CHESHIRE, Mass. — Town Clerk Christine Emerson has paid a $5,000 civil penalty for violating the conflict of interest law by hiring her daughter and granddaughter to perform work for the town on multiple occasions.

 

Emerson signed a Disposition Agreement in which she admitted to the violations and waived her right to a hearing, according to a press release from the State Ethics Commission.

 

For nine years between 2008 and 2020, Emerson, as town clerk, hired her daughter to compile mailings for the town census.

 

For seven elections between 2014 and 2020, Emerson hired her granddaughter to help set up a polling location on the day of the election and hired her for 70 additional hours in 2020 to assist with early voting and extra precautions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Emerson also hired her granddaughter in 2021 to compile mailings for the town census.

 

After Emerson was warned not to hire family members, she hired a voter registrar in 2022 to assist with compiling town census mailings. She set the voter registrar's hourly rate of pay at $14.25, which was the state minimum wage. The voter registrar was paid a total of $92.63 for the census work.

 

When Emerson hired her daughter and granddaughter to compile mailings, however, she determined they would be paid per envelope. Each year, they were paid between $693 and $911.13 for census work. Had they been paid the same hourly wage as the voter registrar, they each would have instead been paid approximately $330.

 

By hiring her daughter, setting her rate of pay, and completing her pay vouchers, Emerson violated the conflict of interest law's prohibition against municipal employees participating officially in matters in which members of their immediate family have a financial interest. 

 

In addition, the law prohibits public employees from acting in a manner that would cause a reasonable person to believe they would unduly favor another person when performing an official act. Emerson violated this prohibition when she hired her granddaughter, set her pay, and completed her pay vouchers. 

 

Finally, the conflict of interest also law prohibits public employees from using their official positions to obtain valuable unwarranted benefits not available to others in similar situations. Emerson violated this prohibition by setting her daughter's and granddaughter's census pay structure as a per envelope rate that was not properly available to other town employees.

 

iBerkshires.com reached out to Cheshire Town Administrator Jennifer Morse who was unaware of the fine. Chairwoman of the Select Board Michelle Francesconi said the board did not want to make a statement on the matter.

 

The town clerk is an elected position in Cheshire so the town has no jurisdiction.

 

In 2021, the board placed bylaw changes on the town meeting warrant that would change the status of the town clerk and tax collector to appointed rather than elected. However, town meeting rejected these two changes.