Lynn health inspector to pay $5G ethics fine

LYNN – A Lynn sanitation inspector must pay a $5,000 civil penalty following a state Ethics Commission finding that he engaged in a conflict of interest by simultaneously working as an appointed city constable.Health inspector Daniel Dean agreed to resolve the violation by signing a disposition agreement stemming from an inquiry begun by the commission on July 17, 2009.Dean, a Board of Health sanitary inspector since August 2004, admitted during the adjudicatory hearing that he repeatedly violated the state’s conflict of interest law by serving both as health inspector and city constable, and by failing to disclose instances where he conducted inspections on properties owned by parties for whom he had performed private constable services.Dean was appointed a constable in 2005 by then mayor Edward Clancy Jr. In 2006, he was hired by Picano Constable Services, owned by fellow city health inspector Louis Picano.Dean’s duties within Picano’s business from 2006 through 2008 included performing constable services for private parties on approximately 193 occasions, for which he was paid a total of $3,000, according to the state Ethics Commission.The inquiry found that on at least six occasions, Dean conducted health inspections on properties owned by those for whom he performed private constable services.Section 20 of the state conflict-of-interest law prohibits a municipal employee from having a financial interest, directly or indirectly, in a contract made by a municipal agency of the same city.The commission determined Dean did not disclose to his appointing authority that he had previously performed constable services at properties where he was conducting health inspections.Dean claimed Picano never divulged that Picano himself had been previously notified by the Ethics Commission that city health inspectors cannot hold a constable position in the same city, unless the constable work is part of their health inspector duties.Dean said Picano informed him that performing constable service duties while working as a health inspector was proper.Picano retired two months ago from his job as a Lynn health inspector.”The conflict law generally prohibits full-time municipal employees from holding additional municipal positions,” said Karen L. Nober, executive director of the state Ethics Commission. “In addition, municipal employees must always disclose to their appointing authorities any situations involving outside interests, which would create the appearance of a conflict of interest.”Inspectional Services Department Director Michael Donovan, whose office oversees the city’s health division, said Dean remains a city health inspector.”We just received the ethics report today, so the city has not taken any action,” Donovan said Tuesday.Donovan said a similar incident arose in the late 1980s or early-1990s in which a health inspector was sent a letter by the city, informing him of potential conflicts.”It’s my understanding that the inspector got a letter detailing what the restrictions are on a health inspector’s duties,” he said.