North Stonington Board of Finance
Draft Meeting Minutes
of
Wednesday April 25, 2012
New Town Hall
North Stonington, CT
1.~~~~~ Call to Order: Chairman Dan Spring called the meeting to order at 7:33 P.M.~ Emile Pavolvics, Peter Nimirowski, Mustapha Ratib and Brent Woodward were present. Elwin Bresette was absent.
2.~~~~~ Public Comments and Questions:~ Brad Borden asked if it was policy to solicit, on a yearly basis, a new town auditor, to which the answer of no was provided. It is considered prudent to periodically change auditors but not mandatory yearly.
3.~~~~~ BOS: Budget FY 2012-13/Review: First Selectman Nick Mullane and Selectmen Mark Donahue and Shawn Murphy were present to provide supplemental information as needed.
Two of the town’s three resident state troopers were present to discuss their role in providing protection to the town. Both trooper Thomas Fabian and trooper David Abely spoke at length about their job descriptions and provided advantages and disadvantages of increasing the number of resident troopers to four and decreasing to two. Going to four would require a fifth in the role of supervisor to the four and have a significant impact on cost and reducing to two would jeopardize the amount of boots on the ground law enforcement that the town would receive. A good part of any shift is taken up with processing the mandatory paperwork. Crime, motor vehicle and service call statistics for the year to date were provided. The town has had three troopers since
1995.
Some portion of motor vehicle fines is returned to the town. Nick Mullane was asked to provide that amount and where it could be found on the revenue side of the budget.
4.~~~~~ BOE: Budget FY 2012-13/Review: BOE Special Meeting:
Veronica O. Wilkison, elementary school principal, Christopher Sandford, high school/middle school principal, Susan E. Costa, special education director and
Chuck McCarthy the business manager spoke on behalf of the proposed school budget. The general consensus among the school officials was that any modification to the proposed budget would be best served by the addition of an elementary school math intervention teacher. The Board agreed to take this recommendation under advisement.
A copy of e-mail from Bob Testa, chairman of the BOE finance and facilities committee, to Dan Spring regarding the request for a forensic audit of school related fiscal matters was distributed. The e-mail contained the BOE’s written request for the BOF to conduct a forensic audit “of the schools finances with the initial areas of focus to be all professional development and employee reimbursements, credit card expenditures, grant expenditures and the activity fund accounts.”
The Board noted that the first step in this process would be a discovery audit costing $2,500 to determine if, in fact, the situation warranted further review and action. To expedite this audit, pertinent records needed to be made available in a timely fashion. The funding source would be established during a subsequent meeting.
5. Previous Minutes: Mustapha Ratib moved to approve the minutes of April 18, 2012 as amended. The motion was seconded by Peter Nimirowski and passed 5-0-0.
6.~~~~~ Correspondence: Audit 2011-12 Proposals:
Correspondence included:
Letter dated April 19, 2012 to Nick Mullane from Dianne Cahoon regarding fiscal year budget issues.
Letter dated April 17, 2012 to Superintendents of Schools from the State of Connecticut Department of Education regarding proposed 2012-13 minimum budget requirement.
Relative to receipt of the three town audit services proposals:
Dan Spring moved to approve the bid of $19,950, from Meyers & Company LLC, to provide the Town of North Stonington audit services for FY 2011-12. A second was provided by Brent Woodward and the motion passed 5-0-0.
8. Future Agenda Items/ BoF Strategy:
~~~~~~~~~~~
Approval of April 25, 2012 Minutes
General FY 2012-13 Budget Discussion
9. Adjournment: A motion was made by Emile Pavolvics to adjourn. The motion was seconded by Peter Nimirowski and carried 5-0-0. The meeting was adjourned at 11:07 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Brent Woodward
Secretary, Board of Finance
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