$3M in CPA Funds Are Not 'Missing': Town Manager

WESTFORD, MA - Town Manager Jodi Ross responded to a letter to the editor of the Lowell Sun accusing her of refusing to disclose the whereabouts of funds.

Ross wrote her own letter to the editor that was published by the Lowell Sun disputing the accusations.

• See the full letter at the Lowell Sun

Paul Cully wrote in his letter that Ross had refused to reveal where $3 million in dedicated affordable-housing funds went.

Cully asked Ross and her staff to prove that 10 percent of annual CPA funds have been allocated for community housing over the years, according to the letter.

Ross wrote in her rebuttal that the finance director and director of land use management spent hours going through town meeting minutes and the general ledger to make sure the funds were accounted for. The funds are also audited by an outside firm every year, Ross wrote.

Ross wrote that Cully refused to accept the accounting and turned down an offer to go through the documents himself.

"I am disappointed in Mr. Cully's mischaracterization of the facts surrounding this issue," Ross wrote in the Lowell Sun letter.