Kennett finance investigation continuing
Kennett Township supervisors continue to plan out their next steps following the anticipated conclusion of the Chester County district attorney’s investigation into suspected financial irregularities in the township’s financial accounts.
There is no word on when the investigation will be finished. But once the district attorney and a forensic accountant release their findings, the supervisors will do three things, according to supervisors’ Chairman Scudder Stevens.
They will issue a press release from the township; they will post the report, the township’s and district attorney’s press releases, and “any other public documents that are available” on the township website; and they will announce the date, time, and location of a special public meeting where they will talk about what happened, Stevens said.
As he had said at previous meetings, the special meeting will be a chance to learn “what happened, who the DA’s office deemed was responsible, and what is being done to fix it all.”
“It has been a very long time for all of us, and we cannot wait to share the results of what has been an extremely thorough and painstaking investigation,” Stevens said Wednesday. “We continue to appreciate your patience and your confidence in us.”
The investigation was launched, and a forensic accountant hired by the township, following the April 25 discovery of the suspected financial irregularities. Former township Manager Lisa Moore was first placed on paid administrative leave and then terminated in May. Other steps were taken by the supervisors to improve the financial and administrative health of the township.
At Wednesday’s supervisors’ meeting, the board also approved hiring VideoNet, a Malvern-based video production service, to provide video and audio of the special meeting. The cost of VideoNet’s services is not to exceed $6,111.56, according to township Manager Eden Ratliff.
Ratliff said he, new finance director Amy Heinrich, and township staff spent more than 700 hours over the last 60 days scrutinizing every expense and proposal to create a comprehensive budget “from the bottom up” for 2020.
In the budget report he presented Wednesday, Ratliff wrote that the way the township finances were managed in the past “didn’t allow for a comprehensive understanding of the township nor the true cost to operate the township and deliver government services.”
In the proposed 2020 budget, which needs to be adopted by Dec. 30, there are no expenses in the general fund related to the investigation. A note in the budget documents reads, “Any expenses related to the financial investigation are assumed to be funded from reserve.”
About Monica Fragale
Monica Thompson Fragale is a freelance reporter who spent her life dreaming of being in the newspaper business. That dream came true after college when she started working at The Kennett Paper and, years later The Reporter newspaper in Lansdale and other dailies. She turned to non-profit work after her first daughter was born and spent the next 13 years in that field. But while you can take the girl out of journalism, you can’t take journalism out of the girl. Offers to freelance sparked the writing bug again started her fingers happily tapping away on the keyboard. Monica lives with her husband and two children in Kennett Square.
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