WILLIAMS
by WES FERGUSON
Buda’s finance director and two accountants have been fired for “severe substandard performance” uncovered during preparation for the city’s annual audit, according to City Manager Kenneth Williams.
Williams declined to cite specific problems within the finance department, but documents obtained by the Hays Free Press show Buda had been falling behind on payments to its utility providers and vendors for the past several months. Some vendors were demanding late penalties from the city, and another threatened to disconnect the city’s phone service.
“You always hear about a bill not being paid here and there,” Williams said, “but we would have never thought it was at the level it was. Once we found out, we acted on it promptly.”
Buda Mayor Sarah Mangham questioned how long Williams had known of the accounting problems before he fired the employees on Feb. 3.
“I am concerned about how it went on for so long before it got addressed,” Mangham said. “Did he know about it ahead of time?”
Williams said he took action after he was notified of the concerns and had investigated them. In an email to the mayor and City Council on the morning of the terminations, he wrote: “This was a result of the severe substandard performance of the department which was culminated with a poor report from the auditor on their progress in preparing for the audit.” Williams said in an email to the mayor and City Council.
In an interview the following week, Williams said he did not yet know whether the city would incur additional expenses as a result of the late payments and subsequent termination of Finance Director Marti Bolsen and her two accountants. Attempts to contact Bolsen were unsuccessful.
The city has hired two interim accountants through a staffing agency.
Meanwhile, one of Buda’s water providers, the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District, has agreed to waive a $900 fee for a late quarterly payment. The city has also received notices of past-due invoices from Time Warner Cable, Office Depot and other vendors.
Buda is moving forward with its audit of the city’s 2011 finances. “We’re evaluating everything,” Williams said. “Once we figure out what we’re going to do, we’ll make the changes we need to make.”
As city manager, Williams will decide how to revamp Buda’s finance department and payment procedures, Mangham said.
“My concern as mayor is it gets corrected and does not happen again,” she said. “It’s not just a question of is there a problem, but how the problem is corrected and how he handles ensuring that it’s never going to happen again while he’s here.”
Buda Mayor Pro Tem Sandra Tenorio said Williams has kept the City Council informed of the changes.
“As far as I can tell he has a lot of support for the decisions he’s made, so everything is rolling along,” she said.
