The Behinder we get...
The Audit Saga
Bottom line: The reason for high water and sewer bills appears to be due to outright theft and fraud mingled with gross negligence, poor judgement and old fashioned greed. Funds that should have been available are not. But the bills for operation keep coming and need to be paid. Currently the citizens of Oakland are having to now pay more than is normally reasonable.
Dear Oakland Town Leaders, We met after the Oakland Working Session which reviewed the 2024 Town of Oakland Fiscal Audit report submitted to the state. We were very disappointed that after that report was reviewed, there was not one thing recommended as changes going forward. This is not normal after this kind of audit report. With that in mind, we have put together some things that we would very much like to see implemented in the town of Oakland going forward. Please review these requests and put some time on the next agenda to discuss each item and how the Oakland leadership team feels about them. We are doing this to help Oakland and to help all of you navigate this issue in the best light possible. Some things have to change until the trust of the public is regained in Oakland. Please let us help with that! A Better Oakland executive team.
Cutting directly to the current issues, we must regain control of finances.
Citizens of Oakland. Here is a link to the Tennessee Comptroller report "Town of Oakland, Tennessee Annual Financial Report 2024"
A MESSAGE TO THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND TOWN MANAGER;
Based on the finding in this report, A Better Oakland requests the following actions from our Town Manager, Mayor and Board of Alderman:
1. Add an item to every Board of Aldermen meeting agenda to review the town financial statement including revenues into each fund, expenses out of each fund, and a review or the forecast vs. budget. Additionally, every record on the General Ledger and/or the Bank Statement that is irreconcilable must be addressed by the department head that incurred that expense.
2. Hire a forensic accountant to go through all fiscal year 23-24 records and fix those records properly. We need to know where we are financially, and how we got in the position we are in.
3. Establish written policies that follow the principles for public accounting IAW the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. At a minimum, it needs to include how Purchase Requisitions (PR) and Purchase Orders (PO) are handled. Who can submit a PR, who can approve a PR by dollar amount (Signature Authorization), Who can create a PO from an approved PR (Segregation of Duties), who can receive goods in (Segregation of Duties). Once this is complete, run an announcement in the Fayette Falcon that the city will no longer honor any invoices that do not reverence a valid PO going forward.
4. Quarterly audits of the town's books by an outside auditor until there is a clear pattern that Oakland complies and is maintaining that compliance.
5. A moratorium on all non-budgeted, discretionary expenditures until the town is back in compliance.
6. Publish quarterly financial reports on the town website for the public to review.
We feel that these steps, at a minimum, will greatly help to improve the trust between the citizens of Oakland, and their town's leadership team. Will you, Town Manager, Mayor and Aldermen, step up and accept these recommendations?
While this could be a laughable 3rd world dark comedy, this is serious - “rest of your life in prison" crime!In relation to item 2 above, we not only need to know how this mess came about so that we can avoid a repeat, we need to know who.
Why? It is our collective opinion that those who perpetrated multiple frauds need to be held accountable with criminal indictments. It is too obvious that several past “Leaders” were unjustly enriching themselves while others with their own guilt of different stripes allowed them to do so. Any person of knowledge that then did not intervene is also complicit. We must insist upon: Identify, validate, indite and prosecute.