State Comptroller issues official Yorktown report

An official copy of the state comptroller's audit was released by Yorktown Town Hall Friday, Aug. 12.

The official copy is very similiar to the draft copy first reported in June at NCNLocal.com. http://ncnlocal.com/ncnlocal_news/article_de328cca-9426-11e0-8b89-001cc4c002e0.html

"We found that Town officials did not solicit competitive bids or properly bid for purchases from nine vendors totaling about $2 million and paid eight professional service providers over $3.9 million without seeking competitive proposals or quotes," according to the report, entitled, “Ethics and Internal Controls over Purchasing Practices and Computer Use” examines Town records from Jan. 1, 2007 to May 13, 2010.

The new news? The Town Board will begin approving minutes from the previous meeting at its meetings, a practice that should have been put in place eons ago. (Every civic group I can think of approves meeting minutes at the start of its meetings. It's good business practice, according to the state auditor.)

Also, Highway Superintendent Eric DiBartolo wrote in response to the audit that anyone could have used his computer to view pornography, and he has begun locking his computer to combat the problem.

The auditor's response that the pornography was emailed back and forth between DiBartolo's account and accounts of people who "appear to be his relatives."

Town Clerk Alice Roker also responded to the comptroller's findings, and said she has put safeguards and checks in place to tackle the issues. There is one big question mark: At the end of Roker's response, she questions whether the state comptroller bothered to attempt to watch a video of a board meeting she submitted in response to some questions. The comptroller's response was to say that the last minute of the video had a different date than the rest of the video, and the comptroller questioned whether it had been edited.

The handling of the Envirostar oil spill cleanup continues to be a big discussion point. Despite a response from Town Board members containing a timeline of both notifications received and actions carried out by Town officials, who said they were told that testing the site had stirred up problems that had to be handled immediately, the comptroller responds that the Town failed to provide documentation to prove that the cleanup for the decade-old spill was an emergency.

The executive summary of the report clearly states the concerns and findings of the state. Although a written comment from the Town Supervisor's office regarding that many of the problems have been addressed, the report emphasizes the need for further changes. The Town has 90 days to respond with an action plan.

The following two paragraphs are from the executive summary:

"We are concerned that the Superintendent has not always acted appropriately and in the best interests of the Town’s citizens. We identified actions of the Superintendent1 in which we believe both his personal financial interests and public responsibilities conflict. We found that the Superintendent sold used equipment and materials totaling $28,670 to the Town, and the Town paid a company over $100,000 that was owned by his sister-in-law and for which his two brothers were vice-presidents, which created prohibited interests. In addition, we identified irregularities in the bidding processes for various pieces of equipment, including ignored bid specifications and erroneous bid documents to make it appear as though purchases were bid when they were not. Finally, we found that the Superintendent’s computer was used to view and store pornographic and other inappropriate images, engage in a political campaign, and to buy and sell auto parts, for personal use, on a public auction website.

"We also found that the Board did not establish adequate policies and procedures for procurements.
The Town’s purchasing functions are not centralized, which does not enable Town officials to
aggregate purchases or take advantage of volume discounts. We found that Town officials did not
solicit competitive bids or properly bid for purchases from nine vendors totaling about $2 million and
paid eight professional service providers over $3.9 million without seeking competitive proposals or
quotes. Furthermore, we found instances of incomplete and inaccurate recording of the minutes of
Board meetings relating to the purchase of Town vehicles. Without adequate internal controls that
include the adoption and enforcement of a comprehensive procurement policy and procedures, the
Board and Town officials cannot assure taxpayers that purchases of goods and services were made
in the most prudent and economical manner without favoritism. Finally, the Board did not establish
adequate internal controls over credit purchases to ensure that payments to vendors were for necessary
and actual Town expenses."

For those who would like to read the entire report, go to http://ncnlocal.com/pdf_4d6798fe-c520-11e0-a0e9-001cc4c03286.html.