Perry Twp. to recoup some missing funds
PERRY TWP. – The township will recoup part of the money that went missing between 1997 and 1999 from a bonding company that covered the former treasurer’s work. Supervisors announced Tuesday that Western Surety, the company that held the bond for former supervisor and secretary-treasurer Richard Uhrin, had sent the township a notice that it will be sending the board a check for $50,000. The letter stated that the company agreed with the findings in an audit that indicated Uhrin was responsible for mismanagement that led to the township’s financial deficit.
The independent audit completed at supervisors’ request by Cipher & Cipher Accounting Services revealed that approximately $380,000 was misappropriated over a three-year period. Since the bond was renewed each year, the board could only go after the last year covered, which was 1999. The bond was in the amount of $50,000.
Supervisor A.J. Boni said he had no answer for why the bond wasn’t larger considering the size of the annual budget for 1999.
“I wasn’t supervisor then. It wasn’t something I was involved with,” he said. He did however indicate that current secretary-treasurer Cheryl Bozek is bonded for $200,000.
As for what the supervisors plan to do with the money, Boni said nothing has been decided beyond a desire to physically see the check.
“I have no idea what we are going to do yet. But I do hope that this is just the first egg to break on the matter of this investigation,” Boni said. In the months following the release of the investigative audit, a number of state and federal officials have been to the township for separate investigations.
Moving to other business, supervisors agreed to send a letter to the Fayette County Commissioners stating their agreement to work with Perryopolis borough to rectify the flooding problem along Washington Run.
Engineer Bruce Chambers explained that the agreement was needed, as the county will have to apply to the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for funding on behalf of the two communities. The DEP hosts a program that could fund up to 75 percent of the project to study the problem and draft an action plan, the remaining 25 percent would have to come from the county, township and borough.
To try to reduce the problem in the short term, supervisors met with representative from the State Correctional Institution-Greensburg to discuss obtaining a group of workers to clear obstructions from Washington Run. Boni said that talks with residents along the stream have shown that the problem in some places has been ongoing for years.
In other areas, it is a new development.
Concerning the flooding problems, supervisors voted to advertise repairs for Falbo Road and Maplewood Drive. Falbo Road was damaged in Feb. 2001 during severe flooding, Maplewood was damaged earlier this year after excessive rains.
Supervisors did manage to secure a grant from the county to help with the emergency repair work on Falbo Road, said Boni.