Newsroom

Vermont Municipal Advisory Commission Kicks Off Training Sessions

August 3, 2007

  MONTPELIER – State Auditor Tom Salmon, CPA, said last week’s training sessions by the Vermont Municipal Advisory Commission (VMAC) attracted over 50 Vermont town and city employees eager to improve their financial skills and to network with peers.

   The Commission held sessions in Manchester (Monday) and Milton (Wednesday) and focused on two subjects – Ethics in Government, and Internal Controls – followed by small group discussions to review case studies and hear tips for improvement.

   “I was very pleased to see so many people participate in the Commission’s first training efforts,” Salmon said.  “Government in Vermont is under more scrutiny now than ever, and it’s important for financial staff at all levels to keep up with changing requirements in ethics and internal controls.”

   Presenters included Salmon; Deputy Attorney General Janet Murnane; Laura Nesbit, CPA, and Stephen Love, CPA, both of Fisk, Reed & Love, PC in Bennington;  and Fred Duplessis, CPA, of Sullivan Powers & Co., of Montpelier.

   Love, for example, reviewed the challenges of the control principle of “separation of duties” when a town has only one, two, or just a few financial employees.  “In very small offices, you may be able to train a non-accounting office worker or a volunteer board member in some of the less technical duties that provide some segregation of duties,” Love noted.  One example of segregated duties is being sure that the person who signs checks is different than the person initiating purchases or approving purchases, shipping, receiving, etc. 

   Love added that his firm may find an accounting deficiency when a town or other entity has unusual transactions.  “Many organizations do the day-to-day systems very well,” he said, “but when there is a one-time transaction that is large or unusual or complex, such as a non-recurring grant or project, that’s where they can run into problems.”

   Salmon stressed the broad responsibility of fiduciary duty in town or city government. “Handling tax dollars is truly a position of trust,” he noted.  “With a fiduciary position come the twin duties of loyalty and care.  Loyalty requires a financial employee to act solely in the best interest of the city or town, totally free from conflicts of interests and to avoid any action that could place personal gain higher than the public interest.

   “The ‘duty of care’ for a financial employee means doing your job with attention to detail, with professional quality, and always acting in the public interest,” Salmon said.  He offered the participants a range of web-based publications and guides to help towns adopt up-to-date ethics policies, codes of conduct, and whistleblower protection policies.  (List follows below.)

   Members of the Vermont Municipal Advisory Commission include: John Cushing – Town Clerk and Treasurer, Milton; Lisa Barrett, CPA – Town Clerk and Treasurer, Lyndon;  John Leisenring –  Finance Director, Brattleboro;  Jeff Mobus – Finance Director, Springfield; and Ruth Woodard – Finance Director, Manchester.  

 
   “Our session was a very good first step in bringing financial staff together, identifying some of the issues and solutions, and planning for future training,” said Woodard, who hosted the first meeting in the Manchester Town offices.

  

                                                          END

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _



Additional Resources: Ethics, Conflict of Interest and Internal Controls Online

 
Here are some websites that discuss Ethics policies, Conflict of Interest policies and Internal Control issues, as well as surveys and checklists from around the country.  Some are statutes and/or ordinances from cites and towns outside Vermont, and from other states, schools and organizations. 

 
 
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/ethics/e_ethicsURLs.htm - links to all 50 states’ legislative ethics laws.

 
http://www.montgomeryvt.us/policyconflict.html - Montgomery, VT. (Section IV, C3 is especially interesting.)

 
http://www.town.brandon.vt.us/Ordinances/ord_planning_comm_rules_of_procedure.htm - Brandon, VT

 
http://www.danvillevt.com/Conflictof%20Interest.htm – Danville, VT

 
http://www.vermont-towns.org – Links to homepages for all towns in Vermont. Some have policies on their websites.

 
http://www.sec.state.vt.us;municipal/pubs/conflictofinterest.html - Vermont Secretary of State’s site, includes model policy

 
http://resources.vlct.org/results/?s=conflict%20AND%20of%20AND%20interest – Vermont League of Cities and Towns, includes model policy, Conflict of Interest

 
http://www.uwex.edu.1gc – University of Wisconsin Extension Service, list of videotapes on local government available.

 
http://www.leg.state.vt.us/statutes/fullsection.cfm?Title=24&Chapter=059&Section=01984 – Vermont State statutes on conflict of interest.

 
http://www.vermontpersonnel.org/employee/policy  - State of Vermont Employee Conduct policy

 
http://ethics.wa.gov/TRAINING/quiz/popquiz.htm - Multiple choice ethics quiz

 
http://www.cityethics.org/mc/full - Model Ethics Code

 
http://www.cacities.org/resource_files/23862.finalcompliancebooklet.pdf - Institute for Local Government, Ethics Law, Compliance, Best Practices, California

 
http://www.cacities.org/index.jsp?zone=ilsg&previewStory=22019 - Institute for Local Government, publications available for purchase

 
http://hawaii.gov/ethics/noindex/checklst.htm - Hawaii State ethics checklist

 
http://www.vermontpersonnel.org/employee/policy - Vermont Dept. of Human Resources Employee Conduct policy

 
http://www.memun.org/public/publications/townsman/2007/conflict.htm - Maine Association of Mediators, Conflicts in Interest.

 
http://www.mass.gov/ethics/public_sector.html - Massachusetts State Ethics Commission, Conflict of Interest Law

 
http://www.state.nj.us/dca/lgethics.htm - New Jersey’s Municipal Code of Ethics

 
http://www.unc.edu/finance/busman/msd/msdapp12.html - North Carolina state statutes

 
http://www.vbschools.com/policies/Appendix_C.asp - Virginia Beach City Public Schools Conflict of Interest Act

 
http://www.ci.santa-clara.ca.us/city_gov/city_gov_ethics_bkg.html  - Santa Clara, CA, ethics policy and checklist

 
http://www/town-atkinsonnh.com/conflict_of_interest_committee.htm - Atkinson, NH, Conflict of Interest Committee

 
 
________________________

 
Participants in Manchester included:

Christopher Adams       Weathersfield

Deb Aldrich                  Chester

Doreen Aldrich             Rockingham

Brenda Davignon          Rockingham

Michelle Gould            Weathersfield

Andrea Howe               Marlboro

Sally Hoyler                 Ripton

Elizabeth Jenks           Winhall

Susan Johnson            Cornwall

Barbara Kivlin              Shoreham

Dennis McCarthy         Winhall

John O’Connor             Rockingham

Linda Peters                Marlboro

Sandra Pisonault          Dorset

Bear Scovil                  Manchester

Ann Singiser                Mendon

Linda Spence               Manchester

Emmy Thomas             Brattleboro

Michalina Wasung        Townshend

Peter Webster              Dorset

Wendy Wilton              Rutland

Irene Wood                  Chester

 
Participants in Milton included:

Dianna Baraby  St. Albans

Deb Beckett                 Williston

Joan Boehm                 Colchester

David Coates               Colchester

Ann Cookson               Essex

Jackie Dodge               Milton

Michael Donaghue        Vermont Press Association

Jonathan Elwell             Enosburg Falls

Peter Frankenburg        Shelburne

Colleen Haag                Shelburne

Karen Horn                  Vermont League of Cities and Towns

Douglas Hull                 Doug Hull LLC

Jeanie Kelly                  TD Bank North

Donna Kinville              South Burlington

Sherry LaBarge            Colchester

Susan Lamb                 Williston

Trevor Lashua              Vermont League of Cities and Towns

Lauren Morrisseau        Essex Junction

Katherine Picard           Winooski

Tom Racine                  Highgate

Karen Richard              Colchester
Sheila Sprano              St. Albans
Alison Kaiser                Stowe

John Schempf               Rockingham
Rebecca Therien          St. Albans

Dick Thompson            Swanton

Al Voegele                   Colchester

John Ward Jr.               Newport

Monica Yeamans          Holland