s pension. The board has sought since May to cut Bassett’s pension in light of the 12 out of 24 trustees meetings she missed between 1981 through 1983.Bassett received $2,905 annually from the city for her library service until July when PERAC recalculated the number of years she worked as a teacher and served as a trustee. The new computation reduced her library pension to $2,582.The board sent PERAC a letter Tuesday asking it to drop two years and six months off Bassett’s credible service to reflect the time period when she missed meetings. The reduced time would drop Bassett’s pension for library service to between $1,406 and $1,666 annually.”The central question concerning calculations at issue with Ms. Bassett, therefore, is whether and to what extent she provided service as a Trustee, not whether the Board of Trustees terminated her tenure as a Trustee for non-performance or abandoning her position,” Merrill wrote on the board’s behalf to PERAC Director Joseph Connarton.Bassett, a Marblehead resident, hired attorney Andrew Oatway to fight the board’s attack on her pension. Oatway warned board members in August “we will deal with” their vote to withhold the city’s contribution to Bassett’s pension.