If all goes as planned, an accounting firm hired to assume the role of town accountant until the end of this year will begin its work after all.

The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously Tuesday for town lawyers and Town Administrator Mark Andrews to work out a contract with Baystate Municipal Accounting Group. The firm was hired last week but then withdrew its bid for the job amidst confusion over whether the town had to follow procurement laws in hiring the firm to fill in as town accountant.

In an October 28 memo written to Board of Selectmen chair Walter Cruz, Andrews said Baystate Municipal Accounting Group withdrew its application after uncertainty about whether municipalities hiring firms that provide "CPA-like services" would be exempt from following the requirements of procurement laws.

According to Massachusetts General Law, municipalities are required to "seek written or oral quotations from no fewer than three persons customarily providing such supply or service" and award the contract to the person with the lowest quote.

Baystate Municipal Accounting Group "looked exactly like what we need to straighten out our accounting mess," Andrews wrote in the memo, which was provided to Wareham Week by his office.

The search for a town accountant was crucial, as the town must get information to the state Department of Revenue in order to set its tax rate.

The firm was scheduled to begin work on October 28 after a hiring committee unanimously recommended it fill the position until December 31, when officials would then determine whether the town should continue using the firm's services or hire an individual.

After the hiring committee decided on the accounting firm, "we relied on prior precedent at the Inspector General['s office] to move ahead," Andrews wrote. "With a change of personnel at the Inspector General's office, the I.G. appears to have changed their former opinion exempting this type of hire" from procurement requirements.

Andrews wrote that the Inspector General's office "yielded neither approval nor rejection of our ability to hire [the firm] ... only a statement that they would be taking it over among themselves."

Andrews then asked Baystate Municipal Accounting Group to "independently confirm its current exempt status with the I.G.," but after inquiring, the firm withdrew it's bid, stating: "it does not want to enter a new relationship under a cloud and that it is most careful about its reputation," Andrews wrote.

The firm apparently submitted its bid again between the time Andrews' office sent Wareham Week a copy of the memo Monday and the Board of Selectmen's meeting on Tuesday, when Andrews again recommended that the town hire the firm.

"This at least buys us time through the end of the year," Selectman Cara Winslow said Tuesday. Winslow and Selectman Steve Holmes voted against hiring the firm when it was presented to the Selectmen on October 25 as the hiring committee's choice.

At that time, Winslow said she was concerned with whether the town was getting the most for its money, since the firm had applied in response to a job posting and the Selectmen had received no other quotes from firms.

Selectman Ellen Begley, who served on the hiring committee, noted Tuesday that hiring a firm for such a position was not unusual.

"Initially this [idea] was met with some resistance because it was 'out of the box,'" Begley noted. "There are many towns in the Commonwealth that are functioning right now without a municipal accountant" and are instead using firms.

The town was down to the wire in its search for an accountant. It needs to prepare and file information with the state Department of Revenue in order for it to set the tax rate and get the tax bills out on time.

Former Town Accountant Elizabeth Zaleski was fired in April after a draft financial audit revealed a $919,000 discrepancy in the town's books. After appealing the dismissal and reaching a $42,500 settlement agreement, Zaleski was reinstated but agreed to immediately resign her post.

The $919,000 discrepancy has been reduced by $180,000, but auditors are still working.

Though the town was looking for an individual to fill the position of town accountant, it first received a proposal from the Baystate among six applications for the job from individuals.

"Frankly, the [hiring committee] did not receive applications from suitable applicants, other than [Baystate Municipal Accounting group]," Andrews wrote. "It was not our original intention and it had not occurred to the [hiring committee] or me that hiring a firm might be an option."

It was the second time the town had posted the accountant's job. The hiring committee interviewed eight people for the position in the beginning of September. It narrowed the search down to two candidates, but both declined when separately offered the job, according to Collector/Treasurer John Foster, who explained the hiring process at a brief Board of Selectmen meeting on October 25.

The town will continue to look for an individual or a firm to begin work on January 1, 2012.

"My staff has reviewed the proposed process with the Inspector General's staff, which approves of the process I have outlined, which will follow the provisions" of the procurement law, Andrews wrote in the October 28 memo. "While we would be happy to have an individual apply for the long term position, I think we have to acknowledge that the lengthy search we pursued looking for such individuals did not yield qualified and suitable applicants."

Andrews noted in his memo that there are still two weeks before Powers and Sullivan, a firm hired to audit the town's books, would be able to produce the information the accountant will need to file the necessary information with the state Department of Revenue.

The Department of Revenue "is aware of the timing issues and has not expressed any anxiety or disapproval," Andrews wrote. He said the town would have an interim accountant firm next week.

A spokeswoman from the Inspector General's office said the office was contacted by the town for guidance and that the office was "pleased" by the town's decision to "rebid the services."