Sounds like a Dickens’ novel, doesn’t it? You’ll find it on the IRB Library shelf right next to The Grilling of Grieshaber, The Canonization of Cottrell, The Offing of Coffey, Salzman’s Sendoff and a few others.
All kidding aside, at this Tuesday night’s commission meeting on July 8th at 7 p.m., the fate of IRB Finance Director Marty Schless is on the line. This charter officer has been publicly insulted, criticized, turned on like a snake, and humiliated on more than one occasion; Tuesday promises to be no exception. Only this time, one can only hope that Marty puts his gentlemanlike demeanor on hold and finally calls a spade a spade—something long overdue.
While I’ve run businesses and can muddle through a set of financials or a simple balance sheet, I’m no financial genius by any stretch. So, I defer to those with more expertise in that area when it comes to assessing Marty Schless’ qualifications, abilities and performance. But, when I simply look at the facts, they just don’t point to Marty losing his job.
1. SCHLESS inherited a set of books from his predecessor for which a forensic accounting had to be hired to straighten them out because they couldn’t be closed.
2. SCHLESS worked through Cottrell’s unbelievably confusing “shell game” at budget time last year without so much as a whimper. It was Marty who was left to pick up the pieces after being asked to drop Cottrell off at home early one afternoon, taking possession of Cottrell's keys and the instruction to contact his lawyer if the City needed anything.
3. SCHLESS was not and is NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BUDGET; that job belongs to the City Manager. Yet, Marty was blamed over and over again for problems associated with Cottrell’s budget.
Marty’s biggest mistake, in my opinion, was answering truthfully “YES” to the point-blank question "Were loans or transfers being made from the General Fund to the Sewer/Solid Waste Fund”? Marty Schless didn’t lie. He didn’t try to cover it up, which may turn out to be a career mistake. Had he “fallen in line” and followed the trend of his predecessors, Tuesday night’s agenda might look differently.
It’s obvious that someone or a “string of someones” knew these unapproved loans were occurring. The “powers that be” had to know that these loans/transfers existed in order to continue accounting for them so secretly for such a long time. That “cat-in-the-litterbox cover-up” began BEFORE Schless was added to the IRB payroll, yet he gets scapegoat status.
No one in six years ever spoke up to reveal the problem because they were afraid that what is about to happen to Marty would happen to them. Does Marty Schless, if terminated, have a potential whistleblower action against the City of IRB? Can we afford another lawsuit? Between the Grieshaber fiasco and the Whitehurst mess, this City, to date, has spent almost $50M! (We’ve nearly spent enough money on lawsuits to keep our cop!)
I find it ironic, too, that the commissioner who publicly admitted to being totally confused during last year’s budget process is leading the charge against Marty. In truth, however, others with a great deal of financial acumen, are also calling for Marty’s ouster.
Firing Marty Schless will effectively shoot THE GUY with the most answers to the who, what, when, where and why of these secret fund transfers, loans or whatever you want to call them. There were serious violations of our City Charter, violations that defrauded all of us as taxpayers—violations that we are going to be asked to pay for in a big way. Firing Marty will be the precursor to the City jumping back into the litterbox and more sand flying through the air. We’ll be told that “how it happened doesn’t matter.” How can we be sure it will never happen again if we don’t know the particulars of how it happened in the first place?
The great sales/management consultant Don Beveridge once said that if an organization has NO TURNOVER in staff something is wrong. Well at least we don’t have that problem at City Hall. That’s certainly a relief.
Nancy Obarski
Beach Trail/IRB
2 comments:
The problem is, not only did Marty not whimper, he didn't speak up at any time and say something was wrong. He either didn't know better or continued to cover it up. Either way we need better.
While the Finance Director is not responsible for the budget, he is responsible and mandated by the City Charter to follow certain governmental accounting standards. That didn't happen. He may have done what he was told, but that isn't what we hired him to do, any decent book-keeper could do that for a third the cost.
Marty’s biggest mistake, was not answering “YES", it was not doing his job CORRECTLY. When CONFRONTED he only admitted the transfers were going on. He didn't volunteer anything. Marty never alerted us to any of these financial problems. Did he not know, or did he continue to cover it up? We shouldn't be so quick to reward him with continued employment just because he didn't lie. That is setting the bar way too low. He hasn't done anything to fix this mess and on more than one occasion has refused to attend meetings regarding this subject.
While finding the who, what, when, and why is important, the critical event right now is finalizing the 2009 budget. How can we complete it when we have no idea what the numbers are for 2008? While the commission has had their heads in the sand, time has moved forward - the new budget must be in place in a few short months. We need someone we can trust to get this mess straightened out and to guide the city and the commission, none of which have an ounce of financial experience, through the budget process. Marty has already proven he isn't the one we can count on.
I do not attend meetings and have never meet the Finance Director. Here is what I do know. Any finance officer who has to have an outside consultant come in to do a year-end reconciliation of his books is not doing his job. The amount of money being spent on IRB's finance department is out of control!
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