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Dear Editor:
As a fifth generation Westfield resident living here for 72 years, I have seen lots of changes. The most change I’ve seen is how our community government is run. I have trained cities, towns and school employees to use government accounting software and have seen lots of budgets and appropriation reports, etc. My experience has allowed me to follow the financials of the City of Westfield. I can tell you that Cindy Gossard is doing her job, and I support her in her re-election as Clerk Treasurer of the City of Westfield.
Westfield’s Clerk Treasurer Cindy Gossard is in a contested race to keep her position. She is the best person to keep her position, and here is why:
Cindy has followed the Indiana state code to do her job as Clerk Treasurer. She has 26 years of experience in municipal government. She has certification from Ball State in Public Finance. She continues every year to attend classes to keep her office updated on any legislative changes made by the state of Indiana.
She keeps the financial records of the city in professional order as required by the State Board of Accounts.
Gossard’s software for keeping the financials is up-to-date and consulted by Finley and Cook. In 2014-2015 Gossard’s opponent accessed the City software and recategorized reconciled funds which had to be returned to their original accounts by the C/T office with review by Finley and Cook.
When budgets are passed by the Council, those figures are downloaded into the software and all reports are generated from the budget figures. From all accounts Gossard maintains the account receivables and account payables. These figures are what State Board of Accounts audits every year. She maintains all bank accounts and balances them. She also maintains the payroll.
Gossard has done an outstanding job and had all of her audits approved by the State Board of Accounts. Only the year that $30,000,000 of the sale of the utility that was put into a separate account by the Mayor and his Administrative staff and she was not given oversight of that account did the accounting audit get written up for questionable practice and the Mayor and staff were chastised for the illegal activity.
Cindy began the process of meeting with the City of Carmel to review the food and beverage tax shortage. The restaurants with a Carmel mailing address and located in the City of Westfield were not properly filing those taxes in the correct municipality. Therefore Westfield was not receiving tax dollars. Thank you Cindy for calling this out.
Cindy, along with her staff, has 83 total years of experience in this office. With a growing community this experience is necessary.
It has been brought to the public’s attention that her opponent is using a program out of California called OpenGov. This program allows the public to see figures. But these figures for Westfield are different than Cindy’s figures in the clerk treasurer’s office as they can be manipulated by the Administrator. Cindy’s figures have to be correct because they come from the approved budget figures and go through all of the accounting processes that get audited by the State Board of Accounts.
Also, her opponent claims to be preparing the city budget which is a city-wide process involving all department heads. Gossard’s opponent hires Financial Solutions, which submits an annual invoice for “Preparing the Budget” in amount of approximately $8,000. Prior to Gossard’s opponent, budgets were presented by the Chief of Staff and Deputy Mayor on behalf of the Mayor through 2017 for the 2018 budget.
Cindy is the best candidate to maintain and operate this position for the City of Westfield. Her experience allows her to do the work correctly and professionally.
Truth: We need to get back to the integrity that this community was founded on.
Please vote for and re-elect Cindy Gossard.
Judith Stanley Shuck
Westfield