City Gets Help For Auditing Services

City Gets Help For Auditing Services
Firm hired to temporarily mind the books for city
Andrew Mansfield
Reporter

GARDNER  The city of Gardner has hired the accounting firm CliftonLarsonAllen LLP to perform temporary auditing services for the city.

“They’re well qualified. They’ve served many municipalities before and know the state system,” said Mayor Mark Hawke last week.

The decision to seek outside help for auditing services comes after the resignation of City Auditor Gene Ferrari, which took effect on Sept. 25.

Mr. Ferrari signed a three-year contract for the position in 2014 after being hired by the City Council, but he was unfamiliar with the city’s accounting software, Munis, resulting in a delay in the certification of the city’s free cash.

Mayor Hawke said CliftonLarsonAllen LLP has provided the city with the help of two of its employees, who began their work on Friday, Oct. 23. He said that several duties, including filing a tax rate for next year, are near deadline and the city needs additional support.

“We need to keep the office rolling,” he said.

Mr. Hawke said the city will need its auditing services for about a month, but it remains to be seen exactly how long.

He said CliftonLarsonAllen will provide between eight and 16 hours of service a week. The city will be paying $110 an hour for the service of its employees, but only one employee will be working at a time.


About two and a half weeks ago, Mr. Hawke began the process of seeking out temporary auditing services after consulting with the Massachusetts Municipal Auditors’ and Accountants’ Association Inc. He said he had a “better feeling” about CliftonLarsonAllen than other companies and noted that the city negotiated its price of service down from the initial offer of $150 an hour.

“I feel good about that. We got them down quite a bit,” he said.

Currently, paying for the services of CliftonLarsonAllen is not a budgeted item and Mr. Hawke has not come to an agreement with the City Council on a plan for how to budget the expense, but he anticipates reaching a plan with the council in the next few weeks after there is a better understanding of the city’s needs on a weekly basis.

“We can (pay them), it’s just a matter of timing, once the picture becomes a little clearer,” he said.

In the time without an auditor, city employees have picked up their workload to compensate for the lack of manpower.

“Cheryl Bosse (assistant city auditor) has really stepped up and done a lot of work. We have a great team of department heads, particularly in the financial section, who helped pick up the slack, but there’s only so much everyone can do,” said Mr. Hawke.

While the City Council will ultimately choose who to hire for the city auditor position, Mr. Hawke has been a part of the process to advertise for the position, which started about the same time Mr. Ferrari resigned.

In the meantime, Mr. Hawke said, he and the City Council, particularly members of the Finance Committee, have been on the same page about hiring temporary auditing services.

“It’s what the city needs and they understand that. It’s not a political fight,” he said.