Alleging retaliation, ex-CFO sues town over ouster
Town Manager Kerry Lafleur says Anthony Ansaldi’s allegations of illegal and unethical financial practices are “without merit.”
Ex-Chief Financial Officer Anthony Ansaldi is taking the town to court, asserting that officials retaliated against him for calling out “illegal” and “unethical” financial practices.
Town Manager Kerry Lafleur says his allegations are “without merit” and maintains that the town had “sound reasons” to oust him from his post this past year.
Ansaldi itemized more than $1.3 million in lost wages and emotional distress damages in court documents. As the saga around his firing escalates, he’s also naming Lafleur individually as a defendant and has publicly discussed the case in his hunt for a new gig.
Ansaldi told a Billerica hiring panel that issues here were things “I haven’t experienced in my previous 19 years in municipal finance.”
“When the person that was in my position is now the town manager,” he said, referring to Lafleur, who served as CFO from 2016 to 2021, “I think we all know what happens.”
The Acton Bridge first reported the lawsuit online. Lafleur referenced the coverage during a Select Board meeting and told the panel that these employment actions “were taken in good faith.”
Town labor lawyer Kimberly Rozak previously wrote in a letter to Ansaldi’s attorney that the actions his client objected to weren’t illegal, but simply differences of opinion about how to fulfill job duties.
‘Dysfunctional’ department
Ansaldi filed his lawsuit in Middlesex Superior Court on December 17. He’s seeking a jury trial.
Officials hired Ansaldi in October 2023 and placed him on leave last June. He filed a whistleblower notice in early July and was terminated in September.
Ansaldi claims he “inherited a dysfunctional Finance Department” and uncovered illegal Social Security payments going back decades. He said Lafleur ordered him to transfer funds without proper legal authority and claimed she resisted an independent consultant’s review of town finances, “knowing it would reflect poorly on her prior performance.”
Ansaldi also said officials fabricated performance concerns against him.
Lafleur told The Bridge that an August 8 letter purportedly outlining those complaints was a personnel record and exempt from disclosure. The Bridge obtained a separate tranche of documents shown as exhibits at an employment hearing.
These pages include emails between Ansaldi and Lafleur about inconsistencies in budget documents and a delayed software conversion.
One series of messages shows Assistant Town Manager Jessica Porter repeatedly asking Ansaldi and other managers for staff performance reviews. The assessments were due on May 31, 2025. On June 24, days before scheduled July 1 pay adjustments, Ansaldi told Porter, “I’ll get them done before the end of the week.”
Ansaldi responded to Lafleur’s concerns in his own letter. Regarding reviews, he said he was “in the completion stage” when he was placed on leave, and he would have made them a higher priority if he knew his performance was in question.
From leave to lawsuit
June 26: Anthony Ansaldi is placed on paid administrative leave. Assistant Chief Financial Officer Ryan Ferrara becomes acting CFO.
July 1: Ansaldi’s attorney submits whistleblower notice alleging officials retaliated against him for raising concerns about financial practices.
August 20: Ansaldi attends employment hearing with town representatives.
September 6: Ansaldi discusses his Acton departure during a public interview for the town manager job in Billerica.
September 8: Ansaldi is formally terminated from his job as Acton’s chief financial officer.
November 3: Jennifer Barrett becomes Acton’s new permanent CFO.
December 17: Ansaldi files suit in Middlesex Superior Court.
Sources: Acton Bridge interviews, whistleblower notice, court documents, Billerica Access Television
‘A flat-out lie’
Ansaldi interviewed for a job as Billerica’s town manager just days before his formal firing as Acton’s CFO. Billerica Select Board members ultimately picked another candidate.
Ansaldi referred questions about his lawsuit to his attorney, Timothy Burke, who didn’t immediately answer a Bridge request for comment.
In a previous phone call, Ansaldi challenged claims from Rozak — Acton’s labor counsel — that Lafleur tried to discuss performance concerns during a June 26 meeting. Rozak said Ansaldi “left before the discussion finished.”
Ansaldi told The Bridge that was “a flat-out lie.”
Lafleur said the town received an official copy of the complaint on December 31.
In an email, she said she was “limited in what I can say publicly” due to the pending litigation, but the town would “respond through the appropriate legal process.”
Asked why the town fired Ansaldi, she said she would provide the Bridge with a copy of the formal response to Ansaldi’s complaint, once it’s available, because statements there will be protected by legal doctrine, which “allows the town to provide factual information that would seem defamatory otherwise.”
This story includes previously published information.
