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The Woonsocket City Charter gives the City Council the authority to hire the firm that will audit the City's financial records. Last summer, the Council was slated to award the auditing contract for the next three audits. Mayor Menard's administration recommended hiring Parmelee & Poirier, which had audited the City's books for the prior 10 or so years. At the time, I, along with my colleagues Councilman Ward and the Council President, Leo Fontaine, objected to rehiring P&P because a prinicpal of the firm had made regular campaign contributions to the Mayor, thus putting the firm's independence in doubt, and also because regular rotation of auditors is good business practice that eliminates the potential problem of auditor complacency. We recommended hiring Braver PC, despite the fact that they would cost approximately $25,000 per year more than P&P. The Council approved the hiring of Braver on a 5 to 2 vote. As the Call reported at the time: But Blais said that even if campaign donations hadn't called into question the company's objectivity, he said a majority of the council probably would have favored switching auditing firms this year. Over time, the councilman said, accountants often succumb to human nature, growing too cozy with clients and less curious about financial questions. The Mayor's supporters excoriated the Council, me in particular, for "wasting" the taxpayers' money. Comments reported on the Call's website included: Blais is absolutely INCORRECT and is WASTING tax dollars ... Uninformed politically motivated fools like yourself and Blais are ruining this City. ... Note to Mr. Blais: STOP squandering our tax dollars on your politically motivated "inquisitive" witch-hunts! Indeed, the Mayor's Finance Director, when he left to become Finance Director in Johnston for a brief period of time before returning to Woonsocket, chastised the Council for "interfering" in this matter: There were other factors as well: the additional pay and the opportunity to leave behind tendencies some members of the City Council have shown toward micro-management, he said “It’s actually been interference as a far as I’m concerned,” Strom said. An example of that was when he had recommended the rehiring of the city’s past auditing firm, Parmelee and Poirier of Warwick, and instead hired Braver of Providence to do the work. The change required more start up time in the annual accounting review process and as a result more work for his staff, Strom said. Now, the audit is complete. According to Roger Bouchard, here's what Braver concluded: The yet to be released but critical audit revealing “significant deficiencies which we (the auditors) believe constitute material weaknesses.” The audit conducted by Braver PC covers 22 pages of problems that need correction. Just one example the audit outlines are the cash disbursement procedures in the Mayor’s contingency account that were not supported by receipts. Vindication, indeed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] |
