Ragucci sets his Everett record straight
Published on January 24th, 2007
STONEHAM, MA - The town's Board of Selectmen dismissed a series of allegations about new Town Administrator David Ragucci's management of the City of Everett when he was mayor of that municipality.
According to several published media reports, the first of which appeared just six-months after Ragucci ascended to the Everett mayor's office in 1999, the elected official's administration was dogged by reports of bidding irregularities, complaints that he placed several family members and supporters into city posts, and even gave a tax break to Everett's biggest tax scofflaw.
Those allegations further detailed a lawsuit filed against Ragucci by a former employee who accused the mayor of firing her when she refused to award city contracts to friends of the new Stoneham Town Administrator.
The four-term Mayor of Everett, who lost his re-election campaign in November of 2005, was reportedly replaced by an opponent who regularly insinuated that the city's finances were mismanaged.
However, according to various Selectmen, who voted unanimously last week to appoint Ragucci as Stoneham's newest Town Administrator, while they were well aware of those various accusations, their research found the reports to be completely unfounded.
In fact, four of the five Selectmen reached for comment this week - Paul Rotondi couldn't be reached by presstime - stood firmly by their decision, expressing absolute confidence in Ragucci's ability to carry Stoneham forward.
"To me, that's just typical politics. People who he rubbed the wrong way probably went [to the paper]," commented Selectman George Seibold, who characterized the allegations as politically motivated.
"You have to look at the bigger picture in terms of what he accomplished over there. People don't want to look at the good change. He cleaned a lot of things up over there," the first-term board member furthered, referring to Ragucci's restructuring of several departments during tough budget seasons.
According to Selectman Tony Kennedy, Town Counsel Bill Solomon conducted a full background check on the Town Administrator finalist, which did reveal several of the lawsuits filed against the former mayor.
During his own deliberations, Kennedy considered those charges and readily dismissed them as motivated by disgruntled workers or political enemies.
In the end, the veteran town official concluded that Ragucci, with his prior experience in bringing development into town, consolidating government offices in tough fiscal times, and lobbying Beacon Hill legislators, was exactly the type of candidate Stoneham needed.
"We satisfied ourselves that Ragucci was free of concerns," Kennedy said. "You have to evaluate how significant these things are and whether they're just routine allegations from disgruntled employees."
"Management people have to make tough decisions on a daily basis. So you have to take things like that with a grain of salt. Any elected official is going to have lawsuits. I have stuff with my name on it too," the Selectman added.
Selectman Chair Bob Sweeney, who shared both Seibold and Kennedy's assessment of the background check's findings, also believes that Ragucci was victimized by political foes who tried ruin the four-term mayor's reputation.
Recalling his own thought process during the Town Administrator interviews, the Chairman remembers being convinced that the Everett native was smeared by his enemies during the initial interview, when Ragucci reportedly welcomed the Selectmen to ask him any question they wanted about his past.
According to Sweeney, since Stoneham also at-times features a tough political arena, he believes that Ragucci's tough-skin, demonstrated during his tenure in office in Everett, will be an asset.
"We did our homework. And we decided that he's the man that Stoneham needed in these times. I think he'll do a super job. I know he will," said Sweeney.
"Personally, I've been accused of some things too. When you're in the political arena, that goes with the turf," the veteran Selectman added. "It's kind of like hot peppers. You either like them or you don't. That's just the way politics are."
The Town Administrator speaks-out
Reached at his home on Tuesday evening, Ragucci defended his management of the City of Everett, and personally addressed each of the allegations outlined in published reports.
According to the new Stoneham official, while original complaints about his administration first surfaced just six-months after he assumed office, he was re-elected for three subsequent terms without any auditing or state regulatory authority confirming any of the accusations.
"I'm glad to talk about this, because it gives me a chance to vindicate myself and my administration," Ragucci said. "Of all the people who conducted investigations into my administration, I never got so much as a slap on the wrist. And neither did any of my administrators."
Referring to the lawsuit filed by his former procurement officer, the Everett native claimed that the state's inspector general investigated the bidding irregularity allegations and concluded there was no truth to the complaint.
The former mayor further shot back at critics who charged him of filing city posts with family members.
According to Ragucci, he has two brothers employed in Everett, one who has been a firefighter for 15-years, and another who works for the Housing Authority, which is an independent entity from municipal government.
"The only person I hired was my ex-sister in law [as my secretary]," said the new Town Administrator, who added that he was vindicated of any wrong-doing by the State Ethics' Commission.
As to reports that the veteran Everett mayor personally reached out to the city's worst tax scofflaw in order to repay him for campaign contributions, Ragucci readily admits that he wrongfully waived interest payments on the $1.6 million debt.
But he insists that he was trying to collect the back-taxes, not reward him for a minor campaign contribution.
"Look, a deadbeat owed the city some millions in back-taxes and he told me, 'I ain't going to pay anything.' So I put the boot-strap to him and threatened to seize his property," recalled Ragucci, saying that he allowed the three-month interest waiver in order to allow for the man to obtain a loan, but only after the city got an immediate $600,000 payment.
"The deal fell through because he didn't get the money as promised. But we got to keep the $600,000 and the interest was tacked back-on. Later I found out from the [Department of Revenue] that I couldn't do that [waive the interest]. I didn't know that at the time."
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