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| Leg. Karl Graves |
As most of my readers know I’m no stranger to local
government. Since my early 20’s I was
either working for a municipality or serving on one of their boards. As Supervisor and Mayor of Andover, for some
20 years, I was very proud that during most of that time we were able to reduce
property taxes and increase services. We
reduced the size of government as much as possible and reduced the town and
villages insurance liability profile to boot.
We survived audits by the State Comptroller by using them as
learning experiences. We made
recommended changes, instituted new policies and developed programs that
complimented the core mission of our government. I learned firsthand that keeping track of
where our money went was the secret to success.
Since my first days on the Board of Legislators I have been
concerned about the lack of involvement we have in the audit process. It takes less than 15 or 20 minutes for our
board to spend millions and millions of dollars. The cursory audit report we get is accepted,
for the most part, without question. The
lump sum figures listed give no insight as to why, where or when these monies
were spent. It’s just assumed that
everything is good to go and no one should be concerned.
That’s where it concerns me. Recently I was allowed to view,
for only a brief time, an Audit report very similar in scope to what I was
familiar with as a Town Supervisor and Mayor.
I’ve literally spent months now trying to get my hands on a copy of it
or a similar missive.
Here is what I was told:
A) Yes, you can see the Audit Report – The full Board of Legislature
expressed their support. B) Well, there
may be some issues, HIPPA (Which is an acronym that stands for the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a US law designed to provide
privacy standards to protect patients medical records and other health
information.) that we might have to address.
C) Viewing the current Audit Report is not convenient as there is a
short window allowed from when it is submitted to when it has to be returned.
I didn’t document it but I’m fairly certain that I discussed
the fact that I have been trained on HIPPA requirements and other
confidentiality rules. That I have no
interest in who gets a benefit check from the county (I know a lot of those
just by happenstance, yet have never revealed this information to anyone.) or
anything of that nature. I’m willing to
be trained, sign a waiver, dance on one foot while patting my head, or anything
else that will get me to where I can see this report unrestricted!
On May 8, 2018, I sent an email to our County Administrator
advising him that I do not want to cause anyone, least of all him, difficulties
with the operation of his office. I
suggested that a completed Audit Report was acceptable to me. No response was received.
Feeling that I had no other recourse, I filed a Freedom of
Information (FOIL) request with our Clerk of the Board, which basically forced
the County Administrator to respond to my request to view a completed Audit
Report. Apparently I upset him. This Saturday, by delivery of the U. S. Postal
Service I received a reply. My request
to view a report has been granted but under the following terms and conditions:
“You will receive, within (20) days, a redacted copy of the
May 29th Audit.” “This report must be
redacted on several levels and will require time to thoroughly and accurately
prepare the document. In addition to the
Treasurer’s Office, it must be reviewed and redacted by: Department Of Social
Services, Department of Health, Human Resources, and Workers Compensation to
redact any client sensitive or HIPPA related information. This is a timely and costly process.”
I was denied future access as under the FOIL statute future
records are not subject because they do not exist at the time of my instant
request. They need to be requested after
the document has been created.
As a follow up, the letter also stated that “Legislation
governing responses for such requests permit the governing body to charge a fee
for their production. You will not be
charged for the production of this report.
However, we will be documenting the number of personnel hours and
associated costs with the redaction process as well as the copying costs. Those fees will be applied to any subsequent
requests for release of the Audit Report.”
Apparently, to do my job correctly, I have to risk veiled
threats – just so I can see where our money goes. Something is radically wrong here and I
intend to find out what it is. Stay
tuned! It isn’t over yet.
Respectfully,
Karl Graves, Legislator
District 4
