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By Paul Paterra staff Writer ppaterra@observer-Reporter.Com 4 min read

During Thursday’s meeting, Donora council approved a motion to advertise bids for a two-year and seven-year forensic audit after debate about its specifics and questioning from the public.

Conducting a forensic audit on the borough’s finances was originally proposed by council last month.

Before council voted on the motion, Councilman Gib Szakal asked council members if they were going to specify what will be audited. “This next motion: I thought we were going to lay out what was supposed to be put up for bid for the audit,” Szakal said. Councilwoman Cindy Brice said the audit will cover all the borough’s finances, and Council President Michael McDowell echoed her statement.

“It’s a bid to do everything,” McDowell said. “All this is for bids; it isn’t written in stone.”

DONORA • A5 FROM A1 Frederick Berestecky, council vice president, asked if the borough’s yearly audits are turned over to the state auditor for review if any inaccuracies are discovered. Several members of council informed Berestecky that is not the case.

“They only check to make sure the books are balanced … policies and procedures are being followed — stuff like that,” Szakal said.

“If that’s the case, then what are we looking for?” McDowell asked.

Szakal reiterated what Brice had said earlier, stating that a forensic audit “will cover everything.”

McDowell said the borough will accept bids for it, but if they deem the quotes to be too expensive, the forensic audit will not be conducted.

“We’re not going to spend $200,000 or $300,000 for a forensic audit,” McDowell said.

A person in the crowd of a couple dozen people yelled out, “It needs done!”

Councilman Tom Thompson, who joined the meeting via phone, suggested Donora seek quotes for audits that look back at three, six and nine years of the borough’s finances. His rationale is that a fewer number of years equates to a cheaper quote and vice versa.

“That’s what I said about having some details laid out in this motion, and we talked about it last month – there’s no details,” Szakal said, “It’s just a broad (scope). How are they even going to know what to bid on?”

Council settled on advertising bids for a two-year and seven-year forensic audit, and the motion passed unanimously.

Resident Scott Nedrow, who has criticized council about the borough’s finances in previous meetings, voiced concern about the potential forensic audit during public comments.

“What are we actually looking for in the forensic audit?” Nedrow asked.

Council did not respond to Nedrow’s question.

One resident said loudly, “They don’t understand an audit.”

Nedrow continued, questioning Szakal about the borough’s finances.

Szakal appeared frustrated, asking Mc-Dowell if he could “take control of the meeting,” as Nedrow had eclipsed the three-minute allotment for public comments.

“Am I offending this guy or something?” asked Nedrow.

After another couple minutes, McDowell told Nedrow that he had reached the time limit.

“You have a whole sheet there,” Mc-Dowell said. “Come on — give somebody else a chance to speak.”

Nedrow, who was upset by McDowell’s request, claimed that his sheet of paper included issues that other Donora residents have spoken to him about.

“Then why don’t they come down to the borough building?” McDowell asked. “Why don’t they call a council (member)?”

“You want to help the people? These people have issues they want answered,” Nedrow said. “Why don’t you all spend more money on other things than legal expenses or things like demolition when we don’t even have a truck that could do a demo? … Michael (McDowell), these are things that need to be aired.”

McDowell asked Nedrow how many more things he would like to discuss.

Nedrow mentioned that Donora currently employs four full-time police officers and one part-timer. He claimed, “The law and order in this town has deteriorated dramatically under your watch,” which was directed at Greco.

“It’s the mayor’s watch, not mine,” Greco said.

“People know the answers to these questions,” Nedrow said. “In November, we’ll see what happens.”

Nedrow received applause from the crowd of about a couple dozen residents as he sat down.

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