Commission’s efforts plagued by obstacles

MACHIAS — Murphy’s Law, “If there is a possibility for something to go wrong, it will go wrong,” continued to frustrate the Washington County Commission on Tuesday in its hurried task of reconstructing the county’s 1993 and 1994 financial records before year’s end.

At their regular monthly meeting, the commissioners had anticipated receiving from county treasurer Sonia Mallar a detailed financial report and an explanation of the whereabouts of an unaccounted-for $22,000 check received in July from the Department of Corrections. Mallar, who was scheduled first on the agenda, did not attend.

Also, the commissioners announced that their temporary bookkeeper, Donna Dzierzynski, who was hired recently to help reconstruct the financial records, has developed a back problem. She has not worked since Nov. 30 and will be available only for part-time work at her home.

Losing Dzierzynski’s services, the commission sought the services of former county treasurer Jill Holmes, but Holmes was unavailable.

Commissioner Mary Follis was openly disappointed at Mallar’s failure to meet with the commissioners. She said that during a discussion with Mallar last Tuesday “there was no indication she would be unable to attend. This delays things for another two weeks.”

The commissioners voted to have the clerk write a letter ordering the treasurer to notify the commission by 10 a.m. if she was unable to attend a commission meeting.

Follis also wanted to question Mallar concerning the $22,000 check that the commission has been unable to locate since July. “It is not listed as an asset” in any of the banks known to the commissioners, she said.

The commissioners also said they wanted to question Mallar concerning several W-2 records that are missing from the county’s vault in the basement of the courthouse. The records are needed to reconstruct Maine State Retirement records. Commissioners said Mallar holds the only key to the vault.

Commissioner Edward Cline said the District Attorney’s Office had repeatedly “admonished her (Mallar) to comply with this commission, but she has refused since last April. There is something called compliance.”

Commission Chairman Preston Smith said, “There is no teeth in the laws” to compel the elected treasurer to comply with the wishes of the commission. “We have been advised to call in the attorney general, but nobody should be subjected to that in their first year on the job,” he said.

Richard Skinner of Meddybemps, one of about 15 people who attended the commission meeting Tuesday, told the commissioners, “If the AG won’t step in, there is always the governor” who could be asked to deal with the treasurer.

“We’ve been very gullible,” said Smith. “It was a whole year before we found out how bad things were” with the records.

Smith was hesitant to blame the Department of Audit for not taking more action concerning the county’s financial accountability and its treasurers during the past few years. “The government won’t pay any attention to you unless you have documentation” of incompetence or wrongdoing. “We weren’t going to air our dirty laundry unless we had to. Now we have to.”

Mallar was unavailable Tuesday to comment on the allegations the commissioners made Tuesday.

In an attempt to inject more work time into reconstructing the books, the commissioners voted Tuesday afternoon to close their clerk’s office for one week, freeing Clerk Joyce Thompson and her assistant, Dale Richardson, to invest all of their time on the project. The office has been operated part time in the last two weeks. Thompson announced on Nov. 22 that her office would be open only from 3:30 to 4 p.m. until further notice, allowing the office staff time to reconstruct financial records of the past two years.

Smith said the office would be closed Dec. 12-16. He expressed distaste for the idea of having to close the office, but said the commission was left with no choice but to close it and have the staff try to salvage the records before the end of the year.

“Once we start into the new year without reconstructed books, then nobody (in the county) works. It would not only be a catastrophe, it would be a complete disaster,” he said. His concern was that without appropriate financial books, area banking institutions may not lend the county operational funds for the new year.

To improve the county’s banking system beginning in 1995, the commission voted to solicit bids from all area banks for the job of processing all transactions involving the county and the unorganized townships. The new system would include a method of reconciling its checking accounts.