(2/23) Following recent conversation with the township’s bonding company, Liberty’s elected auditors expressed concern to the Township’s Board of Supervisors about ‘non-bonded’ supervisors opening mail coming into the office.
A treasurer’s bond is a policy with an insurance company put in place by the Board of Supervisors for faithful performance of the Township Treasurer in the performance of their duties equal to the highest amount of township funds available to the township treasurer at any time during the year.
The supervisors are not bonded for any sort of action, Township Solicitor John Lisko said. The auditors noted that the township had only two bonded employees, the treasurer and the assistant treasurer, whose role it is to handle townships finances and bookkeeping. The auditors expressed concern that if a supervisor opened a letter with a check in it, they could potentially invalidate the insurance bond by breaking the chain of custody between the letter sender, the post office, and the township’s treasurer.
The township assistant treasurer serves as an alternate to the treasure and is not involved with mail or processing checks in any way, according to Barlow. She is only bonded because she is in charge of reconciling bank statements once a month.
Lisko did not recommend any additional policies, such as putting one person in charge of finances, citing it would only increase risk. As seen in municipalities, including Liberty with former township secretary-treasurer LeeEsta Shafer, he noted, when one individual has complete control over all treasury aspects of the town, including opening the mail and writing checks, the less accountable the employe is made to be as their performance is not scrutinized as much as it should be.
"An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. The more people involved the less likelihood of getting ripped off," Lisko said.
Lisko noted supervisors are essentially in charge of the mail that comes addressed to the Township and imposing additional regulations would be "basically telling them they can’t open their mail."
"In small townships like this, you need to have people involved reviewing records and credit card accounts," he said.
Elected auditor Richard Swiat said the Board of Auditors were not accusing anyone of wrongdoing, but wanted to ensure the township was not spending money they didn’t have to.
To verify that the current practices of allowing Township Supervisors to open township mail does not break the Township’s bond, supervisors will meet with the bonding company at its March meeting, along with the Townships auditors, for clarification, according to Barlow.
Unless directed otherwise, the township will continue its operation of finances per township code, including insuring three people sign off on "all checks that go out the door," Barlow said.
In other business, the Board of Supervisors approved the promotion of Liberty Township Police Officer Jim French to Lieutenant. "We appreciate you taking responsibility to step into that position," Barlow said.
Supervisor Vice Chairman Bobby Keilhotlz. noted French brings many distinctive qualities to the police department and the township with his vast experience. The supervisors also accepted the resignations of two police officers.
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