The decision to explore the creation of Town Comptroller for the Town of Wawarsing is being pushed forward with the intention of creating some form of oversight for Town Supervisor, James Dolaway.

Currently, Supervisor Dolaway is the fiscal officer for the town. This designation allows any check he signs on behalf of the town to be considered valid. But quite a few complaints have been made, many of them going back several months, that Dolaway has often written checks or authorized payments without Town Board approval or knowledge. The suggested benefit behind the Comptroller position is that both the Comptroller and the Supervisor would have to sign any checks in order for them to be considered valid.

Furthermore, the position of Town Comptroller would be a two-year appointment that was approved by the Town Board, thus making whoever holds that position answerable to the Board as a whole. One Town Board member, speaking with a certain amount of exasperation, said, "Short of filing criminal charges, I don't know how else to stop [Dolaway] from acting without Board approval or misappropriating funds."

When this was first brought up during Thursday's meeting, several concerned citizens in attendance were curious as to where the money would come from for a new position. Councilwoman Gunter responded to one questioner who voiced this concern by saying, "We already said no. Christ!"

In fact, the funding of the position remained unclear as there were several remarks implying that the job description for the Town Comptroller is similar to that of the Municipal Bookkeeper, a position currently held by Mrs. Pat Althouse. The major differences are that the Municipal Bookkeeper is appointed by the Supervisor and their signature is not required to validate a check. Since the Board cannot legally do away with the position of Municpal Bookkeeper, and they feel that a Town Comptroller approximates most of the responsibilities of the existing position, it remains unclear as to how the Board will proceed once it is given a recommendation from the county.

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