Press Release  Former Topsfield Parks and Cemeteries Commissioners Steven Mscisz and Robert Benjamin Pay Civil Penalties for Violating Conflict of Interest Law

Boston, MA — Former Topsfield Parks and Cemeteries Commissioners Steven Mscisz and Robert Benjamin have paid $14,000 and $6,000 penalties, respectively, for violating the conflict of interest law by using their official town positions to get preferential access to purchase multiple cemetery plots at a substantial discount. Mscisz and Benjamin signed Disposition Agreements in which each admitted the violations and waived their rights to a hearing.

At a 2017 Parks and Cemetery Commission meeting, Mscisz, who served as Commission Chair, moved to transfer two lots in the Topsfield’s Pine Grove Cemetery, each including multiple burial plots, to himself and Benjamin for a total of $5,000 and $3,000, respectively. Mscisz and Benjamin each voted to approve the motion. By this use of their Cemetery Commissioner positions, Mscisz and Benjamin sought to acquire multiple burial plots for themselves and their families at a substantial discount from the then established price of $1,000 per plot.

In 2018, Benjamin and his spouse paid the town $1,200 for the deed to a lot in the D.C. Circle Block area of the Pine Grove Cemetery including six numbered plots. In 2019, upon payment of $5,000, Mscisz and his brother received the deed for a larger lot in the D.C. Circle Block area with space for well more than five plots.

In 2023, the Topsfield Town Administrator raised conflict of interest law concerns with Mscisz and Benjamin over their burial plot purchases, after which Mscisz’s family paid the town an additional $25,000 for a total of 30 plots and Benjamin paid the town an additional $4,800. Thus, each ultimately paid the established price of $1,000 per plot for their plots.

The conflict of interest law prohibits municipal employees from participating officially in matters in which they or their immediate families have a financial interest. Mscisz violated this prohibition by, as Parks and Cemetery Commissioner, making the motion to transfer the cemetery plots. Both Mscisz and Benjamin violated this prohibition by voting on the motion.

The conflict of interest law also prohibits public employees from using or attempting to use their official positions to obtain valuable privileges or benefits for themselves or others that are not properly available to them. Mscisz and Benjamin violated this prohibition by using their positions as Parks and Cemetery Commissioners to access burial plots before they were available for sale to the public and to initially obtain burial plots for far less than the established price.

“Being a municipal board member or commissioner does not entitle one to unwarranted preferential treatment or special discounts,” said State Ethics Commission Executive Director David A. Wilson. “Municipal employees who use their official positions to obtain valuable unauthorized benefits for themselves and their families that aren’t properly available to them or other residents, betray the trust the public has placed in them, undermine the public’s confidence in the integrity of municipal government, and violate the conflict of interest law.”

The State Ethics Commission encourages public employees to contact the Commission’s Legal Division at 617-371-9500 for free advice if they have any questions regarding how the conflict of interest law may apply to them.

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