Politics & Government
North Branford Town Council Considers Audit of Board of Ed
The North Branford Board of Education's indiscretions over the past few months has led the Town Council's discussion of a forensic audit.
At the Oct. 4 meeting, the North Branford Town Council began talks as to how a forensic audit of the Board of Education should be developed.
Councilman Alfred Rose was prompted to initiate an investigation at the September meeting after the BOE was alleged to have breached legal on several over the last few months.
Councilman Vincent Caprio had his reservations concerning a forensic audit saying, "I don't want to start a war with the BOE if it's going to amount to nothing. I don't want to spend $30 to $40,000 on this when we need . What are we looking for here? Is it going to be an ethical thing? A criminal thing?"
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"Procedural," responded Rose, "how people are being paid. I know I'm not alone. There are other counselors who have been told things by past employees of the town."
Rose would not mention any names or specific instances. He did, however, say that the central theme of the investigation would be the manner in which expenditures are being paid.
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Town attorney John Gesmonde informed the council that if it were to discuss employment, promotion, discipline and/or appointment of persons, that would be held in executive session and those people would have to be given 24-hour notice to request a public session.
The question being mulled over by the council was how much the audit would cost. A regularly scheduled audit is performed for the town for around $30,000. However, in order to investigate potential procedural errors reaching back several years, the cost would be extra and well above $30,000.
"That's expensive," Gesmonde noted.
Councilman Joseph Faughnan responded to the suggestion that the council could steer the auditor in specific directions at no extra cost.
"We can not influence or direct what they look at–that interferes with their freedom," said Faughnan. "We should direct those questions to the auditor in public and tell him exactly what to look for and ask how much more that is going to cost."
Town Manager Richard Branigan compiled a list of similar audits in various towns with price tags associated with that kind of work. The auditor will be present at the next town meeting on Oct. 18.
