CASCO – Casco residents as well as a selectman baffled by the town’s handling of charity fuel assistance funds have sought help from several state agencies to analyze the Casco Helping Casco fuel assistance fund.

On Thursday, March 29, Selectman Carroll Morton e-mailed a request to three separate state agencies seeking their independent review of the fuel assistance fund. The fund was set up in October 2008 to help poor residents of Casco needing heating fuel assistance.

“No one is willing to look into this on the (select) board, so I thought, well, let’s ask the state to get involved,” Morton said on Monday. “All we want to know is how much money is in there, what the deposits have been, where the money is going, and it just ain’t happening, for one reason or another.”

Morton sent his request to the Maine Attorney General’s Office, Maine Municipal Association, as well as the state Department of Audit.

Eric Conrad, spokesman for Maine Municipal Association, said the group would not be getting involved, since it has no power in matters like these and it’s “not what we do.”

A spokeswoman for the state attorney general’s office said the agency has yet to receive the e-mailed request.

Neria Douglass, the state auditor, acknowledged receipt of Morton’s request, but was unwilling to speculate on whether her agency would conduct an audit of the Casco Helping Casco account.

“I need to be clear that we only just received this request and my knowledge of the issue is weak at best. However, with that said, from what I’ve heard so far, it does look like a matter that would be of concern to me,” Douglass said.

Douglass said her department had just finished an audit in Ludlow which involving misappropriation of funds in the town’s fuel assistance fund and which led to the dismissal of the Ludlow town manager.

“One of the issues I see in Casco is that the choice of auditors involved looks like it’s a concern.” Douglass said.

Selectmen recently hired Purdy Powers, an auditing firm the town has used in the past to audit the town’s books but which critics of the town’s handling of the fuel fund say failed to catch three separate withdrawals from the fuel assistance fund. Instead of going for fuel, Town Manager David Morton used the Casco Helping Casco fund to pay for rent assistance for individuals in town.

But David Morton, no relation to Carroll Morton, also said his critics have it wrong and that there is no cover-up or impropriety on Purdy Powers’ behalf. He said the firm’s audit last year didn’t include the rent assistance payments because they hadn’t happened yet.

“Purdy Powers, which by the way is an excellent auditing firm and usually does the town of Casco’s audit work, didn’t miss anything,” David Morton said. “Purdy Powers audited that account at the end of July 2009 and those postings for the rent payments were made in December of 2009 and January of 2010. So, how can they miss something they haven’t seen yet?”

Morton, however, acknowledged that the rent assistance payments were errors on his part.

“What we have been able to provide them, for issues of confidentiality, was who the heating money actually went to. There were two errors of posting which we’ve corrected, and that’s it,” he said.

Jeannine Lauber Oren, who manages the Casco Helping Casco fuel fund and who brought the alleged misappropriation to the attention of the Board of Selectmen months ago, also hopes the state will step in to oversee an official audit of the disputed account.

She says Selectwoman Barbara York, the one-time treasurer of the fund, and David Morton failed to keep detailed records of deposits and withdrawals and may have mixed Casco Helping Casco money into the Casco Firemen’s Association fund. But Oren stops short of charging either Morton or York with embezzling money.

Oren also believes there is a conflict of interest hiring Purdy Powers to conduct the audit since she said the firm would be admitting to mistakes if it found inaccuracies. She also believes the firm, since it wants to stay in the town’s good graces, would want to keep any improprieties hidden.

“How do you get an independent audit from Purdy Powers? They only have the town’s best interests in mind, not the taxpayers. There is a difference,” she said. “We are making a charge against the town. Purdy Powers works in the best interest of town hall, the entity called the town of Casco. Not the taxpayers. They are two different entities. That is the conflict of interest. They cannot represent the taxpayers’ interest or our group’s interest.”

Oren said there are many questions regarding the handling of the Casco Helping Casco account and that Purdy Powers isn’t the best firm to provide answers.

“We just want to get to the bottom of this,” Oren said Wednesday. “There were three rent payments made using funds that were designated as fuel assistance funds. That was a red flag for us. We started scratching the surface of the account and it’s opened a Pandora’s Box, which we think is pretty significant, and which we think should be investigated.”

Oren said she has been intimately involved in Casco Helping Casco, believing the purpose of the fund is a noble one. Oren said she has spent hundreds of dollars and many hours raising money for the fund, even standing outside in the rain at fundraising events. Her friend and neighbor Jennifer Murray has also donated much time and energy building up the fund, she said, spending $3,500 of her own money to prop up the fund. The two women say they are making sure the money they and others have donated is spent properly.

David Morton stands by the choice of Purdy Powers. He said Oren has made “outlandish claims” regarding that firm as well as Runyon, Kersteen & Ouellette, the auditing firm that the town was going to use before it settled on Purdy Powers.

“She rejected (RKO) for absurd reasons because of (Casco resident) Kevin Hancock’s involvement because he sits on the board of Bridgton Academy and RKO performs their audits. But that has nothing to do with the town of Casco. It’s absurd to claim it does,” David Morton said.

Purdy Powers’ audit will cost $4,200, which will come out of the town’s contingency fund. David Morton said a person from the firm who has not been involved with past town audits is currently conducting the audit, the results of which will be made public in two or three weeks.

Jeannine Lauber Oren, left, and Jennifer Murray stand with boxes full of documentation that they say point to mismanagement of the Casco Helping Casco fuel assistance fund. They and Selectman Carroll Morton have requested the state’s help in conducting a full audit of the fund. (Staff photo by John Balentine)