# Poitras wins county retirement board case



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

By JOAO FERREIRA, Standard-Times staff writer

ACUSHNET -- Former Acushnet Police Chief Michael R. Poitras keeps his full pension after the Bristol County Retirement Board dismissed a challenge against the benefit and voted in his favor. 
"The petitioners had the burden of proof," said John Walsh, director of operations for the board. "As far as the board was concerned, there was nothing there that would change the circumstances of Mr. Poitras' retirement." 
The retirement board voted on the matter after a three-hour open hearing involving attorneys for the petitioners and Mr. Poitras. The petitioners themselves weren't called to testify. 
However, those petitioners now say that if former Chief Poitras was able to boost his pension with unused vacation and sick days, they should also be able to do the same. 
"That opens the door now to all in county retirement to try to institute into a contract the same thing," said Lou-Ann Jenkinson, an Acushnet police officer who led the petition drive. "Hopefully it's going to benefit me in the future." 
The 20 or so petitioners had argued that the former chief planned well ahead of time to boost his salary with unused vacation and sick days just before retiring to get a bigger pension. 
The petitioners presented pieces of evidence to show that intent, including an e-mail to Civil Service officers dated from 2003 and correspondence with the Board of Selectmen. In both documents, Mr. Poitras said he planned to retire in May of 2005. 
Mr. Poitras' pension is based on the salary of his highest-paid three consecutive years. 
But the board said that while the chief may have announced that he intended to retire as early as in 1996, he only made the formal announcement last March. 
"That was one of the things that was argued: What does intention mean?" Mr. Walsh said. 
Additionally, the retirement board reaffirmed that the Acushnet selectmen accepted the unused vacation as a raise, not a buy-back, to compensate Mr. Poitras for his years of being underpaid. 
Mr. Poitras worked 33 years for the department, including 26 as chief. 
Under state law, regular compensation serves the basis for calculation of retirement benefits. 
In July, the retirement board voted to Mr. Poitras a full pension of $69,000. He applied 165 unused vacation and sick days to his pension request, boosting the pension by about $7,000 per year. 
"Anybody would want to do this," Ms. Jenkinson said. "That's the decision they made." 
Acushnet Finance Committee member Mary Lou Marques, who raised the issue of Mr. Poitras' pension earlier this year, said yesterday's vote sets a precedent. 
"The only loser in this case was the taxpayer," she said. "The taxpayer is going to be paying now to these higher vacation benefits." 
The former chief said he wouldn't comment on the petitioners' arguments. 
"I have no response to that," Mr. Poitras said. "I'm just going to concentrate in the positive. An independent body has heard the case and ruled in my favor with a unanimous vote for the second time."

Contact Joao Ferreira at [email protected]

This story appeared on Page A3 of The Standard-Times on November 15, 2005.


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