State Comptrollers Audit Response

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TOWN OF AMHERST ERIE COUNTY, NEW YORK 5583 MAIN STREET WILLIAMSVILLE, NEW YORK 14221 PHONE: [phone] FAX [phone] www.amherst.ny.us DEBORAH BRUCH BUCKI Deputy Supervisor and Councilmember SATISH B. MOHAN Supervisor Councilmembers: 716-631-7032 WILLIAM L. KINDEL MICHAEL G. MCGUIRE SUSAN K. JAROS WILLIAM A. O’LOUGHLIN, JR. Town Clerk SHELLY SCHRATZ 716-631-7045 DANIEL J. WARD January 13, 2006 Hon. Alan Hevesi New York State Comptroller 295 Main Street Room 1050 Buffalo, New York 14203 Attention: Kevin Burns, Deputy Comptroller RE: Comptroller’s Audit of Town of Amherst Waste Water Treatment Plant 2005 Dear Mr. Burns: It is apparent from the draft audit we received from the New York State Comptroller’s Office that an official response from the Town of Amherst is both anticipated and requested, concerning the problems at the Town of Amherst Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP). This letter should be considered as part of the official response. Several points should be made. First, the NYS Comptroller should be commended for undertaking this audit. While this can be said to be his job, or at least part of it, and while it was in response to a request for same by Councilmembers Kindel, Schratz and myself, we realize he has many duties and it cannot be said we have a right to such an audit. As such, we are grateful for his undertaking this matter in his sound discretion. Secondly, ...

Informations

• Publié par: Megar
• Nombre de lectures: 10
• Langue: English

Extrait

SATISH B. MOHAN

Supervisor

716-631-7032

SUSAN K. JAROS

Town Clerk

716-631-7045

TOWN OF AMHERST

ERIE COUNTY, NEW YORK

5583 MAIN STREET

WILLIAMSVILLE, NEW YORK 14221

PHONE: [phone]

FAX [phone]

www.amherst.ny.us

DEBORAH BRUCH BUCKI

Deputy Supervisor and Councilmember

Councilmembers:

WILLIAM L. KINDEL

MICHAEL G. MCGUIRE

WILLIAM A. O’LOUGHLIN, JR.

SHELLY SCHRATZ

DANIEL J. WARD

January 13, 2006

Hon. Alan Hevesi

New York State Comptroller

295 Main Street

Room 1050

Buffalo, New York

14203

Attention:

Kevin Burns, Deputy Comptroller

RE:

Comptroller’s Audit of Town of Amherst Waste Water Treatment Plant 2005

Dear Mr. Burns:

It is apparent from the draft audit we received from the New York State Comptroller’s

Office that an official response from the Town of Amherst is both anticipated and

requested, concerning the problems at the Town of Amherst Waste Water Treatment

Plant (WWTP).

This letter should be considered as part of the official response.

Several points should be made.

First, the NYS Comptroller should be commended for

undertaking this audit.

While this can be said to be his job, or at least part of it, and while

it was in response to a request for same by Councilmembers Kindel, Schratz and myself,

we realize he has many duties and it cannot be said we have a right to such an audit.

As

such, we are grateful for his undertaking this matter in his sound discretion.

Secondly, while we are mindful of these efforts, I, for one would ask that due to the

severity and magnitude of the problems studied, and the questions raised, the Comptroller

take a second, and wider and deeper look at this situation.

This is a huge WWTP, in one

of the State’s largest municipalities.

At stake are literally millions of dollars.

While

helpful, the audit seems to raise more questions than it provides answers.

Specifically,

the engineering aspects of the pelletizer project at the WWTP should be investigated.

And the long history of this project should be examined exhaustively as well.

Thirdly, the broad brush conclusion that the Town Supervisor, the Town Board, the Town

Attorney, the Town Comptroller, and the Town Engineer have all

failed to protect the

public interest is both overbroad, and inaccurate.

I, for one, do not want to be lumped in

with “the Town Board” that so failed.

Nor, I am sure, would Councilmembers Kindel or

Schratz, or, before them, Shatkin or Santillo.

We have

all been among the few on the

Town Board trying to expose this situation and correct it.

We want no responsibility for

this fiasco we neither created, nor contributed to.

The same might be said of other

individuals, as we have had several supervisors, board members and at least two (2)

Town Attorneys and Comptrollers all supporting this project, during the operative time

period.

Since it might well appear the public will never recover any of its misspent money, and

no one is going to jail, the very least this audit can do is to name names.

The public is

entitled to know who was/is responsible for this fiasco, and who was/is not.

This also

leads back to my objection raised earlier that the Town’s so-called “official” response

should not come from former Supervisor Grelick, or the current Town Engineer, Bowers.

By any reasonable analysis, these two, among others, are clearly culpable or liable for

this problem, and should not be left off the hook by permitting their excuses to stand.

Fourth, the Comptroller’s office should make appropriate referrals to the District

Attorney, or NYS Attorney General, of individuals for criminal prosecution in this

matter.

We prosecute the petty crimes of ordinary people daily in our courts – to

otherwise allow conduct of such magnitude and wrongfulness to escape prosecution

makes a mockery of our legal system.

Fifth, the Comptroller’s office should demand, and make public, the entire file and all

records concerning this matter of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

(DEC).

It would appear the DEC barely complied with the Comptroller’s questions,

This agency has overall, day-to-day supervisory control of the WWTP.

It had to know

what was going on there, and ignored it.

Or it should have known what was going on

there, and reported it, which it did not.

Again, names should be named as to who did, or

did not, do what, when, why and how.

Somehow the DEC, which has such plenary

power and control of the WWTP and its operations, has been permitted to strangely and

silently slip out of the picture of responsibility here.

Sixth, the Comptroller’s office should demand some compliance from the Town of

Amherst for the problems that have been discovered.

Since these are not mere

irregularities, the Town of Amherst should be required to resolve the problems and make

a final public report thereon.

There may well be other points, commentary, requests to be made in response to the

Comptroller’s audit, and I specifically reserve my right to do so.

Again, for now, I

express my gratitude, tempered by further requests to do more.

It is gratifying to learn

that an objective, third-party investigation and audit of the matters herein under inquiry

has confirmed my own investigation, analysis, conclusions, and vindicated my actions to

rectify the situation.

________________________________________

Daniel J. Ward

Councilman

Town of Amherst

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