Some of you may remember the story of the Private Investigator (PI) hired to track a Nashua Assessor, Greg Turgiss, whereabouts while performing assessing work. The result of this investigation showed that the assessor was sleeping at a rail trail head and in a parking lot behind a hotel, all while signing out on an Assessing Department whiteboard that he was doing fieldwork.
It was discovered during the investigation that ten years prior, the assessor had two incidents involving the use of city computers to view pornography, confessing to spending hours on the City computers to view images. Despite the repeat violations, he remained employed.
One would think that the PI report would have been the nail in the coffin, but not in Nashua. Scott Painter, UAW Union Rep., Director Kleiner, Mayor Donchess, and the Nashua Police Department all rallied behind Mr. Turgiss.
Mr. Painter represented Greg Turgiss but also the office worker who identified problems with Mr. Turgiss’ work logs. This was a major conflict. He encouraged Ms. Walley to leave and back our sleepy porn guy. Eventually, Ms. Walley was fired by Ms. Kleiner and ultimately settled with the City for $100,000.
Ms. Kleiner thought Mr. Turgiss’ lying on the whiteboard was just fine, but to keep his lies more private, she had the whiteboard removed from the office. The Mayor wanted to promote Mr. Turgiss to a working Assessing Chief for the City of Nashua. The less you know, the higher you go.
The Police Department conducted an investigation addressing potential criminal charges for mileage fraud against Mr. Turgiss and witness tampering against Ms. Kleiner. The Police were not capable of performing an unbiased investigation of “their own.” The Mayor controls their budget, and we all remember the Mayor’s power move to take control of the Police Commissioners.
The Police produced an Intradepartmental Communication on January 8, 2020, regarding the investigation and gave Mr. Turgiss a pretty complimentary report. The report stated, “
In regards to the submission of fraudulent mileage reimbursement reports: All daily work and activity logs that had been generated were compared to the mileage reimbursement forms that Turgiss had submitted. In reviewing these logs and using Google maps mapping out the shortest possible distances it would have taken Turgiss to visit the properties he had on specific days. In doing so it was found Turgiss had not over reported any of his mileage and actually under recorded the mileage on some days.
As a salaried employee Turgiss is entitled to his salary regardless of the actual hours he works as long as he works at some point during a pay period. In speaking with Turgiss’s supervisors and the Human Resources Department it appeared that Turgiss was completing the work that was required and expected of him.
The DRA also conducted an investigation. They completed their report on January 23, 2020, weeks after the NPD. They, too, had work logs and the Private Investigator’s Report. At that time, DRA laws did not permit the sanctions and reports to be released. The Assessing Standards Board (Asb) wrote legislation that passed in June 2022 to release these sanction reports. I just received these reports through a Right to Know request. Here is what the DRA reported,
- Dereliction of Duty – Breach of Ethics Rules. At various times during the month of April 2019, you were observed by a taxpayer and a private investigator that she hired sleeping or relaxing in your car parked at a trailhead and in a parking lot behind a local hotel for extended periods of time during thework day while you were signed out of the office at City Hall as “in the field’. On April 15, 16, and the week of April 26, it I clear that your field reports are contradicted by the observations of the private investigator. Your field logs are incomplete and thus for any dates that you were observed by the private investigator in the parking area and lacking a field report showing you were actually doing something work-related, any uncertainties should be weighed against you. This behavior constitutes misconduct under Asb 301.36 as dereliction of duty, or malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance because during hours you were in your car napping or relaxing you should have been performing the assessing duties outlined in Asb 304.04. Not doing so and instead misrepresenting to your employers what you were actually doing constitutes dereliction of duty, and malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance. It also constitutes misconduct under Asb 301.36(b) as a violation of appraisal practice ethical standards, in particular, but without limitation, Asb Code of Ethics Canon 1. The sanction for these violations under Asb 308.05 is decertification for up to 5 years.
What is most concerning is that the Police weighed heavily on what Mr. Turgiss told them despite his lying on his logs and the City whiteboard. His lying had no impact on his credibility in the eyes of the police. The police investigation was improper.
What needs to change. The Police must enact a policy to prohibit investigations of City employees. These investigations must go to a state agency. Nashua voters have to elect a new Mayor who wants nothing to do with Ms. Kleiner. Both need to be shown the door. There is not much we can do about the Union.
When all this was going down, the Assessing office had nine workers, a chief, four assessors, and four clerical staff members. Everyone is gone now, except Greg Turgiss, the last man standing. The coverup from all of these departments and individuals has left us with the sleepy porn guy for many years and an Assessing Office with no credibility.
