“Ousted South Burlington official now working at Burlington Electric”

Ousted South Burlington official now working at Burlington Electric

Posted: 27 Jan 2011 03:18 PM PST

Dennis Gravelin, assistant city manager in South Burlington until he says he was forced to resign last September amid revelations of accounting and reporting problems, was quickly hired as controller by Burlington Electric Department, despite lacking the formal education the job description requires.

He was hired at the top of the position's pay scale and given a substantial cost-of-living increase two months later.

The BED job was first posted Aug. 23. The deadline to apply was Aug. 31. Gravelin began work in Burlington Sept. 13.

Gravelin, 56, was put on paid leave by South Burlington City Manager Sandy Miller last summer, shortly after Miller began work and discovered the South Burlington pension fund was significantly underfunded and that the City Council was unaware of it. Gravelin told the Burlington Free Press he was forced to resign, and he left the South Burlington job Aug. 30.

In the following weeks, Miller and his new assistant city manager discovered a number of accounting irregularities that made it difficult to determine the state of city finances, Miller said.

Those issues were no hindrance to his hiring by BED. Gravelin said BED managers were unconcerned by revelations of financial mismanagement in South Burlington.

"I brought it to their attention," he said. "They weren't overly concerned."

Gravelin said he was hired because his skills "fit nicely" with what BED needed, and with "maybe a little divine intervention."

He was recruited, he said, by BED Chief Financial Officer Daryl Santerre, who had known him for years.

BED General Manager Barbara Grimes, in response to Free Press questions, said Gravelin's performance in the past "as a utility controller and supervisor were excellent as were his references. Moreover, his job responsibilities and position within BED's organizational structure are completely different from the circumstances in South Burlington."

In South Burlington, according to the resume he provided Burlington, he was finance director, responsible for preparing the annual city budget, and he backed the city manager "in all aspects of city departmental functions including contract administration and negotiations."

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As BED controller, according to the job description provided by the city's Human Resources Department, he "is responsible for providing supervision and leadership to staff involved in the coordination and reporting of all accounting for both BED and the McNeil Generating Station. In addition, this position is responsible for monthly closings, year-end audits, tax compliance, oversight of the chart of accounts, general ledger, and subsidiary systems."

The BED job description lists requirements for the job of a bachelor's of science degree in accounting or a related field and eight years of experience. Gravelin's resume indicates he does not have a bachelor's degree. He received an associate's degree in business administration and accounting from Champlain College in 1974.

He said BED managers didn't raise the issue of his formal education.

"It didn't (come up)," he said, "I think because of my extensive background, and most of the folks knew me."

Human Resources Director Susan Leonard said in an e-mail that while she "wasn't involved in the hire, it is not uncommon for hiring authorities to use a combination of education and experience when screening candidates. I have most often seen two or three years of experience used to equal one year of education."

South Burlington finances

Gravelin left South Burlington as the city and Miller, its new city manager, began coping with budget problems including a pension shortfall. Miller cites prior budgetary confusion in his lengthy budget message accompanying his proposal for next year's budget, which calls for a 6.2 percent tax hike and an overall budget 12.8 percent higher than this year's.

Without mentioning former City Manager Chuck Hafter or Gravelin by name, Miller said in his message that previous South Burlington budgets failed to provide "a true picture of revenues and expenditures."

"The problem," he said in his executive summary to the proposed budget, "has been a combination of many things, including, but not limited to, improper budgeting of revenues, co-mingling of funds, unorthodox budgeting practices and the failure to accurately budget expenditures."

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Miller said that special funds for South Burlington programs and activities "covering a wide range of activities including project and grant" and gift funds, were kept "off budget." That meant, he wrote, that "in addition to obscuring the true financial picture of the city and being apparently in violation of charter provisions, no citizen or City Council oversight of these funds was possible."

Asked for his explanation of the budgeting techniques for past years, Gravelin said, "It's quite complicated. I don't know how much or what to tell you. Chuck and I met with their staff and new accountant, and frankly, I was surprised as everyone."

He also said changes for fiscal 2011 in the city charter's budget provisions have brought new requirements to budget preparation.

"For years, we were working under the old charter," Gravelin said, "and budget processes were influenced by that."

The previous charter limited tax rate increases to the size of the increase in the grand list. Additionally, overall spending increases were limited to 10 percent.

Gravelin said he knew nothing of special funds that had been drained.

BED has its own financial concerns. In October, its credit rating was downgraded, as was Burlington Airport's, by Moody's Investors Service, increasing the cost of future borrowing. The city's credit rating has been lowered twice since summer. In each case, Moody's cited financial stress on the city emerging from the financial mismanagement of Burlington Telecom.

Words of support

Gravelin's references for the key financial oversight job of controller were from individuals who had known him for years, some of whom now work at BED, according to BED officials and records.

Santerre, the BED chief financial officer, had worked with him at Green Mountain Power in the 1970s and recruited him for the controller's job, Gravelin said.

Additionally, BED Director of Resource Planning Ken Nolan and BED Resource Planner James Gibbons, both of whom worked with Gravelin during his tenure from 1981 to 2001 with the Vermont Public Power Supply Authority, provided references, as did BED Manager of Risk Management and Government Affairs Paul Alexander and former BED employee Bob Bradish.

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Santerre said he provided "glowing" references for Gravelin. Nolan and Gibbons "had nice things to say;" Alexander "had very positive comments;" and Bradish "had only nice things to say."

In addition, an unidentified South Burlington official offered "unsolicited ... absolutely glowing remarks" about Gravelin, according to Santerre.

Gravelin said he was surprised when Santerre called him about the BED job shortly after his suspension in South Burlington.

"He knew me from my previous life," he said.

His final salary with South Burlington was $85,475. His salary at BED is $83,683.

The pay range for the controller position is $49,676 to $81,437. According to Human Resources, a cost-of-living increase in November raised Gravelin's salary above the posted salary range. HR said three individuals applied for the job. The office staff could not say immediately whether any of those applicants satisfied the job requirements.

Contact John Briggs at 660-1863 or jbriggs@burlingtonfreepress.com.

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Job Description

Thursday, January 27, 2011