December 4 2018
This report was given to the Hawaiian Acres Community
Association, (HACA) Board of Directors at their regular monthly meeting on November
25, 2018.
In the interest of transparency and to make sure the correct
information is given to the community, here are our findings and the timeline
for our actions. It is our moral,
ethical and legal duty to report this information to our community members.
As developments warrant we will update this information.
On September 23, 2018 at the regular HACA board of directors
meeting it was voted on by the majority of board members to appoint an audit
committee in order to get ready for our financial audit of the corporation that
is required on even years.
Members are as follows:
Douglas Schabell chairperson, Margaret Kellerer assistant,
Gladys (Alex) Shade Vice President and support Glenda Boehner Treasurer.
It was also voted on to terminate our office manager, Ashley Gagnon.
Her last day in the office was Sept. 25, 2018.
All financial records were backed up at this time in order to protect the integrity of our audit.
After reviewing our
office manager’s work which included our accounts receivables and other reports
generated in our Quick Book accounting system and checking them against bank
deposits it came to our attention that discrepancies between the two were
found. This had to do with cash deposits solely handled by our office manager.
To further clarify our findings and, to engage a neutral third
party, we contacted an accounting firm and the accountant agreed to review our
information and to look deeper into our system. Our treasurer was present at
these meetings along with all committee members in order to assist or clarify
with questions.
It was at this time we
were advised to lock down the office in order to secure our records and
computer system. Locks and all passwords
were changed. Because of the shared
office space with HARC and the fact that our former office manager still
continues to be treasurer of HARC we notified them that she could not access
our office and asked them to cooperate in this matter.
On Sunday September 28,
2018, after our regular monthly board meeting, A letter was sent by email and
registered mail to our former manager calling for her to attend a meeting on
October 31, 2018 to explain the discrepancies. Our former office manager chose not to attend.
As a courtesy a copy of the letter was also sent to the
president of HARC via email.
HARC would not agree in writing to block this person from our
office. We then notified HARC to vacate
our office space. This is the reason HARC no longer shares space in our main office.
HARC still has space allocated to them in the community center
just not our office space.
We were also advised by an attorney that we needed to file a
police report on the matter.
On October 31, 2018 a police report was filed with Hawaii Police
Dept.
Report No. 18-012747
Date filed. October 31, 2018
We supplied all our documents including full electronic backups
of our accounting data and bank records. We were asked by the police to include
all such records from 2016 until September 25, 2018.
Which is inclusive of beginning and ending dates of subcontractor work for the association.
On November 11, 2018 we were advised by phone message that after
the officer made contact with our former manager and interviewed her, the officer
then forwarded all our documentation to the Hawaii County Prosecutor’s office
for review and disposition of the case.
This will also be included in our newsletter and we will update
this information when it becomes available.
HACA will begin our audit
for 2018 at the end of this fiscal year.
HACA has installed a new computer system and all new 2019 quickbook
software, along with, new office security cameras. We are setting up new
accounting protocols, with the help of our accountant adviser, in order to insure our
records will be secure, accurate and transparent to all our community members.
To
assure our membership, the association is financially solvent and is
moving forward with business as usual and looking forward to new
community projects in 2019.
For more information contact us at om@haca.hawaiianacres.org
