Last modified: Friday, October 3, 2008 2:35 AM EDT Committee would take on fiscal oversight BY MATT KAKLEY SUN CHRONICLE STAFF MANSFIELD - The town's top financial committee is calling on officials to create a new committee to look over the town's finances. At a meeting Thursday night with selectmen and the school committee, the finance committee asked the town to create an audit board to review the town's annual audit and make recommendations to officials about how problems should be resolved. The committee would only be able to offer advice and not actually make changes to town policies and procedures. "None of this is meant to diminish the power (of officials)," said Jack Goldberg, a member of the finance committee. "This doesn't supersede that." As proposed, the new committee would be comprised of one selectman, one school committee member, one finance committee member and two residents from the town at-large, who would be appointed by selectmen. Residents who work for the town or sit on another town board would be ineligible. The new committee would also be charged with creating a mechanism for town employees to confidentially lodge complaints or questions about the town's accounting or managerial processes. The board of selectmen is the only governing body that can create committees, and it was not clear Thursday if or when the selectmen would vote on the measure. However, board members were amenable to the idea of forming the committee. "I think the idea has a great deal of merit," selectmen Chairwoman Sandra Levine said. "Working it out is going to be the hard part." "It's going to take a lot of time and a lot of thought," she said. Selectmen are not bound by the committee's proposal and can change some aspects, or decide not to form the committee at all. "We hope that you will go ahead and form this committee," said Jim Lezzarra, a finance committee member. "This is a process that should move forward."