Saturday, May 11, 2013

Forensic Audit in the Crowsnest Pass

Have not got all the details yet but a number of sources have told me that the Municipality is having a Forensic Audit conducted on the previous Fire Departments.

In a week when the powers to be let it slip that the CAO is meeting with Council behind closed doors on a regular basis to provide council with an update on relevant issues. (Can you picture all of council sitting quietly while the CAO recites from a piece of paper not one word of debate, discussion or resolutions coming forth) why not just do what the Cuff report recommended and hold two G+P meeting a month then Council and Admin could actually discuss the issues instead of  having one way communications with the CAO.

Now back to the audit we all know several things:

The election is only five months away, we know most of the present council will be running in the election, we also know that so far out of the three big promises for the community. Quebec manufacturer, Coal mine, Best Western hotel, the first failed the second is years away best case scenario, and the hotel as had deadlines extended twice already, even an optimist would have a hard time believing that the centre site will be cleared by August 30.

Next look at what this council has done over the last three years:

Built a large and expensive administration, wrote more unpopular laws than a Central American dictator, put in place CPO's, hired more consultants than IBM, jacked up Franchise Fees 300 per cent, the debacle with the Fire Departments, and the failure to listen to the public which led to 2500 people signing a petition in 18 days.

So here we are on May 11, this council needs a diversion to make everybody forget about their reign of terror, what will an audit produce? Who knows but I for one am convinced that the timing is indeed by design.

Will this act of desperation make the voters forget come October? Only they can answer that question.





21 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would think that the forensic audit of the fire departments would be part of the whole process of reviewing the Municipality. They are looking at everything, right.

Anonymous said...

Dean, this audit is not only a diversion; it is also a very obvious act of desperation. It seems like someone is trying very hard to nail the former fire chief with something in order to justify what was done to the man and to the fire department.

The expensive nets are being cast very wide and maybe they will pull in a minnow where an “i” was not dotted and the receipt is missing.

The timing of the audit sucks for those who have ordered it. At this point in time it has more of an appearance of a vendetta than an audit. This is at least how things appear and jumping up and down will not change the appearances.

This audit will most likely tell us more about the current council and administration than about the former fire department. In the end, the taxpayers will get the invoice no matter what happens.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully next council will do the same Forensic Audit on all the municipal finances.


Anonymous said...

Dean they are desperate they have to find something or else they are done. They must create a smoke screen, even so from the people I talk to it is to late thy are done. Audit's, Inspections, no matter we do not want these guys back.

Anonymous said...

Were not audits done routinely on the fire departments?

If not, why not?

Anonymous said...

So if something was being done wrong should it not have been picked up by the municipal auditors that come in and check the municipal books every year. Barring that what about the municipality's own financial department I would assume that they would have asked for invoices, receipts and time sheets prior to writing checks or paying out wages? If and that's a big If there was any thing paid out without accurate paperwork would this not bring in to question the professionalism of everything we do financially?

Maybe after October we need one large Forensic Audit

Anonymous said...

Lets hope that the CFO doesn't do the audit. As long as they are spending money might as well throw in an audit of the municipalities, books, I'm betting that there are a few problems.

Better yet why not audit every volunteer organization in the 'Pass I'm sure that there is a plot out there to hide money (they have so much) from da mare!

Anonymous said...

This council will leave a very sad legacy.

Anonymous said...

"the Municipality is having a Forensic Audit conducted"

Dean, does this mean the CFO is auditing herself, or has an outside auditor has been contracted?

Anonymous said...

Most likely they have hired outside expensive auditors and probably expensive lawyers as well. Big city stuff and big invoices.

Anonymous said...

Everything should be audited every year in my opinion.
Hopefully the fire departments were not just thrown money without having to justify it. It will be interesting what comes out.

Anonymous said...

If there was stuff paid without invoices and backup documentation then somebody's ass should be in a sling.

Alex

Anonymous said...

Alex, Don't know if any of the fire dept expenditures were not documented, if money evaporated or if hours were padded, as is inferred in various posts.

Do know that several Municipal reports on various expenditures were a long time coming, and could have been massaged, re-coded, or "disappeared". An after the fact review of files and records by these same people for a "dead" organization under the circumstances, has the makings of a witch hunt, diversion, or political strategy. Then, it could be there is a smoking gun, like in fireworks.....

Anonymous said...

This audit was ordered a little late in the game to have any credibility. Remember the CFO standing in front of people and saying, with a straight face, there are no records for the municipal portion of the RR days. Are these the same people who now ordered an audit of the fire department? Seems they are ready to spend a lot of taxpayers dollars at every opportunity trying to save face.

Anonymous said...

It seems like not too long ago Bruce and Brian wanted the RCMP to charge the Blairmore fire department with improper storage of the fireworks. If memory serves, Brian even had a comment on his blog. What now, do they want the RCMP to charge the former firemen with stealing paper clips?

Anonymous said...

Witch hunt. All the fire departments should have always had to explain their expenditures.
I still wonder where all the fireworks came from. I think I kind of know....

Anonymous said...

Please correct me if I am wrong but a forensic audit is not a routine audit of financial records but is conducted when evidence may be required in a court case.

Anonymous said...

Anon. 08:50 AM. A forensic audit is usually ordered when there is some evidence that something may be wrong -- after a few curiuos things are found. They get the forensic accountant to look over EVERYTHING with a fine tooth comb. In most cases, there will be some minor irregularities, nothing more, or it would have been found by now. The "I know that there's something wrong, and I'm going to find it come hell or high water", otherwise known as vendetta or smokescreening.

So if our esteemed Municipal leaders are doing this, then I'm sure that a similar Audit would bury them under a similar type of investigation. People who live in glass houses.........

Anonymous said...

Um, so, there should be ongoing audits, and if it becomes a court issue then it is forensic. I don't get your point.

Anonymous said...

http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/theeditorialpage/story.html?id=f3dfbd92-8c20-48d5-aad5-5fc8d4d07f70&p=1


Read this article the Tories and their municipal supporters killed this bill which would have gone a long ways towards making municipalities accountable.

Anonymous said...

This looks like witch hunt. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it is usually a duck.