News

Letter: Rob Fryer for Town Treasurer

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Editor:

While I had not met Rob Fryer until this election season, it is an honor to now call him friend. Rob’s knowledge of the finance world is overwhelming and his quick study into what the job as Town Treasurer is and what it should and could be are impressive. Rob’s ability to take on what he needed to do to be a good candidate and his willingness to do it all, was greatly appreciated. But more than anything else his desire to remain civil and respectful of his opponent proved to me this is who we need to be in Town government and what we lack in all levels of our government right now. Please join me in voting Tuesday, Nov.

News

Letter: Rob Fryer ‘By Far the Better’ Candidate for Town Treasurer

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Editor,

Rob Fryer is by far the better fit for Town Treasurer. Rob’s 45-year business career was entirely in accounting and finance. He worked for decades as a CPA for large industrial companies, which have treasury operations that involve issuing bonds and managing cash balances—just like municipalities. He was a partner for many years at Deloitte. His opponent has much less business experience, primarily in regulatory compliance, which is not relevant to a municipal treasury operation.

News

Letter: Rob Fryer’s Experience Makes Him Better Town Treasurer Candidate

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Rob’s career at Deloitte lasted almost fifty years, including 34 years as a senior partner and this experience working with large corporations in their finance and accounting areas made him an expert in all aspects of finance and accounting. This broad expertise enables him to provide the following benefits if elected as our Treasurer:

While the responsibilities of a Town Treasurer are prescribed by state law and he will execute them seriously, he is ready to use his broad expertise to assist town government with the broader aspects of cash and debt management and the control of expenditures. He has many years of experience in internal financial controls and hopes to participate in preventing material weaknesses in the future. Rob is no longer working and will perform his duties as Treasurer at town hall during regular office hours and this will enable him to interact with town officials, from First Selectman down, when questions arise that could utilize his expertise. Rob’s opponent, Andrew Brooks, has a bachelor’s degree in economics and history and a full time job with Accenture in finance and risk management.

News

Op-Ed: In Fields Project’s Wake, Town Treasurer Candidate Says New Canaan Can Do Better

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There is an old saying about construction projects: “good, quick, cheap – pick the two you want because you can’t have all three.” I don’t know enough about the $800,000 additional funding requirement to complete the turf fields / track project to suggest which of these criteria mattered most at the time the project was planned, nor will I repeat all that has already been written about this matter, which divided the Town Council. What I will say, as a CPA and candidate for Town Treasurer, is that town hall needs to learn from the mistakes that were made and install stronger financial controls over major capital projects, from the budgeting stage, through bidding and contracting, and during construction. In public / private partnerships such as this one, it is the town that has to make up the shortfall if additional private funds are not forthcoming. I am a director of a small gold mining company that has recently completed the development of a complex underground mine on time and on budget, for a cost of roughly ten times that of the fields project. We have undertaken other capital projects over recent years, smaller in scope, that have run over budget.

Government

New Canaan Town Treasurer Candidates Differ on Role of Elected Position, Qualifications at Debate

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None of the material weaknesses that auditors have identified in New Canaan’s finances in recent years have been the town treasurer’s responsibility, a candidate for the elected office said this week. Nevertheless, the identification of those weaknesses became a focal point for many in New Canaan and what Democrat Rob Fryer said he would do if elected town treasurer is “see that this doesn’t happen again.”

“What CPAs do who work in auditing in large corporate environments—and probably municipal governments, as well—is work with clients to eliminate material weaknesses as and when they occur and as and when arise,” Fryer told more than 150 people gathered Monday night at Town Hall for a debate. He added: “I have had the experience of years and years of eliminating material weaknesses, working with clients to do so and, if I am elected, the town will be my client and I will see that these things get addressed promptly.”

The incumbent town treasurer who is seeking re-election, Republican Andrew Brooks, said that it’s “important to know who has ultimate responsibility for remediating weaknesses” and noted that he was “one of the first people to support the creation of the town’s Audit Committee and commended members of the Town Council for their wisdom in creating that committee.”

A change in personnel at the top of the Finance Department, primarily, led to the elimination of all material weaknesses identified in New Canaan’s finances, Brooks said, and “it is important to know that the town treasurer is not part of the Finance Department.”

“I am totally independent of the Finance Department for the purposes of checks and balances,” he said. Brooks said further that the chairman of the Audit Committee recently made it clear “that there have never been any material weaknesses or deficiencies in my performance as treasurer, and that all the issues that were in the Finance Department, the material weaknesses have been remediated because of my recommendations and the Audit Committee’s recommendations finally being implemented.”

The pair debated during the League of Women Voters’ Candidates Forum. Candidates in all contested races for this year’s municipal election participated, including first selectman and Town Council.