Kennedy alleges Fortucci lost millions

LYNN – Assertions of financial mismanagement leveled by Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy against City Chief Financial Officer Richard Fortucci include allegations he botched insurance policies and workman’s compensation procedures, burdening the city with more than $2.1 million in increased costs, according to documents filed with the City Council.The mayor also has alleged Fortucci treated underlings disrespectfully, creating a hostile environment, and illegally paid municipal bills that had expired.Fortucci, suspended with pay by the mayor and facing a Feb. 1 disciplinary hearing, is angry that documentation to support the allegations against him was not submitted to the City Council by the Jan. 25 deadline.Fortucci said both he and the mayor were informed Jan. 19 that the deadline for submitting documents in the case was Jan. 25 at noon. Fortucci and his attorney, Ronald Ranta, provided their documents to the City Council on Tuesday before the deadline. The mayor did not.”If the mayor had adequate reason to suspend me on Jan. 4, I find it hard to understand why she was unable to articulate and support that position by the 25th,” he said Tuesday in a written statement submitted to the City Council.”After having my material and an opportunity to review it, (the mayor) opted to submit nothing. I have maintained that the suspension was not warranted and the fact that the mayor has chosen not to abide by the City Council-imposed deadline further illustrates that the action of the mayor taken on Jan. 4 in suspending me was unduly rash and without a rational basis,” Fortucci wrote.City Council President Timothy Phelan, slated to preside at the Feb. 1 hearing, said the goal of the hearing is to air all sides of the situation to best determine a course of action.”It’s important that we receive as much information from everyone involved. That would be in everyone’s best interests, so I don’t feel it would negatively affect anyone involved if the deadline is extended to Friday,” Phelan said. “We are 100 percent going to depend on what comes out at that hearing.”The mayor Tuesday told Phelan some of her documents would be prepared by the close of business Wednesday, the council president said.The mayor’s Jan. 4 letter notifying Fortucci of his paid suspension generally alleged he had “failed and refused to coordinate, administer and supervise all financial services and activities in the city of Lynn.” It offered no specifics. The same day, the mayor appointed Comptroller John Pace as temporary chief financial officer.City Solicitor Michael Barry offered a more detailed version of the allegations against Fortucci in a Jan. 14 letter to Phelan.According to Barry’s letter outlining the allegations, Fortucci began clashing with the mayor and her administrative staff in December 2009, a month before she took office. In January 2010, a payroll error attributed to Fortucci resulted in a local bank failing to process direct-deposit checks for Fire Department personnel. The mayor has alleged Fortucci offered no solution to the problem.Another payroll snafu in March was also blamed on Fortucci. In that instance, the mayor intervened and ordered the Treasurer’s Office to hand-write checks to employees.The biggest purported blunders on Fortucci’s part were traced to March 2010 when, according to the mayor, he failed to put the city’s liability insurance out to bid, instead causing it to increase in cost from $480,000 to $887,000, according to the document.The mayor has further alleged Fortucci “did not initiate an open workman’s compensation process, which ended up rising from $1.1 million to $2.8 million under his tenure.”Several miscellaneous accusations by the mayor were also contained in the letter from the city solicitor to Phelan, such as Fortucci’s behavior in publicly chastising his payroll clerk and creating a hostile work environment. Other allegations by the mayor suggest Fortucci failed to immediately stop all administrative computer priv