Foley resigns amid financial discrepancies

By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
    LUDLOW — Selectmen accepted the resignation of longtime Ludlow town manager Marybeth Foley and said any discussion about her was “off limits due to personnel issues” at their meeting June 30. They added that “the town was starting fresh.”
    The move came during an ongoing state audit and a private audit. The state audit revealed discrepancies of at least $3,500 unaccounted for so far in a preliminary report from State Auditor Neria Douglass. The time frame for the “discrepancy” covers January through May 2008.
    Ginny McCain said she had only just received the report about one hour before the meeting that started at 6 p.m. Douglass, according to McCain, did not reveal additional matters being reviewed in the state auditor’s office. And, McCain said there had not been time to question Foley about the missing money since she had just received the report.
    Recommendations by Ludlow’s auditor, Doug Hollingsworth, C.P.A. were to develop a good filing system to track expenses, purchase state-of-the-art software and provide training for town staff. Selectman Ted Ivey said “some receipts were in plastic Shop ‘n Save shopping bags tied together. I kid you not.”
    After the selectmen signed checks to pay bills, McCain stated that the town had $177,000 and was catching up on the school bill which had been paid through March.
    Contracts for local police, fire, ambulance and animal shelter services along with purchases of sand and salt cannot be arranged until a town meeting is held and residents approve them. Also brought up was reinforcing the requirement of showing proof of insurance and signing a written contract for any work costing more than $500 for any job up for bids.
Forward to the future
    McCain said the next steps include advertising for a new town manager, holding a budget meeting,  preparing a town report, scheduling a town meeting and holding an election for selectmen. A date has not been set yet for the meetings, which will probably occur sometime in mid-August. Applications for the town manager position are being advertised in the Pioneer Times.
    Residents discussed the need for new strategies and requirements to hire a town manager. Residents expressed concerns about skills, experience, a job description, in-service training, periodic evaluations and computer security.
    Also discussed, but not decided, was the possibility of expanding the board to more than three selectmen. David Stevens, a resident, said “a job description and evaluation of the town manager are critical because you cannot expect to evaluate the person if there are no parameters. The town manager answers to [the selectmen] directly.”
    Stevens also said it should be easy to find the right candidate because of the current job market. “There are a lot of good people out there with an education who could probably do a good job. That’s where a screening committee would come in,” asserted Stevens. Tom Milton said if necessary, hiring a candidate  could be conditional upon attending certain educational courses.
    Brenda Hemingway added that Ludlow may have to consider contracting with another town and sharing services as some other towns are doing.
    Selectman Greg Dow reminded residents to make arrangements to call the town office to pay back taxes. McCain said when the office reopens, interest will be charged on unpaid taxes.