The NYS Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) audit of the Ambulance District Operations identifies oversight weaknesses concerning the Town and the District and contracted Rescue Squad finances and Length of Service Award Program (a retirement credit system for the volunteers).
The OSC report contains four, yes, FOUR Recommendations to correct these oversight weaknesses and gives the Town Board 90 days to prepare and submit a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) that addresses the audit findings and recommendations. The Recommendations are as follows:
Rescue Squad Contract
1. The Town should ensure that there are adequate controls in place to ensure the protection of taxpayer moneys that have been collected by the Squad.
2. Town officials should revise the Squad’s contract to ensure that all Town moneys are turned over to the Town. The Town should then only pay the Squad amounts that are defined by its contract with the Town.
Length of Service Award Program
3. District officials should develop and implement policies and procedures for the administration and oversight of its LOSAP to supplement the contract currently in place.
4. The Board should review the points reported as earned by the Squad volunteers and request supporting documentation to substantiate the points earned before submitting the Squad’s annual report to the third-party administrator.
Supervisor McCabe's letter to the OSC acknowledging receipt of the audit states:
“The Town Board is committed to implementing all recommendations outlined in the examination to ensure Tax Payer funds will be utilized appropriately.
The Town will submit to your office, within 90 days, its written Corrective Action Plan (CAP) and will immediately begin the process of addressing the recommendations."
Supervisor McCabe's letter and approach seems quite straightforward to me. Comptroller Breig identified the CAP as a priority, due to the 90 timeframe, at yesterday's Pre-Town Board meeting.
Pete Stenson
and then we have the dooms day predictor - Don Johnson , who's so overly dramatic about anything that he can blame on McCabe , OBrien or in his most recent rant - Bob Angelini ! Amazing how Don gets this information - information leaked by a dis-graced former member of the Rescue Squad who is mostly responsible for this mess. BTW- that member was thrown out of the Rescue Squad no less than three-(3) times ! Great source of information !
ReplyDeleteI believe the material in Don Johnson's letter to the Advertiser is quoted directly from the OSC audit report findings. Might help to read it.
ReplyDeletePete.....It is unfortunate that you did not include the findings as well as the recommendations in your post on the Ambulance District audit. One of your readers appears to have his pants on fire about some alleged "leaked information." The fact is that my letter to the Advertiser was predominantly a long quotation from directly from the audit report. They just left off the quotation marks which I had in my submission. It's all from the report except for the brief first and last paragraphs. I might be helpful too if the pants on fire guy took a look at the audit report on the District from 2001 also. He'd have a better idea of the problems which have existed for a long time and have gone unaddressed.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Don.
ReplyDeleteFor anyone interested, the audit can be found by clicking "2009 Ambulance District Audit at http://www.eastgreenbush.org/downloads/cat_view/43-comptroller
Pete stenson
And the 2001 Ambulance District audit report can be found here. It's really a must read.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.east-greenbush.com/wiki/index.php?title=Audit_List
Thank you for the link !
ReplyDeletePete, every board member who served for the last 10 to maybe 15 years bears the responsibility for the situation at Bruen and for every single other leadership failure that has put our town on the path to where we are today.
ReplyDeleteThe concern today is the real or perceived lack of leadership emerging from the current board. The Supervisor, as the legal CEO and CFO, given the full time nature of his position, is expected to provide a different level of leadership than is the case for our part time board members.
Any fact based examination of Moody's report, the town audit, and especially the situation at Bruen has to be evaluated as gross leadership failures by all involved parties.
I think Supervisor McCabe, in his public statements, is more concerned with "friends and neighbors" than perhaps he is to his duty to his office, to the town and to the public at large. Those recent public statements, and the imbalance people perceive within them, may account for the concerns directed at the Supervisor.
Excellent observation. I have been at Town Hall on several different occassions , and unless I miss my guess, the Supervisor is continually in meetings. I can only assume that he is handling as much as he possibly can at this point.
ReplyDeleteThere's been alot of criticism thrown at the Supervisor the past year and maybe he deserves some of it , but when do we level some of it at the Board members?
As the supervisor has to continually dodge the barrage of comments thrown at him daily by the reform party , he still must attempt to continue thru each day and carry out meetings with staff and direct the overall daily operations of the Town. I don't believe some people are aware of what the Town Supervisor must accomplish each day he comes in to Town Hall.
Hey Anonymous #1 if you want to bag people, lets bag people. What about the member who was also the former DPW commish that was on leave from the rescue squad since 2001, because of what a bad back or something? Didn't he still accrue his retirement benefits?
ReplyDeleteOr how about the guy that owns a local landscaping business that wouldn't give the medics a .50 cent an hour raise, but had a guy on the payroll to take care of the squad's web page at $350.00 a month? That's right a month. Who also got mad when certain people lost an election the one year and decided he wasn't going to plow in the middle of a snow storm, so when an ambulance went to answer a call it got stuck in the snow.
Alrighty there 7:24pm - the landscaper has been pulling those stunts since before you can probably remember...one year they-(we) elected him Lt and President - he quit the next day and left the place in a lurch.
ReplyDeleteSame guy couldn't be bothered to ever get his EMT card - just wanted to drive - but everyone lets him continue on and call the shots. All from a guy who couldn't commit. Amazing he's still around - ruling with an iron fist too. BTW - lets give annon.#1 the props...he/she is correct about the former member she/he speaks of. Another one who could never bothe getting an EMT card - just wanted to drive. Waste of effort - drivers are - were a dime a dozen.
I think for years there has been some funny stuff going on there, and lots of people know. Anonymous 7:40 you are right too many drivers not enough EMT's. There are a lot of problems there, but people need to fix them before the squad can move forward, damn now I sound like I'm preaching, but it is the truth. Former volunteer, and not just a driver.
ReplyDelete