Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said she was not involved in a separation agreement between the Water and Sewer Commission and its fired general counsel Michael Flaherty that includes $253,670 in severance pay for the ex-city councilor.
Wu declined to comment, when asked whether she was comfortable with the quarter-million dollar payout to Flaherty, who was dismissed on Jan. 10 from his $224,999 position with the Commission, after about a year on the job.
“I was not involved in the situation,” Wu said Wednesday on GBH’s Boston Public Radio. “Water and Sewer is a separate entity from the city.
“With personnel situations, things happen and situations change, and there are a whole set of legal and contractual parameters that end up shaping the outcomes of what happens in individual cases,” the mayor added.
Wu said her understanding of the agreement, which was equivalent to about a year’s worth of severance, was that it came “from consideration of a whole set of factors.”
“I’m not familiar with all the details here, but Water and Sewer is its own entity, and they function and make their own personnel decisions,” Wu said.
The severance agreement was finalized last Friday between Flaherty and Commission Executive Director Henry Vitale. Flaherty agreed to the $253,670 payout on conditions that he won’t sue or disparage the quasi-public agency.
The Boston Water and Sewer Commission was created by the state Legislature in 1977, replacing separate water and sewer divisions of the city’s public works department. It is overseen by a three-member board of commissioners that is appointed by the mayor with the approval of the City Council.
Flaherty joined the Water and Sewer Commission in January 2024, after spending 20 years on the Boston City Council, including five years as Council president. He departed the Council for an unsuccessful run for mayor in 2009, and was re-elected to the body in 2013. He chose not to seek re-election in 2023.
Flaherty was an ally of Mayor Michelle Wu after she came into office, after having served together for a time on the City Council. That past association led some to speculate that Wu’s influence helped him quickly land the high-paying job with the Water and Sewer Commission.
The ex-city councilor was hired last year as deputy general counsel of the Water and Sewer Commission, at a $164,000 salary. Payroll records show Flaherty was later elevated to general counsel, and was paid $224,999 in 2024.
The Commission has declined to provide a reason for Flaherty’s termination, and Flaherty has not responded to the Herald’s requests for comment on the matter. Public records from the Commission that first confirmed Flaherty’s dismissal cite exemptions “around producing records confirming personnel decisions.”
The Herald has also requested confirmation on the existence of an alleged commissioned investigation that led to Flaherty’s termination, and the related report for January 2025, but was told by the Commission in a records response that it “does not possess any such document.”