The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1911-06-02
PROCTOR'S METHODS
ARE CRITICISED
Gave Personal Check on Bank in
Brattleboro
INSTEAD OF ORDER ON THE TOWN
Report on Loose Methods OF Doing
Business OF Town of Northheld-
Auditing of Accounts a Perfunctory
Satisfaction Over $4,000,

Auditing OF Accounts feTluhStoEy
Process-Abstracti Over $4,000,
\ special townmeeting was held at
Mortified saturday TO hear the report OF
the state bureau OF statistics on the recent
audit OF the town books which resulted
in disclosures Of shortage. Director Get
temy's report and recommendations were
read and the town accepted the report
without comment
The auditing wa, done by Edward II.
/. fentOn, an expert municipal accountant
attached TO the bureau, and shortly after
| he began his work disclosures Were mad
which resulted in the arrest OF one ut he
selectmen. 4 ". Proctor, who WIS also
clerk OF the board and on whose order,
payments Of town money were made Toy
! the treasurer While nothing was found
rehectlng on the integrity OF the treas.
urer, he j. criticised Tor his methods OF
accounting aud handling the town funds.
\ The director OF the bureau summarizes
his findings as follows -
! l. That Che clerk OF the sclectmen 50
manipulated his accounts and issued orders
on the town treasurer in such a manner a.
to indicate the abstraction at various
! times, OF town funds aggregating S6662.DS
| This amount j., in our judgement con.
seryatNe figure, Inasmucli a. m several
Instances the real character of the trans.
actions though open TO grave Suspicion,
could not be accurately determined Tor
lack OF sufficient data, and were therefore
excluded from our computations,
, That the accounts OF the treasurer
were found To be correct, except m two in-
stances in which the errors, which Were
what might be termed clerical, were subsc.
l,ttt an ~ 2
treasurer's methods in keeping the ay-
counts OF the town and handling lis funds
have been exceedingly lax.
3. That the auditing OF the accounts OF
the town as performed by the regular town
auditor was clearly of "a peiiUnctOlN char
acter, and a. the results OF our audit have
shown. OF no value whatever a. aliOrd1ng
any substantial protection to the town.
The report continues in part rs follows
II appears that the Selectmen, instead OF
personally passing upon orders on the
treasurer for the payment OF town money
in their capacity a. a board, delegated
this function to one of their own members,
who was designated clerk of the board,
and who. in that capacity, was permitted
to draw all orders on the treasury without
such supervision over his acts by hls col
leagues as the disclosures of our audit
would indicate should have been eNerclsed
Tor the proper protection OF the town;
Thus the clerk OF the Selectmen would
draw an order on the treasurer for a Ger
tain amount. presumably for the purpose
OF meeting bill against the town tor the
amount specified in the order. but inst cad
of giving the order TO the towns CREDITOR
in whose favor II was drawn, the clerk
would pay the creditor IN cash OF by his
personal check and deposit the order mi
the Vermont national bank at Brattleboro,
VT, where he had a personal account. the
bank accepting the same Notwithstanding
il did not bear the Endorsement OF the
payee; or he would give bona tide order
on the town treasurer to the person mi
whose favor it was drawn and deposit
another order without proper Endorsement
covering the same charge The town
treasurer would then. IN due time, bel
notified by the bank that 1t had paid
town orders to a certain amount, and theI
treasurer would thereupon remit his check |
for the amount specified. In this manner
the clerk OF the selectmen was able to draw
orders for amounts in excess OF the amo ants
actually due the town creditors. The
Vermont National bank evidently paid
these sums to somebody. since, by the
statement it called upon him
for reimbursement. whereupon he REIN
bursed the bank from the town fgnds; the
sums in question were thus lost to the
town and. since the clerk Of the select men
who deposited the orders in this bank has
a personal account there and many OF the
orders bear his name or initials Endorsed
thereon, sometimes accompanied by the
letters "Cr.' presumably an abbreyia ton
Of credit. the inference seems to be IuSt
fled that the orders We're placed To the +
credit Of his personal account the bank
treating them as it would a property IN
dorsed check presented for deposit
Still another method pursued was for
the clerk OF the selectmen to deposit or
ders bearing what purported TO be the
genuine Endorsement of the persons IN
whose favor they were drawn, the lndorse'
ment however, in several instances beng
repudiated and the persons in whose favor
these particular orders were drawn claim {
ing never to have received payment there
On: yet the amounts appear on the treas
nrer'S books as having been paid. since /
ne reimbursed the Vermont National bank
,or the payment.
The amount of actual cash on hand at II
The beginning of the audit was found TO
be Sill l66s2, of which S9SO66O was de |
posted to the towns account IN the Frank Il
in County National bank at Green field, /,
md s.. 800 - was in loose cash and unde. !
posted checks at the treasurers house, L
where he has a safe, in which the towns /
money it may be presumed, is ordinarily {
Kept One reason given for keeping the {
Dose cash at the treasurers house instead
IF in the safe at the town hall is that the I
after is used in common by the Other
own officers. But at the time of the cal. !
made by our accountant, the treasurer pro i
luced the money from various places about |
Ms house: some of il was in an unlocked t
in box on the top of his desk, entirely
and some was in the safe /
When the several lots were counted, it a
vas found that the total, when added TO /
he amount on deposit in the Franklin X
county national bank was SS65i IN eN- t
ess of the balances as shown by the treas IN
lrer's cash book. which was explained by S
he treasurer stating that the surplus was t
lis own money. The fact that in tins In v
tance the amount on hand was more than t
ufiicient to cover the proper balance, as S
hown by the books, can hardly be Offered t
n extenuation of such loose method Of o
handling the town funds. The office Of t
own treasurer is position of trust. and z
lie is never justified in mingling his own t
personal funds with those of the town. /
We have found nothing to indicate that 2
he present treasurer has Improperly used $
he towns funds as capital in tie ord mary t
Transactions of his private affairs: but we n
10 not hesitate to say that his failure to t.
,eep separate at all times his personal
rnds from those of the town cannot be
90 strongly condemned, and that, in JUS
ice to both himself and the town. such
omplete separation should be Vigorously
insisted upon. The treasurer's methods D
ave been furthermore at fault in tn at he S
las not entered all payments in his cash S
,ook at the time they were made. For W