Press Release  Wrentham Housing Authority Maintenance Worker Kendel Joyce Pays $3,500 Civil Penalty for Violating Conflict of Interest Law

BOSTON, MA — Wrentham Housing Authority Maintenance Worker Kendel Joyce has paid a $3,500 civil penalty after admitting to violating the conflict of interest law by using a third party to purchase a surplus truck from the Housing Authority after the State Ethics Commission’s Legal Division advised him that he could not lawfully buy the vehicle.

The State Ethics Commission on October 18 approved a disposition agreement in which Joyce admitted to the violation, waived his right to contest the Commission’s findings, and agreed to pay the civil penalty.

In autumn 2013, Wrentham Housing Authority Executive Director Nancy Siegel decided to sell the agency’s 2005 Ford F-250 pickup truck. Joyce, who was friends with Siegel, expressed interest in buying it. Joyce called the Ethics Commission’s Legal Division on October 24, 2013 to ask whether he could bid on and purchase a truck from his public employer at auction. Joyce was advised that Section 20 of the conflict of interest law prohibits municipal employees from having a direct or indirect financial interest in a contract made by an agency of the city or town that employs them. While there are exemptions to Section 20, the Legal Division informed Joyce that there was no exemption that would allow him to legally purchase the truck from the Housing Authority.

Joyce then contacted an acquaintance, Kurt Maloof, who owned businesses that bought and sold vehicles. At Joyce’s request, Maloof agreed to purchase the truck from the Housing Authority on Joyce’s behalf. Before the Housing Authority advertised the truck for sale on December 29, 2013, Siegel told Joyce when the ad would appear, and Joyce passed that information to Maloof. The Housing Authority subsequently received a single bid for the truck, Maloof’s bid of $875, which was substantially less than the truck’s actual value. After the bid period closed, Siegel accepted Maloof’s bid and signed the truck’s title over to him. On the same day, Maloof, in turn, signed the title over to Joyce. After Joyce paid Maloof $875 for the truck, Maloof purchased a bank check in the same amount and submitted it to the Wrentham Housing Authority as payment for the truck. As of August 2017, Joyce continued to own and use the truck

Section 20 prevents municipal employees from having an “inside track” to municipal contracts, such as the purchase of surplus municipal property and other valuable opportunities, by strictly limiting their ability to have financial interests in contracts with their municipal employers. When Joyce used a third party to purchase the truck from the Housing Authority after the Ethics Commission advised him that he could not lawfully buy it, he had a prohibited financial interest a contract with his municipal employer in violation of Section 20.

The State Ethics Commission is charged with enforcing the conflict of interest law, G.L. c. 268A. When at least three of the Commission’s five members vote to find reasonable cause to believe a public employee has violated the law, they can also authorize adjudicatory proceedings to determine whether the violation occurred. The public employee then has the opportunity to enter into a public disposition agreement rather than exercising his or her right to a hearing.

The 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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