FRIENDS AND THE FAC

In 2020, Anne Rider, Katie Buckly and Sheila Morse were all appointed to Guilford’s inaugural Finance Advisory Committee. All three are also founding members of the “Friends of Algiers Village.” 

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Former Guilford Selectboard Chair, Anne Rider, is the President of the Friends of Algiers Village.

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Former Guilford Selectboard Chair, Sheila Morse, is the Treasurer/Principal Officer of the Friends.

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Guilford’s first ever Town Administrator, Katie Buckley, was a Director of the Friends.

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Anne Rider voted to appoint Katie Buckley as Guilford’s first ever Town Administrator. While Anne was the Chair of the Selectboard, she also drafted Guilford’s Capital Improvement Plan.

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Sheila Morse was a Selectboard member who signed the Capital Plan with Anne. When Anne Resigned in the middle of her term as Chair of the Selectboard, she endorsed Shiela to replace her.

Sheila then drafted Guilford’s Reserve Fund Policy and Conflict of Interest Policy before resigning in the middle of her term as Chair. (Zon Eastes was appointed to fill Sheila’s vacancy, and Richard Wizansky was nominated Chair)

Anne, Sheila and Katie were then appointed to Guilford’s first ever FAC (by the Selectboard Sheila had just resigned from) to administer the policies they had all helped draft.

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What happened to the 01/19/24 recorded FAC meeting?

 

Tammy Sargent began asking members of the FAC questions about the Selectboard’s use of the Reserve and Capital Funds. Specifically Tammy inquired about the expenses incurred due to the Library Expansion Project.

 

Since there was a long open vacancy on the FAC, Tammy requested that she be appointed to fill that seat.

 

On 01/19/24 Tammy attended her first FAC meeting where there was a lengthy discussion about $312,000, which the Guilford Free Library claimed was set aside in a Library Capital Improvement Account. Zon Eastes said there was no such account.

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Tammy wanted to watch the recording of the 1/19 meeting to review what was said, but it wasn’t posted on the town’s website. So, she asked the Selectboard's appointed Town Administrator, Erika Elder, for the link.

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Ericka first told Tammy that there wasn't a video because she had forgotten to record it. However, Tammy noted that the meeting was being recorded, which she then confirmed with another zoom attendee.

 

When confronted, Erika changed her story and said that she did record the meeting, but it wasn’t saved because “the cloud was full.”

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On 05/14/24 at 4:54, Erika attempted to explain why the zoom video was not saved for the 01/19/24 FAC meeting.

 

Ericka claimed that the meeting wasn't recorded because the cloud was full. However, according to Zoom Support, the administrator (Ericka) will receive a warning that the account has reached 80% capacity. If your cloud account reaches its storage limit, then you cannot begin recording any meetings or webinars to the cloud, but you can still record locally to your device.

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It also states that if you reach the storage limit during a recording, the recording will continue to the end. Once you’re over the limit, you can’t create any more cloud recordings, but you will have full access to any recordings you’ve already created.

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Since Ericka confirmed that the meeting was in fact being recorded, then either the cloud storage was not full, and it was being recorded to the cloud, or it was recorded locally on her device for a later upload to the cloud. Either way, the public recording has since been destroyed.

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Tammy then noted that the minutes of the 1/19/24 meeting, which were being presented for her approval, did not even reflect the lengthy discussion about the library fund.

 

At 11:50 Zon states that the "meeting minutes are only required to reflect who was present, what time the meeting was called, and which actions were taken."

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Who's "invited to sit in" when the Professional Auditor reviews Guilford’s Books?

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On 02/16/2024, Tammy attended her 2nd FAC meeting. At 1:01:25 Erika Elder and Sheila Morse both stated that members of the public were "invited to sit in" when the professional auditor (who they referred to as Bonnie) was at the town office doing her work.

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However, during the 05/14/24 FAC meeting, Zon, Erika and Sheila stated that members of the public were not invited to sit in with the auditor. 

 

At 17:00 the discussion began about Bonny starting Guilford's audit, and there was no longer an invitation to just sit in. Tammy, or anyone, would need to make an appointment with Ellie, Guilford's appointed Town Treasurer, to “observe” Bonnie at work.

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To add, on April 5th, one month before the 05/14/24 FAC meeting and 5 weeks before "Bonnie" started her Audit, one of Guilford’s Elected Town Auditor’s suddenly resigned. So, Tammy requested that the Selectboard appoint her to that position. Lyndsey Mitchell, an Enrolled Agent with the IRS, also offered her services.

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Almost three months after Tammy and Lyndsey submitted their applications, and a month after Bonnie finished her audit, on 6/24/24, the Selectboard chose Chairman Eastes’ former “freelance bookkeeper” Bob Tucker to fill the Auditor Vacancy. Tucker is also married to the Chairwoman of the Guilford Library Board of Trustees.

 

How to Kill the Finance Advisory Committee

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On August 15th, following Bonnie's Audit and Tuckers appointment to the Elected Auditor position, but before the next FAC meeting was scheduled, Tammy received an email from the FAC Chairwoman, Sheila Morse. FAC members Timm Harris, and Gordon Little were attached along with Selectboard Chairman, Zon Eastes, and Town Administrator, Erika Elder.

 

The email read:​"Our next quarterly meeting is scheduled for Thursday, 9/19. As of today, the SB has not asked our committee for any input. So this meeting may well be similar to last quarter's meeting -- approval of the minutes -- unless the SB determines it would like to task us with anything. I'm raising this now as there are 2 SB meetings between now and the 19th of September. Sheila 

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Tammy replied to Sheila's email on Fri, Aug 16:

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I have added Tara Cheney to this email as I believe she is now the liaison to the FAC. I have also added Elly Majonen in hopes that she can email us documents to start looking over before our meeting on the 19th of September.

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I would like a review of FY2024 finances added to the agenda for our 9/19/2024 meeting. I would like to start looking at the financial information for FY 2024 as that ended June 30th and the professional audit has already begun.

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Tammy also pointed out the purpose of the FAC, which was based on the information advertised on Guilford’s Town website:

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"The purpose of the Finance Advisory Committee (FAC) is to assist the Selectboard in fulfilling its statutory responsibility for the Town's finances. The FAC scope of work will include, but is not limited to:

1.            Review of annual operating budgets

2.            Review numbered Town funds

3.            Evaluate existing debt and debt capacity

4.            Review Capital Program as it informs and impacts the Capital Fund

5.            Assist with creating annual budgets

6.            Review of financial information for the annual report (Town Report) for accuracy

7.            Assist with contingency planning for potential budget shortfalls

8.            Make recommendations to the Selectboard regarding the Towns’ finances"

 

Tammy then asked the Selectboard's appointed Town Treasurer, Elly, if she could please email the chart of accounts work sheets that were used for FY2024 to FAC members.

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Among other information, Ellie stated that: there is one chart of accounts and it is broken down into funds. Each fund has revenues and expenses. This information is part of the general ledger, which, in short, is the mechanism for tracking all revenue and expenses.

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On Fri, Aug 16, 2024 at 12:59 PM Tammy wrote:

 

Thank you, Elly! This is very helpful.

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It sounds like most of the reports are derived from the General Ledger detailed report that shows everything. Could you please email that report to all of us? I don't think it's necessary to wait for the completion of the professional audit before sharing this information. I think it's important to start looking at the Town Finances sooner rather than later as we will be starting to look at the 2026 budget soon. Thanks, Tammy

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08/16/2024 FAC member Timm Harris responds “all” to Tammy’s request for documents. When Timm responded to everyone about Tammy's request, he started an unannounced discussion with a quorum of a public committee:

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Hello All, I don't see Tammy's extensive items to 'look at’ in keeping with the FAC mandate. We're a body designed to assist the SB as the SB sees fit, not as some sort of over-sight organization. If the SB wants the FAC to get into the weeds as Tammy sees to think is required, then OK, but I think this is over-reach at this point in time. Timm

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08/17/2024 Former Selectboard member Gordon Little continues the unanounced discussion:

 

All, I would like to echo Timm's thoughts on the FAC's charge which he accurately states “We're a body designed to assist the SB as the SB sees fit, not as some sort of over­sight organization.” I too do not think it is appropriate for this committee to drive a conversation FOR the SB. (…)

Gordon

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08/22/2024 Sheila Morse points out the discussion might be a violation of Vermont’s Open Meeting Law:

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To all who have been included in this email thread, the Secretary of State website states specifically that Open Meeting Law requires that we "Discuss all business and take all actions in open meeting, unless an exception in statute applies." Thus, Finance Advisory Committee members may not exchange opinions with each other in group emails. (…)

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I would ask that the FAC members wait for guidance from the SB, and I have reached out to Zon for that purpose. Thanks for your patience. Sheila Chair, FAC

 

09/06/2024 Sheila again responds:

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Dear all, I have been advised that the Selectboard will discuss the Finance Advisory Committee at one of its next meetings (not this coming Monday, 9/9). Pending the outcome of that discussion, we will NOT meet on 9/19. Stay tuned! Sheila Chair, FAC

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10/28/2024 Guilford Selectboard discusses disbanding the FAC at 55:28

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It sure looks like the FAC was disbanded because Tammy was attempting to serve the purpose / function of the committee. If you read the details of the FAC role on the town website, you will see that there is no reason to disband this committee.

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Following Zon's Election Victory, on 11/13/2024, the Selectboard voted to disband the FAC here at 13:10.

 

Zon claimed that "reporting and understanding are in a better place. The Committee isn’t needed as it was created."