COVENTRY — An auditor gave Fire District representatives a bleak outlook of their finances at a meeting Tuesday that also saw a petition for the removal of a longtime official.
“You have very little time frame left to fix these things,” said Jeff Graham, the auditor, who in the past has investigated allegations of financial fraud against the town’s former clerk.
Coventry Fire District, a distinct municipal body run by a prudential committee, provides water to about 250 people in this Orleans County community.
The district received a $992,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture last year to partially fund the construction of a water-treatment facility. Officials hoped the facility, unveiled in July, would solve the district’s years-long problem of high arsenic levels.
But Graham told committee members and others Tuesday night that the district wasn’t in compliance with numerous parts of its grant agreement. Depending on how the district responds, he said, the federal agency could rescind the funds.
Graham detailed a long list of problems, including:
- The district was required to put about $14,000 in a reserve bank account and leave it there, but the account doesn’t exist and that money has been spent.
- The district’s expenses are not supposed to exceed revenues, but the opposite is the case. In fiscal year 2018-19, expenses exceed revenues by $15,000. And projected revenues aren’t going to cover rising expenses.
- The district is required to always be solvent — have more assets than liabilities. But at the end of 2019, the district has about a $12,000 deficit.
Graham said water rates might need to go up because of the financial situation.
Dominique Gervais, the district’s delinquent water rent collector, asked Graham if he had a suggestion for the level of revenue the district should shoot for.
“You really have to have a budget that covers fixed and variable and maybe some discretionary [costs], and that number is probably more like $60,000-to-$65,000 than $42,000-to-$43,000” Graham said. “So in the big picture, that’s about a 50% increase.”
He said the district should try to raise the amount of funds it needs to right itself by Dec. 31.
“It is overwhelming,” said committee chair Melissa Gallup, elected at that meeting. “I’m sort of stuck on how we can work as quickly as possible and frequently enough to get this tied together.”
The second half of the meeting was no less turbulent.
Newly elected district treasurer Kate Fletcher pointed out discrepancies among budget documents, apparent violations of state statutes and concerns about transparency. She said she had not been given access to documents and resources needed to fulfill her duties.
“I can’t propose a budget to our members that I don’t stand behind,” she said.
One point of contention centered on access to a filing cabinet. Fletcher said she wanted a key to the cabinet for her work. Former chair Jeanne Desrochers — a committee member— and bookkeeper Deb Tanguay were the only people who could unlock it.
Desrochers said she wouldn’t support giving Fletcher a key, and committee member Paul Adams agreed.
That concerned Gallup.
“If we’re going to transition into a fully functioning fire district … why can’t we move in that direction?” she asked. “I feel a lot of resistance.”
After discussion, Desrochers and Adams changed their stances and motioned to give Fletcher access. The committee approved the motion.
Later, committee clerk Martha Sylvester presented two letters to the group, each with 16 signatures. One, she said, was a vote of no confidence in Desrochers, and the other was a formal petition for district members to vote on removing her from office.
Gallup wasn’t sure how to proceed. The committee eventually decided to accept the petition, and the group now has 60 days from the meeting to set a date for a vote.
Both Fletcher and Sylvester have sparred with Desrochers and the committee in the past over transparency and other concerns.
Asked by Gallup if she had any comment, Desrochers said: “I think my decision to hang in there has been as a service to our members given that there’s a lot of moving parts and a lot of necessary activity that takes place.”
She added: “If you think you’re better off having me out and not finishing those things, I can walk out.”
