Editor:
As a member of the Charter Revision Commission, Town Council and, formerly, Board of Finance, I greatly appreciate the input and opinions of over 100 current and past elected and appointed officials, employees and the general public. Your voice matters—and on Nov. 8, your vote matters too.
There are five ballot questions for your consideration. Question #3 asks if the Chair of the Board of Finance should be independent and elected from among the Board’s regular members—and not be the First Selectman, who would nonetheless remain as an ex-officio member.
This is neither a personal issue nor a partisan one—it is simply about better governance.
There is nearly universal support for the fact that the President should not be head of the Federal Reserve and a CEO should not be chair of the Finance and Audit Committee of a corporate board. The simple reason is the need for, and benefit of, checks and balances in any organization.
Indeed, for the same reason—in municipalities around us and beyond—no first selectman or mayor serves as chairman of a finance board.
Some argue that “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?” But the effect of influence on the Board of Finance chaired by a First Selectman has occurred with health insurance coverage, internal control and accounting deficiencies, and most recently, the Outback.
The real question should be “Why not make it better?”
Kindly consider voting ‘Yes’ to all of the ballot questions on Election Day.
Sincerely,
Kathleen A. Corbet
Charter Revision Commissioner & Town Councilman
As the BOF is not elected but appointed by the First Selectman there is no required segregation of duties nor proper internal control. I agree with and support Kathleen Corbet’s comments and decision verbalized above.
Roy Abramowitz CPA
Member Firm of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
Firm Peer Reviewed by the National Peer Review division of the AICPA