Audit faults Fire Dept

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From Todays Stamford Advocate

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local...local-headlines

Audit faults Glenbrook Fire Dept.

By Donna Porstner

Staff Writer

November 15, 2006

STAMFORD - A new audit has found financial mismanagement and unauthorized spending in the Glenbrook Fire Department.

The department's former treasurer, David Judge, paid himself $12,600 he was not entitled to and shipped office supplies, including a Palm Pilot, to his home and work addresses at the fire house's expense, according to the audit released yesterday.

The auditors, O'Connor, Davies, Munns & Dobbins LLP, found that Judge, a Bridgeport resident, wrote himself checks for stipends ranging from $150 to $1,650 over the past seven years.

They also found Judge bought office supplies from Staples he had shipped to his former office at Benenson Capital in Stamford and to addresses in Stamford and Bridgeport for his business, Judge Electric Inc.

Judge also was reimbursed $1,100 by the department in 2004 for a Dell computer for which there was no invoice or supporting documentation.

"There's a lot of missing invoices, missing checks," said Peter Privitera, director of the city's Office of Policy and Management. "There's no backup in a lot of cases."

The Board of Finance's Audit Committee plans to meet today to review the audit's findings.

Reached by telephone yesterday, Judge said he could not comment on the audit because he had not read it.

"I don't know anything about it, so I can't comment," he said. "I need to wait and look at it before I can give an intelligent answer."

Records also show Judge purchased $427 in accounting and payroll manuals with fire department funds in January 2002 and had them shipped to his Bridgeport address, according to the audit.

The auditors, which could not find invoices or supporting documentation for many purchases, have asked Judge and department President Edward Rondano to explain how each expenditure benefited the department.

The auditors found a $250 check written out to cash, which was cashed by Judge in January 2005, that is recorded in department records as a payment to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Judge was able to spend as he saw fit, the audit found, because as treasurer he had a signature stamp that allowed him to sign checks for Rondano.

Rondano and Glenbrook Fire Chief Frank Passero failed to provide proper financial oversight, according to the auditors' report.

Neither Rondano or Passero immediately returned telephone calls placed to their homes last night seeking comment.

The audit said it appears a $23,000 project to repair the fire house's facade in 2004 was not put out to bid - violating the city's purchasing ordinance.

It also said the department's phone bills and office supply costs are "excessive." The phone bills average $615 a month; office supplies, $138 a month. When the auditors searched for the office supplies purchased, they reported they could not find a significant amount at the fire house.

"Serious lapses in internal controls fostered an environment that resulted in excessive spending, duplicate payments, unauthorized disbursements, delinquent tax filings, negligent bookkeeping practices and misappropriation of fire department funds," the report said.

Privitera said his office hired the White Plains, N.Y.-based auditing firm to look into the financial controls at the fire house after receiving a tip last winter about financial improprieties.

The volunteer department gets about $1.1 million from the city each year to defray operating expenses, including the salaries of nine paid employees.

Privitera said Judge was uncooperative and rebuffed the auditors' efforts to have him explain the purchases. Judge stepped down from the treasurer's post days after the audit began in June, Privitera said.

Privitera said he is waiting for Rondano and the current treasurer, David McMahon, to respond before deciding how to proceed.

"We are giving them an opportunity to respond and we've given a copy to our legal department," Privitera said.

The auditors recommend the city audit additional years and turn over their initial findings to local authorities.

They also recommend the fire department hire an independent bookkeeper and require the president and treasurer to personally sign every check, rather than use signature stamps.

If department officials want to pay the treasurer a stipend, the audit says the department ought to amend its by-laws to allow for it. As it stands now, only the financial secretary may be paid a stipend.

In a letter to McMahon dated Monday, city Director of Administration Ben Barnes called the audit's findings "troubling" and asked the fire department's board of trustees to respond in writing by Dec. 15.

Reached by telephone at his Stratford home yesterday evening, McMahon said he could not explain why the former treasurer shipped merchandise purchased with department funds to his home and business addresses.

"This is all prior to my tenure, so I have no idea," McMahon said. "And, frankly, I don't trust the press, so I have no comment."

Copyright © 2006, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.