ROCKLAND, Maine — Boothbay selectmen have asked their former town manager, the new city manager of Rockland, to repay $4,388 in what they say were unauthorized cellphone expenses.
Current Boothbay Town Manager Daniel Bryer said Wednesday a selectman came upon a bill that seemed excessively high and learned former manager James Chaousis added two cellphone accounts in 2011 without the knowledge of selectmen. The phones were for Chaousis’ wife and a daughter, Bryer said.
Selectmen voted last month to send a letter to Chaousis asking for reimbursement for the monthly cellphone payments made for his wife and daughter from 2011 until Chaousis left Boothbay to take the Rockland post the first week of March this year. The letter was mailed May 28, according to Bryer.
Chaousis said Wednesday he will pay what the selectmen requested but said there was nothing nefarious about what was done. He said this was an inadvertent co-mingling of personal and private expenses. He said selectmen review all financial warrants and had approved those expenses.
Chaousis said the town of Boothbay did not have a credit line and he would pay for municipal expenses, such as the town’s Internet provider, and then get reimbursed. Bryer agreed the town issued Chaousis a credit card for town business after he started working there in November 2010 and that Chaousis would pay for items, such as the Internet service, and then seek reimbursement.
Chaousis is continuing to pay for the Boothbay town office Internet service, Bryer said Wednesday, adding he plans to change the billing so the town would take over those charges. The now Rockland manager has not requested reimbursement since November for the $80 per month charges. Chaousis said Wednesday he intended to seek reimbursement but never did.
“I don’t plan to ask for reimbursement for those costs, especially considering the tenor of the Boothbay selectmen’s request for reimbursement,” Chaousis said Wednesday.
“The Boothbay selectmen have their own political reasoning to request reimbursement in this manner,” Chaousis said. “Since there is no nefarious intent in this mistake I will simply comply with their request. The financial system in Boothbay was a disaster when they hired me. I’m glad the checks and balances system I created identified a mistake. It demonstrates progress.”
The May 28 letter from Boothbay Board of Selectmen Chair Dale Harmon also points out that a review of financial records found a $709 charge at Dead River Company in September 2011 that appeared to have been a personal expense. The board chairman asked Chaousis to review the records and determine whether there are any other expenses that need to be reimbursed to the town.