Manteno board OKs forensic audit

Looking for a “clean slate” and to move the village forward, the Manteno Board of Trustees voted Monday to have a forensic audit done on its finances.

Manteno Mayor Annette LaMore cast the deciding vote in a 4-3 decision as trustees Michael Barry, Peggy Vaughn and Joel Gesky voted in favor of the audit, while CJ Boudreau, Todd Crockett and Annette Zimbelman voted against.

The audit comes with a price tag of $168,000 by Greene Forensic Accounting Solutions of Chicago, which was the low bidder. The only other bid was by Armanino Accounting, of Chicago, for about $204,000.

“I want a clean slate,” LaMore said. “I’m hoping we won’t find anything that’s out of order, but we’ll know that for sure, and then we can move on and keep working together.”

The forensic audit will look from April 1, 2020, to the present time, Barry said.

Gesky was the only Manteno Choice Party member to vote in favor of the audit, which drew applause from the audience. Gesky clarified that he doesn’t believe there’s been any wrongdoing by the village, but voted in favor of the audit “to allow the opportunity to clear the air.”

“If it takes $168,000 to bring our community back together and stop the division, so be it, right?” Gesky added. “Do I think it’s a good use of money if you could spend money? Absolutely not. But hopefully, it’s an investment in the future of getting ourselves back to where we need to be. … So hopefully this did start today.”

Before the vote, those who opposed the audit said the village has an annual audit completed each year by SKDO, an accounting firm in Bourbonnais, and it has never found any discrepancies.

“That audit was done every year for the past 15 years that I’ve been on this board, and I have never, in my experience, seen one ounce of impropriety by anybody, either working for the village on the village board, or an employee of the village,” Crockett said.

“I’m sure if there were some shenanigans going on, somebody would’ve caught wind of it. So to spend $168,000, I just can’t conceive spending that kind of money when there’s other things such as public safety,” he said.

“We’ve discussed having mobile radar detectors. We’ve discussed speed bumps. How many people have we had in here complaining about people speeding and the safety issues around that?”

Waste of money?

Zimbelman also said the forensic audit is unnecessary and not in the best interest of taxpayers. She said the reasoning she’s hearing is because there’s been a change in the administration. She noted Bourbonnais, which also had a change of administration, is not doing a forensic audit.

“What are you looking to find?” she asked. “Is the main reason for a forensic audit to gather evidence that can be used in court proceedings? This request, to me, is nothing more than a vendetta against the prior administration. Mayor [Tim] Nugent left behind a legacy which has brought our village to the next level. It extends through his actions, creations and values he instilled in others while acting as mayor of Manteno.”

LaMore said that a forensic audit is different from the annual audit that SKDO does.

“They don’t question why things were purchased, or they don’t question what was purchased,” she said. “All they do is do math and make sure that everything balances.”

Barry also said a forensic audit is needed for everything to be clear for the residents.

“I just feel that with a clean slate, everybody is on the same page,” he said. “Everything is clean. We’re ready to go; we can move on.”

Boudreau said that there’s a perception by some in the community who think there’s been fraud.

“They’re not happy with the choices that the board has made,” he said. “That’s not fraud. That’s just you’re angry at the board. That’s totally justified. But when we do an audit that’s not going to show anything, it’s just going to confirm that, ‘Oh, we have nothing.’ We’re still upset at the board.”

Village Administrator Chris LaRocque said the audit could begin in the next two weeks or in two months. The contract still has to be drawn up and approved by the village attorney.