Action on Town Garage Funds

After years of delays, action slated for a town meeting of Thursday, Jan. 17 would appropriate $285,000 in town funds to bolster the town garage construction budget and allow work to begin. The new town funds plus the already-awarded state grant funds of $1.2 million will complete the funding package and allow all planned elements of the garage to be done. In a public bidding process, the lowest qualified bidder for the work with a

$1.44 million bid was Diggs Construction of Hartford.

"The boards we went through were all very supportive of the funding [request] for the project to build a new garage that the public works department will be able to use for a long time," said Town Garage Building Committee Chairman Tony Marino. "We're hopeful that the townspeople will see the request the same way."

The added town funding will also support town hiring of a clerk of the works to monitor the contractor's construction process as the town's representative.

Town Annual Report Complete

In December 2012, Finance Director Andrew Urban published the town's first annual report meeting the rigorous standards of the national Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). Now he's submitted the document for GFOA scrutiny in hopes of earning the town its first-ever Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting.

"When risk rating agencies look at the quality of a town's financial management, having the certificate gets you points," said Urban. "At every place I've worked and in every position I've worked in, I've been able to get this certificate."

Audit Results In

The town's auditors, Seward and Monde, have once again given the Town of Westbrook's finances a clean bill of fiscal health. The auditors report on the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2012, was issued to the town at the end of December.

For the prior fiscal year, the town's auditors said of the town's financials, "In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the respective financial position of the governmental activities, each major fund, and the aggregate remaining fund information of the Town of Westbrook."

The town also received a clean bill of fiscal health in the annual Federal Single Audit that evaluates town management of federal funds received. The federal government audits town books for any year that the town receives more than $500,000 in federal funds either directly or through pass-through grants from the state. Since the town received federal funds for the McVeagh Road reconstruction project and for storm relief from FEMA, the town passed the audit threshold in each of the past two years.

There were no negative findings by either Seward and Monde or federal auditors.

Seward and Monde in its audit of the town's fiscal year 2011 that ended June 30, 2012, had only three recommendations for action. One asked the town's Finance Department to investigate old savings passbooks for accounts at banks that no longer exist, another asked that town officials sign a conflict of interest statement stating that they had no financial interest in town business, and the third asked the town to formalize procedures for tracking and disposing of its fixed capital assets.

In the prior year, the auditors had had 10 action recommendations instead of just three.

In January 2011, the Town of Westbrook hired its first director of finance, Andrew Urban. Prior to his hiring, the town's auditors had consistently found fault with town financials and controls in annual audits; problems cited by auditors had included material weaknesses, a finding considered serious. None were identified in this audit.

Harbor Plan Draft Ready

After two years of work, the town's Harbor Management Commission has drafted a Harbor Management Plan. Within the next two months, the commission members plan to finalize the document.

Once finalized, the Harbor Management Plan must be reviewed and approved by the Army Corps of Engineers, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) and by the state Department of Transportation. When this review and approval process is completed, the plan then would go to town meeting for adoption.