MARION — The Carver Marion Wareham Regional Refuse Disposal District Committee has moved on from its first-choice candidate for executive director and reached a tentative agreement with another candidate. 

Marion Town Administrator Paul Dawson said Tuesday that the committee could not reach an agreement after months of contract negotiations with first-choice candidate Michele Bernier. He added that the committee approached candidate Jeffery Osuch and he has accepted the position left vacant after the previous director and current Marion Town Clerk Ray Pickles was hit with charges of embezzlement earlier this year. 

Osuch was previously the executive secretary in the town of Fairhaven and the public works superintendent before that. He was selected to a group of three finalists for the position, which included Bernier as well. 

Osuch would replace previous long-time director Pickles who was fired in January of 2018 and was charged with embezzling more than $800,000 from the waste disposal district. The lawsuit charges Pickles, his wife Diane Bondi-Pickles and retired Carver Health Agent Robert Tinkham Jr. with fraud, civil conspiracy, civil theft and breach of fiduciary duty. 

In total, the trio is accused of embezzling $838,457 over a five-year period from disposal district coffers. 

The district initially selected Bernier from a pool three candidates they had interviewed. Since negotiations ended with her, the committee has moved on to its next choice for executive director, Osuch. 

If negotiations fail again, the committee would move onto the third candidate, John “Jack” Healey. Healey has been involved in public leadership positions for about 50 years, most notably as town manager of Wareham. 

Dawson did not say how much Osuch’s salary would be, pending negotiations, but did say that he would work a limited number of hours per year as a retired official. 

The disposal district formed in 1973 as a regional approach to handle waste from the three participating towns.

It allows those towns to jointly contract with waste-to-energy facility SEMASS in Rochester, and the district operates transfer stations in each town.