GEORGETOWN – For years, some visitors to town hall and present and past town employees have recounted incidents where they heard Town Administrator Orlando Pacheco brag that he used his salary as what they called his “play money.”
This week, the SelectBoard was scheduled to meet at Town Hall to consider accusations that Pacheco has violated terms of his Georgetown contract by working for the town of Shirley and possibly a private employer, Inovis Energy.
The SelectBoard is also being asked to review the administrator’s decision to hire a law firm without board approval and to review Inovis’ contracts with the town.
Selectman Mike Donahue last week presented the board and The Town Common with more than 50 emails between Pacheco and Shirley town officials regarding green energy projects that the administrator appears to have been working on for Shirley. Most of the emails sent to town and state officials about the projects were during office hours.
Donahue’s conclusion from a review of the emails was “there is a clear and overwhelming pattern of non-compliance as he was conducting outside business during Georgetown business hours.”
Pacheco, who has been Georgetown’s town administrator since Jan. 10, 2020, did not respond to Donahue’s accusation, saying only that anyone could file a complaint with the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission. In response from The Town
Common, he wrote that he would address Donahue’s accusations with the board when they meet.
It is not clear how the SelectBoard, as newly constituted after the election this week, will view Donahue’s accusations.
The package of emails shows that Pacheco’s first email was sent on Sept. 15, 2024 and continued until April 8, 2026. Virtually all of the emails
initiated by Pacheco were during office hours.
Shirley’s deputy town administrator Logan Bries, who appears to be
Pacheco’s primary point of contact, did not respond to an emailed question from this newspaper, asking for details of Shirley’s contract with Pacheco.
Pacheco’s employment contract with Georgetown requires that he devote his full time to the “effort and attention to the business of the Town of Georgetown will not engage in any other business during office hours, except with the express written approval of the (Select)Board.”
The Town Common reported in 2023 that the SelectBoard had approved Pacheco working as a consultant for the city of Haverhill, but only on Fridays when Georgetown Town Hall is closed. It is unknown if he also received approval from the SelectBoard to work for Shirley, where he had been a consultant.
His consulting for Shirley involved the Green Communities Competitive Grant support (application revisions, submissions, errors, meetings, award follow-up, post-award planning with net metering/on-bill repayment), building audits, and energy efficiency projects.
The emails from Pacheco to Shirley town officials included town administrator Bryan Sawyer and Bries. They also included Kelly Brown, the central regional coordinator for the state Department of Energy Resources (DOER), and Andres Correa, energy manager for several towns, including Groton, Harvard, Ayer and Shirley. Georgetown is in the DOER northeast region.
There were also emails to Gabriel Andreson, president of lnovis Energy, and employees of National Grid.
Pacheco is paid a salary of $165,000 a year by Georgetown and has standard vacation and sick leave.
The minutes of the Shirley SelectBoard meeting on the Feb. 24, 2024, report that Sawyer praised “energy consultant Orlando Pacheco” for finding “a potentially advantageous electric rate contract for town offices,” the town minutes state.
“The agreement proposes securing the rate at 0.1224, effective until February and spanning just under a three-year term (2028). (SelectBoard chair) Brian Hildebrant queried the nature of Pacheco’s engagement and compensation. Mr. Sawyer explained that while Pacheco is not personally remunerated by the town, his service charges are inclusive within the contract frameworks.
“Consequently, Brian Hildebrant moved to empower Bryan Sawyer, as town administrator, to negotiate and finalize the contract with Orlando Pacheco, ensuring optimal electric rate benefits for the Town of Shirley. (Board Clerk) Debra Flagg fully seconded this proposal.”
The minutes do not specify how much Pacheco’s service charge in this agreement is. However, in a similar electricity aggregation agreement, Pacheco signed on behalf of the town of Shirley, the consultant’s compensation was 0.001 per kilowatt hour purchased by participating residents of the town. Its population in 2020 was 7,400 residents.
In multiple emails between Pacheco and Bries, on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024 at 9:32 a.m., 9:43 a.m., 2:57 p.m., 3:24 p.m., 3:57 p.m. and 4:26 p.m. Pacheco advised that in the town’s submission for a Green Communities grant, there was a $5,000 administrative cost. He instructed a staff person, named Jane, to “re-open the portal or notify Kelly Brown.”
On Monday, Oct. 21, 2024 at 8:35 a.m., 8:40 a.m. and 9:46 p.m. an email to Bries (Re: Submission error/Grant), he wrote: “Clarified the additional $5K was administrative costs; confirmed correct total – $137,580; verified updated/revised documents sent.”
Pacheco often responded to issues on the same day and acts as liaison across town staff, state agencies and contractors. He also consistently followed up on errors, eligibilities, market risks and grant compliance.
The SelectBoard may also be asked to consider Pacheco’s relationship with Inovis Energy and its contracts in Georgetown that involved lighting projects and the installation of a dozen electrical vehicle chargers in town.
Mark McClellan, Inovis’ vice president for marketing, wrote that it has completed several projects with Georgetown that he said has saved the town about $65,000 annually. The projects include lighting projects at two schools and a heat pump upgrade at the Perley Elementary. In addition, we have installed a total of 12 public electric vehicle charging stations at three locations.
“Orlando has been our main point of contact for these projects, with the Town of Georgetown being our customer. National Grid introduced us to Orlando several years ago as we are a contractor for National Grid. Orlando does not work for us, nor has he been paid anything for selecting us to complete this work.”
Donahue initially made his accusations about Pacheco’s outside employment at a SelectBoard meeting on May 4 to discuss the upcoming Town Meeting in a small conference room at the Middle/High School.
Donahue made his motion for the board to investigate Pacheco for working during office hours for Shirley at Georgetown Town Hall. The motion, made before the SelectBoard meeting was officially opened, failed for lack of a second. After member Rachel Therrien told chair Robert Hoover that the meeting was not yet open, Hoover opened the meeting and began discussing items on the warrant for the upcoming Town Meeting. [Editor’s Note: Donahue asked if the chair would like him to re-introduce his motion, and was told “no.”]
There was no discussion of Donahue’s accusations against the Town Administrator.
Donahue also has asked the Board to investigate Pacheco’s hiring of a law firm without approval of the SelectBoard. Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lahane was hired to render an opinion on whether the administrator can fire employees without approval of the SelectBoard.
The firm of K&P Law has been Georgetown’s law firm on retainer for years. Pacheco told The Town Common he hired Murphy, Hesse because of its expertise.
Donahue pointed out that Murphy, Hesse was hired by the Georgetown School Department as its attorney around the time it rendered the opinion to Pacheco.
Pacheco has not made public the opinion he received, but recently fired the town’s conservation agent, Michele Grenier, without consulting the SelectBoard or the Conservation Commission, which hired her. ♦
