Mollie Mashelle Spencer, 28, Port Orange, tampering with evidence, trafficking in a controlled substance;
.jpg)
-- Marie Dressler
|
COMMENTS HANK SPRINGER
"Those who can't do, comment."from www.newyorker.com''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' Our works are the mirror wherein the spirit first sees its natural lineaments, Hence, too, the folly of that impossible precept, Know thyself; till it be translated into this partially possible one, know what thou canst work at. -- Thomas Carlyle
Those who think they know it all are very annoying to those of us who do. -- Robert K. Mueller
=============================== |
|
|---|---|
|
INEFFECTIVE PROCEDURES? 1. Special magistrate hearing,----- decision not binding for the city of Port Orange, and the city rejected the magistrate's opinion and conclusion. 2. Pension board submits the name of an applicant to the pension board, to the Port Orange City council for approval, which person the city council must approve and confirm, and cannot reject. 3. Civil service appeal hearing,----- which decision the city does not have to implement and can reject. The public pays for all these make believe hearings. I guess only the lawyers make out ok through these hearings and we pay our city administrators to waste time and money preparing and attending the hearings. Something seems wrong here. Just remember - if you want to replace your front door, you must get a permit to do so, or you risk a $500 fine. I wish I could advise you to just disregard the need to get such a permit, since the city can disregard hearings that we pay for. But,somehow, it doesn't work that way,does it Remember, who tells us that we can't fight city hall? -City Hall? ---- hank poanposted 4 24 12 at 712 am- |
|
YOUR OPINIONS AND COMMENTS GO HERE.
|
|---|
One cannot make up stories; one can only retell in new ways the stories one has already heard. -- Carolyn Heilbrun
|
Ted Noftall calls for an independent investigation of the Port Orange Finance Department:From Ted Noftall, Port Orange, Fl. I have recently called for an independent investigation of the Port Orange Finance Department in light of revelations of a total lack of internal controls throughout various departments in the City. The incumbent in this year’s election, Vice Mayor Pohlmann has not joined me in calling for such an investigation preferring to continue in his role as the City’s Cheerleader-IN-Chief. The City Manager recently explained that he decided to terminate, and to not reinstate the former Public Works Director because fundamentally as a department head he had - breached a fiduciary responsibility to place the public’s interest above all other interests. That decision was logical, compelling and believable. What is not believable, is Vice Mayor Pohlmann’s repeated assurance as to the integrity of City systems and his confidence in all City staff. Nor is the assertion that no one else shares any culpability in the loosely enforced or non-existent internal controls that facilitated the Public Works breach in the first place OR THAT that loosely enforced, or non-existent internal controls were not the exact conditions that facilitated other thefts of employees such as (two names deleted by poan editor) who stole upwards of $ 400,000 The current 800 lb gorilla in the room that the City will not or cannot quantify is the original allegation of stolen fuel which was the very first piece of intelligence POPD received in the Public Works thefts. I have inquired and have been advised that the City does not track its total fuel purchases, or at which of the City’s 4 fuel depots that fuel is placed for subsequent disbursement. Nor does it track fuel dispensed for off road use. Consequently it does not perform any fleet mpg calculations. At this point the City is either not saying, or does not know how much fuel was stolen. What we all know however is that every other aspect of the theft intelligence given to POPD proved to be correct. Internal audit disclosures further revel that: Off road fuel usage is not tracked at all. The Fleet Manager manually adjusts fuel charges without any additional review, and is able to add and delete transactions without generating audit trail reports. Three of the City’s four fuel depots do not have video surveillance and two of those three are on an honor system as they do not even require an authorization card to pump fuel. Finance staff did not realize how much fuel is even being purchased and thus failed to apply for State fuel rebates correctly by omitting fuel purchases assigned to two of the City’s four fuel depots and fuel purchased at commercial gas stations. If the Vice Mayor does not believe this in and of itself is more than enough grounds for a full investigation of the Port Orange Finance department then what would be enough. Other current and recent disclosures from limited internal audit testing include: Easily altered Excel spreadsheets are used to track vehicle maintenance. Major parts purchases are expensed rather than inventoried at time of purchase in violation of city policy. Rate data tables at Parks and Recreation can be adjusted by all employees that perform transactions. 40% of Recreation scholarship applications approved by that department’s Director failed to meet established criteria. Rate date tables may also be changed by employees at Community Development. Community Development employees calculate and enter fees without subsequent review or approval. 100% of all building permits and impact fees tested were calculated incorrectly. 32% of commercial drainage utility billings tested that had been “corrected “ by staff had been corrected “incorrectly” Payroll inquiries and discrepancies are investigated by the same employee that processes payroll. 43% of all timecards submitted by one department that were tested had missing timestamps. Bank statement discrepancies and issues related to cash postings are handled by the same person preparing the bank reconciliations themselves including posting reconciliation journal entries. I have been an accountant and in business long enough to know something just isn’t right with the whole finance equation in Port Orange. Audit comments such as these, and others over the years that have been dropped with no discernible change in the underlying conditions that prompted them in the first place speak of such lax to non-existent controls that it would have been impossible for the Finance Director to not have known exactly how inadequate the internal controls were in various City departments. The Fraud Risk Assessment recommendations from the City’s external auditor in the 2008 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) were dropped from the 2009 and subsequent years CAFR’s ostensibly because those recommendations had been enacted. BUT were they, because those recommendations sure proved prophetic in the 2011 Public works scandal. What individuals have the opportunity to misappropriate assets, having access to assets susceptible to theft and to records that can be falsified or manipulated to conceal thefts.? -- Public Works Director and Fleet Manager. Any known pressures that would motivate employees with the opportunity to misappropriate assets.? -- Maybe a nasty divorce . What assets are susceptible to misappropriation. ? -- Fuel and Vehicle parts. How could assets be stolen. ? -- Try an honor system for dispensing fuel. How could potential misappropriations be concealed.? -- Expense rather than inventory purchases and then track everything on an easily changed Excel spreadsheet. What Factors might indicate that the City has a culture or environment that would rationalize committing fraud.? -- How about the scandalous “opportunity fund” where-in Public Works employees on the clock in City vehicles were permitted to scour the City for “scrap” which they would take to local junk yards to be sold for their own “opportunity”. Vice Mayor Pohlmann was on Council when this 2008 Audit recommendation was made AND he knew that failure to implement and enforce adequate controls would invite on going theft, and had directly facilitated earlier thefts. If adequate controls were never implemented as appears to be the case then how exactly did the Manager or his Finance Director not breach their fiduciary responsibilities to place the public’s interest above all others ? The former Public Works Director is not alone in having breached a fiduciary responsibility to place the public’s interest above all other interests. He is however the only one to have been sanctioned and that is far from acceptable by any measure of justice with which I am familiar. Who knew what and when, and those actions that were taken or not taken to safeguard the public’s interests needs to be disclosed AND the Vice Mayor should be insisting on that disclosure. Indeed the Comptroller testified under oath in the Public Works hearing that she had conveyed concerns with the since discontinued Public Works “opportunity” fund to her boss the Finance director and no subsequent action was taken. Did the Finance director in turn take those concerns to his boss the City Manager ?. The Comptroller further testified that on more than one occasion purchases of 50 tires at a time were expensed rather than being inventoried as required AND that she cannot say with certainty where those tires went. Were those concerns reported to the Finance Director also ?, and what other concerns did she or others have, and were those concerns communicated up through the chain of command to the City Manager ?. These and other questions need to be fully investigated by other than the Manager and his Finance Director who are responsible for the internal control weaknesses in the first place. To the Vice Mayor and any others who would suggest matters such as these should be handled on the QT I would say fiddlesticks. Port Orange is no one’s fiefdom……… Port Orange belongs to the residents of Port Orange AND they have a right to see their business conducted in public—warts and all. The Vice Mayor needs to very much explain why he is not calling for a public investigation. Ted Noftall Candidate Port Orange City Council poanposted 5 3 12 at 1149 am |
AD