Gloucester, Mass., residents and city officials find themselves embroiled in a heated debate over the firing of a harbormaster. TJ Ciarametaro was dismissed over a forgery incident involving paperwork for a state fisheries grant. He told GBH that Major Greg Verga unfairly terminated him after discovering that his deputy harbormaster had forged a signature on the grant form.
Ciarametaro, undeterred by his removal, has vowed to challenge the decision. In his words, “It’s city hall politics. But I am going to fight it.” In the meantime, the mayor has appointed former Gloucester police chief John McCarthy to take over the department. In a statement to Good Morning Gloucester, Ciaramitaro expressed his deep respect for the position of harbormaster, which he considered a delicate balancing act.
He stated, “I have been unjustly dismissed following baseless accusations of misconduct, which have since been proven to be false. The events leading to my termination began when I discovered discrepancies in city funds and equipment within the department. Suspecting unlawful conduct, I took swift action by reaching out to the police department in accordance with the City’s Whistleblower Protection Policy.”
After Ciarametaro noticed cash and other items lost from the harbormaster’s office this past winter and notified the police, he was advised to set up a hidden camera to collect evidence. The recording showed former shellfish warden Peter Seminara taking $71 in cash from an office clerk’s cabinet. Last month, the city fired him. Gloucester court officials said that the larceny case against Seminara has since been transferred to the Salem District Court, but a date has not yet been scheduled.
Weeks after the police investigation into Seminara, the forged signatures were found on two separate contracts for grants from the State Division of Marine Fisheries. An April 8 City Council memo from Mayor Verga said, “Both DMF and the city’s legal team conducted an investigation into the source of these documents and confirmed the falsified signatures.”
Ciaramentaro told GBH that Chad Johnson, the past deputy harbormaster, admitted to forging the signatures on the contracts for grants awarded to Gloucester. He said, “I can’t defend forgery or forging someone else's signature, but it wasn’t done in malice. The intended outcome was always the same. The city did not get something they weren’t supposed to get.”
City officials and mariners have since defended Ciaramentaro, claiming that he had run one of the best departments in the city. However, according to GHB, some local fishermen would claim that he was “anti-fisherman.”
