The Chelsea Retirement Board reported last week that it continues trying to investigate the pension request of former Chelsea Housing Authority (CHA) director Michael McLaughlin, but the Board is not get unfettered cooperation in the task.
Board Chair Joe Siewko reported at last Thursday’s meeting that the local Board had sent out nine letters to various organizations after being instructed to do so by the state Public Employees Retirement Administration Commission (PERAC). The letters were sent in order to seek information on whether or not McLaughlin had intentionally or unintentionally reported his income incorrectly to state housing officials.
Nevertheless, despite a great deal of time since the letters were sent, less than half have been returned.
“We have four responses and five have not responded,” said Siewko. “The other five will get second letters after the deadline to request information for PERAC. When any of them go beyond the second notice (without responding), PERAC will tell us how to proceed with further investigation.”
The Record made a public records request with the Retirement Board asking for all nine letters sent out and the four that were returned. That request is still being processed.
However, in the meantime, a source told the Record one of the organizations that has yet to respond is the Chelsea Housing Authority (CHA) – perhaps one of the key record-holders in the pension case.
The Retirement Board will address the issue again at its June meeting.
Meanwhile, PERAC officials told the Record that McLaughlin’s pension determination could go on for years without a resolution as he has recently filed an appeal with the state Division of Administrative Law Appeals. That division is notoriously slow in processing such matters, and an expedited hearing on the McLaughlin matter was not granted.