Recreation Department makes changes post-embezzlement

Sept. 14, 2017 | Payton North
payton@thereminder.com



EAST LONGMEADOW – In the wake of the ongoing investigation regarding the $61,184 embezzlement from the East Longmeadow Parks and Recreation Department, the town is left to make changes to be sure that this will not happen again.

East Longmeadow Town Manager Denise Menard said that though some changes are internal, they have changed the way they accept money.

“We no longer take cash in any of our offices, it’s much more to credit cards, to debit, online payments.  We have tightened up security,” Menard said. “There’s no cash lying around.”

Though alleged embezzler John Matte admitted to stealing money from the Recreation Department over the course of 18 months to two years, an independent audit by Thomas Scanlon of Scanlon & Associates showed that $61,184 was missing over a three-year period. Detective Joseph Barone’s report, he wrote Matte would allegedly take $200 or more at a time by rearranging paperwork.

Town Accountant Sara Menard told police in the report that she sought to reconcile the Recreation Departments budget with then-Recreation Director Colin Drury for 1 ½ years to no avail.

 Though Menard is not aware of how often the Recreation Department’s budget is supposed to be reconciled, she noted it is a complex budget with multiple programs.

“We have fine-tuned things internally and we’ve looked at the processes and procedures,” Menard said.

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