Will someone new be checking Alna's ledger in 2014?

Maybe.

William Brewer has been doing the town's audit for 21 years, according to Town Clerk Amy Warner; and selectmen aren't raising any issues with how his accounting firm is doing.

But the board has in recent years mulled putting the audit out to bid, to be consistent with a bidding policy it passed in early 2011. The non-binding policy calls for seeking bids on non-emergency projects expected to exceed $3,000.

Each year since then, by the time the idea was raised to put the audit out to bid, selectmen determined there wasn't enough time. The audit gets done after the town's fiscal year ends January 31, less than two months before the annual March town meeting.

This time, selectmen planned ahead. On December 5, they put the finishing touches on a bid request that seeks a five-year deal. The first two years are probationary.

Board members discussed and rejected possible shorter deals, including keeping it to one year with an option to renew.

“That doesn't give them any security with us,” Third Selectman David Reingardt said.

Fellow board members agreed on the multi-year deal. The two years' probation will give the town an out if it needs one, First Selectman David Abbott said.

“That way, if they don't perform, we can redo it,” he said.

The deadline for bids is January 2.