August 22, 2011, I asked “Is it true that Raj from the Finance Department didn’t show up to work today and that he is on his way to India?

At the August 22, 2011 Coatesville City Council Meeting:

I asked, “Is it true that Raj from the Finance Department didn’t show up to work today and that he may be on his way to India?

City Solicitor John Carnes, “That’s a personnel matter, that can’t be discussed in public.”

Me, “OK, but it’s in the public record.”

John Carnes, “Well, I mean…

Me, “Now it is.”

I think the question we should be asking is; what did Raj take with him to India?

“Raj has recently reconciled the accounts payable to from the old system to the new system, which was also very, very tedious. He had to build nearly every single…individually. So once we get this primary account done we will be in very good position. I’ve talked to Mr. Green about getting in and really getting not only the books on the payroll but also just doing the payroll account very, very closely. And once we do that I think we are going to be good to go. We are close.”

FROM:

FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 2010

Some reasons why the City of Coatesville's 2008 and 2009 Budgets are not audited

Council Comments Special Coatesville City Council Meeting June 3, 2010.

Coatesville City Manager Ted Reeves, “This is what we have been dealing with since I’ve been here…That’s why the budget concerns me the way it is now, without me knowing the countdown in side of 09, for January 1 of 09 so that we have… an accurate countdown for January 1 of 10. We don’t know. We’re getting close to the information.” Raj has been working on getting those up to date. Stacy has been working on other things matching checks and matching deposits and all that stuff and I think the whole department.. has been working very hard… I think Stacy’s has someone working part time to try to get the information together. It’s a laborious slow process.”

FROM:

FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 2010

“One thing that we are all learning here is; it’s a mess.”- Ed Simpson

Below is a part of the discussion at the Budget Workshop of Thursday November 18, 2010:

Mr. Simpson, “I guess my point is that if you’re not reconciling and it’s matching every day there’s obviously an opportunity for that money to just disappear. And with what you’ve provided, the information that you’ve provided to the press last week, I’d be one of the first places that I would look. And I’d try to get it settled and get to where… You went to the press and said there’s $160,000 that you think is missing somewhere.”

Ms. Bjorhus, “Well that was in the audit.”

Mr. Simpson, “So if the audit says there’s $160,000 and we don’t know where it’s at. And now you have an opportunity where these two aren’t matching. I would start there and say, well let’s get this fixed first. Because the longer we go the more opportunity there is for someone to abuse the system."

FROM:

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2010

Budget Workshop “We’ve got to find that money. Where’s it going, out the door?”

Correction, I wrote "At the August 23, 2011 City Council Meeting." I corrected it to say, "At the August 22, 2011 City Council Meeting".