Town of Needham trust fund commissioners reviewed several accounts and scholarship funds that are held outside the Rockland omnibus portfolio and asked staff to reconcile account ownership, control and reporting.

Barbara, Rockland Trust’s account representative, said Rockland’s quarterly reporting includes statements from outside accounts—Wells Fargo, Invesco and Bank of America—and that Rockland incorporates their earnings into the town’s consolidated allocation spreadsheet even where Rockland does not manage those investments. “We don't do anything with those. We're just bringing them in to add them into the earnings and all of that,” she said.

Commissioners focused on two specific scholarship accounts that appear to operate outside Rockland: a Nina Pansick (transcript spelling variants: Pansick/Panzic/Panczyk) account, which shows discrepancies between the external bank statement and Rockland’s allocation spreadsheet, and an Invesco‑held Garrett Cullen scholarship account. Barbara identified a March 31 statement value of about $228,000 for the Pansick account while the town spreadsheet showed roughly $135,000, a gap commissioners said needs reconciliation.

The group also discussed whether the town or another entity controls those outside accounts. Barbara said historical arrangements indicate the school department may have administered some scholarship accounts and that prior treasurers (Evie, a former treasurer) may know the history. She advised the commissioners to review trust documents and consult the assistant treasurer‑collector and prior staff to confirm control. “Start with the assistant treasurer collector and then… check with Evie, the previous treasurer collector,” she said.

Commissioners also reviewed scholarship and stipend approvals for the Domestic Violence Action Committee (DVAC). The transcript indicates commissioners previously approved disbursements to DVAC (an operating/stipend account) for fiscal years 2024 and 2025 at $8,100 per year, which includes a $1,000 scholarship per year; commissioners confirmed those amounts but noted the stipend disbursement is typically handled by the committee from an operating account. The commissioners asked staff to collect trust documents and bank statements and return with a recommended reconciliation path and possible options for rolling outside accounts under Rockland or accounting for them separately.

Follow‑up tasks assigned included: staff review of the Pansick trust document, contacting the assistant treasurer‑collector and the school department to confirm who opened and controls the external accounts, and consideration of moving the two outside scholarship accounts into Rockland if appropriate.