By Crystal Bozek
Staff Writer
May 16, 2008 03:49 am GROVELAND — An attorney for retiring Groveland police Chief Ronald Weeks said he has advised Weeks to challenge retirement officials for questioning his honesty in an e-mail to a town official, while never confronting Weeks about it. Lawyer Scott Gleason of Haverhill said the treatment of Weeks was "libelous" and "scandalous." Weeks had told county retirement officials that reserve officer James Slavit, of Haverhill, worked full time for Groveland for 91/2 years, when the officer actually averaged about six hours a week at times, according to town W-2 records later uncovered. After receiving the chief's letter vouching for Slavit, Lilli Gilligan, chief operating officer for the Essex Regional Retirement Board, sent an e-mail to Groveland's assistant town treasurer on Feb. 15. The e-mail read, in part: "I am having a great deal of difficulty in believing the honesty of this statement." "This is an absolute outrage," Gleason said yesterday. "I've advised the chief he has many issues he needs to deal with regarding how to deal with the libelous, scandalous manner he's been treated. ... The retirement board has not heard the last of Chief Weeks." If the letter submitted by Weeks Dec. 5 was accepted by county retirement officials, Slavit could have bought back the 91/2 years he was supposed to have worked full time at the department to pad his state pension. Slavit, 46, now an engineer with the Massachusetts Highway Department, would have been able to credit his time as a reserve officer toward his state pension. The more years credited toward a pension, the more lucrative it is. Yesterday, The Eagle-Tribune published a story showing the details of Weeks' letter, the retirement board's response and Slavit's W-2 forms for three of the years in question. Repeated attempts by the newspaper to contact Weeks and Slavit before the story was published failed. Gleason contacted the newspaper yesterday to speak on behalf of Weeks, who, after about a decade as chief is retiring today — a move he notified the town of weeks ago. Gleason said Weeks never meant to deceive retirement officials. Weeks' letter to the County Retirement Board in December said Slavit worked about 40 hours a week from 1983 to 1992 — a period the town's Police Department had no payroll records for. "He was asked by the town and retirement board to compile from memory what the employment record was for that specific employee, a re-creation of what the work record was going back 25 years," Gleason said. Gleason said Weeks was not chief back then and often did not work the same shifts as Slavit. So when compiling Slavit's hours, Weeks relied on the memories of other officers who had been around at the time in question, Gleason said. Weeks' letter to county retirement officials said that Slavit worked an average of 40 hours as a Groveland officer during the years in question. Town payroll records for three of the years Slavit worked for Groveland contradict what Weeks said in his letter. While Weeks' letter states that Slavit made $16,625 from July 1991 to June 1992, a W-2 form shows him making only $2,252 in 1991 and $204 in 1992 — a difference of more than $14,000 in total. In 1990, W-2 forms show him making $1,298. The chief's letter said Slavit made about $15,000 during that time. "There were many years where this employee worked many hours," Gleason said yesterday. "There were some years where the employee apparently didn't. ... Along with other members of the department, he (Weeks) did his best to try and re-create history going back 25 years with no records." Slavit and Weeks were business partners in 1985, buying property at 45 Arch St. in Haverhill for $52,900 and selling it about a year later for $102,000, according to documents at the Southern Essex Registry of Deeds. During Slavit's years with Groveland police, Weeks was the officer in charge of scheduling, according to the chief's letter to county retirement officials. Weeks personally vouched for Slavit's hours and salary in the letter to county retirement officials. "During Mr Slavit's employment as a reserve police officer, I was officer in charge of scheduling and thereby can attest to the average hours worked by him during the above period," Weeks wrote. Gleason said if people found something wrong in Week's letter, they should have contacted him. "From Dec. 5, 2007, to May 12, 2008, no one contacted Chief Weeks in any manner, fashion or form in regards to his letter," Gleason said of the time that passed between Weeks sending his letter and now. "If in fact there was any kind of honest and genuine concern with regards to any representation, why didn't she just ask?" Gleason said of Gilligan. Gleason also questioned why Patricia Rogers, the assistant treasurer who received the e-mail from Gilligan, never turned it over to Weeks. "They sat on it or schemed over it. It was never brought before the chief's attention," he said. "Ron Weeks spent 34 years of impeccable behavior and commitment to duty, to have somebody try to lowbridge him. ... It will be addressed." Town officials said earlier in the week that this is a moot issue now. Groveland Finance Director Greg Labrecque called it a mix-up, saying that Weeks was given the information from Slavit. "The chief said that (Slavit) basically wrote the letter and he sent it," Labrecque said Tuesday. Rogers said: "It's a dead issue since we took out (reviewed) the W-2s. ... He's (Slavit is) not getting anything."
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