City Councilor Ed Flynn is calling for Mayor Michelle Wu to launch a formal investigation into the “troubling and ongoing” mayhem at the Boston Water and Sewer Commission, with particular focus on the agency’s senior leadership.
Flynn wrote to Wu on Nov. 6 calling for an investigation into the beleaguered quasi-public agency, which has been the subject of salacious headlines of late documenting inner turmoil between senior leadership and several employees.
“I am writing to respectfully request a formal investigation into the troubling and ongoing allegations taking place at the Boston Water and Sewer Commission,” Flynn wrote. “For this Commission to regain credibility with Boston residents and operate effectively, an investigation is immediately warranted of senior leadership at the Commission.”
Flynn, a South Boston councilor, added that the results of the investigation should be made public. His letter was included on the agenda for Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
He declined to comment further when reached by the Herald on Monday.
Mayor Wu’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
After public records revealed staff turmoil, including a fired general counsel Michael Flaherty, a suspended human resources director and purported cronyism in the agency’s hiring practices, Wu said last March that she would be taking a closer look at the Boston Water and Sewer Commission.
“I have had many things on my plate and have not delved into the details of exactly what’s been going on under the hood of that agency, and that is going to be a place that I spend more of my time thinking about understanding what’s happening, and the oversight that’s needed,” Wu said during a radio interview at the time.
Wu added that while the Commission has been “excellent” in terms of delivering city services, “Some of the other pieces around how the organization is run and the staffing challenges — that is certainly concerning and deserves more of a look.”
Since that time, the inner turmoil has seemingly worsened.
The Commission’s embattled human resources director Marie Theodat was fired on April 18 amid several civil lawsuits that included fraud allegations and following three internal investigations commissioned by her ex-employer, which the Commission says were based on “allegations of misconduct.”
Theodat, who was paid a $202,873 annual salary with the Water and Sewer Commission — after a 61% pay hike and promotion — had been on paid administrative leave since Dec. 2 of last year, per the Commission.
An August 2024 Suffolk Superior Court lawsuit alleges that Theodat worked with relatives to swindle her elderly, dementia-ridden uncle out of his $1.1 million Dorchester home.
A jury ruled in favor of a woman who filed a separate lawsuit against Theodat in 2020, alleging that Theodat stiffed her on a $75,000 mortgage loan. The jury’s verdict came down after a nearly weeklong trial, ordering Theodat to pay $72,000 to the plaintiff. She has appealed the ruling, per court records.
Theodat filed an employment discrimination lawsuit in Suffolk Superior Court on Sept. 30, alleging that a number of people, including two ex-Boston city councilors — Flaherty and Ricardo Arroyo, who filed the August 2024 lawsuit — the Commission’s former security chief Sean Canty, and the Herald conspired against her to get her fired.
Flaherty was fired from his $224,999 job at the Commission last Jan. 10, due to what his ex-employer said was a “breakdown in the working relationship” between Flaherty and Water and Sewer Commission Executive Director Henry Vitale.
The Commission paid Flaherty, a South Boston politician who spent 20 years on the Boston City Council before joining the Commission in January 2024, $253,630 to keep quiet about the matter — by way of a separation agreement signed by both parties last February.
The agreement states that the severance payment was made to Flaherty in exchange for a release of all claims — on conditions that he won’t sue or disparage the quasi-public agency, per Commission records.
Dueling restraining orders between Vitale, the Commission’s executive director, and Canty, the Commission’s former director of security and facilities, highlight the new chaos at the beleaguered agency.
In an affidavit for a harassment order filed against Vitale, Canty alleges that he has been subject to improper surveillance by the Commission in retaliation for filing a state discrimination claim against Vitale and the agency.
Canty filed his harassment order earlier this month, soon after Vitale filed a restraining order against Canty, claiming in an affidavit that he was fearful that the fired security chief’s actions would escalate to violence against him.
Canty claims that Vitale’s restraining order, filed in late October, is aimed at weakening the employment discrimination claim he’s filed with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, as he said it was filed soon after the Water and Sewer Commission was served with his complaint.
The MCAD claim is scheduled for a hearing this Wednesday. Canty was fired by the Commission on Dec. 18, 2024 after an investigation determined that he made racist statements to a Haitian-American colleague, according to an affidavit Vitale filed along with his restraining order in West Roxbury District Court.
Canty denies that and other claims in Vitale’s restraining order, calling it “bogus” and “full of lies,” while a Commission spokesperson called Canty’s allegations “utter nonsense and part of his misguided effort to defame his former employer.”
The Boston Water and Sewer Commission is overseen by a three-member Board of Commissioners that is appointed by the mayor with approval of the city council.
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