I recently OPRA requested the records of the Covid relief funds (American Rescue Plan) and was shocked to receive a response stating that there were no responsive records available. This seems impossible considering that our Borough had received a substantial amount of over $434,000 in Covid money.
(Please note that I have asked which bank(s) the money was deposited into and received nothing at all regarding that)
During a previous council meeting, I had raised this issue of having "no responsive records" and requested the information again under the American Rescue Plan. However, the response I received only deepened my suspicions! You'll see why.
Below, shows my new OPRA request of these records, with two attachments I was sent, as well as the link from a recent council meeting regarding my statement on public record:
It appears that the administration may have simply inputted some arbitrary figures into the administrative software system. Which I assume is the Edmunds software system Larry Fox and his, now 3, business administrators (Humphrey, Fehrenbach, DeMarco) always like to blame and have blamed for improper record keeping. Why else would there be such significant movements of funds on ONLY July 8, 2022, resulting in a total reflecting over $850,000? Why did I never receive which bank this money was deposited into? This is such poorly documented information of federal money we received. I also would like to state that I followed up several times with the CFO, Mr. Gartz, for confirmation, and received nothing. I only received messages from the CFO through Erica the clerk, with no confirmation in which I directly asked of Mr. Gartz. It seems like an attempt to pacify me with some appearance of record keeping after they already said multiple times that they didn't have any responsive records, but the sloppy execution only raises more questions.
These are the individuals entrusted with managing our tax dollars on a daily basis. Yet, they have failed to provide audits for 2022 and 2023. Ask yourself, how can we still be waiting on 2022 audit report? Are the covid funds not lining up correctly?? Still waiting on contracts for essential services such as DPW, court personnel, dispatch, and clerical staff for 2023, and any preliminary details regarding our 2024 budget to the council. How can we even get to our 2024 budget with the poorly managed monies of previous years?? The lack of transparency and accountability is concerning, and we must be determined to uncover the truth behind the handling of Covid relief funds and every other penny our Mayor and holdover/acting business administrator Meredith DeMarco, volunteer business administrator Greg Fehrenbach and qualifying purchasing agent Kim Humprhey continue to spend.
See you in sand...with our metal detectors, maybe the money is hidden at the beach.
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