Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Councilors grill city auditing rep on practices - The New Britain Herald (newbritainherald.com)

By: James Craven Staff Reporter
Posted by Frank Smith at 22.9.09

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What, no comments on the herald article? You think someone is blocking the posts as I know some people who have commented and not seen their postings. Perhaps the comments are from the state capitol offices again and are not too kind to the reporter? Frank, thanks for creating a venue for this discussion as these people have no clue about municipal finance.

September 22, 2009 at 4:26 PM
Anonymous said...

I was surprised to read that Eva M. at least claims to know how to balance her check book.

After reading the ridiculous comments from these Aldermen, I had the impression that not one of them would have the brains needed to perform such a complicated task.

September 22, 2009 at 4:34 PM
Anonymous said...

New Britain - THE ACORN CONECTION: o8/06/09 Dems charge NB Mayor with conspiracy over auditor...

...Less than 24 hours after Alderman Phil Sherwood raised the specter of collusion between the city’s executive office and the municipal auditing firm, he took a half step backward while colleague Michael Trueworthy stepped up to the mound.

Trueworthy, majority leader on the Common Council, neither apologized nor backed off from his assertions.
“I’ve been asking questions for a year and a half and I still don’t have answers,” Trueworthy said of Mayor Timothy Stewart and the finance department. “It makes one doubt the sincerity of others when questions don’t get answered.”

“Alderman Trueworthy is a liar,” Stewart responded. “Nobody has ever not answered any questions from them in any shape or form. This is another attempt to paint my administration as not being forthcoming.”

Stewart said Trueworthy is questioning the very things that he authorized as a council member.
“He seems to have conveniently forgotten that,” he said. “That’s not uncommon these days.”

Stewart said he was sickened by the way members of the council were treating developers and those doing business with the city.“I’m embarrassed to have people like this representing the city,” Stewart said. “Their ridiculous discussion about BlumShapiro or their insulting of developers who want to make New Britain a better place is an insult to the people of the city.”

The recriminations follow meeting of the Administration, Finance and Law Committee where Sherwood, Trueworthy other Democratic council members expressed views from disappointment to suspicions of impropriety against BlumShapiro Consulting. Sherwood said he had contacted both the city attorney, Gennaro Bizzarro, and the auditing firm’s representative, Joseph Kask.

“If we were to break that contract, [there are questions about] what kind of legal exposure there may be for the city,” he said. “And if we choose to do that as a body, what is the correct procedure?” Sherwood said he also spoke with Kask who explained why his firm could not be present for the meeting. “He seemed very sincere,” Sherwood said, reversing his indignation of the previous night.

Sherwood, however, said that there was no excuse for Finance Director Robert Curry to not be at the meeting. Alderman Mark Bernacki, the longest serving councilmember on the Common Council, said he was shocked at the comments of his colleagues. “I think there has been a pattern by certain members of the Common Council to make wild accusations and then retract their statements and apologize,” he said. “The same thing happened last week when developers interested in the Pinnacle Heights property were treated with rudeness. You don’t demean and ridicule businesses.”

Bernacki said it was time for some members of the council to “take their ACORN agitator hat off (The ACORN Connection) and become a community leader.” “We should be welcoming people who want to do business with New Britain,” he said. “Not trying to push them away because they may not agree with you politically.” - #30 (4th ESTATE)

September 23, 2009 at 2:24 PM

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