MARION — In the course of updating residents about ongoing town issues on Thursday, Town Administrator Paul Dawson gave the gathering a rundown on the personnel and legal issues at the Carver Marion Wareham Regional Refuse Disposal District. 

His report did not include any new developments at the district, which has been in turmoil since the January dismissal of executive director Ray Pickles in the wake of financial irregularities. 

Dawson confirmed that a reorganized oversight committee is currently in contract negotiations with Michele Bernier to fill the vacant executive director position. 

Founded in 1973 as a regional approach to handle waste from the three towns, the district allows those towns to jointly contract with wast-to-energy facility SEMASS in Rochester.

As Dawson recounted the past year’s events:

About a year ago, the town administrators of Carver, Marion, and Wareham received assessments for the towns from then-executive Pickles. Surprised by the amounts, following years in which towns had received lower or no assessments, the town administrators approached Pickles for more information.

When the information was not forthcoming from Pickles, a former Marion town administrator and current Marion town clerk, it was decided to delve into the issue. 

“We found there were a number of irregularities and issues, some are legal and some are
financial, all of which cause problems for the three towns,” said Dawson. 

After some looking, it came to light that the last completed audit had been done in 2012, despite a state requirement for annual audits.

Pickles was fired in January. He, his wife Diane Bondi-Pickles, and retired Carver health agent Robert Tinkham were subsequently sued by the district for allegedly embezzling more than $800,000 from the district. 

Dawson did not go into detail regarding the pending litigation except to say that the towns are looking into the recovery of funds. 

“We hope we can right the ship so the issues we experienced won’t happen again,” said Dawson. “They can’t happen again.”