Sept. 9, 2013
There is a special meeting of the Middletown Library board this Wednesday, September 11 at 6 pm. The board will go into executive session soon after the public meeting opens. Another public session will follow later that evening, and board action is expected. I encourage residents to attend.
If you’ve been following library news over the last couple of years, you know a lot has gone on, much of it following the installation of an almost entirely new board last year.
Then in May, an extra $156K materialized. The additional reserve stems from the Township’s 2011 audit, which resulted in the discovery of an error made by auditors earlier in the year. We are not told what the error was, but it suffices to say that this occurrence is out of the ordinary.
Edmunds, the accounting software Middletown uses, is updated by department to reflect the audit results. The Edmunds system should have shown an increase in library reserves of $156K sometime in the last quarter of 2012 – should have, but didn’t. Edmunds system reports dated as recently as April 30th don’t show the extra money. Suddenly, in May it was there.
An important point is that library employees only view what’s on the Edmunds system for the revenue information they need and print what’s there. The Township’s finance department bears full responsibility for the accuracy of what’s listed.
Regardless, Township Committeeman and new library board member Tony Fiore wasted no time pointing a finger at the library’s director. And of course Fiore has made sure to go on record now, after never having voiced an opinion before, that he wouldn’t have approved of the closing of the branches if he’d known. His remarks are disingenuous considering it’s well known that the Township needed those buildings for office space. (The former Bayshore branch now houses the Township offices formerly located at Croyden Hall, and the Lincroft branch will be the new location for the Crossroads Program.)
Other members of our Township Committee have done a good job staying out of this, or appearing to, including current mayor Gerry Scharfenberger and former library trustee Kevin Settembrino, who are up for re-election this year.
While we can only wonder if any member of the Township Committee or library board knew last fall about the extra money, there are two things we do know with certainty:
One, we know that the Edmunds system was first updated to reflect the additional $156K reserve on or about May 1st of this year. We know that because the library has printouts of the Edmunds system report that shows reserve levels in late April and again in early May of this year. See them here. The reports clearly show that the jump occurred on or about the beginning of May 2013. The $209K reserve shown on the May report is the sum of the $156K and a reserve of $53K that the library knew about but that the Township had not yet released for the library’s use.
Further, the library has printouts of the same report for each month dating back to the fall of 2012, and none shows the additional monies.
Two, we know that the Edmunds system has long been the agreed-upon protocol for communication between the Township and the Library. We know that because our Township CFO, Nick Trasente, stated it with crystal clarity in his May 10th memo to Committeeman Fiore. In an excerpt from that memo, Mr. Trasente states, “Each year, after verification of these balances and obtaining adjustments from our auditors, we make this balance available to the library director through Edmunds…” He then goes on to acknowledge the diligence of the library director in monitoring system updates, pretty much confirming the finance department’s failure to make the update timely. You can read Trasente’s May 10th memo here.
Given the damning nature of Trasente’s memo for the Township – the memo is a smoking gun – it’s not surprising that Committeeman Fiore wants to downplay it now. At the August 21st board meeting, he didn’t want to talk about the Edmunds system at all.
Here is a link to the video from the August 21st library board meeting: http://youtu.be/8WBYbllBM5E
See time stamp 1:36:00 on the video to see library director Susan O’Neal discuss the reserve issue. She provides a good summary and chronology of events.
The library trustees are now well aware of the sudden appearance of the reserves in the Edmunds system in May. They should also be aware that the delay in updating the Edmunds system for the reserves is not an isolated problem. Rather, it’s a symptom of the ongoing difficulty the Township is having managing administrative functions, including keeping its accounting system current. Among other issues, the Edmunds system is many months behind on reflecting library bill payments made by the Township. To be clear, while checks may have been cut from the library’s municipal appropriation for vouchers submitted by the library, the Edmunds system does not show the payments until months later. Library trustee Larry Nelsen alluded to this at the August 21st meeting (see time stamp 1:56:30 on the video). Further, Ms. O’Neal has said often that she needs to remind the CFO and his assistant to move year-end reserves into a spending account for the library’s use and that frequent follow-up is required.
These are the facts to the best of my understanding. I welcome input from the Township’s CFO, and I would like the library trustees to address the specific issue of when the Edmunds system update should have been done in line with established protocol. They should also question why the CFO, who must have known that the accounting system was nowhere near up to date, wouldn’t communicate knowledge of a substantial sum of money when he had ample opportunity to do so.
39 comments:
Brava Linda! A very clear statement and hypothesis.
The part where Linda talks at the end is the best! It's always funny to watch her make a fool of herself... LMAO
Did Oneal email this all to you or did you come up with this on your own and plan what questions you were gonna ask?
More fuzzy math that our tc is famous for. One can only wonder how many other township departments are victims of scharfeynomics.
It's not fuzzy math. It is done by osmosis.
This is one of the few sites I've found on the web that allows anonymous post. Certainly it couldn't be because someone might know you, understand that you are a spokesman for the current administration, and be able to reply directly to your comments. Heaven knows we don't want anyone to know to know that anonymous probably owes their city job to the administration.
I was at this meeting and heard the former Mayor, Mr. Fiore, say that “We knew the money ($156,000) was there in September (2012)”. What supporters of the library should be asking is who is the WE. Fiore was not on the library board, but was serving as the Mayor during that time; it's beginning to look like someone in the administration was planning ahead to close the branches. It's also obvious the library board, during the budget meetings in 2012, didn't know & couldn't know from the rather heated comments of other board members after Ms O'Neal went through the progression of the budget. Did anyone notice how she first found out in late spring of 2013 that enough money was available to keep at least two branches open without additional help from the city. Watch the video of the meeting.
The part of the meeting I can't understand is when Mr. Fiore began to attack Ms O'Neal about doing due diligence when putting the budget together in the fall of 2012. This, after saying he depended upon his city manager to have all the financial records in order before he could make decisions. From my understanding Ms O'Neal is entirely dependent upon the city accounting office for her financial information just as Fiore said he was. The library doesn't keep the books the city does.
The question we should be asking is: 1) Why after serving as Middletown's Mayor is Fiore so interested in serving as on the library board. 2) What is his (Fiore's) problem with the library director who brought the new library in on time and on budget (unheard of with government projects) unless he wants to turn this position into a patronage job for someone related to or friendly to the Middletown Administration. The only two positions I can see that should be reviewed in this next meeting are that of the Board President and Treasurer, both are as useless as they appear.
When is the local paper going to get involved?
I was at the meeting too and thought it was interesting Fiore said he relied on the town administrator to present the budget and provide financial info. Doesn't the CFO present the budget? I think this was intentional on Fiore's part because he couldn't talk about the CFO's responsibilities, now could he? That would be getting too close to the truth of whose at fault here.
This town is truly pathetic from top to bottom. Maybe if the citizens abandoned their 'all Republicans all the time' credo, we might actually accomplish something.
I think it came from my fine for overdue books.
I can see that the Township is setting the Library Director up for "retirement". The meeting Wed, 9-11, will be interesting to see what personnel matters are to be discussed given that the Library Board could not wait until the regular business meeting one week later.
Any citizen in Middletown who has ANY trust in the Republican Administration in this community HAS THEIR HEAD IN THE SAND!!!
Honesty and integrity escapes all of them and all are ethically challenged.Devoid of common decency and ethical behavior.
Time to get a HIGHER AUTHORITY INVOLVED and don't mean Scharfey's buddy and benefactor.C.C.. Mean the courts or legal authorities. !!
Fiore is just the current party puppet because the current mayor and Settembrino stand for election in November. They don't want the negative exposure ....they cannot afford it! Worthless,both of them.
Smell the coffee people and unite against this current SHAM !!
Dear Tony (the Hood),
I'm still waiting for those emails between you and the Head of Trinity school whom you are connected to stating that you were going to give them Croydon Hall because you had planned years ago to close the branches and move the Township workers over there. When are you going to provide them? The public has a right to know!!!
And we are still waiting for the new library parking lot you promised..what..is that just another lie and broken campaign promise?
You took about 750k from the library that was slated for that project, you are your carpet bagging, leg breaker from Rutherford, Settenbrino....
What gives..???
This really comes down to motive. What motive would Ms. O'Neal have in overlooking the money so that the branches would be closed? Now her staff is overburdened with increased demand for services at the main branch and as a result of this ongoing mess, community support for library fundraising is down.
The township on the other hand knew they needed free real estate to house their municipal offices and Crossroads thanks to their decision to lease Croydon Hall to Trinity Hall. The lease would have made no sense if they then had to pay for commercial real estate to house the displaced departments. What serendipity that the two branches close just in time for when the township needed to move these departments!
Now that the township has stacked the board with a majority of cronies, Susan O'Neal is the only person standing in between the township and the library's $$$$$$$!
Wait and see...this township controlled Library Board will remove the Library Director, cut staff, deny expenditures, and the library that we love will be ruined.
Thanks Township Committee---just keep hacking away at our quality of life while pretending to be fiscally responsible. Time to get these thugs out of there. These guys don't know and don't care what Middletown means to REAL residents of Middletown. REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER!
It must be nice to live in a world where you get to make up your own facts! Only in "Lindaworld" is the memo from the CFO anything but an indictment against the Library Director.
That's okay though, because against her usual dismissal of any document provided by the township, she has endorsed the CFO's memo - so it must be true, right?
Let's take a look at what it says:
"Each year, after verification of these balances and obtaining adjustments from or auditors, we
make this balance available to the Library Director through Edmunds, our online budgeting system. Every year, the Library Director is extremely diligent in following up when this happens and how much is available."
OOPS. Here Trasante says that the Library Director has always followed up on the amounts becoming available to her!
"At the end of 2011, and prior to lapsing the 2011 reserve into the account,the library reserve
had about a $34,000.00 balance.
The library began using those funds
for various purchases and continued until about the beginning of March 2012."
OOPS, AGAIN! In 2011 - THE YEAR BEFORE - Ms. O'Neal not only knew about these reserve funds - BUT SPENT THEM! So how could she of not known just a few months later that other reserve funds would be forthcoming?
"This amount, added to the lapsing
2011 reserve budget of $49,124.63 and the $3,700.00 balance mentioned above increased the available balance to $209,153.70 as of December 2012. That balance was available for use and the account number used is the
same number that has been used every year with the exception of the first digit which changes according to the year we are in. All departments are aware of that, including the Library."
OOPS, OOPS, OOPS... So, Ms. O'Neal, while putting together the budget for 2013 was aware or should have been aware that this money was available. She was in previous years and the account number didn't change.
So it was either through negligence, incompetence, or design that Ms. O'Neal led the Library Board astray by not informing them about these available funds. I would have to say it was design when you look at her behind the scenes plotting to sandbag the Board with staged "public outcry." It's no wonder that they are having this meeting tomorrow night, she should have been fired a long time ago.
I hope that people aren't deceived by the plot to gain Linda Baum a Committee seat, and that Ms. O'neal is shown the door very soon - for the Library's sake...
Anon 5:51,
The problem that you fail to perceive is that the available balance of $209,153.70 as of December 2012, may have been in Mr. Trasente's memo but it was never listed as a balance on the Edmunds budgeting system as Mr. Transente alleged. The balance did not show up on the balance sheet until May 1st 2013, a full 5 months after it was supposed to have been in the Library's available account. OOOOPS!
I'll tell you why, Mr. Fiore (oops..excuse me, Anonymous 5:51pm)
Or is Mr. Settenbrino, you creeps are interchangeable it doesn't matter...???
It's because it wasn't there..!!!
Get it..? Ms. Oneal clearly shows a document on film PROVING that she had no knowledge of this money until AFTER the branches were closed which means...YOU GUYS MUST HAVE HID THE MONEY VERY WELL for her not to see it.
You see..you guys like to play this little shell game where you do the morally questionable thing and then turn around and accuse the person that you did it to of doing that exact same thing.
it's all very Karl Rovian, or Peter Cartoonian, or whatever you want to call it. Straight from the Republican handbook of "Lies, Dirty tricks, and other Idiocy that we can get away with.."
Thank God for people like Judith Stanley Coleman (God rest her soul) who stood up to you miscreants or the new Middletown Library would never have been built (even though Mr. Fiore you hide behind that fact that the Township holds the bond---you never wanted it), and if it wasn't for her, and Ms. Oneil and the prior board, you would have already destroyed it, or sent it packing to Monmouth County.
We know your endgame is to push off the library to Monmouth County where you will get youf 2-6% increase that you can apply to your own budget to do what you will since you won't have to count the Libray as a budgetary expense, or else you will appoint a crony puppet as Director and use the library as the TC's personal piggy bank or slush fund to cover up the many indiscretions by the TC...oh it was all planned yesrs ago by Peter Carton and some others not worth naming.
Does this reach all the way to our rotund Governor, I wonder, yes we wonders...?
I think the good people of Middletown have a right to know.
OOOOP's,anon 5:15, is just another Republican hack in this town which today is full of OOOPS hoodlums and thugs......all have a great deal of trouble with the truth. The CFO should have to take a LIE detector test.
This TC .this library board ( a slate of questionable characters) are a disgrace and this is typical of this bunch of bandits. Middletown's OWN MOB !!!!
Actually Mike, you just don't have correct information - as usual.
If you take a look at the other documents that Linda provided, you'll notice an account number that starts with a "3" for 2013 as Mr. Trasante indicates in his memo. The rest of those numbers stay the same year after year, and they apparently always have (if you read the memo).
My guess would be that the new account number (for the new year) is only created after the budget is approved, but the money was in the account number that started with a "2" in December 2012 as Mr. Trasante said it was.
Incompetence, negligence or design by Ms. O'Neal ~ impeachable offenses no matter how you slice it!
(Nice try though...)
Anon 7:37
And how do you know this? Please share the document link with us, I'd like to see it. Speculation on your part doesn't make it fact. Show us otherwise please.
The only way I have to identify the writer above is to call him Mr. OOPS. What you said just doesn't make sense about Ms O'Neal - in your words, “OOPS, OOPS, OOPS... So, Ms. O'Neal, while putting together the budget for 2013 was aware or should have been aware that this money was available. She was in previous years and the account number didn't change”. The reason it doesn't make sense is that an account number/budget item might be the same year after year, but it doesn't mean the numbers/amounts behind that number are correct. This seems to be the case here because an audit caught the problem but, it wasn't corrected in Edmonds until much much later. Just where did the audit firm find the money – what account was it sitting in. Also, it is beginning to appear the CFO wrote a memo between Dec. and May just to cover his butt and someone else.
What could be truly interesting will be what comes out in the depositions taken from the audit firm, the CFO, town administrator and the former Mayor should Ms O'Neal be forced to file suit for wrongful termination. All that reserve will just disappear in to attorneys' pockets. Maybe then Middletown voters pay more attention to whom they give their support in the next election.
Patrick, I think that the most interesting deposition of all would be Ms. O'Neal's... But hey, I guess you think that threat actually means something so have fun flinging it.
As to the speculation surrounding when the money was in the account, perhaps you should ask Ms. O'Neal instead of blindly being her "useful idiots." She's playing you guys (and Linda too) by giving you the same "almost correct" information that she tried to do with the Library Board before they caught on to her.
Me, I research the truth before I write about it, I look at actual information instead of what someone with an agenda feeds to me.
But then, I don't have a blog, so the truth actually means something to me...
Blind partisanship, so blind that you willingly accept BS as the truth is harmful to a democracy as we can see in Washington as well as here on this blog. Luckily here locally the voters have been able to see through the nonsense and elect only people with good hearts and good minds - both Republicans and Democrats - in the last few election cycles.
But 2010, 2011 and 2012, the "loyal opposition" has put up candidates more interested in stirring dissent through nonsense than they care about the town.
Like I said, the people can see through that and are voting accordingly. I'm willing to bet they do this Fall as well...
Regarding the numbering for the accounts, I asked the library’s finance clerk if it is possible the money was in a new account other than the one they were monitoring, and she said there is only one account in any year.
Also, regarding the comment in the CFO’s memo about the money being available, that is not true. Existing on paper is one thing. Being moved into a spending account for the library’s use in paying bills – with a balance showing in the accounting system – is another. The money was not moved into a spending account until about May 1, not even the $53K they knew about. Getting the cash released was the reason for contacting the Twp finance department again this April.
How come no one is mentioning the fact that the Library is using $200K+ of their reserves for the current year???
Mike,
This whole $156K thing is hogwash, why didn't the library director know about this sooner in the year? Whose job is it to follow up on these funds?
The township has a history of holding back a portion of the reserves and not reconciling the amount with the library and making it available to them until many months later than year end. In mid-2010 for example, the township was still holding $60K in reserves from 2008!!! How can the library operate efficiently when waiting for the township to get their finances in order? What process are they following? What is the protocol? This problem will keep repeating itself and it only came to light because the budget was so tight. But in years when the appropriation was higher the library could tolerate the township's terrible accounting practices. Blame is 100% on the township administrative system.
Melanie,
You would say that cause Susan can never do anything wrong...Not everyone is as perfect as you!
Linda,
So who is responsible to verify the exact amount of that account and the time when it will be available. Why did the Director not work more closely with the CFO? Was there an agenda for her to orchestrate this situation to help the Middletown Democrats or was she just going to help with fundraisers? Isn't the library supposed to be non partisan? So why was the director working behind the backs of the board? Were they informed of all these emails and plans? If not, why did she not tell them? Was this embarrising behavior?
Too many questions!
When you have something to hide, you will go to great lengths to protect the dirty little secret, especially pounding anyone into the ground who finds out and is a whistleblower. NJ has one of the strongest laws on protecting the "whistleblower.". Sue the town to the max, Ms ONeal, you've got a strong case. And, by the way, a LOT of people thank you for standing up to the bullies and trying to get the truth out. We should all be so brave.
To Anon 8:15:
At least I don't hide behind an Anonymous identity! Thank you for thinking I am perfect though; that will help build my confidence when I am bullied, berated, and yelled at by the Township Committee members who don't want to hear the truth. Remember Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men...."You want the TRUTH...You can't handle the truth!"
Have had my own experiences with this bunch of incompetent.ethically compromised characters and have the evidence to prove it.
.
This gang of political thugs think they can slander,intimidate or coerce the people of this town anytime they want and to date they seem to succeed.
Nothing will change until they are challenged in court or the Democrats begin to win elections again. The people of Middletown are asleep at the switch !!
These thugs are destroying our schools, our park system.our library and our quality of life and WE are letting them do it.
IT IS CERTAINLY TIME FOR ACTION AGAINST THEM !!!
No one person can do it alone !
Actually, I'm a hardcore conservative. Middletown's current administration acts more like the Dems in Washington.
Throw out a lot of Cr__ and see what sticks.
It is clear that the township administration is corrupt and that voting to close the libraries was a disguised "money grab". By his own admission at the last meeting, the former mayor knew a year ago about the missing %156,000. Yet he allowed hasty decisions to be made to close the libraries based upon erroneous data. The question that needs to be answered is who profited by shutting down the libraries? It certainly wasn't the townspeople. Ms. O'Neal has valiantly fought to bring the truth to light and save this treasure at the cost of her own job. The community needs to come together to thank her and support her at Wednesday night's meeting. If she is dismissed, it will cost the town dearly, not only with a justified lawsuit but with the loss of a dedicated public servant.
Quality of life issues are not partisan issues. Everyone is impacted regardless of political party affiliation!
Time for ALL of the people of this community to recognize what is being done to them and REVOLT against this crap from the Republican MOB that rules here.
WE WILL ALL BE BETTER OFF......We will all inclusive be better under an administration that represents everyone who lives here.
IN FACT, we need a new form of government in Middletown. That has been needed for many years !!!
Make no mistake ....this crap is all about money and control of the money....and egos. It is not about serving the people here.Been a long time since this government served the townspeople.
Anon 10:57 p.m.,
Patrick Short and Sean Byrnes should have been re-elected and with filthy republican political BS,slander and unethical campaigns they were not. Both these men served this community well but they were a detriment to the unfettered control by this morally,ethically challenged gang of Middletown's Republican thugs.
Don't try and sell your BS.....you sound like Sharfey's cheerleader !
I'm reminded of something Mr. Fiore said to me at a township committee meeting once when I felt he was avoiding answering a question. He said that he always answers my questions, it just may not be the answer I want. That is both arrogant and insulting, and shows they feel justified in withholding information. Must the exact right question be asked to get the exact right answer? Were the library staff required to say to the Township finance department, "Is there $156K you're not telling us about?" Repeated urging to release the money should have been plenty. The topic was broached many times with no complete answer given by the Township.
This is an excellent example supporting the need for a municipal finance committee.
Great post Linda, but I think you may have meant "disingenuous" when referring to Fiore. That's a word that sums up his actions in more than this matter-it literally defines the man.
Anon 5:51 p.m.,
Saw first hand tonight just what is wrong with the library and it's not the library Director. It's the intervention of the TC in a job that not one of them is competent to perform. The TC wants to control the library's money and to hell with the library or the residents.
Only ray of hope is a couple of trustees with some brains and what appears to be a genuine concern for the library.
Only time will tell but Ms. O'Neal is not the problem, it' the corrupt republican politicians as usual.
And again, Linda, you miss the truth. Every year the funds available from previous year's surplus were put into that account late in the year - with the account number that started with that year, say with a "2" for 2012, like when the money was put in that account in December 2012.
The Library Director regularly drew down that account, every year except in 2012.
Every year, sometime after the budget was passed, the number on the account changed to that for the current year, say a "3" for 2013, and then the money was transferred into to the current year's account, whatever was left of it.
So, Ms. O'Neal knew - or should have known - that money was coming, in December it was in her account for 2012. She could have and should have included it in her budget.
Can you guys NOT see that?
By the way, I wasn't at the meeting tonight - is Ms. O'Neal still employed?
Anon 10:46 pm,
Go back and read the post. The library staff have printouts for the last few months of 2012 showing the reserve listed in the Edmunds system. The reserve is listed as zero.
Uhm, actually the documents are the printouts for the account that starts with a "3" NOT the one that starts with a "2" for 2012 and, of course, that's where the money was in 2012.
Are you guys really this gullible?
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