We recently learned the commonwealth refused to certify the City of Greenfield’s free cash. The cost of an audit, $75,000, is just the beginning.
For one to feel shocked or surprised 1) the city will be audited this year, and 2) current elected officials and staff have not been fully transparent about the city’s accounting issues and a required audit by the state Department of Revenue is egregious and inexcusable.
Two finance directors, the treasurer, the accountant – and the entire Finance Department – resigned in 2024.
Instead of seeing these resignations for the red flags of leadership they clearly were, instead of becoming curious, asking hard questions, and taking an investigative approach to uncover truths and hold leadership to account based on those truths, softball questions were posed with insufficient ongoing follow-up to the answers provided.
The embarrassing situation in which the city of Greenfield finds itself today was entirely, easily, and unquestionably predictable. With the audit alone costing $75,000, it’s also predictable the problem requires an expensive fix.
Michelle Spaziani
Greenfield