Former Andover Youth Services Employee Had "Highly Improper" Contact With Program Participant

ANDOVER, MA -- A former Andover Youth Services employee engaged in inappropriate conduct with two program participants that was "highly improper" but did not violate criminal law. The incident led to a disciplinary suspension of Bill Fahey, the department's director, who has since returned to work.

Andover Town Manager disclosed the latest revelations in a press release Monday. Last month, Flanagan issued a statement saying Fahey was on vacation in response to media inquiries about his whereabouts. That statement acknowledged there had been "incidents" but did not offer as much detail as Monday's statement. Monday's statement was also the first public acknowledgement that Fahey had been disciplined for his "failure...to adequately" supervise the staff member.

Subscribe to Andover Patch for more local news and real-time alerts.

"The investigation concluded that despite AYS management’s awareness that the conduct had occurred, inadequate steps were taken to address it or to prevent it in the future. The Town therefore took appropriate measures consistent with labor law after concluding its investigation," the statement said.

Flanagan said there would be a top-to-bottom review of the town's procedures, and all supervisors would be retrained in town procedures and state law. He said many changes had already been put into place, with more to follow in the coming days and months.

"I understand that there is tremendous public interest in this situation, and rightfully so. Up until now, we have not been able to provide additional information because the investigation was still ongoing, and we did not want to jeopardize it," Flanagan said. "We had to allow this process to come to completion, so that we could also take steps to prevent this from happening in the future. At the same time we also have to protect the privacy interests of past and present AYS program participants."

Patch file photo.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).