This opinion piece is the last in the series based on the the article about former Rutgers University, Greg Schiano, and his system for success...Trust, Believe and Accountability.
Accountability...now there is a word that no politician seems to understand. Let's take a quick look at the responses to some questions about governance in Point Pleasant.
Question #1: Who's is responsible for the fact that Point Pleasant finances were and continue to be in a state of disarray?
Answer: We don't know exactly. Probably those who left office. But, we are working hard to address the problem.
Question #2: What exactly does working hard on "it" mean? We have a million dollar debt and the Borough is working from cash flow to stay ahead of the fiscal challenges.
Answer: Well, we paid to call in our former auditor and former finance director to try to get a handle on the Borough's finances. As you may know, we found out that we depleted our reserves, our surplus, and the budget was running in the red. We averted having to institute employee furloughs, because we found excess funds in other accounts. We also voted to raise taxes to try to make up for some of the deficit spending. We are still working on a plan on how to recover financially. We hired a part time new finance person to try to help us sort through the challenges.
Question #3: Is someone among the professional staff being held accountable for the lack of orderly financial record keeping, the lack of oversight of the accounting practices and procedures and the lack of an early warning system that could have foretold of the pending financial difficulties?
Answer: No
Question #4: Just so we understand, the Borough had a highly compensated administrator, a highly compensated finance director, and an auditor, and none of these people knew anything, or if they did know didn't report it to the Council?
Answer: That is correct.
Question #5: One follow up question, no one among all the Council members asked any questions about the financial reporting systems to the Council that may have led to a full view of the extent of the problem?
Answer: No
Question #6: What is the plan to address this problem, so that this kind of thing never happens again?
Answer: As we said, we are working on a plan, but we have spent a lot of time on garbage collection?
Question #7: The citizens of the Borough are paying a surcharge on their water and sewer bills. Why has that occurred?
Answer: There was a miscalculation of the cost of water and sewer charges and we had to go back and correct the error. The only way to do that was through a surcharge.
Question #8: Is anyone being held accountable for the error?
Answer: No
Question #9: Why is that? After all, the Borough has a highly compensated Director of Public Works...shouldn't he have had some responsibility to check the figures for water and sewer charges and brought the shortcomings to the attention of the Council?
Answer: Maybe, but that didn't happen.
Question #10 The auditor reported that the collection of taxes has dropped significantly in the Borough. Collections were typically in the mid to high 90% range and fell into the mid 80% range. Why did this happen?
Answer: The Council didn't know about this problem.
Question #11: Why didn't the Council know about this problem? Has anyone been held accountable for the lack of notification to the Council?
Answer: The problem was not reported to us until the auditor brought it to our attention. No, no one has been held accountable.
Question #12 What is the plan to address this problem, and to establish a reporting structure for the collection of taxes?
Answer: We are working on it.
Question #13 The mayor ran on a platform to address the problem of workforce issues, and more specifically, grievances filed by employees. There are still grievances being filed, Why?
Answer: We don't know.
Question #14 Is there a formal professional performance evaluation plan in place for the most highly compensated personnel, i.e., the Borough Administrator and Chief of Police?
Answer: No
Just from these few questions, the Council has outdone the Keystone Cops. Just ask yourself a simple question...Wouldn't you like to have a job where no one oversees your work product, there is no accountability for errors you make, you don't have any responsibility to report on problems or challenges in your area of work, you are highly compensated, have a great pension and benefits, absolute job security, and no metrics to evaluate your success or failure? If that sounds great to you, all you have to do is get a job working for Point Pleasant Borough.
Our Council needs to learn what the word accountability actually means!
It appears to me that most people elect representatives to plan a future, address issues and solve problems...not bob and weave simply to get re-elected.
President Obama in 2008: "If I can't solve America's financial problems in my first term in office then I will be a one term President!"
President Obama in 2012: " I know that I said I would solve America's financial problems in my first term or face being a one term President, but I didn't know the extent of the problems. I deserve a second term to finish what I started!" Does such a refrain sound familiar to all of us in the Borough?
What do you think?
