Board of Finance: Dial-A-Ride Bus, Eligible STEAP Grant Expenditures, Conflicts of Interest

All board members attended the November 15th meeting save for Edward Bixler and board alternate Russell Murdock who were excused. First Selectman Todd Carusillo also attended the meeting. The meeting began with William Lane motioning to seat Patrick Reilly Sr. as an alternate. This was unanimously approved. Scott Tillman then motioned to approve October’s meeting minutes. This was also unanimously approved.

For Financial reports, the Board received and reviewed reports submitted by Debbie Franklin for October 2023. Robert Valentine requested clarity on a near $12,000 annual subscription for Town Hall computer support. “That is the new– we had to resubscribe for $11,000 so that's the new bill from Yucatech,” Carusillo replied. Valentine was confused by this claim since this apparently isn't Yucatech’s normal fee and this fee isn’t a part of an ongoing subscription. “We never paid Yucatech $12,000 a year up front.,” said Valentine. “We paid them, I think, monthly or quarterly.” Valentine requested Carusillo check what this payment is going towards exactly.

The Board received and reviewed Tax Collector Rebecca Juchert-Derungs’ October 2023 report. The Board received a Suspense Report from the tax collector. The report contained a list of townsfolk behind on their taxes, some of whom have since been determined to be deceased. Valentine moved to accept the recommendations from the report. The Board then signed a suspense form for the report and had it returned to the tax collector. A suspense account in accounting practice is a section of an entity’s financial books where it can record ambiguous entries that need further analysis to determine their proper classification.

Carusillo then conducted his First Selectman’s Report. “The state had a freeze on the Dial-A-Ride grant. We didn’t get last year’s monies, 22-23,” Carusillo reported. “We just finally got it of $35,785.98.” Dial-A-Ride is a transportation program for older adults and individuals with disabilities that is often directly operated by municipalities. Connecticut’s Department of Transportation for Municipal Grant Programs provides matching funds to cover transportation of Dial-A-Ride riders. This is where the nearly $36,000 came from. An invoice was sent to the town of Cornwall for their portion of the bus funding in the amount of $10,700.

Carsuillo addressed the status of the Building Committee, “Selectmen added Bob Valentine as a resident and a member of the building committee. We’re going to do a needs assessment for both public works and the firehouse for the new facility.” The town has still not received a check yet for the Public Works Department truck that was sold in October on the online auction site GovDeals.com for $10,700. “They sent us an email today,” said Carusillo. “They wanted us to give them our routing number so they could give us direct deposit and I said, ‘You know, I’m not giving another company our routing number. Just send me a check, it’s already been a month and a half.’ Hopefully they send the check out.” Funds for the Goshen Fire Company to purchase a Hurst “Jaws of Life” Tool will be sent out later this week in the amount of $60,554.

Valentine asked if the Dial-A-Ride grant was listed as receivable in last year’s finances. Carusillo reported that it was listed in last year’s audit, making the town’s audit operate in a deficit or “running red” since the funds were not received until this year. Valentine asked about the status for 23-24’s Dial-A-Ride grant. Carusillo replied that he’s currently applying for this year’s grant but he’s unsure if it’s listed as receivable for this year’s finances. Based on these developments, Valentine questioned if the town is still able to pay for the bus. Carusillo disclosed that some of Goshen’s general funding has been used to help cover transport costs in recent years, “We were paying it out of the general fund because we didn’t receive any monies… We should be able to afford it but the gas prices are up. I’m looking at the grants for a new, smaller bus because we’re picking up one person in Cornwall and driving them all the way to Danbury for dialysis. It’s costing us you know, whatever the hell it is, $200 in gas for one person. We need a smaller bus for that type of travel.” Valentine proposed selling the bus Goshen is currently using. Carusillo claims a new bus is necessary due to the older bus’ poor gas mileage.

Carusillo then reported that the Foundation for Community Health will no longer pay medication for town seniors after December 31st this year, “We have around four or five people that it helps out. Some of them are a hundred dollars a pop, per month.” Valentine suggested Carusillo look for other programs that may help these individuals and notify them of these options if they qualify.

Board Chairman Alan Walker Sr. asked if the $200,000 used to purchase the property at 190 Sharon Turnpike will be counted towards the town’s matching grants. Carusillo said it could, “Yes it could be, it could… Any of our engineering from soil scientist… [to] surveyor, all that stuff could all be written off as part of our matching grant monies… I think we can write off machine time also.”

For Other Business, Scott Tillman asked about voting abstention regarding possible conflicts of interest, “... In a recent selectmen’s meeting, Selectman Harris said state statute or regulation that unless I’m lining my pockets or my family is lining my pockets, I don’t need to abstain. So, two things is: is it my prerogative to abstain cause personally I think it’s unethical but the other part is, if the townspeople have voted me in, am I not serving them when I abstain? …Should I be voting on these budgets?” Valentine claimed most people don’t really know what a conflict of interest is and that there is no conflict of interest to vote on a board’s budget if someone is a part of that board. Lane claims abstaining from a vote is someone’s personal decision and there’s no legal requirement to abstain from voting in a board you’re a part of.

Finally, the board thanked Lane for his years of service to the town as this was his final Board of Finance meeting. Former Recycling Coordinator Paul Collins will take up Lane’s seat on the board starting Friday, November 17th. Walker then motioned to adjourn the meeting. This was unanimously approved.