The Bristol/South Bristol Transfer Station Board of Directors has temporarily suspended at least two employees without pay.
The decision comes as the board examines allegations of mismanagement, although the directors have yet to offer a reason for the suspensions.
“An incident occurred at the transfer station, which has led to individuals being placed on administrative leave,” Chairman Chester Rice said at the board’s quarterly meeting Dec. 19 at the South Bristol town office. Rice confirmed that two employees have been placed on “two-to-three weeks” unpaid leave.
The board, which comprises the same membership as the Bristol and South Bristol boards of selectmen, suspended station manager Shawn Dinsmore at an emergency meeting Dec. 12. The Dec. 15 edition of The Lincoln County News contains an advertisement for a replacement.
Dinsmore could not be reached for comment. The identity of the additional employee(s) is unclear at press time.
Later, at the Dec. 19 meeting, the directors approved a plan for “transition to new management.”
The meeting largely focused on issues with the facility’s bookkeeping and the need for new management. The board approved a Bristol town staff proposal “to assist the Boards of Selectmen in the transition to new management.”
The plan calls for town office staff to clean the transfer station office, remove unnecessary paperwork and bring relevant files to the Bristol town office for sorting and labeling.
Bristol staff will also have “the facility’s computer de-bugged by a professional and ensure that virus protection is in place.”
Staff will make daily deposits to the station’s account, work with an independent auditor to review the facility’s financial records and ensure personnel files are up to date.
The board reviewed the current year’s nearly $500,000 transfer station budget through Dec. 13. Many areas of the budget were described as being “in pretty good shape,” but some accounts are empty or overdrafted with no explanation at the meeting of where the money was spent.
Two accounts – bookkeeping/audit and facilities operation – are overdrafted, while two others – education and legal – are empty.
Rice said the transfer station’s accountant is able to produce information about where funds were spent, but financial records at the facility are in sufficient disarray to preclude easy access to the information.
“I got all the questions answered I had time for,” Rice told the board. “It’s going to take some time to figure this out.”
It did not appear at the meeting that the overall budget has been overspent.
“We don’t know the depth of the problem with the bookkeeping,” Bristol Town Administrator Kristine Poland told the board. “We need to see what’s in that office.”
The entire office must be “thoroughly cleaned” in anticipation of an independent financial audit planned for the first week of 2012.
Board members and Poland described the office as thoroughly disorganized, bordering on a health hazard.
There are reportedly no lights in a stairwell leading to a second floor storage room. “You have to feel your way up and down the stairs because it’s pitch black,” Rice said.
A chute from the window will be necessary to clear the trash that has accumulated in the storage room.
Poland recommended and the board agreed that the facility’s bookkeeper should be placed on temporary leave. At the meeting, the bookkeeper was described as charging money to accounts as instructed by management.
“I’m not saying she’s guilty of anything, but people in positions of fiscal authority should be removed,” Poland said.
Rice said he expects the problems to be alleviated “if you get a fully functioning manager in there.”
The board also reviewed a list of necessary maintenance items. The list includes buildings, fencing and heavy equipment in disrepair.
At the close of the meeting, the board held an executive (private) session to discuss a personnel matter.
Following the executive session, the board voted to replace all locks at the transfer station, install a Knox Box at the gate and “make no adjustment” to the pay of Raymond Eastman, a transfer station employee.
The board also adopted new terms and conditions of employment, document prospective employees must sign when submitting an application.
The single page document, among other stipulations, requires prospective employees to submit to a search of their person “at any time” upon the request of the board.
