AG's office: Police funds must follow the law Oversight of donation accounts must change

From the Eagle- Tribune;

AG's office: Police funds must follow the law Oversight of donation accounts must change

By Meghan Carey
Staff writer

ATKINSON — The Police Department's donation accounts have been the focus of a four-month investigation by the state attorney general's charitable trust unit.

The results are in: The money needs to be handled differently.

The investigation was spurred by complaints from residents to the attorney general's office, according to Terry Knowles, assistant director of the charitable trust unit.

The accounts — the police department equipment fund and the senior citizen donation fund — have long been fodder for debate, controversy and lengthy posts on two local blogs.

Police Chief Philip Consentino, no stranger to controversy in his job and in his previous seat on the Board of Selectmen, has defended the accounts and his handling of them. He could not be reached for comment yesterday.

But the state isn't suggesting any wrong-doing, rather ignorance of the law regarding such accounts.

"To be perfectly frank, not everyone understands how these funds work," Knowles said. "I think the town will be cooperative and perfectly reasonable about this."

Her office sent a letter to Consentino and selectmen Friday — and another will be sent out shortly.

"The town cannot hold charitable funds unless all activity and funds are held and reported through the trustees of the trust funds report," the letter states.

The two accounts are funded through donations, Consentino said previously. The money is used for police equipment purchases and senior citizen assistance, he said.

In 2007, $23,279 was donated — and $34,168 spent — to the Police Department donation account, according to the town report. Another $15,000 was donated to the senior citizen donation fund last year, according to Consentino's annual report, but there is no specific accounting of that fund in the town report.

Consentino does know how to raise money. In 2007, voters approved a warrant article appropriating $5,649 a year for four years to purchase a $43,000 wheelchair van. Less than a year later, Consentino announced he had raised $37,000 for the van through donations and would only need the first year's appropriation of the four-year warrant article.

Selectman Fred Childs said yesterday he doesn't think the town is doing anything wrong. Every time Consentino wants to take money out of either account, selectmen hold a public hearing. Childs said he can't remember anyone ever coming to a hearing and objecting to an expenditure.

So far this year, Consentino has withdrawn about $13,000 from the two accounts. Money went toward a cruiser camera, electric bills for senior citizens, flowers, and postage, among other things, according to selectmen's minutes, which are published on the town Web site.

On April 7, Jodi Consentino, the chief's wife, went to selectmen to ask for money from the Police Department's donation account to sponsor a baseball team. That's the one item selectmen voted on, which they passed unanimously.

Otherwise, selectmen just vote to open and close the hearings.

Selectmen Paul Sullivan and Bill Friel did not return phone calls yesterday.

Childs said other municipal departments receive donations — the Fire Department, library, Recreation Department — but it's only Consentino's accounts that are questioned.

"But it's just Phil's (accounts) that people seem to have a problem with," he said.

Now that the issue has been raised and investigated, the town has two options, according to the attorney general's office.

The town can form a nonprofit group to handle the accounts or it can turn control over to the trustees of the trust fund, Knowles said. If the town goes the nonprofit route, selectmen will have to establish a board of directors to oversee the accounts, she said.

Childs said yesterday that he hadn't seen the letter from the state and didn't think the other selectmen had either. But he did say selectmen likely would discuss the issue at their meeting Monday at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall.