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| December 15, 2006 Barnstable Patriot |  |
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CONTINUED FROM PAGE A:1
partment allowed it "to avoid
submitting the original in-
voices to the town's Finance
Division for audit , payment
and processing."
Further, the audit notes,
"No conference material or
...itineraries were available to
support the reimbursements
to employees as official BPD
expenses."
The Trips
In September of 2005 ,
Finnegan and several other
top cops attended anInterna-
tional Association of Chiefs of
Police (IACP) convention in
Miami at taxpayer expense.
The audit , dated Oct. 18,
shows Chief Finnegan spent
$2,184: Kathleen White , the
chief'sconfidential assistant,
$2,023; Deputy Chief Craig
Tamash,$2,459; interim Chief
Paul MacDonald, a lieuten-
ant then, $1,782. These funds
were taken from a federal
tax-funded account.
In addition , for that same
trip, the town treasury paid
$1,175 in conference regis-
tration fees for MacDonald ,
Tamash and White.
Other Travels
Finnegan , who earned
$171,000, plus about 24 per-
cent more in benefits, also
used the special investiga-
tions account for other travel,
a habit that earned him the
rank and file handle of "the
absent chief."
In November 2004 the town
paid Finnegan $1,273 for an
IACP conference in LosAnge-
les but there was no itinerary
to verify attendance; Tamash
($1,973) and MacDonal d also
attended , charging the town
$925 for registration. Three
months later, in February
2005, Finnegan was in Miami
for an IACP board meeting,
drawing $970 from the fed-
eral account , bypassing town
oversight.
The next month , in March ,
Finnegan was in Washington ,
D.C., again for the IACP,
spending $639 from special
investigations.
He took three trips the fol-
lowing month , in April 2005,
with money from special
investigations. He went to
Tallahassee, Fla., for an IACP
event costing $474; later that
same month to Nashville.
Tenn., for the IACP drawing
$874, and again in the same
month, took a third trip to
New York City for the police
executive research forum
annual meeting, using $930
from the special investiga-
tions account.
The next trip was the Mi-
ami conference in September
2005. In December, Finnegan
was reimbursed $680 for an
unused airline ticket and two
months later, in February,
charged the town treasury
$739 for an IACP meeting in
Tampa, Fla.
Two months later, in April,
Chief Finnegan and Kath-
leen White charged the town
treasury $1,576 for an IACP
meeting in Alexandria, Va.
Another account shows $446
in meal reimbursements to
Finnegan.
Other officers also made
various trips , but most of
those were funded and au-
dited by the town in compli-
ance with the town's travel
reimbursement policy.
Of the Miami trip, among
the last to be funded through
the special investigations
cash account , the audit
found , "More documenta-
tion supporting the fundin g
request of $9,999 should have
been obtained by the Finance
Division staff before the fund-
ing was advanced. "
While Finnegan 's travel
expenses were drawn mostly
from unaudited specialinves-
tigations accounts , the town
treasury funded most travel
by a number of other police
employees.
The auditors write: "This
cash account receives funding
from the department' s oper-
ating budget which is funded
by taxation; therefore these
are tax dollars being expend-
ed. Although the amounts
may seem immaterial, some
of the expenses are question-
able uses of tax dollars.
"These include $70 to at-
tend the retirement party
for an individual who worked
in another community, orga-
nization dues and expenses
($543) for one employee 's
(unidentified) membership in
Rotary and several cakes for
employee celebrations. "
Whispers of the audit began
circulating in November with
several calls from individu-
als speaking on condition of
anonymity. Some believed
the report was one reason
why Finnegan entered early
retirement.
Finnegan gave personal
reasons and a preference for
Florida winter weather for
taking early retirement.
Source of funds...
CONTINUED FROM PAGE A:1
according to the audit's ex-
ecutive summary, obtained
by The Barnstable Patriot.
Milne said that a routine
look at the department's
finances earlier this year
brought the existence of
numerous cash accounts to
light, none of which are re-
viewedor processed through
the town's finance division.
The department's cash
reimbursement practice was
ended by town finance of-
ficials in July.
Milne said that the police
department was scheduled
for a comprehensive audit
this year in anticipation of
the chief's expected 2008
retirement,but the discovery
of its numerous cash ac-
countsprompted this specific
review.
Among other things, the
audit found that in the past
two years,$54,068.92 in police
department travel expenses
were charged to the following
budgets: Federal forfeiture
account, $12,450; community
policing grants $21,428, and
operating budgets $20,189.
Of these amounts,just over
$13,000 was reimbursed to
employees in cash out of vari-
oius special investigations
accounts without oversight
from the town's finance di-
vision. More than $6,000 of
these cash reimbursements
were made to former Police
Chief John Finnegan from
2004 to 2006.
The special investigations
funds are intended to be used
for drug buys and informants,
not general administrative
expenses and travel, accord-
ing to the audit. The practice
of reimbursing employees in
cash out of these accounts
was a primary focus of the
audit.
Of certain charges to these
accounts, the audit reads,
"These expenses are not
related to special investiga-
tions.This account should be
used only for special investi-
gation activity."
The sources for the funds
are local, state and federal
appropriations.
The police administration
was aware that Milne and the
auditors would be on prem-
ises for the Oct. 16 audit.
Finnegan served on the
International Association
of Chiefs of Police executive
board and made a number
of IACP trips to Florida and
other locations with funds
from the accounts not re-
viewed by the town's finance
office. Finnegan's contract
provided for this annual
expense, including "travel
and reasonable subsistence
expenses," as well as other
conferences "the Town Man-
ager deems appropriate."
Finnegan did not return
requests for comment.
TownManager John Klimm
said last week the audit is
just "part of ongoing mu-
nicipal auditing practices"
and that this is the first and
only complete draft audit of
three planned for the police
department .A "comparative
audit of our police expendi-
tures in relation to 19 other
communities is under way
and a full operational audit
will be undertaken after the
new year."
Council Response
Town councilors Harold
Tobey and Janet Joakim ,
the latter elected president
of that body last week, said
they had not seen the report
and were only "briefed" by
Klimm. Both said, however,
that it was Klimmand Klimm
alone, in closed-door con-
ference with the chief, who
negotiated Finnegan's early
retirement, which took effect
on Thanksgiving.
The retirement was an-
nounced just a month after
the audit report was released
and shortly after Finnegan
took criticism from Tobey
at a council meeting over
insufficient police presence
in the crime-riddled Fresh
Holes Road area.
"I can tell you with some
level of confidence it (the
chief's early retirement) had
nothing to do with the Fresh
Holes Road issue," Joakim
said.
Joakim said she spent two
hours with police department
personnel during budget
hearings. "I had wondered
about consolidating certain
departments with the town,"
she said. "I'm curious to see
if some of my thoughts and
concerns are in some form or
another, suggestions by the
auditors."
Klimm was unavailable for
comment this week.
Special Investigation
Accounts
There are a number of cash
accounts used for "special
investigations," all of which
are under the control of
members of police admin-
istration.
All of the cash accounts
have aledger associated with
them documenting cash in
and expenditures, and are
supposed to maintain sup-
porting documentation on
disbursements.
In an account for special
investigations/activities, au-
ditors found that $6,500 in
"administrative expenses
were washed through the
special investigation ac-
count as opposed to being
submitted to the Finance
Division. Bypassing the Fi-
nance Division process re-
sults in no auditing of the
invoices."
In the late 1990s the town
commissioned an audit of
all its cash accounts and
management practices as
a result of accusations of
misuse in one division. That
audit resulted in new cash
management practices for
all departments reviewed.
Milne said that the police
department's cash practices
were not covered in that
report , though he could not
say why.
The procedure for funding
the various cash accounts
was similar for all. A request
from the police department
would be made to the finance
division for funds out of an
established police depart-
ment account. The finance
division would cut a check
to Finnegan for the amount
requested , drawn from the
appropriate account. Once
cashed , the money would be
maintained by someone in
police administration , usu-
ally one of the two deputy
chiefs, although certain sub-
accounts were maintainedby
lieutenants.
The one exception in the
audit was a New England
State Police Information
Network account , f or which
funds were received by the
department directly in the
form of a check to Finnegan.
Once cashed , the money is
kept at the department for
use in special investigations.
Done this way, the money is
never seen by the finance
division , which the audit
recommends changing.
The audit's recommenda-
tions on changing cash poli-
cies and disbursements have
been implemented.
Audit: Police accounting... i
Serious debate among
councilors is expected on
whether to design some fash-
ion of civilianoversight of the
police department and the
extent of power that should
be vested in a chief.
Already, Town manager
John Klimm appears ready
to move the department's
executive out of the state's
Civil Service obligations.
This would give the town
manager much wider lati-
tude to select a chief. Civil
Service requires that the top
scorer on a chief's exam be
appointed except for some
compelling reason.
ActingChief Paul MacDon-
ald can carry that title up to
90 days after his appoint-
ment, at which point Klimm
has the option to make him
provisionalchief for up to two
years while the future of the
chief'sposition isworked out.
Given Klimm's comments
at last week's town council
meeting, expect a provisional
appointment to be made.
MacDonald wasintroduced
to the town council at the end
of the meeting, at which time
Klimm expressed his desire
to have MacDonald back "to
present his vision" for the
police department. Klimm
thought that might come in
January, but was informed
it would be March, past the
time the "acting chief" ap-
pointment would expire.
Council president Janet
Joakim said there is little the
town manager can do "as far
asoversight and management
of the (police) department
because of an administrative
code issue - and that is not
typical for a council/manager
form of government. We will
be examining this audit re-
port when it is presented to
us, believe me."
PG, DS II
How the position of chief may change i
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