LAWRENCE — Mayor William Lantigua said yesterday he has moved to fire a former police officer who was suspended with pay after his conviction for domestic assault and battery 19 months ago.
Lantigua also said a city planner suspended with pay in August for alleged workplace misconduct will return to work Monday.
Lantigua, responding to mounting pressure to fire Police Officer Daron Fraser and to act in the case of Planner Richard Burke, said his options for dealing with the two have been constrained by Civil Service laws and his desire to "avoid future legal and financial liability" that might follow if he acted hastily.
"I took appropriate action and assure you that I do not support paying individuals that are not both on-site and on-duty," Lantigua said in a press release issued yesterday. "I must, however, keep due process, HIPAA and civil service in mind when I make decisions."
HIPAA, the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act, guarantees the privacy of medical patients. Lantigua suggested the law limited his options for dealing with Burke while Burke was taking "the necessary steps, under his health insurance policy, to put himself in a position to return to work with the city."
Lantigua did not elaborate, but a month after Burke was suspended from his job, he was jailed on a drunken driving charge. At the time, he also was awaiting trial on other drunken driving charges from an April 2011 arrest in Woburn. He was convicted of the Woburn charges on Oct. 31 and sentenced to two years probation.
Burke, 41, of Marblehead was a legislative aide to Lantigua when the mayor was a state representative and went on the city payroll in July 2010, seven months after Lantigua became mayor. He makes $50,000 a year.
City Personnel Director Frank Bonet has declined to provide details about the misconduct complaint against Burke that resulted in his suspension.
Lantigua yesterday said a Civil Service hearing on his effort to fire Fraser was scheduled for Thursday, but was delayed at the request of his lawyer. Fraser also is appealing his assault conviction. Meanwhile, he continues to collect a paycheck from his police job, which provides him nearly $100,000 a year.
"The City Lawrence will continue to comply with the procedural protections afforded to Officer Fraser by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Civil Service laws, following the process through to its lawful conclusion," Lantigua said in his press release
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