Governor Vetoes Pension Exemption for City Worker

By Tammy Daniels11:10PM / Thursday, December 20, 2007Print Story | Email Story

NORTH ADAMS - Gov. Deval Patrick couldn't forgive a city worker's past conviction, dashing his hopes to retire with a pension in a move described as "callous." The governor vetoed a home rule bill late Wednesday that would have reinstated the retirement rights of Highway Superintendent Leo Senecal. "This is the most callous act I've ever seen by a governor," said Mayor John Barrett III on Thursday. "He's hurt someone who doesn't deserve to be hurt." Senecal pleaded guilty in 1998 to burying hazardous waste (oil) at the city yard. He said at the time that he was trying to save the city money. He was fined $9,000 for the cost of the cleanup, suspended and demoted, and placed on probation. He served no jail time for the criminal conviction. State Rep. Daniel E. Bosley, D-North Adams, said he was frustrated and disappointed by the governor's action and vowed to override the veto. "This is a case of redressing a wrong. It's very frustrating," said Bosley, who filed the bill. "I'm bound and determined to override this thing. ... We'll carry it over [into the new year]." Pension Revoked Senecal, a 40-year city veteran, continued to pay into the city's pension fund but was stripped of his rights earlier this year because of his conviction. Retirement Board members had reportedly been told they could be jailed if they OK'ed the pension in defiance of a 1996 law that prohibited convicted felons from receiving state pension benefits. Bosley filed the bill asking the Legislature to exempt Senecal. The Public Employees Retirement Administration Commission had explained the particulars to the governor's people in support of the bill, he said. The City Council had voted 9-0 in support of the measure. But what angered both Bosley and Barrett was that the governor never communicated with either one about the bill - or his decision to veto it. "He never called anybody to find out what the situation was," said Barrett. The mayor said he learned of the veto Wednesday and spent a sleepless night before informing Senecal on Thursday morning. The governor also didn't return a call from Barrett, instead having his chief of staff respond - which didn't sit well the the state's longest-serving mayor. "I don't know where this guy's coming from," said Barrett, adding that the governor he supported has done little to back up his claim of bringing compassion to his office. In his message to the Legislature on the veto, the governor wrote "I do not believe the public is well served by making individual legislative exceptions to a rule that is meant to apply uniformly." Bosley, however, said those exceptions are very much the purview of the Legislature. "This is the General Court of Massachusetts. We are the court of last resort," he said, for people who find themselves in difficult situations, such as Senecal has. "We turn down dozens [of requests] a year. We approve precious few because they have merit." Senecal is the first - and so far only - public employee to be punished under the 11-year-old law designed to prevent corrupt public officials from retaining benefits. The Retirement Board will return the $41,000 or so he's contributed to the system, but he'll have no Social Security, no pension and no insurance. He's paid about $50,000 in attorney fees and will lose an estimated $700,000 in pension benefits, said the mayor. 'Slap in the Face' Barrett described the veto as a "slap in the face" to Bosley, and wondered why the governor would anger a powerful lawmaker and co-chairman of the Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies - where Patrick's life science bill and casino initiative are currently sitting. Bosley is an outspoken opponent of casino gambling. The representative said he didn't think it was personal and didn't know why the governor would veto the bill. He and Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield, a sponsor of the home rule bill, have been lining up support for a veto override. "This guy has paid a lot for one transgression in 40 years," said Bosley. "He's paid in money, and in embarrassment every time there's a story."

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North Adams Becomes a Purple Heart Community

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
05:16AM / Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Veterans Service Officer Kurtis Durocher, a Purple Heart recipient, tells his own story of how he was wounded in Iraq.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — City leaders last week held a ceremony marking the city as a Purple Heart Community to honor local military service members wounded or killed in combat.

"This designation is much more than a sign that will stand at the entrances to our city," said Kurtis Durocher, Northern Berkshire veterans service officer at City Hall on Friday. "It is a lasting commitment and a promise to this community. We'll never forget the sacrifices made by those who are wounded or killed while serving our nation. It is a public declaration of the courage and sacrifices of combat wounded. Veterans will always have a place of honor here in North Adams."

As a Purple Heart Community, North Adams will place signs throughout the city acknowledging the designation. The city will also hold a ceremony every Aug. 7 on National Purple Heart Day.

During the inaugural ceremony, Durocher said he was asked by the Military Order of the Purple Heart to find a keynote speaker for the event, preferably a Purple Heart recipient. But he was unable to find someone willing to speak. With the date approaching, he decided to tell his own story.

"I don't like standing up and telling my own personal story ... But I realized, in my position as a VSO, I get so many ... children of veterans who will say, 'I didn't know anything about my father until after he passed because he just didn't talk about it,'" Durocher said. "... I have been that way until I've gotten into this position, and so, now, I try to tell my story as much as I can when it is brought to me."

Durocher served in the Army for 20 years and retired as a master sergeant. On Friday, he recalled a time early in his career while serving in the 82nd Airborne Division deploying to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. On Sept. 12, 2003, his squad was conducting a patrol on Route Irish in Baghdad. He was serving as a gunner on an LMTV when it was struck by a 155-millimeter artillery shell. He said the explosive had been hidden behind a guardrail and detonated using nothing more than a washing machine timer.

"In an instant, everything changed. The blast knocked me unconscious. When I regained consciousness, I instinctively was removing my helmet," he said. "Almost immediately my training took over. We had been taught repeatedly that attacks like this were often followed by a secondary attack or an ambush. I quickly put my helmet back on and began searching for my machine gun."

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