Waltham’s municipal council gathered for a special meeting last Wednesday evening to receive the municipality’s 2023 financial statement, presented to council by an external auditor for the first time in at least 10 years, according to Waltham mayor and former two-term councillor Odette Godin.

An investigation conducted by Quebec’s municipal commission (CMQ) this year into the governing practices of the municipality’s former director general of 40 years found that for many years, the auditor’s annual offer to present his findings to council was not transmitted to council.

The investigation’s findings, published in August, stated this meant the councillors may never have seen an external audit.

In the fall of 2023, Mayor Godin reached out to the municipality’s external auditor to get more information on the state of the municipality’s finances.

She learned his external audit report for 2022 had found several discrepancies in the that year’s finances, pointing particularly to the DG’s hiring of his own wife as a municipal employee as one of many troubling financial practices he implemented during his tenure as DG.

When this report was made known to council, the CMQ investigation was triggered and soon after the DG submitted notice of his plans to resign in Feb. 2024, making 2023 the last year he was in charge of the municipality’s finances.

Godin and Annik Plante, who was hired to replace the former DG, were worried the financial malpractice that had been ongoing for years and only highlighted in 2022 may have continued in 2023.

But on Wednesday evening auditor Simon Thibault, who performs audits for many municipalities in the MRC Pontiac, said he found no discrepancies in the 2023 financial statement.

“So everything has gone well,” Thibault said, after presenting a summary of the audit. “Everything has followed the accounting standard. No complaints for the financial report.”

“You threw around a lot of numbers here, but the bottom line is we’re not in too bad a shape?” asked councillor Leonard Godin.

“Exactly,” Thibault confirmed.

Mayor Godin said people interested in reading the financial report for themselves may pick up a copy at the municipal office.

Register or subscribe to read this content

Thanks for stopping by! This article is available to readers who have created a free account or who subscribe to The Equity.

When you register for free with your email, you get access to a limited number of stories at no cost. Subscribers enjoy unlimited access to everything we publish—and directly support quality local journalism here in the Pontiac.

Register or Subscribe Today!