Board Of Aldermen - Minutes - 5/28/2019 - P26
Mayor Donchess
May 8, 2019
Page 4
The most alarming aspect of this behavior is that Greg reported, during his absences on
all eight days detailed above, that he was, at least in large part, performing “field work.” On the
sign out board in the Assessing Department, Greg reported he was leaving the office to perform
field work for at least a large part of the time he was absent on all eight days. For example, page
3 of Ms. Ortolano’s report contains a photograph of that sign out board as it appeared on April
19, 2019. The row for Greg states, in the “Out” column, “FIELD,” which presumably means he
would be performing “field work” for the period of time he was absent. In addition, page 4 of
Ms. Ortolano’s report and page 19 of the Freyler Report both contain a photograph of the same
sign out board as it appeared on April 22, 2019. The row for Greg states, in the “Out” column,
that he is “OTL/FIELD,” and the “In” column states “P.M.” “OTL” presumably stands for “Out
to Lunch,” but Greg also denoted “FIELD” — again, presumably to mean he was performing
“field work” — for the period of time he was absent. The reports above clearly demonstrate,
however, that he did not perform any field work on April 19 or 22 and little to no field work on
any other day; rather, on both days, he was parked outside the Holiday Inn performing absolutely
no field work and returned to City Hall at 1:36 p.m. on April 19 and 3:01 p.m. on April 22, and
on the other days he was either napping in the Rail Trail parking lot or spending time in the
Holiday Inn parking lot.
This behavior calls into question Greg’s performance of his duties and many of his
practices, including, but not limited to, his assessments of properties, review of residential
abatements, representation of the City at the BTLA in abatement appeals, and his preparation and
submission of expense reports.
As noted above and in Ms. Ortolano’s past communications with the City, Greg’s
property assessments feature many irregularities: there is a disconnect between the assessed
values assigned to these properties and upgrades and other features contained in corresponding
property cards. It is possible Greg has engaged in the behavior above on a consistent basis for
some time now. If that is true, it is possible Greg likely has not visited the properties he claims
to have assessed and, thus, has relied on other (improper) means to evaluate properties.
Greg’s expense reports should also be called into question: If Greg is leaving City Hall
and performing no field work, then any expense reports detailing mileage and/or other expenses
for those periods of time are obviously fraudulent.
Finally, Greg’s recent behavior calls into question his and the Department’s ability to
address and evaluate the record number of abatement applications the City received this year. If
Greg is devoting minimal time to his day-to-day functions, the Department — at least in part — is
unlikely to be able to process these applications (particularly the applications assigned to Greg)
in an efficient manner, or not at all, and devote any measurable attention to them. This would be
a disservice to the citizens in Nashua and force them to devote additional resources to appeals of
any abatement applications that the Department denies.
