{"id":5223,"date":"2012-10-16T07:39:43","date_gmt":"2012-10-16T11:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=5223"},"modified":"2012-10-16T07:40:43","modified_gmt":"2012-10-16T11:40:43","slug":"kennett-township-audits-no-longer-shrouded-in-mystery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=5223","title":{"rendered":"Kennett Township audits no longer a mystery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Review of 2009, 2010 financial records comes up clean<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/span><\/strong>, Managing Editor, The Times<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

In business Monday night, Supervisors Robert A. Hammaker (left) and Michael E. Elling received a favorable report on the 2009 and 2010 township audits.<\/p><\/div>\n

With an illustrious past that includes the Battle of the Brandywine and the Underground Railroad,\u00a0Kennett Township has seen its share of skirmishes, and now it can add a chapter in a recent one involving finances to its history.<\/p>\n

The Ghost Auditor Caper, which surfaced after\u00a0the 2009 and 2010 audits were allegedly performed by a mysterious individual who \u00a0never cashed the checks for payment from the township and then disappeared, had prompted a public outcry for a re-do. On Monday night, the drama\u00a0ended anticlimactically: \u00a0\u00a0No missing millions. No mismanagement. No malfeasance.<\/p>\n

Tim Umbreit, a principal of the township\u2019s new auditing firm, Umbreit, Korengel and Associates, reported that a review of the township\u2019s 2009 and 2010 financial records produced \u201cclean opinions.\u201d He said an additional analysis of the township\u2019s open-space and sewer funding also showed nothing improper.<\/p>\n

Umbreit said allegations that $2 million in open-space funds were missing apparently stemmed from a document distributed by a citizens’ group. \u201cA lot of the numbers that were on that summary simply weren\u2019t accurate,\u201d he said. Umbreit said he received \u201c100 percent cooperation\u201d from township employees and made some recommendations about tightening controls.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know where we can find him,\u201d joked Supervisors\u2019 Chairman Michael E. Elling at the end of \u00a0Umbreit’s presentation.<\/p>\n

The controversy first surfaced more than a year ago and then played a role in last November\u2019s election. \u00a0Supervisor Scudder G. Stevens, who was not present at Monday night’s meeting, ran on a platform of increasing township transparency and defeated Allan Falcoff, the former supervisors\u2019 chairman.<\/p>\n

In February, under pressure from more than 100 township residents, the supervisors agreed to re-audit the 2009 and 2010 records after both Police Chief Albert McCarthy and a private investigator could locate neither Ed Johnson, the auditor hired by the board, nor his company, SGR.<\/p>\n

Despite Monday night\u2019s audit review, repercussions of the dispute \u00a0linger. In an attempt to clarify expenditures and address questions about the original audit, Stevens filed a Right-to-Know request that spawned litigation that is still pending. Responding to a resident\u2019s question, Township Manager Lisa M. Moore said the conflict has cost the township nearly $38,000 to date in legal fees.<\/p>\n

Moore said that the information sought by Stevens is contained in computer tax software used by the township that also contains employees\u2019 personal data and that the personal information cannot be redacted from the program. She said an expert for Stevens is trying to resolve the apparent impasse.<\/p>\n

Elling said he was optimistic that the township would ultimately prevail in court, but he said he could not rule out another appeal.<\/p>\n

Other business included the approval of a revised soliciting ordinance, a special sewer study, and\u00a0 five stop signs. Details can be found on the township\u2019s web site: http:\/\/www.kennett.pa.us<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Review of 2009, 2010 financial records comes up clean By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times With an illustrious past that includes the Battle of the Brandywine and the Underground Railroad,\u00a0Kennett Township has seen its share of skirmishes, and now it can add a chapter in a recent one involving finances to its history. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,1],"tags":[1279,36,1273,1278,1280,1277,1276,1274,1272,1275],"class_list":["post-5223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","category-uncategorized","tag-allan-falcoff","tag-kennett-township","tag-korengel-and-associates","tag-lisa-m-moore","tag-police-chief-albert-mccarthy","tag-scudder-g-stevens","tag-supervisors-chairman-michael-e-elling","tag-tim-umbreit","tag-umbreit","tag-upervisor-robert-a-hammaker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}