Ex-mayor pays ethics panel fine

Former Methuen mayor Sharon Pollard has paid a $4,000 fine and agreed not to fight a state Ethics Commission ruling that she violated state conflict-of-interest laws when she funneled money to a nonprofit preservation group she founded.

Three years ago, the city permitted Brooks Pharmacy to build a store on Howe Street, on the condition that Brooks pay the city $650,000 to mitigate any ensuing traffic problems.

The Ethics Commission reported that Pollard directed $200,000 of that money to the Methuen Festival of Trees, her nonprofit historic preservation group, without notifying the City Council or seeking its permission.

State conflict-of-interest laws prohibit public employees from using their positions to secure "an unwarranted privilege of substantial value not properly available to similarly situated individuals," the report states.

"By acting as mayor on a matter in which a private organization she co-founded had a substantial financial interest, Pollard violated this section of the law," the commission found.

In a written statement, Pollard defended her actions yesterday.

"It was never my intention for these funds to be used for any purpose other than the preservation and restoration of Methuen's historic public property," she wrote.

Before serving as Methuen's mayor, from January 2000 to December 2005, Pollard was a three-term state senator and state energy secretary from 1983 to 1990.

In 2004, after the city approved the new Brooks Pharmacy, Pollard instructed the store to write two separate checks: one $450,000 check payable to the city, the other $200,000 check payable to the festival, the commission reported.

Later, Pollard told the council that she allocated the $200,000 to the festival because the city had already addressed area traffic issues.

Pollard said the group spent $42,000 of the Brooks money on preservation efforts, but later sent the entire $200,000 back to the city.