#1 2011-05-05 18:08:55

James Powers, of Powers and Sullivan, CPA, painted a rosy picture of the town's finances before a joint meeting of the board of selectmen and fincom this evening at Wareham Town Hall.

Town Administrator Mark Andrews and Selectman Steve Holmes were absent. A late tee off or thundershower delays on the back nine, maybe.

Mr. Powers stopped short of saying his auditors will reconcile revenue shortfalls from 2010 and have firm numbers when Spring Town Meeting reconvenes later this month. Powers and Sullivan will shut down the audit "sometime in June", he said, noting at present they've answered for all but "a couple hundred thousand dollars" of the $900,000+ unaccounted revenue.

Powers is confident, he says, the town can close the books and settle next year's tax rate. He did not say when.

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#2 2011-05-05 22:31:07

Steve Holmes wasn't amused by my conjecture and says BOS Chair Walter Cruz assured him he'd see a meeting posted, "in the event 3 or more Selectmen showed up."

Tonight's meeting, Holmes adds, "was scheduled as a Fin Com meeting with the Auditors, with a specific request that Andrews NOT attend." Holmes says he attended his son's ball game in New Bedford this evening.

Sounds like the right priority to me.

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#3 2011-05-05 22:48:59

How can Town Meeting proceed until the audit is completed?

How can you establish a tax rate, or determine any shortfalls, until the books are balanced?

Am I missing something here?

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#4 2011-05-05 23:12:47

danoconnell wrote:

How can you establish a tax rate, or determine any shortfalls, until the books are balanced?

By forcing taxpayers to eat the discrepancy, whether that's $919,000 or just, "a couple hundred thousand dollars."

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#5 2011-05-06 00:09:40

Bill thanks for correcting the record here.

While I feel all meetings are important, especially those with financial implications to the Town, we as a Board of Selectmen appoint Liaison members to represent the BOS. The Chair often will post a meeting if he or she feels there may be 3 or more members, or if he or she has been notified that 3 or more members will attend. As you know this must be done to satisfy the Open Meeting Law.

In terms of the Finance Committee we appointed Chair Walter Cruz and member Mike Schneider to be our Liaisons. I have the confidence and trust in both men to bring the information back to the full Board.

As for myself I had 3 other meetings today, one citizen, one road repair update, and one with some investors looking to invest millions in our Town, so then I went and enjoyed Sean's baseball game this evening. I know Sean thought my priorities were correct, got an extra hug after our bedtime prayers.
Have a great night and a better day tomorrow.


Steve

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#6 2011-05-06 06:15:31

Will we ever see any actual figures? Where is the money and how are we spending it?
I would like to know where our money was spent. I have heard that Andrews has been shuffling money from one account to another. If I OK a budget for a department I want to know they will get the money and not have it shifted to the dept. of one of Andrews friends.

To Steve: Just when I thought you were opening your eyes and seeing people for what they are, you say something like "I have the confidence and trust in both men to bring the information back to the full Board".
How many times do you have to be lied to and misled. We no longer have the luxury of the very naive belief that these people have any honor or integrity.

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#7 2011-05-06 07:50:11

Glad to see you post. Steve.

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#8 2011-05-06 08:08:29

How much is this audit costing?

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#9 2011-05-06 08:13:59

I agree with you Menrva on the issue of certain members of the BOS and the TA misleading people and telling lies. However, I do not think that Mr.Holmes's statement makes him blind to that. I have the confidence that he is well aware of these issues. In recent times he has been the one challenging those crooked members of the BOS and the TA. Does anyone remember the meeting that Stanley got hired? I believe that he stood alone in that battle. How about at town meeting when he made the motion to make it so that the TA could not enter contracts without a vote of the board. He is not blind to what is going on but he does not have much support behind him either. There are 5 members on that board not just 1 and when you really get down to the bottom of it all only 3 votes count. Walter knew that Begley and Schneider were going to vote for Stanley and that Holmes would vote no, Holmes was out numbered without Walter's vote. Who knows maybe he would have voted differently if Cara was there. I think that Holmes is obviously trying to put an end to Andrews and his antics but he just needs support from Cara and Walter. I have faith that Cara will support him but the question is will Walter.

It seems as though Cruz completely changed after election night. I thought he was doing a pretty good job and then all of that went out the window with his vote for Stanley. It seems as though Cruz has forgotten that he is the chair and that Holmes and Winslow are members of the BOS. He also has forgotten that Andrews is the TA, their employee not a member of the BOS. His seen needs to be  moved to the end of the table. Those Tuesday night meetings I thought were BOS meetings not the TA's. Andrews has complete control of Cruz and Cruz needs to wake up and wake up fast. He is the one that we should be trying to make aware of how crooked Andrews and the 2 newbies are, not Holmes hes already gotten that memo. Its a shame that the chairman of the BOS is being run by the TA. People need to call Cruz and tell him to wake up. In times like this we need a BOS chair with a backbone not a puppet for the TA and the 2 new members of the board.  Also, not for nothing but the chair of the BOS, as the chair, should treat the members equally. Im not saying to agree with all of them but what I am saying is that when there is a meeting or discussion to include all of them. There clearly were some backdoor deals/discussions that took place during the hiring of Stanley. Holmes was obviously left out of the loop. Everyone seemed to know what was going on except for him. I mean come on now, Schneider made the motion without even asking how much the salary was. Either he is that careless about money matters or he already knew the answer.(I guess both could be possible)

The BOS members were not voting on anything they were just there to listen to what the auditors had to say. If Cruz and Schneider will not be truthful in their delivery of the information I am sure that Winslow will. Yes, the members of the BOS ran for election and knew what they were getting into when they ran for office but after 3 meetings in one day I don't blame Mr.Holmes for going to his son's baseball. There have been other members of the BOS who have not attended meetings due to family commitments. On another note I find it quite amusing to see that Andrews was asked not to attend. That has to tell you something right there. I unfortunatly could not attend the meeting but I wish I could have. A meeting without Andrews?!?! Does this mean that questions actually got answered directly when they were asked without a long song and dance about everything except for the question and a list of things that Andrews is "proud of".

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#10 2011-05-06 08:25:09

I just want to correct something that I wrote wrong. "Does this mean that questions actually got answered directly when they were asked without a long song and dance about everything except for the answering the  question and a list of things that Andrews is "proud of"." This is what the last sentence was supposed to say. Sorry!

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#11 2011-05-06 08:49:46

I have been pointing this out since his arrival: the TA is all flash , no substance!!..the title of this thread and mrs. duff's concerns are legitimate..while the Town teeters on bancruptcy, Andrews is making videos and throwing out cliche after cliche ( and of course, moving forward)!

Any budget he proposes should be examined carefully, line by line..

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#12 2011-05-06 08:52:09

I have decided that the next time my property tax bill comes due, I am going to help the town save some time.  I am going to write out a check for the amount due, cash it, and then flush each individual dollar bill down the toilet.  The town will just waste it anyway, so I'll be a good citizen and just help them out. 

That way, without having to worry about coming up with new ways to waste my tax dollars, they can focus on the important things - like computer audits to figure out who is hurting their feelings on the Internet.

Answered for "all but a couple of hundreds of thousands of dollars" does not exactly instill a lot of confidence in me.

I say that town meeting voters should not vote for any tax increases and should not vote for any spending appropriations - do not trust this town with your tax dollars until it proves it can be trusted with it.

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#13 2011-05-06 12:39:51

WOW...welcome aboard,mrs.duff!

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#14 2011-05-06 13:45:06

Please pardon my recent absence, as I have been totally immersed in helping an individual close to me in pursuit of violators of the, you won't believe it, Open Meeting Law. I told her that I was not a lawyer, but.....

Given the depth of my involvement in a study of the OML, I must quibble with a statement by Mr. Holmes:

" The Chair often will post a meeting if he or she feels there may be 3 or more members, or if he or she has been notified that 3 or more members will attend. As you know this must be done to satisfy the Open Meeting Law."

The Attorney General's Open Meeting law guide states that there are five exceptions to the definition of a meeting under the OML. the relevant one is number 3.

3. Members of a public body may attend a meeting of another public body provided that they communicate only by open participation; however, they cannot deliberate at such gatherings.

In other words. 3 or more members of the BoS can attend a meeting of the FinCom (or any other 'public body'), as long as they do not "deliberate". This also applies to conferences, Town Meeting, and other situations where a majority of a public body be present. My research indicates that it is a common thought that the mere presence of a majority anywhere, anytime constitutes a violation of the OML. That does not appear to be the case....as long as they do not "deliberate".

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#15 2011-05-06 14:02:55

Mrs Duff: You are correct in saying Mr Holmes has begun to step up to the plate. And I will also say he did the right thing in going to his sons game. Too many men today do not put their family's first. I did however want to caution him not to fall back into his trusting mode.
All of your comments were valid and I thank you for defending Steve. He needs to know he is supported in these difficult times.

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#16 2011-05-08 03:49:22

First of all, I just wanted to say thank you to those who gave me positive feedback. This was my first time blogging on this site. I agree with you Menrva about everything. Does anyone know why there was no BOS meeting on Tues? I have heard some speculations that they are trying to have as little meetings as possible before town meeting ( the TA and Cruz, Begger, and Schneids). Im not quite sure why but it must have to do with transparency and moving forward. :)

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#17 2011-05-08 14:52:24

mrs.duff wrote:

Does anyone know why there was no BOS meeting on Tues?

Steve (on Slager's site) wrote that they've gone to the "summer schedule" (every other week).

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#18 2011-05-08 16:51:27

Thanks DDPTRO

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