Saugus pols want answers on audit findings

SAUGUS – Saugus Town Moderator Bob Long said the public is going to “want answers” and “resolution” after the third and final audit report of town finances and procurement was released Thursday.?I think people are expecting that there is going to be some clear cut resolution to whether something was done right or wrong,” said Long. “If it was not done properly, what will be the penalty? If we spent $100,000 on this and all it comes down to he-said-she-said, the public is going to see this as just another political game being played.”The audit, which was conducted by Wakefield-based Powers & Sullivan, looked into bidding and purchasing issues totaling more than $700,000 from 2008 to 2012.The audit also outlines $1.3 million in procurement of goods and services and public works construction that “were not in compliance with Massachusetts Procurement Laws” and led to what the audit describes as “systematic, knowledgeable and intentional violation of the municipal procurement laws ?” and “misleading and fraudulent accounting.”The auditors write in the final report, “It is apparent, based on the evidence we reviewed, that these significant financial violations of laws and regulations was an effort to intentionally cover up the actual nature of the transactions with full knowledge that they were actual violations.”Some transactions mentioned include the purchase of seven vehicles from Brothers Auto Body in Revere totaling $92,000; hazardous waste removal totaling $121,000; and $100,000 in water system and hydrant related supplies.?Maybe Bisignani does need to have his story told,” Long said on Friday. “Maybe there should be a clear-the-air type of process. How it would work I?m not sure, but I do think should this thing just drift along like it has been, I think the confidence that the voters have in the town that we?re looking to regain is not going to come back quickly.”Town Meeting member Peter Manoogian said has been “extremely uncomfortable” about procurement “all along,” noting he tried to make an amendment to an article at a Special Town Meeting in February 2010 to prohibit salvage cars from being purchased by the town. This came during votes to purchase cars for the Canine Control officer and Emergency Management came up.According to the audit, “salvage vehicles were repeatedly purchased from Brothers Auto Body of Revere over competitively priced non-salvage vehicles from other vendors.” It also notes that “collision insurance is not obtainable” because a salvage vehicle is one “that has been involved in an incident or accident severe enough to be deemed a total loss by an automobile insurance company.”According to the Special Town Meeting minutes, that amendment was voted down 37-4.Manoogian said he thinks the town can “weather this,” however he too said residents need answers.Town Meeting member Al DiNardo said the audit details “things we suspected for many years.”?It kind of just confirms what our suspicions were,” DiNardo said. “We?ll see if the Attorney General?s office is going to do anything. It?s nice just to get the truth out ? at least people don?t think that we were crazy with what we were saying for all these years. I?m glad to put this behind us.”Town Meeting member Wayne Brooks said he wants to see somebody “go to jail” and is confident the Inspector General and the Town Manager Scott Crabtree will “do what has to be done.”?Obviously there were things done wrong here,” Brooks said. “Wrong enough to prove it was done on purpose as far as I can see. Who that might have been, I don?t want to name names. It shouldn?t have been done ? Something has to be done to make sure this doesn?t happen again.”Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].