POLAND – A group of citizens has presented their petition to the state auditor to force an audit of Poland’s books.

At Tuesday night’s selectmen meeting, Glenn Peterson and George Sanborn informed the board and townspeople that state Auditor Neria Douglass accepted the petition, which was signed by 544 Poland residents.

The state auditor had been, “Very accommodating and very upfront with the conflicts of interest,” Peterson said. She has previously worked with Bruce Nadeau, the auditor who performed Poland’s latest audit, which uncovered errors with the town’s TIF, that resulted in the town owing Poland Spring Bottling Corp. $2 million.

Because of her prior relationship with Nadeau, she has opted to hire an outside firm to perform Poland’s audit. She plans to present the petition to the Attorney General’s Office, and then send out a request for proposal from outside auditors.

Peterson and Sanborn said they expect that process to take 2 to 3 weeks, at which time they hope to update the board and townspeople about the estimated cost, and a time frame.

While there had originally been talk of an audit going back six years, to the time the TIF oversight began, this audit will go over only last year’s books, unless red flags are discovered.

Poland resident David Corcoran asked if the group of citizens pushing for the audit would be willing to hold a meeting to answer questions and concerns about the audit, and its cost to the town. He felt that this subject warrants a formal meeting for residents to voice their opinions before any of the town’s money is committed to this cause.

Both Sanborn and Peterson were willing to hold such a meeting, and advised they would like to wait until the RFPs are returned so that they have a clearer idea of the cost associated with the audit. They assured people that they would not accept or agree upon any RFP within the next two weeks.

“No action will be taken before the next selectmen meeting,” Sanborn said.

Until the RFPs are returned, there is no estimate on how much this audit will cost, it is only known that the town will have to pay for it.

Board Chairwoman Sandra Knowles announced that an extra $100,000 in overlay had been located in the town coffers. There was some discussion about using this money to further lower the mill rate by about 10 cents, but the board decided against this. Instead, the money will be left where it is, and used to offset the cost of the upcoming audit.