Town officials nix ethics, policy review committee in favor of state audit

by Dan McClelland

In the wake of nearly a year of public criticism, rumors and unsubstantiated charges of the actions of town leaders and town staff, Councilman Adam Boudreau in recent months called for a new town task force to review all town board policies procedures and the overall ethics of all town leaders.

Last Monday night he switched gears, proposing the board nix that idea and instead contact the state comptroller’s office and request both financial and operational audits as soon as that agency can.

“So, at last month's meeting there was a discussion. There has been discussion about potential, conflicts of interest, or disclosures and potentially people not necessarily doing things by the book. There have been allegations.

“-And there’s been a pretty significant backlash from taxpayers.

“One of the ideas that came out of that was: do we appoint a governance committee made up of taxpayers, who can then weigh in on the way the town does business? The group could take a look at our local laws, our statutes, past decisions, current decision-making, and let us know if there's things we should be doing better.”

The councilman said the new group’s charge would be to look at if town officials are following legal procedures and “Is there room for improvement in the way we do things?”

He said after those recent board discussions, he’s had some reservations.

“I'm not necessarily saying it's a bad idea, but if we appoint a governance committee, we are admitting failure in doing our jobs!”

He also wondered how effective any study by lay people who are not familiar with the laws and procedures of local government would be.

”Take the average person. How much background and knowledge of municipal law do they have? I know I didn't have any before I was elected last year.

He said in his first months on the board, he read binders of town laws- and now clearly understands much of it.

“Secondly, and this was brought up at the April meeting, for the board appointing a committee to monitor itself by throwing out names of people who we know and like is equally frightening. So... I'm not sold!

“I feel that we have to do better at having, even if it's a knockdown, drag out discussion about decisions that were made at this table in the past. We need to have it here. We need to have it in front of the taxpayers!”

His colleague, Owen Littlefield, agreed. “And if we don't do that, all we're doing is muddying the waters” by cherry picking candidates for this new group. “I recommend someone I like, and Rickey puts on someone on he likes, and the other board members do the same.” He said he believes their discussions could be very fiery, misguided and unproductive.

“It would involve an unbelievable amount of work when you consider all the guidance that is available through” the comptroller’s office, New York State Municipal Law, the New York Association of Towns, etc.”

Mr. Boudreau continued:. “The responsibility (of better governance) lies with this group here!

“I think we need to be better about airing it out. The public needs to know more of what we are doing.

“We can revisit this again briefly, but last month, I made the comment that the personnel in the state comptroller's office reads the newspapers.

“They're aware of the conversations that have been happening here in Tupper Lake. And it's not just here...it’s happening in many small towns” where important decisions are made everyday that may not pass muster with New York State municipal law, given the limited resources towns and villages have.

“My argument is we need to be better about” what we’re doing!

To be clear, he said, the comptroller did not review the information and pass judgment one way or the other.

“New York State Comptroller’s Office staff said they're aware of what is being said about the Tupper Lake town government. And should they make the decision to come in here and audit based on that information? There's nothing anyone can do to stop them.”

At that point Trustee Eric Shaheen joined the conversation.

“The village requested an audit recently. May I speak to that?” he asked the town leaders.

“I would like to see the town pass a resolution to contact the state controller's office. We did that when we had issues last year with the fire department truck reserve fund. “We pushed very hard for that office to do a village audit!”

He repeated his recommendation to ask the state comptroller’s office for help. Mr. Shaheen said there is no cost for that service.

He told the town leaders, however, the agency won’t place their auditors in town likely any time soon. “They are a very busy organization. We requested a meeting and met with the state comptroller. I believe it was last August.”

The trustee said state auditors are currently at the village reviewing its finances. “They are doing our audit now as we speak.”

He admitted he didn’t know if a board resolution was required to prompt an audit by that state agency. “I mean, I don't know if you need a board resolution” to initiate the process of not.

He said he thought an individual board member might be able to get an audit initiated, but he felt a request would have more substance if the request came from the entire board by resolution.

Mr. Shaheen said the state auditors would likely be at the village reviewing things for several weeks. “-And I know they're busy, but it might not hurt to have them come in and look at things at the town. If it was me in your position, much like the village was in last year, I would want that state outfit to come in and look at things!

“If the outcome is good, it’s good! And if there's problems found, they're going to tell you what the problems are!”

He said if the board members were truly looking for full transparency in their operation, “get the state auditors in here and have them take a look at everything. If you want transparency, I don't see a downside of doing that!”

“I wish they would have got to the village sooner, but they're here now, and they're doing an audit right now.”

He said he thinks a full audit of town finances and operations would put everyone at ease- both lawmakers and taxpayers. And if there's nothing going on then it is done, it's behind us.

“Then we move forward. I just don't think you're ever going to be able to move forward until then!” he concluded, saying that was just his view as a village trustee.

Mr. Boudreau told him he agreed with him. “I have been in contact with the New York State Comptroller’s Office on two separate occasions. They did let me know they were in Tupper Lake with the village. But it doesn't work like hiring a contractor to fix your deck and while he’s on site, and also have them fix your roof.

“I was told by them ‘we can't just jump over to the town. It has to be scheduled!’”

“But I am happy to have a resolution to have state auditors take a look at the operations of the town government..

“I agree with Eric. I do not think it's a negative thing. “Often times, we get this chip on our shoulders. We feel like New York State is going to somehow hurt us, but their guidance in a lot of our policies is good. We're following their laws. We don't have a choice. We don't.”

He continued: “I'll put a resolution to, as a board, contact the state controller’s office and request an audit.

Town Clerk Mary Kay Strack asked the board at that point: “Are we asking for a financial audit,” or a procedural audit... because I think we're talking about two different things.” She said she needed to know for purposes of drafting the wording of the resolution.

“I would like to do both!” Councilman Boudreau told her and his colleagues. “And they can both if they wish!”

Clapping from the dozen or so guests at the meeting.

That motion was logically followed by another to nix the motion on the meeting agenda that evening to create a task force of volunteers to scrutinize actions and operations of the board in recent months.

Judging by past audits of the town and village government by the state auditors, they usually perform finance audits, not operational ones.