Where was Bridgewater's town manager? Records raise questions about job attendance

Public records the NBC10 Boston Investigators obtained raise questions about the Bridgewater town manager’s attendance at Town Hall, a development that comes with the high-ranking official already under the microscope.

As we previously reported, Justin Casanova-Davis was the focus of a scathing report from the Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General. That report concluded that Casanova-Davis abused his vacation time when he worked as the town administrator in Norfolk.

According to the IG’s report, stockpiling unused vacation time allowed Casanova-Davis to collect a larger payout when he left the job. In a couple of instances, the report found he used sick time in places like Paris and South Africa.

Bridgewater hired Casanova-Davis for the town manager position in July 2025 with a starting salary of $220,000 and five weeks of vacation per year.

Once the IG’s report became public last August, some Bridgewater taxpayers questioned if Casanova-Davis had exhibited any similar behavior with his paid time off as investigators found in their probe while he was in the Town of Norfolk.

To explore that issue, the NBC10 Boston Investigators requested the town manager’s vacation and sick time usage, portions of his public calendar, and records showing his key card usage to access his office inside Bridgewater Town Hall.

We then cross-referenced days when Casanova-Davis did not swipe his key card with any reported paid time off. On days when Casanova-Davis did access his office, there were usually multiple entries per day because the access device is located just outside the door to the town manager’s office.

Here is a look at some of what we uncovered in a review from July 2025 to the end of last July:

• A tally of 44 days—or almost nine work weeks—when the town manager did not key into his office and there was no corresponding PTO
• A total of 26 Fridays, which equates to roughly every other week
• In October 2025, there were a total of nine days where Casanova-Davis did not key into his office, but only three vacation days taken. In two weekdays before vacation, Casanova-Davis’ public calendar had him “out of office,” but there was no PTO.
• Last April, Casasanova-Davis was also listed “out of office” the Friday before school vacation week. After the Monday holiday, the town manager used sick time the remainder of the week.
• On a Wednesday last July, Casanova-Davis used vacation and sick time on the same day.

Bridgewater discontinued its use of remote work arrangements at the end June 2026. Prior to that, employees had to submit documentation and get approval for regular remote work schedules. 

NBC10 Boston requested any remote work agreements for Casanova-Davis and the Town said it did not have any responsive records. The town manager is expected to be on duty and available 24 hours a day, seven days per week, according to a copy of his contract. 

We shared our findings with Mary Connaughton, the director of government transparency at the Pioneer Institute.

“This certainly would raise eyebrows and raise those eyebrows very high,” Connaughton said. “The town manager typically goes into his office quite a bit. So the big question is: Where is he?”

NBC10 Boston contacted Casanova-Davis to ask about the records and later approached him after a Town Council meeting on October 20.

The town manager said he wanted to review the documents before responding. He has not provided a comment since that exchange.

Meantime, Casanova-Davis did submit payment to the Town of Norfolk for roughly $5,300 for the vacation time he improperly collected, according to the IG’s report. On the memo of the check, he wrote, “charitable donation.”

The Bridgewater Town Council hired a law firm to conduct an independent investigation into the town manager at a cost of $300 per hour, according to a copy of the contract NBC10 Boston obtained.

During the October 20 meeting, Town Council President Paul Murphy said the firm had reviewed documents from Norfolk and conducted an initial two-hour interview with Casanova-Davis.

Murphy told residents the firm will need to gather other information and conduct a second interview with the town manager, estimating a timeframe of 30 to 45 days before the work is finalized.

Connaughton said residents deserve answers to all the questions raised by the PTO and key card records.

“If you’re being paid on taxpayer dollars, you have a responsibility to the people to do your job, to carry it out correctly and be accountable,” Connaughton said. “If the town manager isn’t accountable, then it creates this whole sense of you don’t need to be accountable.”