Finance Committee Vice Chairman Karen Raus tells selectmen that the situation is as dire as it gets for a town finance office.

WESTPORT — A crisis within the Finance Department and a failed fire station roof are the main reasons that Westport aims to hold a special town meeting sometime in mid December.

The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to take that route after hearing from the Finance Committee that the matters are of the utmost urgency and they are out of options for where else to come up with the money.

Three issues would be on the agenda, selectmen decided.

• Hiring a consultant to sort out the mess in the town treasurer’s department will cost $65,000, Finance Committee Chairman Gary Carreiro told selectmen.

• Repairs to the failed Briggs Road fire station roof will cost $40,000, maybe a bit less depending on insurance money.

• And paying the $10,000 legal fee deductibles for three just-settled lawsuits against the town will cost $30,000.

Treasurer can’t keep up

The situation inn the treasurer’s office was said to be the most urgent of the lot — failure to act could have dire consequences for Westport, several people warned.

“In my opinion, it’s the biggest thing, one of the biggest things happening financially in the town,” Mr. Carreiro.

At issue is the failure of town Treasurer Brad Brightman and staff to properly certify cash and bank accounts on a routine basis. The work is supposed to be done on a monthly basis, but ConComm Vice Chairwoman Karen Raus said the last time the task was completed was July 17, 2015 — 17 months ago.

In the language of the auditor a year ago, “It’s a material weakness in town controls.”

“That’s as bad as it gets,” Ms. Raus said. “An auditor does not say anything worse than that.”

Without that cash being certified on time, the state could refuse to certify Westport’s free cash account. And without that money, on which the town depends to operate, the town would be essentially unable to prepare a sufficient budget, Mr. Carreiro said.

There are more concerns, Ms. Raus said.

Part of the reason for monthly certification is “looking for fraud. Cash could be stolen … There could be issues going on with millions of dollars of our taxpayers’ money.”

“He (the auditor) said a year ago that someone in India could be going through (the town’s) bank accounts and we wouldn’t even know. So if anyone in India is listening, they’ve had a whole year … We can’t verify if it’s (the money) isn there or it’s not there.”

Things are so dire, Mr. Carreiro said, that without quick action (such as bringing in the consultant) the state Department of Regulation “could come down and potentially take over the department and take over tax collections.” That happened to Springfield awhile ago and is an outcome no municipality should wish to see.

Mr. Carreiro said that while the town might get away with hiring a consultant for a bit less, “The consultant can’t just come in this time and leave” — the important thing is that the consultant train those in the treasurer’s office to do the work themselves or the problem will quickly return.

Mr. Brightman agreed.

“We have been moving forward but there have been glitches … We cannot close that gap. We really need that consultant to come in an help us get to that point.” Without it we are kind of like at a stalemate.”

BOS Chairwoman Shana Shufelt said that one of her biggest concerns is that, “while it’s pretty clear that this is necessary, I don’t know if we can convince the voting public” about two things.

First, she said, that the $65,000 is necessary — after all, that consultant will cost as much as a new firefighter for one year.

And “I’m also uncomfortable with the idea that we can look the public in the eye and say this will not happen again … It’s ultimately the treasurer’s responsibility,” she said, but we need to work together. “How do we confirm to the public that it’s not just a band-aid.”

If the town does call a special town meeting and voters reject the consultant, that would tell the auditor that the btown doesn’t care, she added, which could make matters much worse.

Have any steps been taken to switch the town treasurer post from elected to appointed (with education and experience requirements) by selectmen, audience Constance Gee asked.

Yes, was the reply — that will be on the April ballot.