SHOW ME THE MONEY!?

Council tackled two finance related topics during last Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole Meeting: the city’s 2019 budget and...in light of the circumstances surrounding Scott Coleman’s shocking resignation...employment of an outside accountant to conduct a forensic audit of the city’s books.

The Forensic Audit Discussion

I submitted a letter to the editor, as soon as the news about the Rep. David Joyce’s Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing broke, advocating that the city should conduct a forensic audit of funds that Coleman had access to/authority over when mayor.
https://www.cleveland.com/letters/2019/02/i-am-appalled-by-mayor-colemans-behavior-letter-to-the-editor.html

Council took up that discussion on Tuesday.

Naturally any discussion of possible financial impropriety in the city was uncomfortable for the city’s Finance Director, Joe Filippo. Filippo has always struck me as a straight shooter and a vast improvement over his predecessor.

Filippo pointed out that the state had recently conducted a biennial audit of the city’s books and had found no problems…it was a “clean audit”.

Later Filippo acknowledged that the state audit covered the years 2016-2017, not the most recent couple of years, when some of the embezzlement alleged in the FEC complaint purportedly took place.

Council President Stickan assured Filippo that:

“No one is saying that there were improprieties, it’s just our responsibility to make sure they didn’t happen.”

Filippo explained the difference between a forensic audit and the type of financial audit that the state conducts. He told Council members that it was up to Council to determine what the forensic auditor should look at:  how far back in time the auditor should go and which funds/financial areas they wanted to auditor to examine.

One topic that generated some heat:

 Filippo obtained proposals from two auditing firms. Those proposals suggested providing a verbal report to Council of the audit results.

Several council members objected to that.

Ward 1 Council rep Cathy Murphy made clear she expected to see a written report that would be shared with the public, “I want it on our website”. Acknowledging that it might cost more if the city had to pay for a written (versus oral) report, Murphy stated that she felt the cost was worth it, for the sake of transparency.

Filippo immediately acknowledged that the proposals reflected only suggestions from the auditing firms and that Council could receive a written report, “if that’s what you want”.

It sounded like the scope might be pretty focused because, according to Filippo, Coleman did not sign checks, drive a city car or possess a city credit card and the city typically keeps only $200 in petty cash.

Scope of Forensic Audit

The consensus on Council seemed to be having the forensic auditor look back 5 years, focusing on anything Scott Coleman had access to as mayor.

The Budget Discussion

The budget discussion focused primarily on the proposed capital improvement budget, which is the fund that pays for things like road replacement/repairs and other big ticket items like motor vehicles.

The service department will be purchasing a new snow plow truck in 2019. Residents appreciate having safe streets to travel in the winter, so there was no push back on that request.

Fire Chief Bill Turner requested money to purchase a new fire truck to replace a 29 year old fire vehicle.  While Council raised no objection to the purchase, there was discussion about Turner’s plan to keep a third, 21 year old fire truck as a backup vehicle.

Given that the city will have both a brand new firetruck and an almost new (5 year old) ladder truck at its disposal, Councilman Bob Mastrangelo questioned whether the city needed to spend money maintaining a reserve vehicle and whether the city could/should instead generate some income for the fire department by selling the 21 year old truck instead.  

Turner explained, to Council's apparent satisfaction, that since the city’s new fire vehicles are pretty sophisticated, repairs and maintenance can knock them out of service for extended periods. Turner felt that residents would be best served by having two working vehicles at the department’s disposal at all times, which is what having a reserve vehicle was all about.

WELCOME MADAME PRESIDENT

I admit I was holding my breath a bit as I walked into Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole meeting.

First up on the agenda: election of a new Council President (with Scott Coleman’s resignation, the former Council President, Mayfield Heights city employee Chuck Brunello, has stepped up to be Highland Heights’s acting mayor).

Why the breath holding?

Prior to the meeting Councilwoman Cathy Murphy was reported to have, “expressed interest to her colleagues in again serving as (Council) president” and that she was also considering throwing her hat in the mayor’s race, as Brunello has already done. https://www.cleveland.com/hillcrest/index.ssf/2019/02/highland_heights_21.html

Walking into the meeting I was imaging what might unfold if two candidates for mayor ended up serving as Mayor and Council President during this difficult post-Coleman transition period.

Would Highland Heights residents be subjected to endless posturing and one-upmanship at council meetings and in the press for the next 9 months, leading up to the November election?

Perhaps recognizing that possibility….and embracing their responsibility to calm things down after Coleman’s shocking resignation….council members chose a different route, elevating a new face to the President’s chair: Lisa Marie Stickan.

Stickan, a lawyer who is well-known in Republican circles, has served as both a ward rep and as an at-large member of Council since 2010. She has a reputation for working well with her council peers---even those with whom she has, at times, disagreed.

          Democracy is all about the balance of power. 

The city is well-served by Council members who represent different points of view and who are willing to stand up and speak their minds--- especially if they disagree with the mayor. 

But it’s just as important that city officials not take                                       such disputes personally.

Some council members are better at doing that ---not taking things personally---than others.

My sense is that Council made the right move in their Council President selection this time around.

COLEMAN SCANDAL TOLL

Although some speculated that Scott Coleman would do all he could to hang in, despite Rep. Dave Joyce's Federal Elections Commission filing, that didn't prove to be the case.

He has resigned as mayor....an implicit admission of the seriousness of the charges against him.
https://www.cleveland.com/open/2019/02/highland-heights-mayor-scott-coleman-resigns-after-campaign-embezzlement-allegation.html

The Council President---in this case Mayfield City Service/Parks Department employee Chuck Brunello---will serve in Coleman's stead until a new mayor is elected in November.

Various council members, quoted in the press, have indicated that they don't think any city financial shenanigans have gone on under Coleman's watch.....but I think they need to prove that to residents by obtaining an independent audit of the city's books, going back several years. 

I do wonder what would cause Coleman, if true, to engage in the alleged behavior.

Why would a well-paid, well-respected member of this community do something so stupid and so ruinous? 

Speculation abounds....was there a problem with drugs? gambling? blackmail? Or was it just plain old greed? We may never know.

What I do know is that Coleman is now a ruined man.

No company likes the kind of publicity that Coleman's behavior has engendered. My best guess, given the seriousness of the allegations, is that on top of everything else he will lose his accounting/tax manager job with Progressive Insurance (if he hasn't already).

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I have never been a big fan of Scott Coleman, the mayor, but I can say quite honestly that I have never wished Scott Coleman, the person, ill.

I am truly sorry for the agony his family must be experiencing.

It is a very sad end to a long political career.