NORWAY
— Last Thursday, just four days before Norway’s annual town meeting, 10 voters
gathered in the town office for a special town meeting to clear the current
year’s books.
By
unanimous consent, these citizens agreed to draw $40,000 from the town’s $1.4
million undesignated general fund, to pay
“forensic audit” of town books in the wake of Deb Wyman’s embezzlement
indictment.
Wyman,
Norway’s former economic development director, was arraigned in Oxford County
Superior Court April 20, charged with stealing more than $65,000 from grant
funds under her charge.
To
date, the town has racked up “around $30,000” in bills relating to the case
from lawyers and auditors, said Town Manager David Holt.
Glenn
S. Kersteen of G5 Consulting Services in Cape Elizabeth, was hired by Holt to
comb through town accounts, looking for evidence of Wyman’s alleged graft.
“This
is very expensive,” said Holt, “but the reasons that we do it are to assure the
public that we are serious about finding out what the truth is, and so we can,
accurately and to the best of our ability, ask for restitution and justify our
insurance claims.”
Holt
says the investigation is proceeding “in a plodding fashion,” and may be
nearing an end.
“At
this point, we’re not sure we want to spend $1,000 to find another $5,000
[possibly stolen],” he explained.
Denise
Whitley asked why annual audits never picked up any wrongdoing, if, as Holt
said, G5 has uncovered evidence of thefts from the town — currently attributed
to Wyman — dating to the mid ‘90s.
“I’m
very concerned about the conduct of the public audits,” said Gene Shanor,
pointing out that he was speaking as a Norway taxpayer, and not a
reporter. “It seems the town has spent
money each year for 10 years to audit the books and they weren’t able to find
this money that had been stolen.
“I
think when we look at who has to pay, those auditors have to have some
culpability,” said Shanor.
Holt
defended the town’s longtime auditors, Gaisford and Hoisington of Norway
— Now Hoisginton and Bean.
“Having
no suspicion, it wasn’t found,” he said. “When someone steals, they do it in
such a way as to hide it.”
“This
was very good, very difficult to pick up,” said Selectman Les Flanders. “Once the forensic auditors found the
pattern, it seems easy, but it was not easy to pick up at all. I think there’s probably very few auditors in
the state who could have picked this up.”
Holt
said thefts may date back to the beginning of Wyman’s tenure with the town, but
he was only willing to “stand in a public room” and make accusations he had
proof for.
Holt
said later that Wyman’s alleged graft was uncovered by another town employee,
who, after attending a state training session, decided she should send 1099 tax
forms to downtown business owners who received community development
grants. Previously, those forms were
only sent to the contractors who were hired to do the work.
“It
was typical for her to use the names of people who did a lot,” said Holt. “So if they did $30,000 worth of work on
community development projects in a year, she might add on another $1,000.”
Wyman
allegedly submitted separate receipts to the contractor, and then to the town,
deporting the extra money in her own account.
“One
issue is that Key Bank allowed deposits into an account of checks that were not
made out to that individual,” said Holt.
“What’s the explanation for that?
I don’t know. They haven't been
able to give me one. That’s pretty hard
to pick up.”
Although
Hoisington and Bean reportedly discouraged the employee from sending out extra
1099s, Holt says the longtime employee felt it was the right thing to do, and
sent the forms out while Wyman was on a leave of absence unrelated to her later
indictment.
When
Art Gouin, owner of L. F. Pike and Son, received his 1099 invoicing work down
to his building, he noticed that some of the items listed, such as roof
repairs, had never been applied for, and never done. He promptly brought his fishy looking
document to Holt, who launched an investigation.
Holt
says that if Wyman is convicted, the town will ask that she be required to
repay all the money she is proven to have pocketed from town coffers, as well
as the full cost of the investigation, to either the town, or its insurance
company. At this point, as much as
$105,000 appears to be recoverable. That
figure is expected to climb by the time Wyman’s trial gets under way.
Voters
at the special town meeting also agreed to appropriate $5,000 to cover a
deficit in the town’s cemetery account.
Norway
contracts with the Progress Center to maintain most town cemeteries, while
Scott Eicher, of Oxford, takes care of “a couple” others, plus the town
parks.
Holt
said heavy rains last summer created a need for more mowings than he had
budgeted for.
