While the specific role of the selectman varies from town 
to town, all boards of selectmen have at least four 
important powers under state law: the power to sign 
warrants for the payment of all town bills; the power to 
make appointments to town office; the power to hire 
professional administrative assistance and town counsel; 
and the power to prepare the town meeting warrant. 

/. The power to sign warrants for the payment of all 
town bills. The town treasurer may not issue a single check 
unless a majority of the board of selectmen sign a warrant 
of authorization (MGL 41:56). This affects the town's 
payroll as well as every provider of goods and services. 
Other boards, committees, department heads, and town 
officials may approve whatever payrolls and bills they wish, 
and certainly they should be required to do so before the 
warrants come to the selectmen, but the bills cannot be paid 
until the selectmen sign off on them. 

At last night's selectmen meeting, the Town Administrator indicated an audit of FY2013 may begin by the end of this month. It seems the Town Accountant rather than the Treasurer/Collector is preparing the debt schedule. Looking at many resources, the debt schedule among other items are the duties of the Treasurer. It would seem to be a better idea to have the Town Accountant to be working on town financial records to be ready for any audits that may begin sometime soon. I believe the Town transferred money at a special town meeting back in November to pay for additional help for the accountant to get these records completed so an audit may happen. Of course money was also transferred from a one time funding source to be put into an account for recurring expenses. This indicates to me we have not learned lessons from past mistakes.

Jeff Bennett