This single page “Management Letter” was never made public, nor was it ever intended to be made public. We were clued in to the existence of this letter when we came across an email within a records request that alluded to a letter with concerning findings on a particular date. We became concerned because, concerning findings had never been mentioned by the administration or the council. We surmised that if there were concerning findings, they were being held outside of the public realm, excluding the City Council as well.
This letter was not easy to obtain, and on 10/27/2021 we had to petition the state for it’s release claiming, “it could be the most important piece of information the residents need to know on the fiscal solvency of the city.” We cc’ed the City Council and the Framingham Source on our appeal.
On October 28th, the city responded with three documents, and all three can be seen HERE…. but this management letter is key to everything.
CLICK TO ENLARGE THE IMAGE OF THE LETTER
The final line in the letter described who should be aware of it and it’s contents. The letter was “intended solely… [for] …the use of management” and “should not be, used by anyone other than these specified parties“. The letter notes that the findings were not included in the audit report, “City of Framingham, Massachusetts, Independent Auditors’ Report on Basic Financial Statements and Required Supplementary Information, Year Ended June 30, 2020“, which was the report which was presented to city council and to the public.
The city aims to retain the same audit firm going forward. Hopefully the future audits and the results aren’t held outside the scope of public access for transparency sake.
