It was good to hear the beleaguered Essex Regional Retirement Board finally took the step that local officials have demanded since summer: on a 3-1 vote, the board agreed to transfer control of its investments to the state's Pension Reserves Investment Trust.

But it made the move, as Middleton Town Administrator Ira Singer observed, "kicking and screaming all the way." And it's troubling that the last obstructionist standing was a key Rockport official who clung to this shameless board's last vestige of control — and did so in the face of the town's selectmen, who had clearly called for the change.

The retirement board, one of the last remnants of county government, has managed the pension benefits of local municipal employees and retirees for years. But when its investments took a 33 percent loss in 2008 — the worst performance of any retirement board in the state — it cast a spotlight on a litany of complaints from local officials. In a nutshell, the board all-too-frequently acted without regard for taxpayers, who must help cover the costs of pensioners. And it's now best known for providing a platform for Executive Director Timothy Bassett to fatten his own pension — outside the lines of public accountability, of course, and at taxpayers' expense.

All that was apparently fine with Rockport Town Treasurer and retirement board member Roberta Josephson, who held to the bitter end that the board should not relinquish control of the funds.

Some may see justification in Josephson's position — she argued that the public employees, not the taxpayers who have to foot the bills, should have had a major say in the change. But Rockport's selectmen had called in September for the board to surrender control of the funds. And while selectmen have no direct say over Josephson's role on the board, the fact that she, as a town treasurer, would so openly ignore her town's position — let alone the needs of taxpayers — raises questions regarding the accountability and commitment as a true public servant.

That seems worth a closer look by the town's leaders.