Perk’s Auto Sales and Service is shown at 1015 Kennedy Memorial Dr. in Oakland July 2. (Rich Abrahamson/Staff Photographer)
OAKLAND — The shop manager at Perk’s Auto Repair returned $308.40 to the town after Councilor Kelly Roderick said she believed the transaction violated state law due to a conflict of interest.
Council Chairman Michael Perkins owns the auto shop, which charged the town $1,032.27 for brake work on a police cruiser in June.
Shop manager Michael Murray wrote in a letter, which Town Manager Kelly Pinney-Michaud read aloud at a council meeting Wednesday, that he was previously unaware of the conflict of interest.
A state statute requires municipal officials to try to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest and requires municipal officials to disclose any conflicts of interest where they may benefit financially in a vote or contract.
Perkins said previously that he didn’t believe the town broke any laws, and that he never knows what vehicles are in his shop.
In the letter, Murray wrote that $308.40 is the total profit made by Perk’s Auto Repair, and that the office would cover the mechanic’s hourly wage for the two and a half hours of work on the car.
The cruiser was being readied for a new full-time detective and still needed more work when it left the shop. The cruiser spent two weeks at Perk’s Auto, and police Lt. Adam Sirois previously said the repairs took about a week.
Murray wrote “I hope this clears any ripple that my ignorance may have created.”
Pinney-Michaud said Murray sent the letter and the money “of his own goodwill.”
“Thanks for the donation, Mike,” Pinney-Michaud said.