Though he was voted out of office by the citizens of Winchester, there are still questions as to what went on while John Stetsor was our town manager that need to be addressed. This is a recent "letter to the editor" sent into the Keene Sentinel ..
In New Hampshire, selectmen have the legal authority to open bank accounts and get credit for the town. Employees, even town managers, aren’t allowed to do that kind of thing on their own. Check out RSA 37:6 for the specific powers and duties of town managers.
A "Right to Know" request and $24.00 got me some interesting documents about credit cards. One is a credit card application dated 4/25/07 for a Town of Winchester MasterCard in the name of John Stetser, with a $10,000 credit limit. The “Authorized Officer Signature” is J. H. Stetser. John H. Stetser is listed as the only “authorized contact” who can make changes to the account. So far the town hasn’t come up with a document showing selectmen approved the application. Keep in mind, that isn’t $10,000 once, it can be $10,000 over and over as fast as the town can pay the bills.
The town manager approves payments for all bills and determines the budget department and line item charge backs. Some of his approved payments and charge backs are most interesting. There's one for an overnight stay at the Sise Inn, which is, according to it’s website “one of the finest hotels in Portsmouth”, $193.43 charged back to Executive Publications. Then there's Papagallo’s $50, Red Blazer Restaurant (Concord) $28.72, Burlington Coat (Concord) $40.97 (rumored to be underwear), Sears (Concord) $14.99, Papagallo’s $100, TK’s Family Restaurant $20.86, TK’s Family Restaurant $17.04 (with a note “mtg w/Swanzey town administrator Ex”), Papagallo’s $50, Sunoco Winchester $26.75, Smart Quote (software?) $252.00, which was charged back to General Government Buildings Contracted Services, plus many miscellaneous charges at Wal-Mart, Staples and others. It is hard to figure out from the documents provided just how all these expenses were charged back to us taxpayers. There is also a late fee and finance charges, charged to this account.
The Town Manager’s contract allows him mileage reimbursement for the itemized use of his vehicle but doesn’t say anything about paying for gasoline, meals, lodging, entertainment or clothing. So far, the town has not been able to provide documentation of our selectmen approving such expenses.
I also discovered that the Town of Winchester has three store credit cards ( Wal-Mart, Staples and Home Depot). Since July there has been one charge on the Wal-Mart card, $20.76 for Pepto Bismol, Advil, Rolaids and Puffs, all charged back with Stetser’s signature to General Government Buildings Supplies & Expenses. How do buildings take antacids?
I haven’t tracked down all of the details on all the charges, but I’m curious about several weekend charges at Home Depot. Isn’t it time for the selectmen to step up to the plate and hold John Stetsor accountable for these charges? Is this not abuse of his powers? Also, why did Stetser accuse some selectmen of being dishonest when he observed Ken Berthiaume looking through the files in the accounting office “without permission from the board "? (April 2nd selectmen' s meeting minutes.) Every selectman should be digging through these files and finding out what’s been going on with the town’s money. It's their job to do so.
It is impossible for the budget committee to do it’s job if the financial reports can’t be trusted.
Will our selectmen ask the attorney general to investigate what went on with the John Stetser credit card abuse, or will they just ignore it, hope everyone forgets? He may be gone; but many questions remain.
Bob Davis
Budget Committee Member
893 Old Westport Road
Winchester
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9 comments:
This would seem to be a very serious, if not criminal matter and I for one can't understand why our town's selectman haven't engaged the services of our legal attorney to seek restitution and the possibility that more wrong doing has taken place at a great expense to the taxpayers and citizens of Winchester. To turn a blind eye to this is disgraceful to say the least. Can we really afford to have situations like this continue unabated without consequences?
What the title should read, "the letter the Keene Sentinel refused to be printed"! Too controversial for the Keene Sentinel is the reason stated to me by the paper, for not printing my letter to the editor.
The selectmen had shown their support for John Stetser when we tried to remove him. The selectmen knew of his deeds; why else did they cover for Stetser by signing the request for the town credit card almost one year later when we found out about it. The Platinum Plus credit card was paid late several times and we were charge 19.5% rate.
This coming election we must vote out people that will not hold themselves accountable for the best interest of the citizens of Winchester instead of themselves or their friends.
That includes Sherman Tedford, Ted Whippie and Gus Ruth. We can not clean up the wasteful spending because these three selectmen act as a voting block.
you are correct the voters can turn the town around time for a big changei
great web site dont giveup we need you im taxed out
this will answer all about the former town manager of winchester! he used his own money for all on his own budget or his town salary that the people voted him to have and I dare you to print the truth of it!
If you have documentation to support your statements, as Mr. Davis did and sent to us, along with his letter, prior to us publishing his post we would provide you the same opportunity to have this information posted on this board for everyone to see. Might we remind you that Mr. Davis is a member of the Winchester Budget Committee and that his facts came from town documents, which are readily available to all under the "Right To Know" law.
You'll find our email address in the column on the right side of the front page of this blog.
i feel sorry for hillsboro dd
It has been over 10 days since the anonymous person who defended John Stetser's actions has posted and we have not been contacted or provided any evidence to back up their statements. It would seem that this was just a vague attempt to counter the information that Mr. Davis provided.
I live in Hillsboro, NH and we have John Stetser as our town administrator. He doesnt do his job and has been looked at for sexual harrassment. Has that ever happened when he was in Winchester?
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