Troubled Department

It was shocking to learn that a trusted employee of the Building Department at City Hall had taken funds paid to the city for building permits. It wasn't a small chunk of change, either; the Everett Independent reported that a source close to the investigation estimated the loss to be between $25-$50 thousand dollars over several years. The theft was discovered by the new city auditors, who were hired this year to conduct the city's annual audit. The employee in question is on unpaid administrative leave pending a police investigation, and her supervisors were put on two-week, unpaid administrative leave.

Most disturbing is the fact that this woman was able to get away with this for years without discovery. Apart from her supervisors, where was the former auditor, who "retired"* only a year and a half ago, when this was happening? How was this missed in the city's annual audit for all those years?

Hopefully this is an isolated incident, but the administration did the right thing -- upon discovering the theft, action was taken. People are being held accountable. That is as it should be. When someone is suspected stealing from the cookie jar, you don't leave that person managing the bakery. Perhaps the School Committee should take a lesson from this.

* retired, but working for the school department, first as a consultant, then as employee. Status as of today isn't known. The State Auditor's report raised the issue of the former auditor's employment with the school department, and took a very dim view.