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Board adopts accounts-payable policy to formalize pre-meeting payments and reporting
Summary
Cascade Charter Township approved a clarified accounts-payable policy defining invoice types that require board review and creating a reporting column to identify payments made between meetings; exceptions (payroll, taxes, utilities, bond agents, credit-card providers) may be paid prior to board approval and will be reported at the next meeting.
The Cascade Charter Township board voted to approve a new, consolidated accounts-payable policy intended to standardize which payments require prior board approval and which can be paid administratively under a list of exceptions.
Finance Director Lorna Ninturini presented the policy, describing it as "very straightforward" and explaining that it consolidates pieces of previously scattered policies. The policy clarifies board-reviewed payables and lists exceptions that may be paid before board review, including employee payroll, payroll taxes, property taxes, credit-card payments, bond paying agents, and certain revenue-sharing payments tied to building inspection services.
Ninturini said the policy is meant to preserve the board's ultimate authority while avoiding late fees and improving vendor relations. She described an operational safeguard: payments made between board meetings will be reported on the next board packet in a column showing check numbers so the board can identify which items were paid administratively.
Trustees asked whether the policy increases transparency; staff responded that formalizing the practice and returning paid items to the board packet for review makes the process more transparent than prior practices that had left some items effectively exempted from reporting. After discussion, Trustee Shipley moved to approve the policy, Trustee Rizzi seconded, and the board approved the change by voice vote.
The policy will allow staff to make time-sensitive payments under the stated exceptions and requires staff to report those payments to the board at the next possible meeting.
