Statement on Confusion on FY21 audit for Council Consideration

There seems to be some confusion regarding the process of the audit approval the council is being asked to consider this evening. 

I will quote the auditor in a letter received today:

“As a reminder, the draft audit report was provided for your review to ensure any necessary changes are made. Once that is complete and the report is finalized—including the internal control letter—it is submitted to the state and presented to the council for approval.” 

Justice for Waldport and communication from Mr. Thimakis indicates that this group does not understand what is being asked of the Council tonight. As is described in the packet, this is a DRAFT audit. City staff is asking for the Council’s acceptance of this draft, so we can direct the auditor to move forward with the final completion of the audit as described above (or ask for more detail or refinement). 

We are following the process as spelled out by the state and the auditor. Normally, the city would do this internally - however, we are adding an extra public step of council draft approval to increase the transparency in this process. 

More importantly, the recall petitioners have been accusing the city of fraud - we are showing that the audit (whose timeline for finalization may not be completed during the recall period) shows no signs that the accusations are true. 

Regarding the opinion letter - we asked for more information - it is not included in the draft as this is a letter to the council included in the final report. More importantly - for the entire period that this audit covers, our finances were handled by the Cascade West Council Of Governments. Any opinions on controls or process relate to their administration of the finances. The city does not feel it is valuable to rehash something that happened four years ago, and that the city already entered into a settlement with them over performance. We think it is best to allow them to respond, not the city. 

The final audit will come back, as is described by the Auditor, to the council for approval. Everything. With no redactions. 

My own opinion, it is unfortunate that the citizens in question are so determined to find fault, that they won’t even allow the council to be MORE transparent without attacking them. 

-- City Manager Dann Cutter