Starr v. Board of Health of Clinton

• Citation: 252 N.E.2d 893,356 Mass. 426
• Parties: Stanley B. STARR v. BOARD OF HEALTH OF CLINTON.
• Decision Date: 01 December 1969
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

Page 893

252 N.E.2d 893

356 Mass. 426

Stanley B. STARR v. BOARD OF HEALTH OF CLINTON.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Worcester.

Argued Oct. 7, 1969.

Decided Dec. 1, 1969.

Terence F. Riley, Belmont, for petitioner.

Morris N. Gould, Thomas F. McEvilly, Clinton, for respondent.

Before WILKINS, C.J., and SPALDING, CUTTER, KIRK, SPIEGEL and REARDON, JJ.

SPIEGEL, Justice.

This petition for mandamus seeks to compel the board of health (board) 'to appoint and certify, * * * (the) petitioner to the office and duties of Plumbing Inspector for the Town of Clinton.' A judge of the Superior Court ordered judgment dismissing the petition. The petitioner appealed from the judgment. The trial judge made no findings but the evidence is reported.

We state facts which the judge could have found. On July 12, 1963, the petitioner a member of the board took the civil service qualifying examination for the position of plumbing inspector. He was notified, on January 13, 1964, that he had passed, and was placed number one on the civil service list because of his status as a disabled veteran. At the February meeting of that board, the petitioner 'made a motion that action be taken on the appointment of a plumbing inspector.' The motion was tabled in order to allow the other members of the board additional time to study the candidates on the civil service list.

Following this meeting the other members of the board, one Peter O'Malley, and one Harold Alzapiedi, the chairman, in accordance with G.L. c. 268A, § 22, requested the town counsel, Mr. Edward T. Mitchell, to rule 'on the prospective appointment of * * * (the petitioner) as Plumbing Inspector, and the possibility of such appointment constituting a conflict of interest.' In a letter dated February 25, 1964, Mr. Mitchell indicated that both the petitioner's position as a member of the board and his ownership of a retail plumbing supply business constituted conflicts of interest which were direct impediments to the petitioner's appointment.

The petitioner, in an effort to evade the conflicts described in the town counsel's letter, purportedly sold his plumbing supply business to his brother, Stephen J. Starr, for the nominal sum of $1. At the board meeting held on March 4, 1964, the petitioner placed a bill of sale for his business and his resignation from the board on a table in the board office. The bill of sale was examined by Mr. Mitchell, O'Malley (newly elected chairman), and a new member of the board, one Saverio Notaro. Because the petitioner chose to transfer the business to his brother, Mr. Mitchell suggested he file an affidavit stating that he would have no future affiliation with his plumbing supply business. O'Malley did not accept or look at the petitioner's resignation. The petitioner 'picked * * * (the bill of sale and the resignation) up off the desk and put * * * (them) back in his pocket * * * (a) nd * * * did not request any formal action.' O'Malley and Notaro agreed to give the petitioner one day to present an affidavit to the board. On March 5, 1964, the petitioner again appeared before the board and O'Malley told the petitioner of his dissatisfaction with the bill of sale and stated that even if the petitioner resigned he 'could not in good conscience vote for * * * (the petitioner) because * * * (he) felt there is still a conflict of interest, since * * * (the petitioner had been) a member of this Board.'

The minutes of the board meeting do not show that the petitioner submitted a formal resignation to the board until receipt of the letter dated June 9, 1964.

1. The petitioner contends that G.L. c. 41, § 4A, ¹ is not a bar to his appointment as plumbing inspector because he 'had resigned and could not participate in his own appointment.' However, he did not officially tender his resignation to the board until June 9, 1964. He had previously offered to resign on the condition that he be appointed to the plumbing inspector's position. The impetus for his ultimate resignation stemmed from a meeting on June 8, 1964, with W. Henry Finnegan, Director of Civil Service for the Commonwealth. At that meeting Finnegan made it clear that the petitioner's resignation from the board and his divestment of any interest in the plumbing supply business were conditions precedent to his appointment to the position of plumbing inspector. The petitioner at all relevant times prior to his resignation was a member of the board and therefore could not have been appointed plumbing inspector by the board. ² Mastrangelo v. Board of Health of Watertown, 340 Mass. 491, 165 N.E.2d 103. See Barrett v. City of Medford, 254 Mass. 384, 150 N.E. 159; Attorney Gen. v. Henry, 262 Mass. 127, 159 N.E. 539.

2. The petitioner also claims that his plumbing supply business does not present a conflict since '(t)he appointed job deals with inspecting plumbers' work * * * (and the) supply business deals with the public on retail sales.' As we stated in the case of Board of Selectmen of Avon v. Linder, 352 Mass. 581, 583, 227 N.E.2d 359, 360, the conflict of interest law ³ was enacted 'as much to prevent giving the appearance of conflict as to suppress all tendency to wrongdoing.' The petitioner's retention of the plumbing supply business while serving as plumbing inspector would, it seems obvious, give the appearance of a conflict.

3. The petitioner argues that the question of conflict of interest is 'moot since he has sold the business and submitted his (b)ill of (s)ale with the resignation.' We do not agree. On July 9, 1964, the business was purportedly sold to one Jack D. Pelley, the petitioner's brother-in-law, for $3,300; the deposit was made by a cashier's check for $1,300 and the balance by a promissory note from Pelley to the petitioner for $2,000. Pelley, a linotype operator, claims that at the time of the supposed purchase, he borrowed $800 cash from his father-in-law, the petitioner's father, to make the down payment on the business. Pelley also claims that he acquired the business for investment purposes, because he had failing eyesight and would have to leave his position as a printer. The 'purchase' of the business was to be the eventual means by which he would support his family. At this time, Pelley was earning approximately $7,000 a year. Yet, after the 'purchase' of the supply business, the gross receipts a week for the period June 13, 1964, to October 17, 1964, were never greater than $64.16 and were as low as $14.20 for the week of August 1, 1964. From the total gross receipts of approximately $600 during Pelley's ownership, he paid his father-in-law $200 on account of the $800 loan and he paid the petitioner $250, $50 a month, in rent. During the five month period Pelley claimed to have operated the business, he...