ALEESHA NUNLEY BENJAMIN RECORDS REQUEST; CLEARER VERSION / LITTLETON TOWN HALL INFORMATION ON THE HIRING OF A FORMER MEDFORD DEPT. HEAD

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 My apologies, the transfer didn't fully show up,

Aleesha Nunley Benjamin PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST...BETTER COPY...my apology, readers, if the transfer of the original didn't show up perfectly on Medford Info Central. Here's a better copy

Just wondering why the involvement of a former city solicitor who applied for, and purportedly was rejected, to be "Of Counsel" for the city of Medford. 

 

Working with two department heads may be legal, but the optics are simply horrible given that the ex solicitor has an axe to grind with Mayor Lungo-Koehn. Just sayin'.....

 

Here it is again:

Littleton Town Offices
37 Shattuck Street
2nd Floor, Room 207
Littleton, MA 01460
United States

Re: Massachusetts Public Records Request

Dear Public Records Officer/Clerk Crory,

This is a request under the Massachusetts Public Records Law (M. G. L. Chapter 66, Section 10).

 I am requesting that I be provided a copy of the following records:

 

1)The document which contains the salary of the previous Finance Director/Town Accountant 

prior to Aleesha Nunley Benjamin being hired – 

 The previous Finance Director was a Grade 13 Step 7 and the salary can be found in the 

Town Meeting Warrant for June 13, 2020, Article 19.  

The following link will take you to that document  

https://www.littletonma.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif806/f/uploads/2020-06-13_atm_report_vfinal.pdf

 

2)The document that contains the salary of Aleesha Nunley Benjamin 

 The Finance Director/Town Accountant will be a Grade 13 Step 9 and the salary can be found 

in the Town Meeting Warrant Handout for June 12, 2021, Article 14.  

The following link will take you to that document  

https://www.littletonma.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif806/f/uploads/_2021-06-12_atm_town_meeting_handout_-_final.pdf

 

3)The document that contains the dates of hiring of the two previous individuals in that position, 

Finance Director/Town Accountant or a person hired with titles that may have been 

used for those positions  

 The Select Board voted to confirm the appointment of the Town Administrator of Ms. Cheryl Herrick Stella 

for the position of Director of Finance and Budget / Town Accountant and pursuant to M.G.L. c. 41, §108N 

to enter into an Employment Contract between the Town of Littleton and 

Ms. Cheryl Herrick-Stella, for the 3 year term expiring on June 30, 2022 for the position of Director of Finance

 and Budget / Town Accountant; Seconded by Chuck DeCoste; Motion passed 5 to 0.  

The following link will director you to dates of hire: 

 https://www.littletonma.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif806/f/minutes/09b_bos_minutes_07-15-2019.pdf

 

The previous Director of Finance and Budget was Bonnie-Mae Holston 

hired on August 7, 2006 and left employment on March 31, 2019.  

We are still searching for a document that would show her start date for the Town 15 years ago. 

 

4)As the documents in a Google search have a variety of dates, please let me have the documents 

containing the job postings for the position Aleesha Nunley Benjamin received,

for example, Google has:

 

April 5 2019

https://www.littletonma.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif806/f/uploads/jd_-_finance_dir-town_acct_0.pdf

 

July 2, 2020

https://mmaaa.wildapricot.org/resources/Documents/Town%20of%20Littleton%20-%20Treasurer%20Asst%20Director%20of%20Finance%20and%20Budget.pdf

 

May 13, 2021

Finance Director-Town Accountant | Littleton MA

https://www.littletonma.org › human-resources › news

May 13, 2021 — Director/Town Accountant is responsible for the preparation of the town's annual operating and capital budgets under the direction of the Town Administrator Successful candidate should have ... Job Description · Employment ...

 

It is confusing as a Cheryl Herrick-Stella has on her Linked In this information

Director Of Finance And Operations

Ipswich Public Schools

 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylherrickstella

Jun 2021 - Present2 months

Finance & Budget Director/Town Accountant

Town of Littleton

Aug 2019 - Jun 20211 year 11 months

 

The job posting for the position that Ms. Nunley Benjamin received can be found by using the following link: 

 https://www.mma.org/listing/finance-director-town-accountant-14/  

 and was posted with the Mass. Municipal Association and the Town’s website on May 13, 2021. 

 Ms. Herrick Stella submitted her resignation on May 10^, 2021 effective June 12, 2021. 

 

 

5)the documents providing information as to why Littleton had job descriptions posted if 

Ms. Herrick-Stella had the position - be they e mails, town hall memos or any other

documents showing why job descriptions were posted while an individual held the position.  As stated above in request (4), 

Ms. Herrick Stella submitted her resignation on May 10^, 2021 effective June 12, 2021.  

The Town began advertising to fill the position on May 13, 2021 on our website and 

with the Mass Municipal Association.

 

I recognize that you may charge reasonable costs for copies, as well as for personnel time needed to comply with this request - however - as a long-time member of the press first

(self published) in 1969, quoted in the New York Times, Boston Globe and multiple books, etc. and as this is of great public interest to citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,

especially the city of Medford, I ask that all fees be waived.

 

The Public Records Law requires you to provide me with a written response within 10 business days. If you cannot comply with my request, you are statutorily required to provide an explanation in writing.

 

Please send via e mail

 

 

Thank you very much.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

Joe Viglione