DPW Director Danvers Leaves Amid Ethics Violation Investigation

The State Ethics Commission said David Lane paid a $17,000 fine for accepting ski trips, a steak dinner and a golf outing.

Jun 5, 2024 1:45 PM EDT | Updated Jun 5, 2024 2:01 PM EDT

DANVERS, MA — Danvers is looking for a new permanent Public Works Department director after the State Ethics Commission said last week that David Lane paid a $17,000 civil penalty for violating the conflict of interest law in accepting free trips to skiing, a golf outing and a steakhouse. from a water meter manufacturer and its distributor.

The commission said Lane signed a letter of agreement acknowledging the violations and waiving his right to a hearing.

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City Administrator Steve Bartha told Patch that Lane retired before the ethics violation was concluded. Assistant Director of Utilities Clint Allen is currently Acting Director of Utilities and DPW Director of Operations Rob Dever is Acting Director of DPW. Lane previously held both titles.

Bartha said Danvers has a “zero tolerance policy” related to gifts and the human resources office issues the city’s No Gift Policy each year to all city employees and every vendor doing business with the city. He said there are also annual ethics courses both online and in person.

“The City of Danvers fully supports the work of the Massachusetts Ethics Commission,” Bartha said. “We understand that public trust is the currency of local government and situations like this erode that trust.”

Bartha noted that the current Danvers meters were purchased a decade or more before the conflict of interest violations occurred.

Lane is the second Danvers DPW employee cited in conflict of interest violations involving ski trips and the same water meter company in the past month.

Board member Maureen Bernard called the situation “a disgrace” after a resident brought up the violation during public comment at Tuesday’s board meeting.

“It’s happened once, it’s happened twice, it’s not happening in our town anymore,” Bernard said. “We have to, as a council, really stick to this. For me, they are basic principles. People have to be trained, people have to comply, take tests, maybe under hardships and penalties. But this cannot happen. again.

“I don’t know what I can really say or what I can’t say (on a personnel matter), but I will tell you I’m not happy. And I don’t think many of my board members are happy about that. This is a disgrace to our city. It’s a shame.”

Bernard said the Select Board was notified of the violation around the same time the State Ethics Commission released a statement about the fine last week.

According to the commission, Lane participated in three-day ski trips that water meter sellers hosted in Sugarloaf, Maine, in 2018, Okemo, Vermont, in 2020 and Jay Peak, Vermont, in 2022. The commission said that Lane used his own ski passes at Okemo, but that room and board were paid for by the seller.

Lane also admitted that he was paid for greens fees, meals and drinks during a golf event in October 2020 and that he benefited from a steakhouse dinner provided by the producer in November 2020.

The conflict of interest law prohibits public employees from accepting anything worth $50 or more that is given to them for or because of their official duties.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)