'Nothing to hide.' Former Bourne public works head responds as financial audit begins

BUZZARDS BAY — The Department of Public Works fiscal 2023 budget has been closed out, but it's not in the municipal rearview mirror. Now the town’s audit firm will review spending within the public works budget at the request of Town Administrator Marlene McCollem.

Select Board Chair Mary Jane Mastrangelo on Sept. 12 said the review may result in further municipal scrutiny of how town meeting capital spending articles are prepared and funded and how the related public works department work is carried out, or diverted, in terms of project accounting.

Mastrangelo said results overall could possibly lead to a forensic review of public works expenditures and its reporting. But she said there was no overall public works budget deficit, although deficits did emerge in various line items.

A charge of fraud is a local social media issue, Mastrangelo said.

“We’re following a process on this,” she said. “Auditors look at expenditures and internal controls and expenditures being charged to appropriate accounts. And the town administrator is doing a deep dive on this.”

How big is the town's public works budget?

The public works budget for the fiscal year recently concluded was $2.8 million, with $238,000 budgeted for snow and ice removal, for example. The budget was formed before McCollem started work in Bourne and only partially crafted by former Public Works Director Shawn Patterson, who resigned in late August.

The town has hired Clifton Larsen Allen LLP for the audit. In a Sept. 13 email, McCollem said the review of the public works department's internal controls is within the contract’s scope of work.

McCollem said the auditor will review public works budget areas, especially the use of capital outlay funds and the snow and ice account. She questions what may be the use of funds in one budget account to offset other line items.

She also said the auditor will test internal budgetary controls and provide an evaluation of findings to town officials, possibly before next spring. In the interim, she said, she lodges no accusations and draws no conclusions.

Specifics of spending questioned

McCollem said last year’s snow and ice account expenditures were “disturbing because last winter was not a snowy winter. Expenses were through the roof. And those expenditures raised a red flag.”

Town financial records show $338,000 was approved for the snow and ice account but $349,598 was expended. A reserve fund transfer of $11,598 resolved the deficit.

McCollem also said, for capital spending, there needs to be “a truck-by-truck plan” for projected repairs to vehicles or their refurbishment. “And what needs to be fixed. And I don’t have that. I’ve never seen an implementation plan.”

She said she seeks a spending plan for each public works vehicle and delineation for each truck being rebuilt “as to how we’re increasing that town asset.”

There has been “no blank check endorsement” for capital spending, she said. “I have questions. I don’t have answers to these questions. If there are answers, they haven’t been provided to me.”

After Shawn Patterson requested leave: Bourne public works chief moves on following clashes with town administrator

McCollem also questioned capital funds set aside for road drainage work being used to underwrite repairs to the community center curbing at Main Street that was damaged by town plow crews.

“That’s not a capital improvement,” she said.

McCollem and Patterson sharply and publicly fell out in the spring over McCollem’s public works budget concerns. Patterson opted for personal leave until late August and resigned before returning to work, saying he would not work for McCollem.

Former Select Board member Judith Froman on Sept. 12 told the Select Board that audit information will help with public works budget preparation as well as the search for a new director, who would be “in line with what we need.”

Internal budget controls not ‘sidestepped’

For his part, Patterson in a Sept. 13 interview, said he did not “willfully sidestep” internal budget controls. In terms of snow and ice expenditures, he said increases in prices for salt, sand, fuel and parts ranged from 25% to 66% and affected that line item.

“I did give the finance team notice,” he said. “I told them we’d run short. And the message fell through the cracks. We didn’t know the prices were going to go through the roof like they did.”

Patterson said Bourne has an aging public works winter fleet.

“Much has been done over the years to those vehicles,” he said. “We did spend $50,000, getting those trucks ready for winter. I was told we can’t take money out of the snow and ice account for equipment upgrades; repairing the sanders and an in-house motor job."

But that’s been done in this town for years under previous town administrators, Patterson said.

“It’s done in other towns," he said. "We chose to be proactive and not reactive when dealing with a winter of black ice and heavy freezing rain, something that was not received well by the town administrator. We were told such information was irrelevant.”

Patterson took exception to McCollem’s sentiment about his dealing with public works budget appropriations.

“Department heads do not have permission within the town’s accounting software to move or adjust any budget appropriations from one line item to another,” he said.

Capital funds not ‘purposefully misused’

He also said he did not “purposefully misuse” capital outlay funds. He said he asked McCollem and the Select Board in November for a discussion about maintenance issues and was told they would be addressed in the spring if needed.

“I have the documentation,” Patterson said. “In the spring we reached out to the finance team on April 26, requesting a reserve fund transfer before the end of the fiscal year. We didn’t hear anything. We needed $50,000.”

Patterson said he has never accused McCollem or the Select Board of fraud as has been alleged on social media.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “I do think she’s moved money around to places it doesn’t belong.”

He said he thinks his reputation as a public works administrator is at stake over differences in budgetary matters.

“I have nothing to hide,” Patterson said. “I have emails asking for guidance on issues, especially for capital spending (matters), from the administrator. If I make mistakes, I admit them. But my staff and I did not especially like the administrator’s tone and remarks when issues were addressed at a May meeting. It was demeaning.”

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Former Bourne public works head says no 'misuse' of department funds