Mayor suspends public works director

Aide paid while living in Venezuela

Mayor Thomas M. Menino is suspending the city's public works director for three weeks after city officials discovered that one of his top aides collected a city paycheck for five months while living 2,205 miles away, in Venezuela.

Dennis Royer, Menino's chief for public works, signed off on the intercontinental telecommuting arrangement at the same time that a number of other employees in the Department of Public Works were facing discipline for showing up to work late, leaving early, and, in general, collecting more pay than they were due.

One city official briefed on the city's review of the unusual work arrangement and a second official involved in the review identified the aide as Fariba Agheli, a senior data processing system analyst who made $79,899 last year, according to city payroll records.

Agheli went to Venezuela, where her family lives, in October and was corresponding with her colleagues in Boston via e-mail through March, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

No disciplinary action is being taken against Agheli because she had Royer's permission for the unusual arrangement, city officials said. The officials said Royer signed off on the arrangement because Agheli worked on computers and data that could be used remotely. City officials said Agheli has returned to work in Boston.

"There has been a lot of disciplinary actions against employees of the Public Works Department, and their leadership should be held to the same, if not higher, standards of conduct," said Menino's spokeswoman, Dorothy Joyce. "Chief Royer's decision was in poor judgment and not consistent with City of Boston personnel policies."

Royer did not return messages seeking comment. Joyce said he agreed to the suspension and took responsibility for his actions.

"He understands that this is something he shouldn't have done," Joyce said.

It was the first time in his 15-year administration that Menino suspended a member of his Cabinet. Royer was among a group of outsiders Menino hired to bring change to a number of city departments, and while the mayor has said some have fulfilled his expectations - such as in the Fire Department, where Commissioner Roderick Fraser is taking on the firefighters union - others have not established significant changes.

Since Royer took over the Department of Public Works in September 2006, repeated audits and investigations have uncovered the same problems in the department, including rampant malingering, lax discipline, and other abuses.

A surveillance investigation by the Boston Finance Commission in February last year found that workers assigned to fill potholes, sweep streets, and pick up trash generally performed "very little work, mostly just driving around and parking for periods of time." Another surveillance investigation by the commission several months later found the same problems. In one case, a worker filled only three potholes in an eight-hour shift.

City officials said Royer's suspension, recommended by Menino's chief of staff and approved by the mayor, relates only to his approval of the telecommuting.

The mayor selected Royer from some 200 applicants in July 2006. Royer was the deputy manager for operations of public works in Denver and had about 25 years of experience in public works and transportation management.

Menino expected him to overhaul the department, which was not computerized and has been largely reactive, filling potholes and fixing street lights only after receiving complaints. At the time, the mayor said Royer would bring the department "into the 21st century."

Royer was one of several appointees the mayor uncharacteristically plucked from outside his inner circle after his reelection in 2005.

He recruited chief information officer William Oates from a large hotel chain; Fraser, a former US Navy commander; and Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis from Lowell.

Under Davis's watch, serious crime decreased 16 percent in Boston. In the Fire Department, Fraser is taking on the firefighters union to curb payroll abuses.

The Finance Commission, an independent agency charged with rooting out mismanagement in city government, first began reviewing the Department of Public Works in 2006 after an anonymous tip.

The commission's first surveillance investigation, which covered 12 days in November and December 2006 and another day in January 2007, found that workers arrived up to 40 minutes late, left up to two hours early, and did not do much work in between.

At the time, Royer promised to overhaul department management and supervision, saying "I expect a day's work for a day's pay; any activity that shortchanges the taxpayers along those lines I will not tolerate."

But when the Finance Commission began a second surveillance investigation several months later, not much had changed. Jeffrey W. Conley, executive director of the commission, said workers continued to show up late, sign out early, and slack off during shifts.

In one case, a worker assigned to fill potholes went to an asphalt plant in Watertown, but didn't pick up any asphalt. Instead, he drove to a public works headquarters in Brighton, where he hung out for a while. When the worker was summoned to fill a pothole in the South End, he showed up and scraped some crumbs of asphalt from his truck, probably left over from a previous shift, into the hole and took off.

Later, after receiving word over his car radio that a Globe photographer wanted to take pictures of a city worker filling potholes, he raced back to the plant, picked up some asphalt, then raced to the Roxbury location where he was supposed to meet the photographer. He filled three potholes while the photographer snapped pictures.

"Those were the only potholes he filled that day," Conley said.

Conley has been sharing the results of his probe with City Hall since January and said Royer has been cooperative and open.

Based on the results, the mayor authorized the hiring of a private investigator to tail various public works employees, and five were facing discipline last month.

Conley declined to divulge more details about the results yesterday.

"We're continuing to work with the city to revamp the department," Conley said.

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.