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IT IS SEPTEMBER 30TH, 2020[Audit Committee Meeting on September 30, 2022]
2, 1 30 1:00 PM WELCOME TO THE CITY OF GARLAND'S AUDIT COMMITTEE MEETING.UH, WITH ME, I HAVE, UH, COUNCIL MEMBERS MOORE AND WILLIAMS, AND QUITE A NUMBER OF STAFF UMD.
LIKE TO THANK EVERYBODY FOR COMING ON A FRIDAY AFTERNOON ON THE LAST DAY OF THE FISCAL YEAR.
WE'RE GONNA TRY AND GET YOU OUTTA HERE AS QUICK AS WE CAN.
ITEM NUMBER ONE IS THE APPROVAL OF THE JUNE 14TH, 2022 MEETING MINUTES.
MEMBERS, IF YOU HAD A CHANCE TO READ THEM, AND IF SO, DO I HAVE A MOTION? MAKE A MOTION.
WE HAVE A MOTION TO, TO APPROVE BY COUNCIL MEMBER MOORE SECOND.
SECOND COUNSELS MEMBER WILLIAMS. ALL IN FAVOR SAY AYE.
AGENDA ITEM NUMBER TWO, UH, WEAVER PRESENTATION OF THE FISCAL YEAR 2022 AUDIT.
I'M THE PARTNER ON THE ENGAGEMENT.
SO WE'RE HERE TO KIND OF GO THROUGH WHAT THE AUDIT PROCESS LOOKS LIKE.
WE HAVEN'T STARTED THE MAIN AUDIT, OBVIOUSLY IT'S FISCAL YEAR IN TODAY.
UH, BUT WE HAVE DONE SOME INTERIM WORK, SO WE'LL UPDATE YOU ON WHERE WE ARE AND THEN, UH, LET YOU KNOW WHAT WE'RE GOING TO BE DOING.
LET ME MAKE SURE I DO THIS RIGHT.
UM, WE'VE GOT A LOT OF CONSISTENCY FROM PRIOR YEAR, SO THAT WORKS OUT WELL FOR LOGISTICS AND EVERYONE, YOU KNOW, KNOWING WHO TO TALK TO, WHO TO GO TO.
SO, UM, SAME PARTNER, SAME MANAGER.
UM, WE HAVE THE SAME SENIOR, AND THEN WE'VE ROTATED THE STAFF FOR THE ENGAGEMENT.
SO, UM, WE ALSO HAVE AN IT ADVISORY GROUP THAT COMES OUT IN OCTOBER TO DO CONTROL TESTING OVER THE IT SYSTEMS. UM, THAT'S MAHOL LED BY BRITNEY GEORGE.
AND THEN WE ALSO DO DATA ANALYTICS WORK.
SO BECAUSE DISBURSEMENTS AND PAYROLL, AND THERE'S A LARGE AMOUNT OF DATA, WE USE DATA ANALYTICS TO FILTER INTO SOME UNUSUAL ITEMS. SO, UM, A PERSON THAT'S APPROVING THAT ISN'T LISTED AS AN APPROVER OR A DATE THAT SOMETHING IS HAPPENING WHEN IT'S NOT NECESSARILY SUPPOSED TO BE THAT DATE, WE LOOK FOR UNUSUAL ITEMS WITH THE DATA ANALYTICS.
SO THIS IS THE AUDIT SCHEDULE, UM, IN CASE YOU NEED IT.
SO WE DID INTERIM WORK IN AUGUST.
WE'LL BE BACK, UH, FOR THE FIELD WORK IN FEBRUARY, UH, LATE JANUARY.
AND THEN WE WRAP UP USUALLY BY MID-MARCH.
UM, WE GIVE AN AUDIT COMMITTEE PRESENTATION AT THE END, AND THEN WE'LL GO TO COUNCIL.
SO THE AUDIT PROCESS IS RISK BASED.
SO WHAT WE'RE DOING IS WE'RE LOOKING AT THE COUNCIL MINUTES.
WE'RE LOOKING AT THE TRANSACTIONS THAT OCCURRED THIS YEAR, SOME OF THE ISSUES OR COMPLEXITIES THAT MAY HAVE OCCURRED IN ONE FISCAL YEAR, AND SEEING IF THERE'S SOMETHING THAT'S RISKIER THAN IT HAS BEEN IN THE PAST.
THAT COULD BE A DEBT ISSUANCE THAT WAS COMPLICATED, OR LAST YEAR, THE FREEZE AND THE TRANSACTIONS THAT WENT AROUND WITH THAT.
SO IF THERE'S, UM, AN UNUSUAL TRANSACTION, A COMPLEX ONE, THAT WILL STAND OUT.
BUT THEN THE RISK AREAS ASIDE FROM THAT ARE ALWAYS MANAGEMENT OVERRIDE OF CONTROLS, WHICH DEALS WITH THE JOURNAL ENTRY PROCESS, THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT REPORTING PROCESS, AND JUST MAKING SURE THAT THOSE CONTROLS ARE IN PLACE WHERE THERE'S ALWAYS A PROPER APPROVAL, A PROPER REVIEWER, AND MAKING SURE THAT THE ENTRIES OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT BALANCES, UM, HAVE BEEN APPROVED AND THAT NO ONE IS TRYING TO OVERSTATE REVENUE OR UNDERSTATE A LIABILITY.
SO THAT'S REALLY A BIG FOCUS ON THE AUDIT, IS THE MANAGEMENT OVERRIDE OF CONTROLS.
WE ALSO LOOK AT REVENUE RECOGNITION, UM, THE LIABILITIES, CAPITAL PROJECTS.
SO THESE ARE THE, THE LARGER NUMBERS IN THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.
IF YOU WERE TO OPEN UP THE ACT FOR AND SEE THESE SUBSTANTIAL BALANCES, THAT'S REALLY WHERE A LOT OF OUR TESTING WILL LIE.
ALSO, THE FEDERAL GRANTS WITH, UM, YOU KNOW, WITH ARPA AND ALL OF THE FEDERAL FUNDING THAT'S COME IN, THAT'S A BIG PIECE AS WELL.
AND BECAUSE OF THAT PART, WE DO INTERNAL CONTROL TESTING.
SO WE'RE ALSO DOING CASH DISBURSEMENTS, PAYROLL TESTING, PROCUREMENT BID TESTING AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
SO FOR INTERIM MARKET THAT WE'VE STARTED ALREADY, WE DO COMPLIANCE TESTING.
SO WE'RE LOOKING AT COMPLIANCE WITH, UM, THE PROCUREMENT PROCESS, THE DAYS PAID, UM, THE PUBLIC INVESTMENT FUNDS ACT, SO A LOT OF REGULATION CONTROLS ARE TESTED, AND THEN THE COMPLIANCE PIECE IS TESTED AS WELL.
WE'RE LOOKING AT THE CAPITAL PROJECTS AT INTERIM, AND THEN WE'LL FOLLOW THAT UP AT FIELDWORK AS WELL.
AND THEN THE LAST PIECE THAT TAKES A LITTLE BIT IS WALKING THROUGH THOSE CONTROL PROCESSES.
SO THE CITY WILL TELL US, THIS IS HOW THE DISBURSEMENT PROCESS WORKS, THIS IS HOW PAYROLL WORKS.
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GO BACK THROUGH, WALK THROUGH IT, AND MAKE SURE THAT IT'S OPERATING AS DESIGNED AND THAT NOTHING HAS CHANGED AND THAT THOSE PROCESSES ARE STILL IN PLACE.AND THIS IS A LIST OF SOME OF THE WALKTHROUGHS THAT WE DO.
SO WE'RE LOOKING AT UTILITY BILLING, CASH RECEIPTS, UM, DEBT MANAGEMENT, THE FINANCIAL CLOSE.
THERE'S A LOT OF PROCESSES THAT WE GO THROUGH AND BASICALLY JUST REPERFORM A CERTAIN NUMBER OF TRANSACTIONS.
AND THEN THE CONTROLS THAT I MENTIONED, CASH DISBURSEMENTS, PAYROLL, BID UTILITY BILLING, AND PROPERTY TAXES.
UM, WE'RE ALSO UTILIZING THE INTERNAL AUDIT DEPARTMENTS.
SO THEY HELP US OUT WITH THE, THAT CONTROL TESTING AS WELL AS SOME GRANT TESTING.
AND THEN OUR DATA ANALYTICS WORK CONTINUES TO GROW AS, AS WE GET MORE INFORMATION, UM, WITH THE LARGE, UH, VOLUME OF TRANSACTIONS IN IT.
SO THIS PART IS REQUIRED BY THE AUDITING STANDARDS.
THIS IS JUST SOME OF THE LANGUAGE THAT WE HAVE TO GO THROUGH WITH YOU AS THOSE CHARGED WITH GOVERNANCE.
UM, YOU KNOW, OUR ENGAGEMENT IS TO DO THE AUDIT IN ACCORDANCE WITH GENERALLY ACCEPTED AUDITING STANDARDS, GENERALLY ACCEPTED GOVERNMENT AUDITING STANDARDS, AS WELL AS THE UNIFORM GUIDANCE FOR THE SINGLE AUDIT THAT WE DO.
UM, WE'RE PERFORMING TESTS OVER CONTROLS, BUT WE'RE NOT GIVING AN OPINION ON CONTROLS.
AND THEN WE'RE PERFORMING TESTS OF COMPLIANCE, UH, FOR THE SINGLE AUDIT.
WHAT WE'RE DOING IS WE'RE LOOKING AT THE INTERNAL CONTROLS OVER COMPLIANCE FOR A PARTICULAR GRANT.
UM, AND THEN WE'RE TESTING COMPLIANCE THERE AS WELL.
SO AGAIN, IT'S NOT AN OPINION ON CONTROLS, BUT WE DO WALK THROUGH AND TEST THOSE CONTROLS SO THAT WE CAN OPINE ON COMPLIANCE.
SO WAS THE CITY COMPLIANCE WITH, UM, WITH AN APA GRANT OR WITH HC V A P OR, UM, HOUSING GRANTS? SO THAT'S, THAT'S REALLY WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT WHEN WE'RE TESTING THAT IS WE'RE SEEING WHAT THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE GRANT ARE, AND WAS THE CITY COMPLIANT IF THOSE COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS WERE MATERIAL TO THAT GRANT.
SO FOR THE INTERNAL, UM, FOR THE IT UPDATE, THEY ARE GOING TO START IN OCTOBER.
SO THIS SLIDE LOOKS FAMILIAR TO PRIOR YEAR LISTING OFF THE SYSTEMS THAT THEY WILL BE LOOKING AT.
AND THEN THE TEST THAT THEY WILL BE PERFORMING.
RIGHT NOW IT'S SCHEDULED, I THINK IT WAS OCTOBER 3RD OR 10TH.
AND WE'LL BE GOING THROUGH THOSE SYSTEMS THIS YEAR.
UH, WHAT YOU'LL SEE IN YOUR FINANCIAL STATEMENTS THAT COULD HAVE AN IMPACT, UM, IS THE GAS B LEASE STANDARD.
SO LEASES THAT WERE OPERATING IN THE PAST, AND MAYBE WERE JUST ON WHAT'S KNOWN AS AN INCOME STATEMENT, BUT REALLY IT'S, UM, A STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES OR THE STATEMENT OF REVENUES, EXPENDITURES AND CHANGES IN FUND BALANCE.
WHAT USUALLY WENT THROUGH THAT IS NOW GOING TO BE ON THE BALANCE SHEET IF IT'S A LEASE THAT'S 12 MONTHS OR LONGER.
SO, UM, YOU'LL DEFINITELY SEE LEASES ON YOUR FINANCIAL STATEMENT.
THAT FINANCIAL STATEMENT IMPACT HASN'T BEEN DETERMINED YET.
WE'LL GET THAT AS WE'RE GOING THROUGH THE AUDIT.
BUT THE CITY IS WELL PREPARED.
WE'VE MET, I MEAN, THERE ARE A LOT OF LEASES AND A LOT OF CONTRACTS TO GO THROUGH.
SO THIS WAS A BIG EFFORT BY ALL THE DEPARTMENTS, THE FINANCE GROUP, IT, IT'S, IT'S A HEAVY LIFT TO READ ALL OF THOSE CONTRACTS AND FIGURE OUT THE TERMS AND IF IT QUALIFIES UNDER THIS NEW STANDARD, GABY 87.
SO WE'VE MET, WE APPRECIATE THE HARD WORK THAT THEY'VE PUT IN TO GET THAT TO WHERE IT IS.
AND THEN NEXT YEAR IS THE SUBSCRIPTION BASED IT ARRANGEMENT.
SO THAT'S EVEN, THAT'S PROBABLY A BIGGER IMPACT.
THIS IS ANY SORT OF MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION TO IT, SOFTWARE OR PLATFORMS. AND SO READING THROUGH THOSE CONTRACTS AND DETERMINING IF THOSE SHOULD GO ON THE BALANCE SHEET OR NOT.
SO, YOU KNOW, THE HEAVY LIFT HAS BEEN DONE ON THE LEASING OF EQUIPMENT AND BUILDINGS AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
AND THEN WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT FOR THE CITY AND THE DEPARTMENTS IS, IS READING ALL OF THOSE IT ARRANGEMENTS.
SO, UM, DEFINITELY GONNA BE A CHALLENGE, BUT BECAUSE THEY STARTED THIS LEASE PROCESS, IT'S GONE WELL.
THE ACCOUNTING IS SIMILAR, THE NOTE DISCLOSURES WILL BE SIMILAR.
AND THEN THIS IS REALLY A DISCUSSION.
IF Y'ALL HAVE ANY QUESTIONS FOR US, UM, IF THERE'S ANY AREAS OF CONCERN THAT YOU'D LIKE TO LET US KNOW, REALLY MAKING SURE THAT YOU KNOW THAT WE REPORT TO YOU AND THAT IF YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS, WE WANNA KNOW THOSE.
AND THAT DURING THE AUDIT PROCESS, IF ANYTHING COMES UP THAT WE NEED TO GO TO YOU ON, I WILL BE REACHING OUT TO THE CHAIR, UH, AND LETTING YOU KNOW AS WELL.
SO REALLY OPENING UP THAT COMMUNICATION.
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AND THAT'S ALL THAT I HAVE FOR OUR PRESENTATION, IF ANYONE HAS ANY QUESTIONS.UH, YOU DON'T HAVE TO WAIT FOR ME.
GREAT PRESENTATION AS, AS ALWAYS.
UH, JUST, UH, I DON'T KNOW WHETHER THESE ARE QUESTIONS OR, OR COMMENTS OR, UH, JUST THOUGHT COMMENTS.
SO HOWEVER THEY, THEY COME OUT THERE, UM, YOU HAD MENTIONED SEVERAL THINGS AND, UH, I OFTEN HEAR THE TERM DATA ANALYTICS.
I HEAR THAT WE TALK, EVEN TALKING ABOUT SPORTS, I HEARING THE WORD ANALYTICS MM-HMM.
CAN YOU BREAK THAT DOWN? WHAT, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? YES, FROM LAYMAN'S STANDPOINT, WHEN YOU SAY DATA ANALYTICS, I, OKAY, THAT'S A GREAT QUESTION.
BUT IF WE LISTEN TO ESPN, I DON'T KNOW,
WE WOULD WANNA LOOK FOR UNUSUAL ITEMS. AND SO IF IT'S A CHECK REGISTER, WHAT WE CAN DO IS TAKE THAT DATA AND THEN SEE WHAT AMOUNTS ARE GOING TO CERTAIN VENDORS, UM, YOU KNOW, WHAT THE TOP VENDORS ARE, HOW MUCH THEY'RE PAYING THEM.
AND WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR IS IF THERE IS PROCUREMENT POLICIES THAT MIGHT BE, UM, CIRCUMVENTED WHERE MAYBE THEY'RE DOING MULTIPLE CHECKS TO A VENDOR TO SPLIT IT UP INSTEAD OF GOING OUT FOR BIDS OR THINGS LIKE THAT.
SO WE'RE REALLY USING A LOT OF DATA THAT WOULD NORMALLY, AUDITS USED TO DO IS JUST RANDOM SAMPLE, BUT INSTEAD WE TAKE IT AND PUT IT INTO THIS AUDIT COMMAND LANGUAGE AND WRITE SCRIPTS TO FIND UNUSUAL ITEMS. AND THAT WAY WE'RE TARGETING THINGS AS OPPOSED TO JUST, HERE'S 50,000 CHECKS THAT WERE WRITTEN AND WE'RE SAMPLING RANDOMLY, UM, A CERTAIN NUMBER.
SO YOU'RE LOOKING, BASICALLY LOOKING FOR PATTERNS.
WE'RE LOOKING FOR PATTERNS, IRREGULARITIES, UM, UNUSUAL VENDOR NAMES OR VENDOR NAMES THAT HAVE BEEN, YOU KNOW, I THINK EVERYONE HAS HEARD FRAUD WORLD WOULD BE LIKE WALMART AND THEN WALMART WITH A PERIOD, AND THAT'S REALLY SOMEONE'S BANK, YOU KNOW, IT'S JUST LOOKING FOR UNUSUAL VENDOR NAMES, THINGS LIKE THAT.
WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR WHEN YOU LOOK AT, OH, THAT'S, YEAH, THAT'S OUR FAVORITE.
SO THAT WILL SHOW THE BIG PURCHASES AND THEN THE BIG, UM, ITEMS UP FOR DISCUSSION.
SO WE'LL SEE THE MAJOR PURCHASES, WE'LL SEE, UM, DEBT ISSUANCES LEASES PERHAPS.
SO MAYBE THE CITY DIDN'T CAPTURE ALL THE LEASES, BUT AS WE'RE READING, WE SEE THAT THERE'S BEEN AN APPROVAL TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT.
SO WE'RE LOOKING FOR CONTRACTS, LARGE PURCHASES, UH, AND THEN REALLY THE HOT TOPICS.
AND PROCUREMENT ARE, DO YOU ALSO LOOK AT PRACTICES VERSUS POLICY? DO YOU ALSO LOOK TO SEE IF WE HAVE, THIS IS OUR PRACTICE, DO WE HAVE POLICIES THAT ARE CONSISTENT OF THE SUPPORT THAT, IS THAT SOMETHING YOU ALSO LOOK AT? WE DO.
WE TYPICALLY GET THE PROCESS FROM THEM AND THEN UPDATE FROM THERE.
BUT IT IS THAT WE DO HAVE THE POLICIES IN OUR FILE AS WELL, MORE IN THE PERMANENT FILE.
AND THEN AS IT'S CHANGED, WE UPDATE IT, BUT WE ARE LOOKING TO MAKE SURE THAT THE PROCESS AND POLICY THAT'S BEEN DESIGNED IS BEING FOLLOWED.
SO THAT'S PART OF GOING THROUGH THE CASH DISBURSEMENT PROCESS, PAYROLL BIDDING, CERTAIN PROCESSES LIKE THAT, THAT HAVE A BIG FINANCIAL STATEMENT IMPACT.
AND ON THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SIDE, FOR OUR, THOSE FEDERAL MAJOR PROGRAMS OF THE SINGLE, FOR THE, THE FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE, SOME OF THOSE HAVE UNDER THE UNIFORM GUIDANCE HAVE REQUIREMENTS FOR, FOR BIDDING IF IT'S OVER A CERTAIN DOLLAR AMOUNT, HAVE TO BE BID OUT.
AND SO WE'RE MAKING SURE THOSE ARE IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
AND I'M ALMOST DONE, UM, STAFF VETTING, IS THAT SOMETHING THAT YOU LOOK AT BASED ON RESPONSIBILITIES? AND YOU MENTIONED THINGS LIKE, UH, UH, MANAGEMENT OVERRIDE CONTROLS, WHO DOE DOES WHAT MM-HMM.
THERE'S SOME POLICY SYSTEMS FROM CRITERIA IN ORDER FOR THIS PERSON TO PERFORM THESE TASKS.
RIGHT? WE DO YOU LOOK AT THAT, MAYBE VETTING IS NOT,
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BUT DO YOU LOOK TO SEE IF IN ORDER TO DO X, RIGHT, IF, IF THE POLICY SAYS YOU MUST HAVE Y DO YOU LOOK TO SEE IF, WHY IS IN FACT THERE FOR THAT PERSON TO DO THAT? I THINK, LET ME SEE IF I'M HEARING THIS RIGHT, MORE LIKE A SEGREGATION OF DUTIES.IF SOMEONE IS SUPPOSED TO BE DOING SOMETHING THAT THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE DOING AND THEY'RE NOT GOING INTO OTHER AREAS, OR THAT SOMEONE, THE RIGHT PEOPLE ARE IN THE RIGHT PROCESSES, IS SOMETHING THAT WE EVALUATE.
SO WE WOULDN'T WANT ANYONE TO HAVE TOO MUCH CONTROL, RIGHT.
THAT IF SOMEONE ELSE WAS SUPPOSED TO LOOK AT SOMETHING FIRST, OR AT THE SAME TIME WE'RE CHECKING FOR SEGREGATION OF DUTIES.
UM, WHAT ELSE WAS I THINKING ABOUT WHEN YOU SAID THAT? UM, IT WAS REALLY A, I I WAS THINKING SEGREGATION OF DUTIES AS YOU WERE TALKING, BUT IF IT'S SOMETHING ELSE, YEAH.
THAT'S BASICALLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING, LOOKING AT.
AND THEN FROM AN IT SIDE, OUR IT CONTROLS ALSO LOOKS AT WHO HAS THE RIGHTS TO GO TO CERTAIN PLACES.
THAT'S, SO THAT'S, UM, WHAT OUR IT, THAT'S KIND WHERE I WANTED YOU TO GO.
WHO, WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO, UH, YOU KNOW, IF YOU, IF YOU WANNA LOOK AT THE BLUE SCREEN, WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO LOOK AT THE BLUE SCREEN? WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO I'M, AND I'M JUST FOR PURPOSES OF SIMPLIFYING THIS, YOU KNOW, IF, IF, IF I HAD A RIGHT TO LOOK AT THE BLUE SCREEN, BUT, BUT SHE HAS THE RIGHT TO LOOK AT THE GREEN SCREEN MM-HMM.
BUT YET, YOU KNOW, IF SHE'S NOT AROUND, I LOOK AT THAT SCREEN MM-HMM.
AND THAT'S PART OF THE, IT CONTROLS THAT THEY GO THROUGH AND SEE HOW THE PERSON WAS SET UP INTO THE SYSTEM, MAKING SURE THAT THEY'VE STAYED THAT WAY, THAT NOTHING HAS BEEN CHANGED, THAT MAYBE THEIR RIGHTS HAVEN'T BEEN ELEVATED WITHOUT PROPER APPROVAL.
AND THEN WE CAN GO IN AND SEE WHO HAS THE RIGHTS TO DO CERTAIN THINGS AS WELL.
SO, UM, THAT'S, THAT'S PART OF OUR IT PROCESS WHEN THEY COME OUT IN OCTOBER.
AND THEN US AS WE'RE GOING THROUGH THE AUDIT, SEEING WHO HAS THE RIGHTS FOR WHAT? BLUE SCREEN? GREEN SCREEN.
NOT THAT SHE'S BEEN PICKING UP THE SCREEN
WHY GET, AGAIN, MY LAST QUESTION HAS TO DO WITH, WITH IT, AND YOU MENTIONED SUBSCRIPTIONS MM-HMM.
SO IF IT'S AN, IS THAT FOR USERS, IS THAT, OR IS THAT HIGHER UP? IS THAT ON THE IT TECH SIDE? DOES THAT, DOES THAT REACH DOWN TO US AS USERS? OR IS THAT, CAN YOU, US AS CITIZENS OR? NO, NO, AS AS USERS.
AS AS USERS OF THAT SERVICE MM-HMM.
IF THE CITY IS A USER OF THAT SERVICE, RIGHT? THAT'S THE CONTRACTS THAT WILL BE LOOKED AT.
BUT IT WILL ALSO BE THE, THE E R P SYSTEMS, IT'LL BE EVERYTHING FROM, UM, IF YOU'RE USING TEAMS OR IF YOU'VE GOT A PUBLIC SAFETY PLATFORM THAT, THAT YOU'RE USING, AND IT'S, UM, A MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION TO, TO KEEP IT UPDATED, UPGRADED, IT'S NOT THE EQUIPMENT THAT GOES WITH THE, THAT'S, THAT'S PART OF THE LEASE STANDARD.
IF THE CONTRACT IS THAT YOU HAVE MONTHLY ACCESS TO A SOFTWARE PRODUCT.
SO IT CAN BE ANYTHING FROM TEAMS TO, UM, TO YOUR E R P SYSTEM ALL THE WAY.
I DON'T KNOW IF THAT LOOKS HELPFUL.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR RESPONSE.
MR. MOORE, DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING? NOPE.
ALL I CAN SAY IS, SOUNDS LIKE IT'S VERY, LET'S GET YOU ON MIC, BUT, UH, YEAH.
BUT NO, I REALLY DIDN'T HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR ANYTHING WITH THE CHAIR.
UH, I JUST WANNA SAY TO YOU, JUST LISTENING, IT SOUNDS LIKE IT'S A VERY INTRICATE PROCESS, UH, VERY DETAILED.
AND, UH, JUST LISTENING, IT SOUND LIKE YOU GUYS KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING.
SO I, I WAS INTERESTED THOUGH, IN KNOWING THE RELATIONSHIP.
YOU STATED THAT YOU WORK VERY CLOSELY WITH OUR LOCAL, WITH OUR IN-HOUSE IT, HOW DOES THAT RELATIONSHIP WORK WITH, WITH THE IT DEPARTMENT OR THE INTERNAL AUDIT? INTERNAL AUDIT.
SO BECAUSE THEY REPORT TO YOU AS WELL, THEY'RE CONSIDERED INDEPENDENT, AND SO THEY CAN PERFORM PART OF THE AUDIT WITH US.
SO IF WE HAVE A SAMPLE OF 60 ITEMS TO TEST, THEY CAN TEST THE 60, AND THEN WE'LL GO IN AND REPERFORM THE WORK, UM, AT LEAST AT A HIGHER LEVEL TO WHERE IT SAVES THE CITY SOME MONEY BECAUSE THEY'RE INDEPENDENT, WE CAN DO THAT.
IF THEY WERE NOT, UH, WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO USE, UTILIZE THE INTERNAL AUDIT GROUP.
IT SOUNDS LIKE A VERY GOOD CHECK AND BALANCE.
WE, WE REVIEW THE WORK AND, UM, WORK CLOSELY ON THE PROGRAMS AND THE WAY TO TEST A CERTAIN AREA AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
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TOO MUCH OF THEIR TIME.ANY ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS, STAFF? WELL, IF I MAY CLARIFY ONE THING.
SO COUNCILMAN, UH, THEIR FOCUS IS MAINLY ON FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND ALSO SINGLE AUDITS.
SINGLE AUDIT MEANS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT GRANTS.
SO IT'S A REQUIREMENT FOR THE CITY TO HIRE A THIRD PARTY EXTERNAL CPFM TO DO THAT.
SO THAT'S, THAT'S WHERE THE FOCUS IS.
AND I GUESS AS I'M SITTING HERE LISTENING, BEING, UM, UH, PRESIDENT OF OUR HO HOA, WE DO AN ANNUAL AUDIT.
I'VE NEVER HEARD ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE.
SO IT SOUNDS LIKE, UH, THIS IS A REAL AUDIT AND, UH, IT'S SOMETHING THAT REALLY IS NECESSARY, A VERY GOOD CHECK AND BALANCE SYSTEM.
MOVE ON TO ITEM NUMBER THREE, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT FEES.
I'M JUST GONNA INTRODUCE THIS AUDIT, UH, BEFORE PATRICIA AND ERIN GETS OUT THERE.
SO, UM, THIS CAME FROM THE LAST YEAR'S AUDIT PLAN.
WE HAD TWO OBJECTIVES, UH, FOR THIS AUDIT.
BASICALLY, WE WANTED TO MAKE SURE THE FEES ASSESS BY THE PLANNING DEPARTMENT, ARE THEY IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FEE SCHEDULE, WHICH IS APPROVED.
AND ALSO, WE ALSO WANTED TO LOOK AT THE EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVENESS OF PAYMENT PROCESSING AND TRACKING.
THE SCOPE OF THE AUDIT COVERED BASICALLY OCTOBER, 2020 THROUGH MAY, 2020 SECOND.
UH, I DO WANNA THANK THE PLANNING DEPARTMENT.
UH, THE LEADERSHIP AND THE EMPLOYEES WERE EXTREMELY ACCOMMODATING, COOPERATIVE AND PROFESSIONAL DURING THIS AUDIT.
UM, WE KNOW THAT THEY HAD LIMITATIONS, THEY HAD LIMITED TECHNICAL RESOURCES AND PERSONNEL, UH, CONSIDERING THE AMOUNT OF VOLUME THAT THEY HANDLED.
TO BE HONEST WITH YOU, I EXPECTED A, UM, WE EXPECTED A LITTLE BIT MORE, UM, INACCURACY WHEN IT COMES TO CERTAIN FEE, UM, ASSESSMENT AND TRACKING AND ALL OF THAT STUFF.
OVERALL, THE DEPARTMENT ASSESSED APPLICATION AND INFORMATION REQUEST FEES ACCURATELY.
WE DID HAVE CERTAIN AREAS OF IMPROVEMENTS.
I DO WANT TO GIVE HIM CREDIT FOR IMPLEMENTING CERTAIN, UM, UH, RECOMMENDATIONS ALREADY OR WORKING THROUGH THROUGHOUT THE AUDIT.
SO YOU WORKING AT A FEW AREAS OF, UH, THAT WE IDENTIFIED FOR OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT.
I DO WANNA LET YOU KNOW THAT THEY'RE ON TOP OF IT.
UM, AND WE, WE'VE MET SEVERAL OCCASIONS AND WORKING THROUGH THIS, SO WE FEEL VERY GOOD ABOUT, UH, OUR FUTURE.
UH, PATRICIA AND AARON, UH, CONDUCTED THIS AUDIT.
UM, THEY'RE GONNA GIVE YOU A LITTLE BIT MORE BACKGROUND, UM, BECAUSE THEY KNOW EXACTLY, UH, WHAT WE DID MORE THAN I DO.
UH, AND THEN WE'RE GONNA GO OVER THE FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.
YOU TALK A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THE
SO JUST HIGH LEVEL, THE, UH, PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT, UH, DEPARTMENT ASSISTS THE COMMUNITY BY ENSURING IT'S DEVELOPED IN A SAFE AND EFFICIENT AND ATTRACTIVE MANNER WITH NEW DEVELOPMENTS AND REDEVELOPMENTS.
PART OF THAT IS ON EACH, SORRY.
UH, PART OF THAT IS ON EACH DEVELOPMENT, UM, INCLUDING A, ANY TREES THAT ARE TO BE TAKEN OUT.
SO IN TERMS OF THE GARLAND DEVELOPMENT CODE, THERE'S AN ARTICLE FOR TREE PRESERVATION AND MITIGATION TO PRESERVE EXISTING HEALTHY TREES ON DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS AND FOR REPLACING THOSE THAT HAVE TO BE REMOVED FOR THE DEVELOPMENT.
AND THE DEVELOPER CAN EITHER MITIGATE THE TREES BY PLANTING NEW TREES OR PAYING INTO THE CITY'S REFORESTATION AND TREE MANAGEMENT PLAN, OR FUND, UH, FOR FUTURE PLANTING AND MAINTENANCE.
AND EACH DEVELOPMENT INCLUDES A TREE MANAGEMENT PLAN WITH A TREE INVENTORY THAT'S PREPARED BY A LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT OR AN ARBER.
UM, AND THE TREE INVENTORY INCLUDES THE SPECIES, THE HEALTH, AND THE CPER INCHES OF EACH TREE ON THE PROPERTY.
AND IF YOU CAN PICTURE SORT OF A C CLAMP, UH, IT'S KIND OF WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE.
THEY PUT IT ON EITHER SIDE OF THE TREE TO MEASURE THE DIAMETER IN INCHES.
UM, SO THE TREE INVENTORY, UH, HAS ALL OF THE CPER INCHES, AND THOSE ARE DETERMINED BY MEASURING THE DIAMETER FOUR AND A HALF FEET, UM, FROM GROUND LEVEL.
NOW, IF YOU WILL LOOK AT TABLE FOUR DASH ONE, UM, AND FOUR DASH TWO, UH, ON THE EXHIBITS.
EACH TREE, UH, THAT IS LISTED ON THE INVENTORY, UM, REVIEW THESE TABLES TO DETERMINE, DOES IT FALL ON FOUR DASH ONE OR DOES IT FALL ON FOUR DASH TWO AND LARGE CANOPY TREES ARE FOUR DASH ONE SMALL ORNAMENTAL TREES ARE FOUR DASH TWO.
SO YOU FIRST DETERMINE WHETHER IT'S LARGE CANOPY OR SMALL ORNAMENTAL, THEN YOU GO TO TABLE FOUR DASH NINE TO DETERMINE THE REPLACEMENT RATIO FOR
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THAT PARTICULAR TREE SPECIES, SPECIES.AND YEAH, SO HERE, SO AT THE BOTTOM YOU'LL SEE, UM, ON THE LEFT SIDE, OTHER TREE SPECIES, UM, THAT ARE NOT LISTED IN FOUR DASH ONE AND FOUR DASH TWO ARE GIVEN A RATIO OF 0.25.
SO THAT'S KIND OF IMPORTANT TO NOTE AS WE MOVE FORWARD.
UM, SO THEN YOU TAKE THE MEASURED INCHES, MULTIPLY IT BY THE RATIO THAT WAS ON THE TABLE.
SOMETIMES IT'S A ONE TO ONE, COULD BE A 0.5 TO ONE OR A 0.25 TO ONE, MULTIPLY IT BY THAT RATIO TO GET YOUR MITIGATED INCHES.
AND THAT'S HOW YOU DETERMINE HOW MANY REPLACEMENT INCHES ARE REQUIRED.
IF THEY CUT DOWN A HUNDRED INCHES, THEY HAVE TO REPLACE A HUNDRED INCHES AFTER THE CALCULATION IS DONE, OF COURSE.
UM, THEN YOU TAKE THE, IF, IF THEY WANT TO REPLACE THE TREES, THEN THEY DO IT BY INCHES, NOT BY NUMBER OF TREES, OR THEY CAN PAY INTO THE FUND AT $150 PER INCH.
SO THAT'S HOW THEY DETERMINE THE PAY AMOUNT THAT GOES INTO THE FUND IF THEY'RE NOT GOING TO REPLANT THE TREES.
AND I KNOW THAT'S KIND OF COMPLICATED, BUT DOES ANYBODY HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THAT PIECE OF IT SO FAR? ARE, ARE THESE FEDERAL LAWS OR WHAT IT, IT'S PART OF THE GARLAND DEVELOPMENT CODE, THE CITY OF GARLAND EDC.
SO MY PIECE OF THE AUDIT WAS THE TREE MITIGATION AND PRESERVATION.
AND FOR THE TIME PERIOD OF THIS AUDIT, THERE WERE NINE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS THAT HAD TREE REMOVAL AND SUBSEQUENT MITIGATION.
SO WE ANALYZED THE NINE PROJECTS, DID THE CALCULATIONS, AND LOOKED AT THE PAYMENTS THAT WERE RECEIVED.
UM, IN THE FUND, TWO OF THE PROJECTS WERE CHARGED CORRECTLY AND PAID THE CORRECT AMOUNT.
TWO PROJECTS WERE CHARGED INCORRECTLY, RESULTING IN OVER PAYMENTS.
IN THE AMOUNT OF 24 75, THERE WERE FIVE PROJECTS THAT WERE CHARGED INCORRECTLY, RESULTING IN POTENTIAL UNDERPAY IN THE AMOUNT OF 260,521.
THE TABLE THAT YOU SEE, UM, YOU'LL SEE THAT ONE OF THOSE PROJECTS, UH, PROJECT A IS THE BULK OF THAT.
THE BLUE REPRESENTS, UH, THE OVERPAYMENT.
SO IN THE SPECIES IN EXCLUSION, UH, PIECE OF IT.
SO THERE, THERE'S A LITTLE BIT OF OVERLAP BETWEEN THE CALCULATIONS AND THE SPECIES EXCLUSION.
UM, THERE'S SOME CONFUSION ABOUT THE EASTERN RED CEDAR.
UM, IF YOU'LL SHOW THAT, UH, TABLE, I THINK, LET'S SEE, WHERE WAS IT? EXHIBIT E? YEAH.
SO THERE WAS SOME CONFUSION ABOUT WHETHER, FIRST OF ALL, THE EASTERN RED CEDAR IS A TREE OR A SHRUB.
UH, WE SPOKE WITH TEXAS A AND M FOREST SERVICE, AS WELL AS OTHER AREA CITIES TO DETERMINE THAT IT IS IN FACT CONSIDERED A TREE.
UM, THE CITIES THAT WE SPOKE TO WERE ARLINGTON, CARROLLTON, IRVING, MESQUITE, ROCKWELL, AND ROULETTE.
SO AS WE WERE LOOKING AT THE, THE PROJECTS, THREE OF THEM PROJECTS, A, E, AND H ALL HAD EASTERN RED CEDAR.
WITH THOSE, THEY WERE CALCULATED, OR THEY WERE REVIEWED IN DIFFERENT WAYS.
SO ON PROJECT A, THEY EXCLUDED THE CALCULA, THE EASTERN RED SEAT CALCULATIONS FROM, WELL, THEY EXCLUDED THE EASTERN RED CEDAR FROM THEIR MITIGATION CALCULATIONS ENTIRELY.
THEN ON PROJECT E, THEY INCLUDED THE EASTERN RED CEDAR IN THE CALCULATIONS.
AND ON PROJECT H, THEY INCLUDED THE EASTERN RED CEDAR IN THE CALCULATIONS, BUT THEN FOR REMOVAL, BUT THEN ALSO ALLOWED FOR IT TO BE REPLANTED.
SO EACH OF THEM HAD, WERE REVIEWED DIFFERENTLY.
SO THIS TABLE IS, IF THE EASTERN RED CEDAR IS EXCLUDED FROM THE TREE CALCULATIONS, HOW THAT WOULD LOOK.
SO IT LOOKS A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT THAN, WELL, IT LOOKS A LOT DIFFERENT ACTUALLY, THAN THE PREVIOUS BLUE TABLE THAT YOU SAW.
UH, OF COURSE, IT SIGNIFICANTLY CHANGED PROJECT A AND E.
AND THEN THE LAST THING THAT WE NOTICED DURING, UH, THE REVIEW WAS THAT THERE WERE TREES THAT APPEARED TO BE DESIGNATED AS MOVING THEM OFFSITE.
THEY WERE PRESERVING THE TREE, BUT MOVING THEM OFFSITE, THERE WAS, THERE'S NOTHING IN THE GDC THAT ALLOWS FOR THE CITY TO, UH, HAVE A MITIGATION VALUE FOR
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THOSE TREES.AND WE DON'T KNOW IF THEY'RE STAYING WITHIN THE CITY OF GARLAND OR WHAT'S HAPPENING TO THOSE TREES.
AND THAT MITIGATION VALUE WAS 31,215.
SO, ANY QUESTIONS SO FAR ABOUT ANY OF THAT BEFORE I MOVE ON? OKAY.
SO THE, THE CAUSE THAT WE, WE CAME TO WAS THAT THE DEPARTMENT RELIES ON THE TREE INFORMATION THAT'S PROVIDED BY THE LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT OR OTHER AORIST WITHOUT VERIFYING THE DATA.
UM, AND IF YOU WANNA GO TO THE TABLE IN THE EXHIBIT, THAT INDICATES THE SPECIFIC REASONS FOR EACH OF THOSE, UM, PROJECTS HERE.
SO WE'LL JUST LEAVE THAT UP ON THE SCREEN.
UM, AND THE DEPARTMENT REQUESTS AN EXCEL CALCULATION SPREADSHEET FROM THE LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT, BUT DOES NOT REQUIRE IT.
SO SOMETIMES THEY WERE GETTING IT, SOMETIMES THEY WERE NOT.
UM, AND WHEN THE LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT WAS DOING THEIR WORK, THERE WERE SOME INCORRECT MITIGATION RATIOS APPLIED, OR THE CALCULATIONS WERE JUST SIMPLY INCORRECT.
UM, ON THE INVENTORIES, AND AGAIN, THE CONFUSION ABOUT WHETHER THE TREES, THE EASTERN RED CEDAR ARE PROTECTED OR NOT, UM, INCONSISTENCY ON HOW IT WAS APPLIED, AND THE ALTERNATIVE COMPLIANCE APPLICATION WASN'T USED CONSISTENTLY.
AND THE GDC IS SILENT ON THE CRITERIA FOR DOCUMENTATION OF THE REMOVAL OF HEALTHY TREES TO BE REMOVED OFFSIDE.
SO OUR RECOMMENDATION WAS TO CONSIDER CREATING A STANDARDIZED FORM OR TEMPLATE TO REDUCE ERRORS AND ASSIST IN CALCULATING AND VERIFYING TREE MITIGATION FEES.
AND THEY HAVE ALREADY STARTED WORKING ON, UM, A TEMPLATE FOR THAT.
UM, THEN PROVIDE CONTINUOUS OVERSIGHT OF FEES ASSESSED AND COLLECTED.
AND, UH, THEY HAVE, UH, IMPLEMENTED OVERSIGHT FOR, UH, THE FEE CALCULATION CONSULT WITH CITY ADMINISTRATION REGARDING APPROPRIATE RESOLUTION FOR OVER AND UNDER PAYMENTS.
AND AT THIS TIME, UH, THE DEVELOPMENTS ARE STILL UNDER DEVELOPMENT, AND THE CITY ADMINISTRATION DOES NOT INTEND TO REIMBURSE OR COLLECT ANY OF THE UNDER OR OVER PAYMENTS.
UM, CONSIDER ESTABLISHING CRITERIA AND UPDATE THE GDC TO REQUIRE THE DEVELOPER TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL FOR APPROVAL WHEN REMOVING TREES TO BE REPLANTED AT AN OFFSITE LOCATION.
UM, AND NUMBER FIVE IS REEVALUATE TABLES ONE THROUGH NINE IN CHAPTER FOUR, TO PROVIDE MORE CLARITY AS TO THE CLASSIFICATION OF VEGETATION TO BE PROTECTED, PRESERVED, MITIGATED, PLANTED, AND PLANTED OFFSITE.
UM, AND STAFF IS, UH, PLANNING STAFF IS GOING TO BRING FORWARD SOME PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE GC THAT WILL CLARIFY THESE ITEMS. UM, ESPECIALLY THE, UH, EASTERN RED CEDAR AND HOUSE SPECIES IN THE TABLES ARE HANDLED AS WELL AS OFFSITE TREE PLANTINGS.
AND LIKE I SAY, SOME OF THIS IS ALREADY STARTED.
IT'S BE COMPLETED BY OCTOBER, THE END OF OCTOBER, AND THEN SOME OF IT IN JANUARY IF IT NEEDS, UH, GDC APPROVAL.
AND EVERY TIME I SEE THE, THE NAME OR THE, THE PICTURE OF THE RED CEDAR, I JUST START ITCHING
IF WE, UH, IF WE WANT TO HAVE SOME, UH, CITY SUPPLIED FLAME THROWERS OR CHAINSAWS,
AND DID I UNDERSTAND CORRECTLY THAT, UM, FROM CITY MANAGEMENT, WE'VE OPTED TO TAKE THE APPROACH OF WHAT'S DONE IS DONE, LET'S JUST MOVE ON.
UM, IT'S PROBLEMATIC TO REALLY GO BACK.
THEY'VE ALREADY BEEN ISSUED SITE PERMITS AND SURE.
JUST FROM A REPUTATION STANDPOINT, WOULDN'T A GOOD APPROACH.
I DIDN'T KNOW IF WE, UH, WERE GONNA TRY AND PAY BACK ANY OF THE UNDER CHARGES.
IF IT'S SUCH A SMALL AMOUNT THAT IT'S NOT, I KNOW WE DON'T LIKE TO GIVE AWAY THE MONEY, BUT, OKAY.
UM, MEMBERS, ANY QUESTIONS? GO AHEAD, COUNCIL MEMBER WILLIAMS? NO.
LET'S JUST GO BACK TO THE FIVE RECOMMENDATIONS THAT, UH, RIGHT, RIGHT.
UM, WHAT, WHAT ARE WE LOOKING AT? UH, DO WE HAVE A PROJECTED TIMELINE? AND THIS IS SOME MORE QUESTIONS FOR STAFF TIMELINE AND, AND THE AMENDMENTS THAT STAFF IS WORKING ON BRINGING FORWARD TO ADDRESS THIS.
THAT IS THE JANUARY, 2023, UM, JANUARY, IF IT REQUIRES GDC APPROVAL.
WE'LL INITIATE THE DISCUSSION IMMEDIATELY WITH DEVELOPMENT SERVICES COMMITTEE.
UM, YOU KNOW, DEPENDING ON HOW LONG THAT DISCUSSION TAKES.
AND THEN GOING THROUGH PLAN COMMISSION AND CITY COUNCIL, YOU KNOW, JANUARY, MAYBE A LITTLE OPTIMISTIC, BUT RIGHT.
UH, WE'LL PUT IT ON THE NEXT MONTH, UM, DEVELOPMENT SERVICES COMMITTEE AGENDA.
AND I BELIEVE WE HAVE SOMETHING EXISTING
[00:35:01]
UNDERGOING REVIEW WITH THE PARKS DEPARTMENT AND THE TREE BOARD.SORT OF HAVE SOME OVERLAP WITH THIS, SO WE MAY, UH, END UP TYING IT ALL TOGETHER.
YEAH, I, YEAH, I, I, I WAS A LITTLE BIT AWARE OF THAT.
BUT YOU WERE SAYING THEN THAT'S WHAT'S MY CONCERN, THAT WE DON'T HAVE TWO TRACKS, UH, GOING ON THIS.
SO I'M GONNA COVER, UH, THE NEXT THREE FINDINGS.
UM, TWO OF THE, THE FIRST TWO HAVE TO DO WITH, UH, APPLICATION AND SERVICE FEES COLLECTED.
SO, UH, JUST TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA, UM, THE SCOPE THAT WE LOOKED AT WAS FOR BACK TO, UM, THIS FISCAL YEAR AND LAST FISCAL YEAR.
UM, SO THE PLANNING DEPARTMENT COLLECTS APPLICATION FEES FOR ZONING PLANNING AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS FEES.
UM, AND THEY ALSO COLLECT, UH, FEES FOR ZONING VERIFICATION LETTERS.
SO THERE'S THREE DIFFERENT WAYS THAT, UM, CUSTOMERS CAN SUBMIT APPLICATIONS OR SUBMIT PAYMENTS.
UH, THEY CAN COME IN PERSON, THEY CAN SUBMIT IT BY EMAIL, OR THEY CAN SUBMIT IT THROUGH A THIRD PARTY FILE SHARING SLASH CONTENT MANAGEMENT TYPE SYSTEM, SUCH AS DROPBOX.
UH, SO TO ENABLE CUSTOMERS TO SUBMIT APPLICATIONS AND PAYMENTS THROUGH THIS THIRD PARTY FILE SHARING SYSTEM, THE DEPARTMENT'S REQUIRED TO GRANT TEMPORARY ACCESS TO IT FOR THE CUSTOMERS.
UM, AND UNLESS A CUSTOMER CAN COME VISIT THE PLANNING DEPARTMENT IN PERSON AND MAKE A PAYMENT, THE ONLY AVAILABLE MEANS AT THE MOMENT, UH, IS THROUGH THIS FILE SHARING SYSTEM OR THROUGH EMAIL.
SO THE CUSTOMERS HAVE TO FILL OUT A CREDIT CARD AUTHORIZATION FORM THAT HAS THE CREDIT CARD NUMBERS ON IT, UM, AND THEN SUBMIT IT THROUGH EMAIL OR SUBMIT IT THROUGH THE FILE SHARING SYSTEM.
THEN IT HAS TO BE PRINTED OUT, TAKEN TO THE CREDIT CARD MACHINE AND THEN DESTROYED.
UM, SO THERE'S OBVIOUS ISSUES WITH THAT SYSTEM.
UM, SO WE KNOW THIS PROVIDES LIMITED SECURITY, UH, AND THEN ALSO, UM, POTENTIAL FOR, UM, THE WRONG PEOPLE TO HAVE ACCESS.
UH, AND THEN ALSO CURRENTLY APPLICATIONS ZONING, THE CARE ZONING VERIFICATION LETTERS AND THEIR CORRESPONDING PAYMENTS ARE BEING MANUALLY TRACKED ON SEVERAL DIFFERENT SPREADSHEETS BY THE DEPARTMENT.
UM, THESE SPREADSHEETS ARE CONTAINED ON THE DEPARTMENTS, UH, DRIVE.
SO THERE MIGHT BE ISSUES WITH VIRGIN CONTROL.
AND THEN OBVIOUSLY IF IT'S MANUALLY DONE, THERE'S POTENTIAL FOR ERROR.
SO BY NOT HAVING A SECURE ONLINE PORTAL FOR CUSTOMERS TO SUBMIT APPLICATIONS AND PAYMENTS, UM, AND NO AUTOMATED SYSTEM FOR TRACKING THESE APPLICATIONS, UM, WE FOUND A FEW, UH, ERRORS, BUT LIKE JED SAID BEFORE, WITH THE VOLUME OF INFORMATION THAT THEY'RE HAVING TO TRACK MANUALLY, UM, IT WASN'T SIGNIFICANT.
IT WAS JUST SORT OF LIKE A FEW DATES HERE AND THERE CASE NUMBERS.
SO IT'S ACTUALLY PRETTY IMPRESSIVE ON THAT END.
UM, HOWEVER, WE KNOW IT'S REALLY INEFFICIENT FOR CUSTOMERS AND THE PLANNING STAFF.
THERE'S GREAT POTENTIAL FOR HUMAN ERROR, AND IT ALSO LIMITS THE DEPARTMENT'S ABILITY TO TRACK AND, UM, AND REPORT ACCURATE PERFORMANCE METRICS EFFECTIVELY AND EFFICIENTLY.
SO WE RECOMMENDED TO THE PLANNING DEPARTMENT THAT, UM, THEY IMPLEMENT A SECURE ONLINE CUSTOMER FACING PORTAL TO ACCEPT APPLICATIONS AND PAYMENTS, AND THEN ADOPT A CENTRALIZED INFORMATION SYSTEM THAT CAN TRACK AND GENERATE PERFORMANCE REPORTS, AND THEN HAVE THESE TWO SYSTEMS INTERFACED FOR AUTOMATION.
SO PLANNING MANAGEMENT, UM, IS ACTUALLY RESEARCHING, UH, A DEVELOPMENT REVIEW AND PERMITTING SOFTWARE THAT WOULD ACCOMPLISH THIS.
AND THE GOAL IS TO HAVE THE SYSTEM IN PLACE BY DECEMBER OF 2023.
WE'VE ALSO RECOMMENDED, UM, MANAGEMENT THOROUGHLY REVIEW THE DEPARTMENT NETWORK DRIVE CONTENTS FOR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION, AND REDACT OR DESTROY ANY, UM, AS NECESSARY TO PROTECT CUSTOMERS' INFORMATION AND DEACTIVATE ANY FORMER EMPLOYEES ACCESS TO THE FILE SHARING SYSTEM.
UH, AND THEY HAVE TAKEN ACTION ON THAT ALREADY.
LASTLY, WE RECOMMEND THE PERIODIC REVIEW AND UPDATE OF ACCESS RIGHTS, UH, MANAGEMENT CONCURRED, AND THEY'RE GONNA START IMPLEMENTING A QUARTERLY REVIEW OF ACCESS RIGHTS STARTING IN OCTOBER.
ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THAT FINDING? UM, NOT NECESSARILY ABOUT THE FINDING.
I'M A LITTLE CONCERNED ABOUT WHAT WE'RE GONNA DO FOR A YEAR, THOUGH.
NOT THAT WE KNOW THAT WE HAVE THESE CONCERNS, UH, BUT OF COURSE, I, I KNOW THAT IT TAKES TIME TO IMPLEMENT THE SYSTEM THAT YOU'RE SPEAKING OF, BUT IF THERE ANYTHING THAT WE CAN DO TO ASSURE THAT, UM, WELL, COUNCILMAN, IF I MAY ANSWER THAT.
I THINK WHAT THEY'RE GONNA DO IS THEY'RE GOING TO, UH, ENHANCE THEIR COMPENSATING
[00:40:01]
CONTROLS, MEANS MANAGERIAL REVIEW.UM, SO UP UNTIL WE GET THE SYSTEM, THEY'RE GONNA GO THROUGH AND DO A THOROUGH REVIEW JUST TO MAKE SURE INFORMATION DOESN'T STAY THERE, OR IF IT NEEDS TO BE REDACT OR DESTROYED, THEY WILL DO THAT.
SO THAT'S, THAT'S THE CONTROL THAT THEY PUT IN PLACE.
FOR THE SEC OR THE THIRD FINDING, WE HAVE INCORRECT OR INCONSISTENT ASSESSMENT OF FEES.
UM, I DON'T, THIS ISN'T A VERY SIGNIFICANT FINDING.
AND YOU'LL SEE BY THE AMOUNT THERE FOR THE, THE TWO FINDINGS THAT WE DID HAVE FOR APPLICATIONS, IT WAS $2,600 IN A SHORTAGE THAT WAS JUST DUE BASICALLY TO A ROUNDING ERROR AND SELECTING THE LOWER PRICED REQUEST ON AN APPLICATION THAT CONTAINED TWO REQUESTS.
UM, AND WE THINK THAT'S GONNA, THAT WOULD BE MITIGATED BY JUST HAVING A SECONDARY REVIEW.
AND THEN, UM, WE FOUND THAT ZONING VERIFICATION LETTERS AREN'T ASSESSED UNIFORMLY IN ALL SITUATIONS.
UM, AND WE'LL EXPLAIN THIS, UM, PRETTY WELL, UH, BUT BASICALLY WE FOUND THAT ZONING VERIFICATION LETTERS IN THE GC ARE SUPPOSED TO BE CHARGED $200 PER LETTER.
WHAT WE FOUND THAT SOMETIMES THEY WERE CHARGED PER LETTER, SOMETIMES PER REQUEST, SOMETIMES PER ADDRESS, SOMETIMES PER DEVELOPMENT.
UM, SO WE JUST SUGGESTED THAT THE DEPARTMENT COME UP WITH AN INTERNAL STANDARD FOR, UM, ASSESSING ALL LETTERS EQUALLY
SO BY JANUARY OF 2023 AND PENDING THE GDC AMENDMENT APPROVAL, THE DEPARTMENT'S GONNA DEVELOP THE CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING MULTIPLE REQUESTS ON A SINGLE APPLICATION, UM, AND HOW VLS WILL BE ASSESSED.
UM, SO INSTEAD OF DOING IT BY ADDRESS OR BY LETTER, THEY'RE GONNA DO IT BY DCA PARCEL ID NUMBER, SINCE THAT'S THE COMMON PRACTICE IN THE DFW REGION.
AND THAT'S EVERYTHING FOR THAT FINDING.
UH, JUST ON, ON THAT FINDING, UH, THE RECOMMENDATION, UM, YOU ALL GET TO HOW IS THE, HOW IS THE PUBLIC OR POTENTIAL VENDORS GONNA BE NOTIFIED OF THAT CHA OF THAT CHANGE? MM-HMM.
THEY WILL MENTION THAT ON THEIR FORM APPLICATION.
SO LET ME MAKE SURE I UNDERSTAND.
WHAT YOU FOUND WAS, WAS THE INCONSISTENCY, SOME WERE BEING CHARGED AND SOME WERE NOT.
THEY WERE BEING CHARGED BY THE LETTER AND NOT BY THE PARCEL MM-HMM.
SO MOVING FORWARD IN THE INTERIM, PIGGYBACKING ON COUNSELING, MORE QUESTION IN THE INTERIM, THEY'RE GONNA START DOING WHAT? WELL, EFFECTIVE, UM, JANUARY, 2023.
UM, THE INTERIM, MY UNDERSTANDING WILL PLEASE CHIME.
UM, UM, THEY'RE GONNA STICK WITH THE $200 PER LETTER AT THIS POINT ONE'S, RIGHT? CORRECT.
UM, I THINK AN AUDIT MADE A GREAT FINDING CREDIT TO THEM, UM, A COUPLE OF OTHER CITIES, AND THIS WOULD BE CONSISTENT WITH THEM, A CHARGE BY DECCA PARCEL ID.
AND SO HAVING A VERY CLEAR, UM, AND VERY SPECIFIC, UM, WAY TO CHARGE THEM SUCH AS THAT, UM, THAT, THAT WAS OUR THOUGHT.
UM, BECAUSE IT DOES GET A LITTLE CONFUSING THAT IF A LETTER HAS MULTIPLE ADDRESSES ON IT, RIGHT? SOMETIMES THAT ADDRESS IS ISSUED BY THE CITY, BUT IT MAY BE THE SAME PARCEL, OR THERE MAY BE THREE OR FOUR ADDRESSES ON THE SAME DEVELOPMENT.
UM, MULTI-FAMILY COMPLEXES, PARK COMPLEXES SOMETIMES HAVE ADDRESSES PER BUILDING.
SO DO WE CHARGE FOR EVERY SINGLE BUILDING OR ONE, YOU KNOW, WHEN IT'S ALL THE SAME ZONING DISTRICT ONE DEVELOPMENT? SO, UM, REALLY LIKE THAT SUGGESTION AS FAR AS THE DEC HAD PARTIAL ID.
SO I THINK THAT'S THE DIRECTION WE'RE HEADING.
SO WE'RE GONNA START DOING THAT JANUARY, 2023 GOAL.
THE, THE THOUGHT WAS JUST TO MAKE IT VERY, VERY CLEAR IN THE POLICIES IS ACTUALLY PUT THAT INTO THE GC, RIGHT? UM, IN THE FEE SCHEDULE.
UM, WE'RE AWARE FOR THE, THE FEE SCHEDULE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ATTORNEY'S OFFICES WORKING ON THAT, BUT, UM, TO ACTUALLY CODE THAT, SO IT'S JUST VERY CLEAR AND IN THE CODE FOR BOTH CUSTOMERS AND FOR STAFF.
AND, AND, AND ONCE WE DO THAT, WE ARE GOING TO MAKE SURE THAT'S VERY, VERY CLEAR TO POTENTIAL AUDIENCE TO DEVELOPERS, FOLKS, CUZ THAT'S A, THAT'S A CHANGE.
SO HOW, HOW ARE WE GOING TO MAKE SURE I KNOW WE GONNA, YOU'RE GONNA AMEND THE CODE, PUT THAT IN THERE.
[00:45:01]
AND MAYBE THIS IS MORE OF A THOUGHT, A THOUGHT COMMENT THAN A QUESTION, BUT AS WE DO THAT, YOU KNOW, MAKE SURE THAT, UH, UM, THAT OUR CUSTOMER BASE, IF YOU WILL BE, IS, IS AWARE IN ADVANCE OF THIS, YOU KNOW, BECAUSE WE HAVE SOME REPEAT CUSTOMERS.CORRECT? AM I CORRECT? THAT IS CORRECT.
UM, TYPICALLY WITH ZONING VERIFICATION LETTERS, IT, IT'S, UM, IT'S LAW FIRMS, IT'S TITLE EXACTLY LIKE THAT, UM, REQUEST THESE ON BEHALF OF A CLIENT, RIGHT? THEY'RE VERY COMMON REQUESTS, BUT YES SIR, WE, WE CERTAINLY HAVE SOME REPEAT.
AND COUNCILMEN, SINCE OTHER CITIES ARE DOING THIS BY PARCEL ANYWAY, A LOT OF THESE LAW FIRMS AND CONTRACTORS, THEY'RE AWARE OF THIS.
A LOT OF 'EM ARE REMIND YOU OF WHAT OTHER CITIES ARE DOING, RIGHT? I KNOW IN THAT DISCUSSION WITH, WITH WILL.
AND THAT'S, AND THAT'S THE REASON I BRING THE POINT UP AS, AS WE MOVE, AND I, I AGREE WITH CONCUR.
I DON'T HAVE AN ISSUE WITH THE RECOMMENDATION, BUT I TO MAKE SURE THAT AS WE MOVE FORWARD AND WE AMEND THE, UH, THE POLICY GC THAT, THAT WE GO AND RECORD AS DOING THE NOTIFICATION, MAKE SURE THAT, THAT OUR CLIENTS, UM, AWARE OF THAT.
AND SO THEY, THEY DON'T NECESSARILY BE SURPRISED WITH, WITH THIS CHANGE.
YEAH, THAT'S MORE A COMMENTARY PROBABLY THAN A, THAN A QUESTION.
THE FOURTH FINDING, UM, IS FOR CASH HANDLING WEAKNESSES.
SO, UM, I'M JUST GONNA HIT, UM, ON THE MORE IMPORTANT ONES BECAUSE WE CAN'T GET IN THE NITTY GRITTY ON THESE, AS YOU'LL SEE IN OUR, UH, CASH COUNT AUDIT THAT ALEX IS GONNA PRESENT, UM, FOR ALL THE OTHER DEPARTMENTS.
SO, UM, WE FOUND THAT OVER A THIRD OF THE TRANSACTIONS THAT WE TESTED WERE PREPARED FOR DEPOSIT SIX OR MORE WORKING DAYS AFTER PAYMENTS WERE RECEIVED, WHICH IS A PRETTY SIGNIFICANT NUMBER.
UM, WITH THAT BEING SAID, THE TIMING BETWEEN THE PAYMENTS AND THE DEPOSITS HAVE CONSISTENTLY SHORTENED SINCE OCTOBER OF 2021.
SO IT'S HIGHLY LIKELY THAT IT WAS DUE TO COVID AND LIMITED PERSONNEL IN THE OFFICE.
WE ALSO FOUND NOT ALL DEPOSITS HAD THE MANAGEMENT APPROVAL DOCUMENTED.
UH, WE ARE ALSO CONCERNED ABOUT SEGREGATION SEGREGATIONS OF DUTIES IN THE OFFICE AS THE PRIMARY EMPLOYEE THAT ACCEPTS PAYMENTS AND RIGHTS RECEIPTS, ALSO PREPARES THE DEPOSITS AND TAKES THE DEPOSITS TO THE DROP SAFE.
WE FOUND GAPS IN THE SEQUENTIAL NUMBERING OF THE RECEIPTS ISSUED, AND WE FOUND THAT VOIDED RECEIPTS LACKED JUSTIFICATION IN MANAGERIAL REVIEWER APPROVAL.
AND THEN SPECIFICALLY FOR THE CASH FUND, UH, WE DETERMINED THAT PETTY CASH CUSTODIAN HADN'T VERIFIED REIMBURSEMENT CALCULATIONS FOR, UM, REIMBURSEMENTS ORIGINATING IN OTHER DEPARTMENTS.
AND SO REIMBURSEMENTS FOR OTHER DEPARTMENTS WERE ALSO MISSING SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION AND PROOF OF MANAGEMENT APPROVAL.
UM, AND THEN WE ALSO IDENTIFIED A FEW INSTANCES OF USING THE WRONG MILEAGE RATE AND, UM, SOME PROHIBITED EXPENDITURES.
SO WE RECOMMENDED, UH, THAT THE DEPARTMENT REQUIRE PERSONNEL WHO HAVE CA CASH HANDLING DUTIES TO COMPLETE THE CASH HANDLING TRAINING DEVELOPED BY THE FINANCE DEPARTMENT, UH, AND PERIOD PERIODICALLY REVIEW THE DEPARTMENT'S CASH HANDLING AGREEMENTS, UH, MANAGEMENT CONCURRED.
UM, THEY'RE GONNA ENSURE THE CASH CUSTODIANS ATTEND THE FINANCES TRAINING AS SOON IS AVAILABLE.
AND, UH, THEY'RE GONNA REVIEW ANY CASH HANDLING AGREEMENTS UPON CHANGES IN PERSONNEL OR DUTIES.
WE ALSO RECOMMENDED, UH, THAT ALL RECEIPTS BE RETAINED IN THE DOCUMENT REPOSITORY SYSTEM, INCLUDING VOIDED RECEIPTS, AND THAT THEY DOCUMENT THE REASON FOR AVOIDING THEIR RECEIPTS AND DOCUMENT THE MANAGEMENT'S REVIEW AND APPROVAL MANAGEMENT AGREED.
AND, UM, THEY'RE GONNA IMPLEMENT THIS PRACTICE THIS COMING OCTOBER.
AND THEN, UH, WE ALSO RECOMMENDED IMPLEMENTING SEGREGATION OF DUTIES OR COMPENSATING CONTROLS WITHIN THE PAYMENT INTAKE AND TAKE AND DEPOSIT PROCESSES AND ENSURE A SUPERVISOR'S APPROVALS DOCUMENTED FOR ALL DEPOSITS, MANAGEMENT'S AND AGREEANCE, AND IS IMPLEMENTING COMPENSATED CONTROLS AND SECONDARY REVIEWS FOR DEPOSITS.
THIS COMING OCTOBER TO ASSIST WITH THE PETTY CASH CUSTODIAN, WE RECOMMENDED, UH, DISTRIBUTING A MEMO TO OTHER DEPARTMENTS WITHIN THE BUILDING, INSTRUCTING THEM TO PROVIDE PROPER SUPPORT DOCUMENTATION, PROPER MANAGEMENT APPROVAL FOR REIMBURSEMENTS.
UH, SO A MEMORANDUM, UH, WAS SENT OUT BY THE ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER, UH, TO DEPARTMENTS REGARDING OBTAINING PROPER SUPERVISOR APPROVALS AND REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION PRIOR TO SUBMITTING TO THE PLANNING DEPARTMENT'S PETTY CASH CUSTODIAN FOR REIMBURSEMENT.
WE ALSO RECOMMENDED, UM, THAT THE PETTY CASH CUSTODIAN, UH,
[00:50:01]
RECEIVE A REFRESHER ON CORRECT MILEAGE RATE AND UNAUTHORIZED EXPENDITURES MANAGEMENT CONCURRED, UM, AND WILL ASSURE THAT'S HAPPENING.QUESTIONS? GOOD, SIR? I'M NOT, AGAIN, I'M, I DON'T HAVE A LOT OF QUESTIONS AT ALL.
UH, AND YOU ALL PLEASE BEAR WITH ME.
THIS IS, UH, THIS IS ALL NEW TO ME.
UH, AND, UH, I'VE JUST CELEBRATED A BIRTHDAY ON THE 26TH, WHICH MAKES ME A VIRGO HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
AND IT'S SOMETHING THAT I JUST HAVE TO DEAL WITH, UH, EVERY DAY WHEN I WAKE UP.
AND WHEN I, WHEN I SEE THIS, UH, YOU SEE THAT THEY'RE GOING TO HANDLE THIS IN OCTOBER, THEY'RE GONNA BE IMPLEMENTING SOME NEW STRUCTURES.
AND THAT WHAT I HEARD, IF, IF I MAY CLARIFY THAT, NUMBER ONE, OCTOBER IS TOMORROW.
WELL, A LOT OF TIMES, UH, THE IMPLEMENTED TRADITION DATE IS PUT TO AT A LATER TIME, BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT'S WHEN EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY BY THAT TIME.
SO THEY WERE WORKING WITH US AS WE WERE PERFORMING IT BECAUSE MANY OF THIS, UM, THEY ALREADY GOT IT DONE, BUT SOMETIMES CHANGING POLICIES AND REWRITING POLICIES, IT TAKES A LITTLE LONGER.
RIGHT? AND SO THAT, THAT'S WHY THEY PUT OCTOBER.
BUT THEY DID IMPLEMENT THE MANAGERIAL REVIEWS AND STUFF LIKE THAT OKAY.
AS, AS SOON AS WE IN INFORM THEM.
SO IT'S NOT LIKE THEY'RE DELAYING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EVERYTHING THEY'RE IMPLEMENTING AS THEY, AS THEY'RE AS, AS YOU'RE, AS YOU'RE LEARNING, RIGHT? WHAT THEY'RE, AND WHAT DEPARTMENT IS THIS AGAIN? UH, THIS IS PLANNING.
UH, YOU GUYS ARE ON TOP OF THIS.
AND, AND TO GIVE CREDIT TO PLANNING, AS I MENTIONED BEFORE, UM, FOR THREE EMPLOYEES BASICALLY IS HANDLING ALL OF THIS, UH, WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT.
AND WE HAVEN'T BEEN THERE FOR A LONG TIME.
IN FACT, UH, SINCE I'VE BEEN HERE, THIS IS PROBABLY THE FIRST TIME WE EVER WENT THERE TO DO A THOROUGH AUDIT LIKE THIS.
SO, UH, YOU KNOW, WE LOOK FOR INTERNAL CONTROLS.
THEY'RE TRYING TO GET THE JOB DONE AND SERVE THE CUSTOMERS.
SO, UM, THIS IS, UM, I WOULD CONSIDER THAT.
AND, AND LIKE I SAID, IT'S, IT'S, BRIAN USED TO SAY THIS, IT'S NOT ABOUT HAVING AUDIT FINDINGS, IT'S ABOUT WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO ABOUT IT? WHAT GONNA DO WITH IT? IS IT, YEAH.
AND SO, AND THEY WERE VERY COOPERATIVE AND EXTREMELY PROFESSIONAL, AND THEY WANTED TO IMPLEMENT AS SOON AS WE TOLD THEM.
SO WE'RE VERY HAPPY WITH THAT.
I'M JUST, I'M JUST GLAD TO SEE THAT, UM, I UNDERSTAND, I'M UNDERSTANDING SO MUCH MORE ABOUT WHY AUDIT IS SO IMPORTANT AND IT HAS VERY LITTLE TO DO, IT SEEMS, WITH WHAT IS WRITTEN AND WHAT POLICY IS, AS MUCH AS YOU IDENTIFYING WHAT WE ARE DOING, ARE WE FOLLOWING THE POLICY? AND, UH, I THINK THAT THAT'S VERY IMPORTANT.
SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH, MR. CHAIR.
AND, AND I THINK, UH, A LOT OF WHAT'S GOING ON HERE REFLECTS THE, THE BROADER EFFORT TO DRAG US KICKING AND SCREAMING INTO THE 21ST CENTURY AS FAR AS CENTRALIZING, UH, FILE MANAGEMENT AND PAYMENT INFORMATION AND ALL THE REST.
AND BECAUSE NOBODY'S WRITTEN A GOOD SYSTEM THAT, UH, WORKS FOR ALL CITY DEPARTMENTS, UM, YOU KNOW, WE STILL SEE SOME PIECEMEALING AND, UM, YOU KNOW, THIS IS CERTAINLY A SMALLER, A SMALLER DEPARTMENT THAT YOU DON'T, MOST OF US DON'T LOOK AT PLANNING AND ZONING AND THINK CASH HANDLING.
SO IT, IT, YOU KNOW, IT, WE'LL SEE A FEW MORE DEPARTMENTS THAT PROBABLY FIT INTO THIS, UH, THIS, THIS KIND OF POSITION AS WE GET INTO THE SMALLER AND SMALLER AND SMALLER DEPARTMENTS AND BRING THEM FORWARD INTO THE, INTO THE CENTURY.
IT HELPS ME ALSO WITH A COUNCILMAN WHEN I HEAR, UH, MY CLIENTELE, MY CONSTITUENCY AND, UH, THEY'RE COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS, THAT, AND THE OTHER.
IT HELPS ME TO UNDERSTAND A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT WHAT'S HAPPENING, WHAT'S TAKING PLACE THERE.
AND WE USUALLY PRIORITIZE CONSTITUENT SERVICES FIRST, AND SO WE START SEEING THE INTERNAL DEPARTMENTS CATCH UP LATER AND LATER.
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SERVICE.
AGAINST MEL WILLIAMS. DID YOU HAVE ANYTHING? ARE WE GOOD? YEAH, YEAH.
JUST, JUST TWO, TWO THINGS VERY QUICK.
UM, NUMBER ONE, AND I'LL SAY THIS, UH, UH, UH, COUNSEL MOORE HAS ALREADY REMINDED HIM THAT HE'S, HE'S GRADUATED, HE'S GOT HIS DEGREE, SO
UH, UM, UH, BUT THIS IS, GOES BACK TO THE PREVIOUS, UM, PREVIOUS COMMENTARY AND I'M GLAD TO SEE THIS.
[00:55:01]
ABOUT S UM, IDENTIFICATION, INTEGRATION OF DUTIES KIND KIND OF THINGS, AND THAT THIS IS WHAT WAS TALKING ABOUT IN RECOGNIZING, AND THIS IS MORE OF COMMENTATION FOR, WE'VE GOT OUR KEY STAFF PEOPLE HERE TODAY, THE IMPACT OF COVID AND STAFFING.I DIDN'T SEE, I THINK I SAW ONE REFERENCE HERE ABOUT STAFFING, SOME STAFFING CHALLENGES, AND I DIDN'T SEE WHETHER ANY OF THE RECOMMENDATION THAT, AND I KNOW THAT'S NOT SOMETHING THAT YOU ALL GET INTO, BUT FOR, FOR, FOR OUR MANAGEMENT TEAM, YOU KNOW, WE ALSO, AS WE GO THROUGH THIS PROCESS, LOOKING AT, UH, THE STAFFING SIDE OF THIS ALSO, IN ORDER TO IMPLEMENT MANY OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS AND THE IMPROVEMENTS THAT, THAT, YOU KNOW, WE'RE TAKING BABY STEPS AND DOING THIS, BUT WE'RE ALSO LOOKING AT STAFFING AS A PARALLEL NEED IN ORDER TO FACILITATE, UH, OUR MOVEMENT INTO THE 21ST CENTURY.
CUZ I THINK THEY BOTH GO HAND IN HAND, UH, RESOURCES.
SO THAT I, I'D MORE, I DIRECT THAT COMMENT MORE TO THE GENTLEMAN, TO MY IMMEDIATE LEFT AND THE ONE THAT I'M STARING AT RIGHT NOW,
AND THEN, BECAUSE I THINK STAFFING IS IMPORTANT, UH, AND, AND GETTING THERE.
SO WITHOUT OF YOU CARE TO COMMENT, I WILL SAY WE DON'T GET ANYTHING DONE WITHOUT PEOPLE AND, UH, PEOPLE WE'RE IN THE PEOPLE BUSINESS.
AND SO YOUR COMMENTS SPOT ON COUNCIL MEMBER.
UH, IS THE DEPARTMENT LARGE ENOUGH TO GET, UH, TRUE DUAL CONTROL ON EACH OF THE, UH, HIGH PRIORITY ITEMS THAT Y'ALL HAVE LISTED? UM, UM, SO JUST TO ADD ONTO THE STAFFING ISSUE, AND THAT'S PART OF THE REASON WHY THEY ARE PLANNING ON OUTSOURCING.
UH, ACTUALLY I BELIEVE THERE'S ALREADY A CONTRACT WITH THE THIRD PARTY LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT.
UM, TO START REVIEWING THE TREE MITIGATION, UH, PLAN AND FUNDS AND STUFF LIKE THAT.
SO THAT WILL HELP THE DEPARTMENT SIGNIFICANTLY.
AND SO I APPRECIATE JARDEN WILL FOR WORKING.
AS SOON AS WE MENTIONED THIS, WE'RE USED TO DEALING WITH COMPLIANCE AND SMALL TEAMS. AND SO I KIND OF WANTED, YOU KNOW, DO WE EVEN HAVE THE ABILITY WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT TO, TO TRULY HAVE TWO PEOPLE LOOK AT EVERYTHING THAT NEEDS TO BE LOOKED AT.
SO, AND, AND WHILE I DIDN'T SEE IT, UH, THAT MAY BE SOMETHING REALLY THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN PART OF, UH, UH, THE PLAN HERE.
AND THAT IS PART OF THE PROBLEM IS STAFFING.
I DIDN'T SEE THAT IN PLACE IN THE WAY OF WHAT THE PROBLEMS MAY HAVE, MAY HAVE BEEN.
UH, I DON'T SEE ANYTHING ELSE.
LET'S MOVE ON TO AGENDA ITEM NUMBER FOUR, VEGETATION MANAGEMENT SERVICES CHAIRMAN.
AS ROBERT IS COMING, I WILL KICKSTART THIS AUDIT.
UM, THIS AUDIT IS GARLAND POWER LIGHT TRANSMISSION LINE.
UH, SO VEGETATION MANAGEMENT ON THAT SIDE, UH, DO WANNA, UH, GIVE YOU A LITTLE BACKGROUND.
SO THEY HAVE ABOUT FIVE HUNDRED AND THIRTY EIGHT THIRTY TWO, UH, LINEAR MILES OF TRANSMISSION LIGHTS LINES IN EAST, NORTH AND WEST TEXAS.
SO IT IS IMPORTANT FOR GP AND L UH, TO COMPLY WITH NOR STANDARDS TO ENSURE THAT OUR TRANSMISSION LINES ARE CLEAR.
WE'RE NOT CAUSING ANY KIND OF OUTAGES.
UM, AGAIN, YOU PROBABLY WILL HEAR ME REPEATING THIS, BUT AGAIN, GP NL WAS VERY COOPERATIVE DURING THIS AUDIT.
AND I ALSO WANNA EMPHASIZE FIVE YEARS AGO MY UNDERSTANDING BASED ON TALKING WITH DAR AND TOM, WE HAD A LOT OF ISSUES ON THE TRANSMISSION LINE FROM A VEGETATION MANAGEMENT, BUT THEN FIVE YEARS AGO THEY PUT A PLAN TOGETHER AND THAT PLAN HAS BEEN WORKING.
MY UNDERSTANDING IS THE LAST YEAR WHEN NERK DID THEIR AUDIT OR WHEN WE REPORTED THE COMPLIANCE, THERE WAS NOT ANY ISSUES.
THERE WAS NOT ANY MAJOR ISSUES.
HOWEVER, WE WANTED TO JUST MAKE SURE, UM, UH, BASICALLY AT THE COMPLIANCE, UM, JUST MAKING SURE THAT, UH, THE CONTRACTS THAT WE HAVE WITH THE TWO THIRD PARTY VENDORS, HOW ARE WE IN COMPLIANCE, UH, HOW ARE THEY IN COMPLIANCE, HOW ARE WE IN COMPLIANCE BASICALLY FROM A BILLING PERSPECTIVE.
AND WE ALSO WANTED TO SEE, UM, THE INSPECTION RECORDS AND STUFF LIKE THAT.
AND DURING THE SCOPE OF THE AUDIT, WE GP L PAID APPROXIMATELY 2.2 MILLION.
AND THE SCOPE WAS FROM, IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY, FROM OCTOBER, 2018 THROUGH MAY, 2022.
UH, OUT OF THE 2.2 MILLION, UM, 1.5 APPROXIMATELY WAS FOR ROUTINE VEGETATION MANAGEMENT SERVICES AND THE OTHER 800,000 WAS FOR ADDITIONAL PROJECTS.
OUR FOCUS WAS MAINLY ON THE ROUTINE SERVICES.
AND, AND SO THAT'S, THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE GONNA HEAR FROM, UH, ROBERT.
I'M GONNA TURN IT OVER TO HIM.
[01:00:01]
GONNA GO THROUGH, UM, SOME OF THE, UH, INTERNAL CONTROL WEAKNESSES THAT WE IDENTIFIED, BUT ONCE AGAIN, UM, UH, GP L MANAGEMENT WAS, UM, WE'VE MET WITH, UM, DARRELL, TOM AND UH, TRANSMISSION HEAD, UH, SEVERAL ON SEVERAL LOCATIONS AND THEY ALREADY HAVE A PLAN IN PLACE.AND SO NOT WORRIED ABOUT GOING FORWARD, BUT, UM, WE JUST WANTED TO REPORT WHERE WE FOUND.
OKAY, GOOD AFTERNOON EVERYBODY.
UM, I'M GONNA GO THROUGH MY FINDINGS.
THE FIRST FINDING HERE, BASICALLY WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT IS TIME AND MATERIAL CONTRACTS.
SO WE HAVE TWO VENDORS AND BASICALLY THAT'S WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT THE CONTRACTS, WHERE THE AGREEMENTS WERE IN OUR LOCAL AGREEMENTS.
SO AN INTER LOCAL AGREEMENT IS BASICALLY ANOTHER CITY BROUGHT OUT THE SERVICES, WENT OUT BID, OBTAINED THE SERVICES TO GO THE CONTRACT.
SO WHAT WE DID IS WE WENT AHEAD AND USED THAT AGREEMENT, AND THAT'S WHAT WE CALL AN INTER LOCAL AGREEMENT.
SO WE DIDN'T PUT OUT OUR, OUR OWN BID, WE KIND OF PIGGYBACKED ON THE SERVICES FROM SOMEBODY ELSE.
SO LOOKING AT THOSE TWO, UH, VENDORS, THE CONTRACTS, THE AGREEMENTS THAT WE PUT IN PLACE FOR OUR SERVICES HERE, UH, CAUSE THE TIME PERIOD THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT OCTOBER, 2018 TO MAY, 2022, UH, WE PAID APPROXIMATELY A HUNDRED AND, UH, $1.5 MILLION FOR THOSE SERVICES.
AS YOU COULD SEE, VENDOR A, UH, YOU HAVE 1.3 MILLION THAT WAS PAID OUT TO THEM.
A VENDOR B, YOU HAVE ALMOST A LITTLE BIT OVER A HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS.
SO YOU HAVE A DISCREPANCY, YOU KNOW, TWO DIFFERENT REGIONS.
VENDOR A IS MORE THE SOUTHERN PART, EAST PART, AND YOU HAD VENDOR B, WHICH IS MORE UP NORTH LUBBOCK.
SO YOU HAVE TWO DIFFERENT VENDORS AND THAT'S THE REASON BEHIND THAT.
SO I WANNA GO THROUGH MY FINDINGS HERE.
FOR VENDOR A, UM, THERE'S A POTENTIAL.
NOW KEEP IN MIND THIS POTENTIAL, CUZ THERE'S CERTAIN THINGS THAT ARE GONNA BE QUESTIONED.
UH, THERE MIGHT BE SOME STUFF THAT THEY MIGHT BE ABLE TO PROVIDE, UH, DOCUMENTATION.
SO AT THIS MOMENT, WHAT WE IDENTIFY, MEANING MY, THE OFFICE, WHAT WE IDENTIFY WAS $138,409 AS POTENTIAL OVERPAYS FOR VENDOR A.
UM, NOW THE WAY I CAME UP WITH THIS AUDIT IS WE'RE LOOKING AT TWO DIFFERENT THINGS.
WE'RE LOOKING AT THE AGREEMENT, WE'LL HAVE EQUIPMENT AND LABOR RATES ON IT.
WHAT THE VENDOR WILL ALSO GIVE US FOR PAYMENT, THEY'LL GIVE US AN INVOICE AND TIME SHEETS.
SO YOU HAVE THREE DIFFERENT THINGS THAT YOU REALLY HAVE TO LOOK AT IS YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT WHAT THE CONTRACT SAYS, WHAT THE INVOICE SAYS, AND WHAT THE TIME SHEETS ARE.
SO YOU HAVE TO RECONCILE EVERYTHING TOGETHER.
YOU'RE LOOKING AT THE TIME SHEETS, DO THEY MATCH THE INVOICE? DOES THE INVOICE MATCH THE CONTRACT RATES? SO WHAT I'M DISCUSSING IS WHEN I'M TALKING ABOUT OVERPAYMENT AND UNDER PAYMENTS, IS THAT YOU CAN HAVE AN ERROR FROM SOMEBODY INTERNALLY PUNCHING IN THE WRONG RATE.
SO THEY CAN MAKE A MISTAKE SAYING, I UNDERCHARGED, OR THEY CAN ACTUALLY OVERCHARGE AND SAID THEY PUNCHED IN THE WRONG DOLLAR AMOUNT.
SO THIS IS WHERE WE'RE GONNA GET AN OVERPAYMENT AND AN UNDERPAYMENT.
SO ON THE FIRST ONE, THE HOURLY, THE HOURLY LABOR RATES WERE INCORRECTLY INVOICED AND BASICALLY CAME UP WITH AN OVERPAYMENT OF 43,000 APPROXIMATELY.
THE LABOR HOURS WERE ALSO RECONCILED WITH THE TIME SHEETS.
WE HAD AN OVERPAYMENT A LITTLE BIT OVER $7,000 THERE.
THE HOURLY PER DIEM RATE WAS ACCORDING TO THE AGREEMENTS.
THIS IS ONE THING I WANT YOU TO UNDERSTAND.
PER, PER THE AGREEMENT, THERE WAS NO PER DIEM RATE ALLOWED ON THAT AGREEMENT.
SO UP TO THE AGREEMENT BEING AMENDED ON JUNE 4TH, 2020, WE HAD A LITTLE BIT OVER $69,000 WORTH THE PER DIEM CHARGES.
AFTER THE AMENDMENT WAS, THE CITY WAS NOTIFIED OF THE AMENDMENT OF PER DIEM, THAT THEY WERE GONNA CHARGE AN HOURLY RATE FOR PER DIEM.
THEN THEY SAID, OKAY, WE'RE GONNA, WE'RE GONNA CHARGE X NUMBER OF DOLLARS.
BUT THEN THEY TURNED AROUND AND OVER BILL THAT.
SO TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA, IT'S LIKE, OH, WE WANT TO BE PAID $6 AN HOUR.
THEY TURNED AROUND AND BILL SEVEN 50 AN HOUR.
SO THIS IS WHERE THE OVERPAYMENT COMES IN ON THE $4,400 BECAUSE THAT HOURLY RATE WAS INCORRECT.
UM, THE NEXT ONE THERE, THE EQUIPMENT HOURS DID NOT RECONCILE WITH THE TIME SHEETS.
ONCE AGAIN, THE NUMBER OF HOURS ON THE TIME SHEETS DIDN'T RECONCILE WITH THE INVOICE ON THE EQUIPMENT.
YOU GOT $603 OVERPAYMENT THERE.
THEN YOU HAVE THE FLIP SIDE WHERE WE TALK ABOUT THE CREDITS.
THE EQUIPMENT RATE THAT WAS INVOICED WAS INCORRECT, AND NOW THEY'RE DUE A CREDIT OF A LITTLE BIT OVER $2,500.
NOW ON TOP OF THIS, WHAT I WANT YOU TO, I WANT YOU, I WANNA SKIP DOWN TO THE LITTLE FOOTNOTE NUMBER FOUR DOWN BELOW WHERE WE HAVE A FOOTNOTE OF 76,000 MIGHT REDUCE THE OVER PAYMENTS.
THIS ITEM, THESE ARE THREE ITEMS. HERE YOU HAVE A, UH, SUPPORT TRUCK, UH, AND TWO MACHINERIES THAT THEY USE FOR VEGETATION MANAGEMENT.
WHAT THE VENDOR DID IS THEY ACTUALLY PUT THE INVOICE, THE NUMBER OF HOURS CORRELATED WITH THE TIME SHEETS.
HOWEVER, THEY DID NOT PUT THE DOLLAR AMOUNT.
SO WHAT I MEAN IS A HUNDRED HOURS ON
[01:05:01]
THE TIME SHEETS, A HUNDRED HOURS ON THE INVOICE, BUT THEY DIDN'T PUT $10 AN HOUR.SO WE'RE GOING, WELL, YOU USED IT, YOU PUT IT ON THE INVOICE, BUT YOU DIDN'T CHARGE IT.
SO WE'RE TRYING TO GET CLARIFICATION ON THAT.
SO I WANT YOU TO UNDERSTAND THAT THERE'S A POTENTIAL THAT THAT'S DUE TO THEM.
SO THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE NEED TO CLARIFY.
THAT GOING BACK TO THE PREVIOUS FINDINGS, STILL RIGHT UNDERNEATH THE, UH, CREDIT THERE, UH, APPROXIMATELY FROM ALL THE MONIES THAT WERE PAID OUT TO VENDOR A FROM, IF YOU GO BACK TO THE 1.3 MILLION, APPROXIMATELY 228,000 WAS PAID FOR OVERTIME.
NOW WE KNOW THAT THERE'S GONNA BE WORK THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE AND OVERTIME IS GONNA BE PAID ON THERE.
NOW, THERE WAS SOME COUPLE OF INSTANCES IN HERE THAT I SAW, FOR EXAMPLE, AND WHAT WE'RE INDICATING THIS 15,000 TH YOU KNOW, THE LITTLE BIT OF ALMOST $16,000 OF OVERTIME THAT SHOULDN'T HAPPEN.
WE HAVE TWO DIFFERENT SCENARIOS ON HERE.
SO I HAVE TWO EXAMPLES ON HERE.
SO I WANT TO EXPLAIN 'EM TO YOU.
VENDOR A, UM, HAS A CREW OF EMPLOYEES.
WHAT THEY WERE DOING IS, LET'S JUST SAY THAT MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY, THEY WORK AT CUSTOMER A.
THEY WORK 40 HOURS, THEY WORK THEIR 10 HOURS A DAY.
THEY COME AND WORK ON CITY OF GARLAND PROJECT ON A FRIDAY, THEY GOT 12 HOURS.
WELL, THAT'S 12 HOURS OF OVERTIME.
WE DIDN'T EVEN GET ANY STRAIGHT TIME BILLED TO US.
WE JUST GOT OVERTIME BILLED STRAIGHT ON THAT ONE THERE.
THE OTHER EXAMPLE CAN BE THAT THEY COME IN AND THEY WORK MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY AT A DIFFERENT JOB SITE.
CUSTOMER A, AGAIN, I'M JUST GONNA SAY, OR CUSTOMER B, WHICHEVER YOU WANNA CALL IT.
AND THEY WORK 10 HOURS AND NOW THEY HAVE 30 HOURS FROM MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY.
SO NOW YOU HAVE 10 HOURS ON THURSDAY STRAIGHT TIME TO THE CITY OF GARLAND.
AND THEN YOU HAVE FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, MEANING THAT WE PICKED UP ALL THIS OVERTIME.
SO YOU HAVE DIFFERENT SCENARIOS NOW ON ONE OF THE INVOICES THAT WAS PROVIDED FROM VENDOR A, THEY HAPPEN TO HAVE CUSTOMER A'S TIME SHEETS.
SO WHEN I COME UP WITH THIS SCENARIO LIKE, OH LOOK, THIS IS WHAT THEY DID IS THE REASON I HAD THAT IS BECAUSE I DO HAVE THE EXAMPLE THAT THE MISTAKE OR HOWEVER THEY DID IT, MAYBE THEY WERE JUST TRYING TO SHOW, HEY, THIS IS WHY WE'RE DOING IT.
SO WE NOTICED THAT THEY'RE WORKING ELSEWHERE AND THEN THE OVERTIME WAS COMING TO US.
SO THAT'S SOMETHING THAT I FOUND ALSO ON, ON DOING THE REVIEW.
SO THAT WAS VENDOR A, VENDOR B, I'M TALKING ABOUT THESE TIME SHEETS AND HOW I RECONCILED IT.
ALL WE HAD WAS JUST A STRAIGHT INVOICE AND NO TIME SHEETS TO COURT, YOU KNOW, TO, UH, RECONCILE TOO.
SO THAT WAS STATED IN THE AGREEMENT THAT THEY WOULD PROVIDE THE TIME SHEETS.
SO THAT ASPECT I COULDN'T DO BECAUSE WE WERE MISSING THE TIME SHEETS.
UH, HOWEVER WE HAVE THE AGREEMENT AND WE HAVE THE INVOICES.
COUPLE OF ITEMS THAT I'VE NOTICED ON THERE FOR VENDOR B, THE MOBILIZATION RATES THAT WERE INDICATED IN THE AGREEMENT, WE WERE OVERCHARGED BY $3,200 ON THAT.
SO THAT WAS ONE ITEM THAT WAS OVERPAID ON ACCORDING TO THE AGREEMENT ITSELF.
UM, PER DM, ACCORDING TO THE THE AGREEMENT THEIR PER DIEM WAS SUPPOSED TO BE, UH, THERE WAS NO PER DIEM ALLOWANCE ON THERE.
WHEN I TOOK THE INVOICES COME UP WITH A TOTAL FOR PER DIEM HOURS OR, UH, CHARGES, IT WAS $6,500 WORTH OF PER DIEM ON THAT.
NOW, KEEPING IN MIND THAT, I KNOW WE'RE TALKING ABOUT TWO DIFFERENT VENDORS, BUT USUALLY, UM, YOU KNOW, THE TIME SHEET SHOULD HAVE BEEN ATTACHED TO THEM, BUT THEY WEREN'T.
SO THAT'S ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE HAD MISSING ON VENDOR B THERE.
UM, SOME OF THE CAUSES THAT I THINK THAT WERE ON HERE, ONE OF THE REASONS WHY WE'RE SEEING THIS IS THAT YES, UH, GP AND L THERE'S A COORDINATOR THAT DOES THIS WORK, UH, AND HE'S ALL BY HIS LONESOME.
UH, HE'S DONE A WONDERFUL JOB OF, OF KEEPING THE LINES, YOU KNOW, CLEAR AND FREE, BUT WHAT HE'S ALSO IS NOT AN ACCOUNTANT, HE'S NOT A BOOKKEEPER AND ALL THAT.
SO IF HE'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THE INVOICES AND APPROV THEM ON ALL THAT, SOME, YOU KNOW, SEGREGATION THE DUTIES AND SOME ADDITIONAL HELP, BASICALLY YOU, YOU HAVE NOBODY VERIFYING THESE RATES BETWEEN CONTRACT TIME SHEETS, HOURS, AND THAT'S NOT REALLY HIS FORTE.
THAT'S WHAT WE KIND OF SAW IS THE MAIN REASON BEHIND THAT DISCREPANCY ON THE OVERPAYS THERE, UM, GP AND MANAGEMENT HAS LOOKED AT IT.
THEY, WE RECOMMENDED THAT, UH, THEY RECONCILE THE INVOICES WITH THE TIME SHEETS.
UH, THEY'RE GONNA GO AHEAD AND BASICALLY, UH, WE COLLABORATED WITH, YOU KNOW, WE TALKED ABOUT WITH THE VENDORS WITH THE OVERTIME THEY DISCUSSED IT, THAT THEY'RE GONNA TALK TO THEIR, UH, VENDORS AND GET APPROVAL FIRST.
SO THEY'RE GONNA NOTIFY THE VENDORS, OR I THINK THE COORDINATOR ALREADY DID THAT.
ANY OVERTIME WOULD HAVE TO BE RUN THROUGH HIM,
[01:10:01]
AUTHORIZED BY HIM ALSO AND REVIEWED IN THAT PROCESS.NOW, AS FAR AS THE REIMBURSEMENTS, UH, THAT'S SOMETHING THAT MANAGEMENT AND THE COORDINATOR WILL HAVE TO TALK ABOUT OBTAINING ANY REIMBURSEMENTS ON THAT.
AND ALSO THEY'RE GONNA HAVE TO, UH, SEE IF WE CAN GET ANY TYPE OF, UH, TIME SHEETS FROM VENDOR B AS FAR AS TRYING TO RECONCILE THOSE INVOICES FOR FUTURE, FOR FURTHER ANALYSIS ON THAT.
SO THEY'RE WORKING ON THOSE PROCESSES THERE AS FAR AS DOING THAT IN, YOU KNOW, OBTAINING THAT INFORMATION THAT WAS IMPLEMENTED, UH, SEPTEMBER 19TH FROM MY UNDERSTANDING.
UM, I DON'T KNOW IF ANY OF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS REGARDING THESE FI THIS PARTICULAR ISSUE AND FINDINGS HERE.
UM, I'LL BE BRIEF ON THIS ONE.
UM, THERE'S A MYRIAD OF OF ISSUES WITH THIS ONE MYRIAD.
UH, SO LET ME GO ON RIGHT QUICK.
UM, UH, MISS MR. CITY ATTORNEY, UM, PAYMENT, PAYMENT FOR SERVICES WITH OUR DOCUMENTATION OF THOSE SERVICES, IS THAT, IS THAT APPROPRIATE WHEN YOU, OKAY, WHEN I SAY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT IS I'M LISTING YOU, WE HAD A POLICY THAT DID NOT ALLOW FOR PRE DIEM ON THEIR FINDINGS.
WE PAID PRE DIEM, WE PAID OVERTIME.
THERE WAS NO DOCUMENTATION, THERE WAS NO TIME SHEETS TO DOCUMENT THAT OVER TIME, BUT WE PAID FOR THOSE SERVICES.
AND, AND THE QUESTION IS, I'M SORRY, I, I'M IS, SO MY QUESTION, MY QUESTION IS, ARE THOSE LEGITIMATE, AND I USE THAT TERM FROM A LABOR'S PERSPECTIVE, UH, PAYMENTS TO THE VENDOR? UH, WELL BRIAN, IF YOU COULD TURN YOUR MIC ON FOR ME.
HOW, HOW WERE THOSE, THOSE, HOW ARE THOSE PAYMENTS VIEWED? ABSENT ANY DOCUMENTATION, ABSENT ANY POLICY SAYING THAT THIS IS, THIS CAN CANNOT BE DONE? WELL, I THINK, NOT FROM STRICTLY A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE, BUT IF I WAS AN ACCOUNTANT AND AN AUDITOR, I WOULD PROBABLY HAVE SOME ISSUES WITH, WITH SUCH THINGS, WITH SUCH PAYMENTS.
UM, UM, BUT FROM A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE, OR IF YOU'RE ASKING ARE THEY LEGITIMATE PAYMENTS? YES, THEY'RE LEGITIMATE PAYMENTS.
THERE'S NOTHING THAT REQUIRES US TO, AS A MATTER OF LAW, AS TO DOCUMENT EACH AND EVERY PAYMENT FOR SERVICES RENDERED.
EVEN IF THOSE SERVICES HAVEN'T BEEN CLEARLY DEFINED ON PAPER, THERE'S NOTHING IN LAW THAT REQUIRES IT.
IT'S PROBABLY NOT IN GOOD PRACTICE TO DO SUCH.
SO WHAT, WHAT THE CITY HAVE ANY AVENUES FOR SEEKING RELIEF OR REIMBURSEMENTS.
AND I DON'T MEAN TO PUT YOU ON A SPOT.
IT'S, I WOULD SAY SHORT OF, I WOULD HAVE TO LOOK SHORT OF A CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATION.
I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT RELIEF WOULD BE OR THAT REIMBURSEMENT WOULD BE, BUT DARRELL, IS THERE A CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATION THERE? IS THERE SOMETHING IN CONTRACT OR A TERM IN CONTRACT THAT I THINK WE STARTED LOOKING AT SOME THESE ITEMS? UM, I THINK WITHOUT QUESTION, WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE LABOR RATES THAT WERE INVOICING INCORRECTLY, MIKE, WE GOT A LABOR THERE.
SO WHEN YOU START LOOKING THROUGH, LET'S SAY LET'S LOOK AT PAGE SIX, VENDOR A, IF YOU WOULDN'T MIND.
SO IF WE LOOK AT THE FIRST BULLET WHERE WE'VE GOT LABOR HOURS THAT WERE INVOICED INCORRECTLY, AND THEN THE SECOND BULLET WHERE WE'VE GOT LABOR HOURS THAT, UH, DID NOT RECONCILE WITH THE TIME SHEETS.
YOU'VE GOT A CONTRACT THAT SAYS YOUR RATE'S GONNA BE X AND THEY DIDN'T CHARGE AT X.
SO I THINK IT'S REASONABLE TO BE ABLE TO GO BACK AND SAY, YOU OVERCHARGED US BASED UPON THE CONTRACT THAT WAS IN PLACE, THE LABOR HOURS, YOU CAN GO BACK TO THE TIME SHEETS, SAY HERE'S YOUR TIME SHEETS.
UM, YOU DIDN'T CHARGE CORRECTLY FOR THE TIME THAT WAS INDICATED, SO YOU GOT THE DOCUMENTATION.
SO FOR THOSE TWO ITEMS, I THINK IS FAIRLY, FAIRLY CLEAN.
I THINK WHERE YOU START TO GET INTO AN ISSUE IS WITH REGARDS TO THE PER DIEM RATES, BECAUSE I DON'T BELIEVE IN THIS PARTICULAR AGREEMENT IT STATED IT WASN'T ALLOWED.
I THINK IT WAS JUST NOT, UH, THERE WAS NOT RATES THAT WERE ESTABLISHED.
AND SO YOU HAD RATES THAT WERE ESTABLISHED LATER IN 2020 AS FAR AS PER DIEM.
SO NOW WHAT YOU'RE GONNA GET INTO IS WERE THE PER DIEM RATES THAT WERE CHARGED REASONABLE FOR THE ACTIVITY THAT WAS BEING PERFORMED.
I THINK THAT'S WHERE YOU'RE GONNA KIND OF GET INTO THAT ISSUE.
AND THERE MAY BE SOME ITEMS IN HERE WHERE THEY'VE CHARGED PER DIEM.
THAT DOESN'T SEEM REASONABLE FROM AN INTEREST SERIES TYPE OF STANDPOINT TO ME, THAT'S WHERE YOU TRY TO GO BACK IN AND TRY TO GET THOSE DOLLARS.
BUT IF IT'S, IF IT'S REASONABLE FROM AN INDUSTRY STANDPOINT, I THINK YOU MAY HAVE A DIFFICULT TIME OF TRYING TO MAKE THAT ARGUMENT.
AND I THINK IT'S GOOD TO STEP BACK.
[01:15:01]
A IS BTU, BRIAN, TEXAS UTILITIES.SO WHEN THEY WENT OUT FOR BID FOR THESE TRENDS, UH, THESE VEGETATION MANAGEMENT SERVICES, BRIAN TEXAS UTILITY IS A SMALL UTILITY GEOGRAPHICALLY COMPARED TO GARLAND POWER LIGHT.
I MEAN, YOU SEE, WE HAVE 532 MILES OF TRANSMISSION LINES ACROSS THE STATE.
AND SO WHEN YOU'RE LOOKING AT THE ACTIVITIES THAT BRIAN, TEXAS UTILITIES ARE DOING PER DIEM DOESN'T REALLY LEND ITSELF BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE PEOPLE TRAVELING OUT SPENDING OVERNIGHT, UH, AT PLACES WHY THEY'RE DOING THIS TYPE OF WORK.
AND SO WE'D HAVE TO GO BACK AND LOOK AND SAY, OKAY, IS IT REASONABLE FOR THEM TO REQUEST FROM AN INDUSTRY TYPE OF STANDPOINT FOR PER DIEM COST? AND I THINK THAT'S WHERE YOU'D HAVE TO GO, GO LOOK TO SEE IF YOU COULD TRY TO MAKE THAT ARGUMENT.
UM, AND I THINK YOU'LL GET INTO IT WITH REGARDS TO SOME OF THE UM, UM, THESE INTERLOCAL AGREEMENTS.
THAT'S WHERE YOU REALLY NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT KIND OF TIES TO SIMILAR TYPE OF ACTIVITIES THAT ARE HAPPENING.
SO YOU DON'T GET IN THIS KIND OF SITUATION.
UH, IF WE LOOK AT, WELL, WE'VE ALREADY TALKED ABOUT WITH THE INCORRECT HOURLY RATES ON PER DIEM ON PAGE SEVEN, I THINK YOU CAN GO BACK TO THAT ONE.
YOU CAN POINT TO AND SAY, WELL, THE RATE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE X AND YOU CHARGED US Y WE'RE GONNA GO BACK TO X UH, EQUIPMENT HOURS NOT INVOICED.
UH, AGAIN, IF IT DOESN'T RECONCILE THE TIME SHEETS, I THINK YOU CAN GO BACK TO THAT AND TRY TO GET THAT WITH REGARDS TO THE OVERTIME.
I THINK THAT'S GONNA BE A TRICKY ONE, UH, BECAUSE I THINK IF WE START DIGGING DOWN TOO DEEP, WE MIGHT FIND THAT THOSE COULD HAVE FLIPPED.
IT COULD HAVE BEEN THEY WENT TO US FIRST AND THEN TO COMPANY A LATER IN THE WEEK AND MAYBE THEY CHARGE COMPANY A OVER TIME AND DIDN'T CHARGE US OVER TIME BECAUSE THIS PARTICULAR COMPANY IS NOT JUST FOR GP AND L I MEAN, WE DON'T HAVE THEM DEDICATED WHERE THEY'RE ONLY DOING WORK FOR US.
AND SO THEY'RE DOING WORK FOR OTHER FOLKS.
SO THAT ONE MAY BE DIFFICULT AS FAR AS TRYING TO GET SOMETHING, SOMETHING BACK ON AS FAR AS THE OVERTIME.
BUT, UM, THAT, THAT'S KIND OF THE WAY WHEN I LOOK AT THIS OF WHAT WE CAN, I FEEL COMFORTABLE OF US BEING ABLE TO GET VERSUS WE CAN ASK.
BUT IT, I THINK, AGAIN, I WOULD POINT TO LEGAL, BUT FROM A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE, I WOULD BE SURPRISED IF WE COULD GO AFTER SOME OF THESE, SOME OF THESE ITEMS IF THEY COULD FALL BACK UNDER A REASONABLE KIND OF EXPENSE.
AND, AND, AND I'M GONNA OUT CUZ I DON'T WANT TO GET AHEAD OF THE REPORT CUZ YOU PROBABLY ADDRESSED THIS IN YOUR RECOMMENDATION, UH, UH, UH, DARRELL.
BUT, BUT MY, MY MY OVERRIDING CONCERN HERE IS ALL THE THINGS THAT YOU MENTIONED, UM, UH, DARRELL, AND WE'VE GOT THIS ONE PERSON COORDINATOR, I THINK HE'S TERM OUT THERE AND HE'S NOT IN THE ACCOUNT, HE'S NOT A BOOKKEEPER, HE JUST KIND OF KEEPS THINGS GOING RIGHT? KEEPS THINGS GOING.
AND I DON'T KNOW WHETHER IT'S IN THE RECOMMENDATIONS OUT THERE, BUT I'M CONCERNED ABOUT, UH, TRACKING.
I'M CONCERNED ABOUT DOCUMENTATION.
YOU KNOW, I DON'T, I THINK WE SHOULD PAY FOR WHAT, WHAT WE GET, BUT THERE DOESN'T APPEAR TO BE, PARTICULARLY WHEN SOMEBODY SAYS, PAY ME, BUT I DON'T HAVE ANY TIME SHEETS OR WHEN SOMEBODY SAYS, WELL, I'M GONNA COME IN ON A FRIDAY AND I'M GONNA CHARGE YOU OVER TIME OR TIME AND A HALF, BUT I DON'T HAVE ANY EVIDENCE OF THIS.
AND SO I, I HOPE SOME IN THE RECOMMENDATION PARTS OF THIS THAT WE CAN DO SOMETHING, PUT SOME CONTROLS IN PLACE TO PREVENT THIS KIND OF THING.
BECAUSE ON, ON THE SURFACE, I'M BE TOTALLY HONEST WITH YOU, IT LOOKS LIKE SOMEBODY'S PLAYING THE SYSTEM.
SO I'LL, I'LL I'LL CLOSE WITH WITH THOSE COMMENTS.
BUT WHEN THERE'S, WHEN THERE'S NOT DOCUMENTATION YOU SAYING, OKAY, I'M GONNA WORK FOR YOU TODAY, THESE ARE MY TIME SHEET.
BUT WHAT I'M SEEING HERE, AND YOU'RE EXACTLY RIGHT, DARRELL, UH, BUT WHEN YOU SAY THAT THERE ARE NO TIME SHEETS, PARTICULARLY WHEN YOU GET INTO OVERTIME CAUSE AND, AND WE CAN'T RELY ON, ON YOUR COORDINATOR TO POLICE ALL OF THIS STUFF OUT OUT THERE.
BUT THAT'S NOT IN THE WHOLE SCHEME OF THING.
I KNOW THE DOLLAR FIGURES, IT'S NOT, YOU KNOW, IT'S, IT'S, IT'S NOT A LOT, BUT I'M REALLY, I'M, I'M CONCERNED ABOUT THE PRACTICES THAT WOULD ALLOW A CONTRACTOR UNDERSTANDING WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT BOB BRYAN.
BUT IF THEY WERE 10 TIMES ASIDE, I'D HAVE THE SAME CONCERNS BECAUSE WE FLIPPED THIS THERE AND GARLAND WERE DOING SOME WORK FOR THEM, AND WE CAME BACK WITH THIS SCENARIO, WHAT WOULD BE OUR POSITION? YOU KNOW, AND I'M JUST KIND OF, YOU KNOW, THESE ARE TAX PAYER DOLLARS HERE, SO,
[01:20:01]
SO THAT, BUT I APPRECIATE YOUR EXPLANATION.SO I'LL WAIT FOR THE REST OF THIS REPORT, BUT I, I HAVE SOME CONCERNS AND HOPEFULLY WE CAN PUT SOME THINGS IN PLACE AND I KNOW YOU WILL SOME THINGS IN PLACE TO, TO MITIGATE THIS IF JUST A LITTLE YOU WANT TO COMMENT NOW, DARRELL? OR JUST SCROLL DOWN JUST A LITTLE.
WE'LL GET TO THE, UM, ACTION PLAN, I GUESS.
IMPLEMENTATION DATE SEPTEMBER 19TH.
WE'VE ALREADY PUT SOME CHANGES IN PLACE TO ADDRESS THIS, SO, OKAY.
SO THAT WE DON'T HAVE THIS KIND OF ISSUE WHERE WE'RE NOT VALIDATING AGAINST THE CONTRACT AND THE TIME SHEETS, SO, OKAY.
MR. CHAIR, MAY I CLARIFY ONE THING? OF COURSE, SIR.
I KNOW, UH, DARRELL DIDN'T MEAN TO SAY VENDOR A IS BTU HUMAN.
I KNOW WE DON'T NECESSARILY USE, UH, THE NAMES NTTA A VENDOR A IS NELSON.
YEAH, THE INTERLOCAL WAS WITH BTU.
BT YEAH, BUT I JUST WANTED TO, SINCE IT'S RECORDING, YES.
I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT'S ACCURATE.
WE'LL GO ON TO THE NEXT ISSUE QUESTION.
ISSUE NUMBER TWO, UM, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I'VE ALSO LOOKED AT WAS THE WAY THE SERVICES WERE PROCURED ON THAT.
UM, AS WE SAID, THERE WERE INTER LOCAL AGREEMENTS.
UH, WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE BOARD ITSELF OR THE REPORT, YOU'LL SEE THAT YOU HAVE LABOR RATES AND EQUIPMENT RATES.
ONE OF THE THINGS THAT, UH, YOU BROUGHT UP ABOUT OVERTIME, VENDOR B, IF YOU LOOK AT THE LABOR RATES, THEY'RE STRAIGHT TIME AND THEIR OVERTIME IS EXACTLY THE SAME.
SO VENDOR B WAS THE ONE THAT WAS MISSING THE TIME SHEETS.
SO EVEN THOUGH I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GETTING AT AS FAR AS MISSING AND OVERTIME, THERE'S NO OVERTIME, THERE'S NO DIFFERENCE.
SO IF THEY WOULD'VE BILLED THIS LIKE 200 HOURS OVERTIME, IT, IT'S NOT AN INCREASE FROM THE STRAIGHT TIME.
SO I JUST WANTED YOU TO KNOW THAT ON THAT THERE.
UM, SO IF YOU LOOK AT THE RATES ON THAT, SO LABOR, YOU GOT TWO DIFFERENT VENDORS, TWO DIFFERENT AREAS.
UM, THE EQUIPMENT, YOU HAVE TWO DIFFERENT AREAS SOUTH AND THE NORTHERN AREA, AND YOU'VE GOT DIFFERENT TYPES OF MACHINERY.
SO I WANTED TO SHOW YOU THAT YOU DO HAVE DIFFERENCES IN THE LABOR TIME AS FAR AS STRAIGHT TIME, OVER TIME, UH, EQUIPMENT USED UP THERE, EQUIPMENT USED DOWN HERE, DOWN SOUTH.
UH, BOTH OF THESE AGREEMENTS ARE GONNA EXPIRE.
UH, ONE OF 'EM IS GONNA EXPIRE, UH, JANUARY, 2023.
THE NEXT ONE WILL EXPIRE IN 2020, UH, SEPTEMBER, 2023.
SO I KNOW WE HAVE TWO DIFFERENT TERRAINS, TWO DIFFERENT AREAS, AND WE'RE USING THEM ACROSS OUR 500 MILES, UH, ACROSS, YOU KNOW, FOR OUR LINES.
BUT WE JUST WANTED TO SHOW YOU THAT, THAT FOR US, FOR ME, LOOKING AT THIS THING, IS THAT I THINK WE SHOULD EXPLORE AS FAR AS GETTING OUR OWN BID OUT THERE, POSSIBLY LOOKING TO SEE IF WE HAVE A COMPANY THAT CAN, UH, GIVE US A BETTER DEAL THAN WHAT WE HAVE HERE.
UM, SO, AND THEN WE, NOT ONLY THAT, ONE OF THE PRO ONE OF THE CAUSES HERE IS FOR ME IS THAT I'M LOOKING AT THIS THING AS FAR AS, WELL, WE COULD HAVE GAVE VENDOR B UH, MORE WORK, BUT AS DARRELL STATED, YOU GOT TWO DIFFERENT AREAS.
I DON'T KNOW IF THEY'RE GONNA BE ABLE TO COME DOWN, ARE THEY AVAILABLE, ET CETERA.
BUT THIS IS ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE NEED TO COME OUT HERE AND PROPOSE TO GET OUR OWN BID INSTEAD OF RELYING ON THIS INNER LOCAL AGREEMENT.
UH, AND IF WE DO HAVE IT IN, UH, AN OPEN BID OUT THERE AND WE DO HAVE ONE THAN ONE VENDOR, I THINK WE SHOULD DISTRIBUTE THE WORK AMONGST THE TWO OF THEM TO SAY, WHICH ONE IS MORE COST EFFECTIVE, OR WHAT CAN I SAVE MONEY INSTEAD OF JUST RELYING ON ONE? AND THAT'S ONE OF THE THINGS ON THERE.
THEY'RE AWARE THAT THE, THEY'RE ONE OF THE CONTRACTS IS GONNA EXPIRE IN JANUARY OF 2023.
SO THEY'RE LOOKING TO DO THAT, GO OUT THERE AND LOOK AT SOME SERVICES FOR, UH, FROM DIFFERENT VENDOR OR EITHER THE SAME VENDOR, DIFFERENT VENDORS.
WE'LL HAVE TO TAKE A LOOK AT THAT GOING FORWARD.
AND THAT'S WHAT I HAD FOR ISSUE NUMBER, UH, FOR FINDING NUMBER TWO THERE.
I DON'T KNOW IF YOU ALL HAVE ANY QUESTIONS REGARDING THAT, THE BREEDS AND ALL THAT I DO.
UM, JED, IS THERE A, AND I KNOW THIS IS REALLY, REALLY TOUGH AS AN AUDITOR.
UH, IS THERE A CONTROL THAT WE'RE ATTEMPTING TO ENFORCE ON THAT? IS THAT JUST A SUGGESTION FOR EFFICIENCY? AND WHERE DOES THE ROLE OF AUDITS SPILL OVER INTO STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF THE DEPARTMENT? AND I, AND I ALWAYS, I KNOW WE HAVE TO WALK THAT FINE LINE.
SO WHAT, WHAT'S YOUR OPINION ON THAT? WELL, I THINK, UH, US AND DELL WOULD, WE TALKED ABOUT IT AND, AND AS DELL I INDICATED EARLIER, UH, WHEN WE GO THROUGH THESE IN LOCAL AGREEMENTS, THE ISSUE IS HOW ARE WE COMPARING OUR ENTITY COMPARES TO THAT ENTITY? OKAY? IF, IF WE DON'T DO THAT KIND OF COMPARISON, IT'S NOT JUST EFFICIENCY.
[01:25:01]
COST SAVINGS, POTENTIAL COST SAVINGS.AND SO, UH, FROM AN INTERNAL CONTROL PERSPECTIVE, BEST BUSINESS PRACTICES AND, YOU KNOW, BETTER SERVICE TO A TAXPAYERS AND ALSO TAXPAYER SAVINGS, TAXPAYERS MONEY OR RATE PAYERS MONEY, IT'S A GOOD PRACTICE TO DO THE INTER LOCAL AGREEMENTS.
I KNOW, I MEAN, NOT THE INTER LOCAL AGREEMENTS WILL COST FOR PROPOSALS, RIGHT? AT LEAST WE CAN SEE WHAT'S OUT THERE.
TO BE HONEST WITH YOU, BRIAN UTILITIES, I BELIEVE, CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, THEY ALREADY WENT OUT WITH A BID, UH, TO REDO ALL, WHAT WAS IT? THE LOWER COLORADO AUTHORITY? IT'S LC.
L C HAS ONE OF THE INTER LOCAL AGREEMENTS WE HAD WITH LC.
THEY ALREADY WENT OUT FOR A BID, RIGHT? AND SO THEY'RE DOING IT.
UM, WE, YOU KNOW, COMPARED TO BTU, WE ARE MUCH BIGGER.
UH, AND WE HAVE LINES EVERYWHERE.
WE HAVE LINES IN EAST TEXAS, NORTH TEXAS, UH, WEST TEXAS.
SO, UM, YEAH, FROM AN AUDITOR'S PERSPECTIVE, UH, AT THE END OF THE DAY, IT'S A MANAGEMENT DECISION.
BUT AT LEAST WE CAN CAN CHECK AND SEE.
AND I, AND I THINK GP MANAGEMENT IS VERY OPEN FOR THAT.
I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE WE WEREN'T SPILLING OVER INTO THEIR TERRITORY FROM A STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE VERSUS WHAT ARE WE AUDITING? YEAH.
UM, IF YOU JUST STEPPED OUT, DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING? OKAY, IS THAT WRAP Y'ALLS UP? UM, I GOT ONE MORE.
SO BASICALLY ON THIS ONE HERE WAS FOR INSPECTION AND DOCUMENTATION.
UH, THE, THE LINES DO HAVE TO GET INSPECTED.
UM, OUR THING IS THAT WE DID NOTICE THAT THERE IS, UH, AERIAL VIDEO.
THEY'RE GOING OUT THERE DOING A HELICOPTER THING, MAKING SURE THAT THE LINES ARE CLEAR AND FREE OF ALL DEBRIS OUT THERE.
AND, YOU KNOW, VEGETATION, ONE OF THE THINGS IS THAT WE NOTICE WITH THE COORDINATOR IS THAT HE, HE DOES A GREAT JOB AND IT'S LIKE, OH YEAH, I WENT BACK AND, YOU KNOW, I WENT HERE AND IF THEY'RE DOING A TERRIBLE JOB, I, I, YOU KNOW, I TELL 'EM TO GO BACK AND RECUT IT AGAIN.
WE JUST DON'T HAVE ANY PAPER TRAIL.
SO FOR US IT'S LIKE, YOU KNOW, DOCUMENT DOCUMENTATION, AND I KNOW IT'S KIND OF LIKE, OKAY, THE AUDITORS, THAT TYPE OF THING.
BUT I THINK FOR PROTECTION, UM, ANYBODY WANTS TO QUESTION ANYBODY, WE HAVE A DOCUMENTATION OF X DATE, YOU KNOW, WHEN HERE, THIS CREW, THIS LOCATION FROM THIS LOCATION, THIS TIME PERIOD TO THIS TIME PERIOD, X NUMBER OF MILES, JUST GIMME SOMETHING THAT WE WOULD HAVE SOMETHING JUST TO HAVE ON FILE THAT WE WOULD SAY WE DID SOMETHING.
YOU KNOW, JUST SAYING, OH, I GOT A VIDEO AND YEAH, I WENT AND TOLD THE GUYS, IT, IT JUST, YOU KNOW, WE NEED TO HAVE SOME MORE SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION TO THAT, WRITE IT DOWN.
SO THAT WAS ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE SUGGESTED IS THAT WE, YOU KNOW, THEY AMEND THE POLICY ON THE DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS AND OBVIOUSLY PERFORMED THOSE AND ESTABLISHED THE, THE REQUIREMENTS TO PUT SOMETHING IN WRITING.
UM, GP L SAID THAT THEY'LL DO THAT AND IT'S GONNA BE IMPLEMENTED TOMORROW, OCTOBER 1ST.
SO, BUT THEY DO A WONDERFUL JOB.
THEY DO KEEP THE LINES FREE AND CLEAR, AND IT'S JUST, THESE ARE JUST A MINOR ITEMS THAT, THAT WE FOUND.
AND LIKE I SAID, I DON'T THINK IT'S GONNA BE AN ISSUE IMPLEMENTING ALL THE STUFF THAT THEY, THEY, WE RECOMMEND IT.
ANYTHING TO WRAP UP? YES, I DO.
UH, HAVING JUST LISTENED TO THE DISCUSSION ON ALL THE ISSUES THAT WE'VE JUST GONE THROUGH, UH, IT DOES BECOME OBVIOUS THAT THERE, UH, THIS IS SUCH A COMPLEX, VERY LARGE, SO MANY MOVING PARTS, SO MANY DIFFERENT THINGS THAT ARE TAKING PLACE THAT IT'S, IT'S JUST, IT WOULD BE AINE FOR ME TO THINK THAT WE'RE NOT GONNA LOSE SOME MONEY SOMEWHERE.
THEY'RE NOT GONNA BE SOME ISSUES SOMEPLACE.
UM, WHAT I'M HOPING THOUGH, UM, AND I'M HOPING THAT JUST BASED ON WHAT WE WERE GETTING THOUGH, THROUGH THE AUDIT, YOU, YOU'RE SAYING TO US THAT, UH, THESE, THESE ERRORS ARE ALREADY, UH, BEING CORRECTED.
THEY'RE ALREADY PUTTING THINGS INTO PLACE THAT ARE GOING TO, UH, CORRECT THESE TYPES OF ISSUES FROM HAPPENING IN THE FUTURE.
AND IT ALSO, UH, SOUNDS LIKE, UH, I TRUST, I TRUST I TRUST STAFF, UH, I TRUST BRIAN, I TRUST JED.
AND, UH, YOU GUYS KNOW WHEN WE NEED TO GO AFTER BUDDY, YOU KNOW, WHEN WE NEED TO, UH, STATE OF COURSE AND JUST DO WHAT WE NEED TO DO AT THIS POINT IN ORDER TO ASSURE IT DOESN'T HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE.
AND SO, AGAIN, JUST COMING ON TO THE COMMITTEE, UH, I THINK THAT, UH, BASED ON WHAT I'VE HEARD, WE'RE WE'RE DOING THE VERY BEST THAT WE CAN.
I, I, I LOVE THIS AUDITING PROCESS, UH, WHAT I'VE HEARD THAT'S TAKEN PLACE WITH THE FINANCES.
UM, I'M VERY CONCERNED, BUT, UH, I'M ALSO EQUALLY, UH, CONTENT THAT, UH, WE'RE DOING THOSE THINGS THAT ARE GONNA BE NECESSARY TO CORRECT IT.
AND THESE TYPES OF THINGS WILL NOT HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE.
CHAIRMAN, MAY I ADD ONE THING TO IT? OF COURSE.
COUNCILMAN, ONE THING THAT WE DO AS PART OF THE AUDIT PROCESS, WE ACTUALLY DO FOLLOW ABOUT IT.
[01:30:01]
NEXT MONTH OR SIX MONTHS.SOMETIMES IT COULD BE HERE OR MORE, BUT WE USUALLY DO FOLLOW ON IT.
SO YOU WILL HEAR FROM, HEAR BACK FROM US, UH, WHAT STATUS AT THAT POINT.
UM, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, GENTLEMAN.
UH, JED, WHAT DO YOU THINK THE PRESENTATION TIME IN IS IS ON ITEM NUMBER FIVE? UH, IT SHOULD GO PRETTY FAST.
UH, I WOULD SAY MAYBE HEARING THAT PRETTY FAST ON ITEM NUMBER FIVE.
ALL RIGHT, LET'S GO AHEAD AND KNOCK OUT ITEM NUMBER FIVE, CASH COUNT AUDIT.
YOU GOOD? ALEX CAN GO REALLY FAST ON THAT ONE.
THIS IS A ROUTINE AUDIT THAT WE DO.
UH, WE USED TO DO ACTUALLY PRIOR TO COVID AND THE PAST FEW YEARS, UM, DUE TO THE FACT THAT WE HAD SOME SAFETY CONCERNS AND EMPLOYEES WERE OUT, WE WERE DELAYED A LITTLE BIT.
NOW WE'RE GETTING BACK INTO THE ROUTINE.
WE OBVIOUSLY WENT BACK TO ONE THIRD OF THE CHANGE FUND AND PETTY CASH LOCATIONS, UH, APPROXIMATELY 16 DEPARTMENTS.
WE WERE LOOKING FOR INTERNAL CONTROLS, UH, AND WEAKNESSES.
SO I'M GONNA TURN THIS OVER TO ALEX.
HE'S GONNA QUICKLY GO THROUGH THIS.
I DO WANNA EMPHASIS ONE THING ONCE WE ISSUED THIS REPORT TO MANAGEMENT, MITCH HAS ALREADY, I KNOW HE'S NOT HERE TODAY, HE HAS ALREADY MET WITH ALL OF THESE DEPARTMENTS TWO, THREE TIMES AND, UH, ASKING FOR ACTION PLANS AND IMPLEMENTATION DATE AND ALL OF THAT STUFF.
SO I JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW A LOT OF THINGS.
HE'S ALREADY ON TOP OF ALL OF THIS.
YEAH, LIKE, LIKE DID MENTIONED, WE DID A, UH, A CASH COUNT OF 16 DEPARTMENTS.
AND THESE ARE THE ISSUES THAT WE FOUND.
UM, SO FOR DEPARTMENTS A AND B, WE FOUND THAT THEY WERE NOT SECURING THE PREVIOUS DAYS DEPOSITS.
UM, WHENEVER THEY WERE GETTING THEM READY TO BE PICKED UP BY THE ARMOR CARD SERVICE.
AND FOR THESE DEPARTMENTS, THEY HAD A, UH, AVERAGE DEPOSIT AMOUNTS OF ABOUT $3,324 AND $1,145.
ONE OF THESE DEPARTMENTS WAS GOING THROUGH CONSTRUCTION AT THAT TIME.
SO THAT KIND OF THREW SOME WRENCH IN THEIR NORMAL, LIKE A DEPOSIT PROCESS.
SO THAT COULD HAVE PLAYED A ROLE IN THAT ONE.
AND FOR THESE SAME DEPOSITS WE SAW, OR FOR THE SAME DEPARTMENTS, WE SAW THAT THEY HAD OVERAGES OF 30 CENTS AND $17 AND 18 CENTS RESPECTIVELY.
AND FOR DEPARTMENT B, WE SAW THAT THE, THEIR EMPLOYEES WERE NOT LOCK LOCKING THE POS SYSTEMS AND WERE REMOVING, UM, CASH DRAWER KEYS.
AND DEPARTMENT C AND J DID NOT DEACTIVATE THE ACCESS TO THE SYSTEMS WHENEVER EMPLOYEES NO LONGER NEEDED THE ACCESS.
AND DEPARTMENT C HAD A ACTIVE TEST ACCOUNT THAT HAD ADMINISTRATIVE RIGHTS STILL, AND DEPARTMENT C AND I WERE NOT PERFORMING DAILY CASH RECONCILIATIONS.
UH, DE AND DEPARTMENT B SUPERVISORS WERE NOT LOOKING AT VOIDED RECEIPTS.
AND DEPARTMENT B'S EMPLOYEES WERE SHARING TILLS, DEPARTMENT D WAS USING A POS OR WASN'T USING A POS SYSTEM OR A PRE-NUMBERED RECEIPT BOOK.
AND WHEN WE LOOKED AT THEIR RECEIPT NUMBERING, THERE WERE GAPS IN THOSE NUMBERS.
AND FOR THE EMPLOYEES WHO WERE HANDLING CASH AT THE VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS, WE SAW THAT THEY WERE NOT LOOKING AT, UH, THE DIRECT, LIKE THE CASH HANDLING DIRECTIVES ON A RECURRING BASIS.
AND THE CASH CUSTODIAN FORMS WEREN'T BEING, UM, SIGNED ON A RECURRING BASIS.
ALSO, THE ONE, SOME OF THE DEPARTMENTS HAD THE LATEST ONES OF THESE FOREIGNS SIGNED IN 2016.
AND, AND DEPARTMENT LS, UH, WEREN'T FILLING OUT THE CASH CUSTODIAN ROSTER OR THE DOLLAR AMOUNT FOR THOSE.
AND DEPARTMENT E WAS NOT USING AN ADEQUATE CHECK BANK OR CHECK ENDORSEMENT STAMP FOR THE PETTY CASH.
F HAD A SHORTAGE OF $83 AND 4 CENTS.
AND FOR THAT THERE WASN'T ANY SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION OR RECEIPTS.
AND WHENEVER WE ACTUALLY BROUGHT THAT UP TO THEM, THEY FILLED OUT A LOST RECEIPT FORM THE NEXT DAY AND SENT US TO THAT AND, UM, RETURNED $46 AND 3 CENTS TO THE FUND.
AND THE RECEIPT FOR THAT WAS FILLED OUT LIKE ABOUT THREE WEEKS BEFORE THE AUDIT COMMUNITY OR BEFORE WE DID OUR, UM, AUDIT FOR THAT DEPARTMENT.
SO IT, IT JUST WASN'T SOMETHING THAT KIND OF GOT FILLED OUT, SO WE JUST KIND OF BROUGHT TO THEIR ATTENTION.
AND DEPARTMENT D HAD A PETTY CASH, UH, REP REPLACEMENT CHECK THAT WASN'T DEPOSITED FOR OVER THREE WEEKS.
AND DEPARTMENTS H AND G AREN'T OBTAINING MANAGEMENT APPROVAL FOR EXPENDITURES THAT ARE REIMBURSED.
AND DEPARTMENT G WASN'T OBTAINING DETAILED RECEIPTS FOR REIMBURSEMENTS.
DEPARTMENT F WASN'T GETTING, UH, MANAGER, DIRECTOR, OR APPOINTEE APPROVAL FOR EXPENSE
[01:35:01]
REPORTS DEPARTMENT'S F G AND K WEREN'T PERFORMING QUARTERLY RECONCILIATIONS AND DEPARTMENT K WAS DIDN'T PERFORM ONE SINCE JULY, 2021.DEPARTMENT K WASN'T USING PRE NUMBERED SEQUENTIAL RECEIPTS, AND DEPARTMENT F WAS USING AN INCORRECT MILEAGE REIMBURSEMENT RATE.
SO THE CAUSE OF THESE IS, UH, DUE TO LACK OF TRAINING, UM, EMPLOYEES BEING UNFAMILIAR WITH CASH DIRECTIVES AND MANAGEMENT, HAVING INADEQUATE OVERSIGHT OR INTERNAL CONTROLS.
AND OUR RECOMMENDATIONS ARE FOR ANY CASH HANDLING EMPLOYEE TO GO THROUGH A, UM, CASH HANDLING TRAINING AND MAKE SURE THAT CASH IS SECURED AT ALL TIMES, AND THAT THERE'S A RECURRING REVIEW OF CHANGE FUND AMOUNTS AND DISCREPANCIES ARE, ARE FOLLOWED UP ON MAKE SURE THAT EMPLOYEES ARE LOCKING THE POS SYSTEMS AND REMOVING THE CASH DRAWER KEYS.
UH, AND SYSTEM ACCESS IS BEING REVIEWED AND IN TIME CHANGES ARE MADE, OR JUST LIKE IT, IT'S BEING UPDATED ON A TIMELY BASIS, MAKE SURE DAILY RECONCILIATIONS ARE OCCURRING AND VOIDS ARE BEING REVIEWED.
AND ALSO, UH, TO ESTABLISH A PROCESS WHERE TILLS AREN'T BEING SHARED AND THAT THE, UM, WHENEVER A POINT OF SALE SYSTEM ISN'T UNUSED, TO MAKE SURE WE'RE USED PRE-NUMBERED RECEIPT BOOKS AND ALL CASH HANDLING EMPLOYEES TO FILL OUT A CASH CUSTODIAN AGREEMENT EVERY TWO YEARS.
UM, AND FOR DEPARTMENT L TO UPDATE THE CASH CUSTODIAN AND THEIR AMOUNT LISTING AND FOR ALL CHECKS TO, OR FOR ALL CHECKS TO BE ADEQUATE FOR THE PETTY CASH.
UM, SO PERFORM A RECURRING REVIEW THE PETTY CASH AMOUNTS AND FOLLOW UP ON ANY DISCREPANCIES.
MAKE SURE THAT THE REPLEN, WHICH ACTUALLY GETTING DEPOSITED ON A TIMELY MANNER AND FOR THE EXPENDITURES, MAKE SURE THEY'RE BEING APPROVED OR APPROVED BY THE MANAGEMENT FOR BEING REIMBURSED AND OBTAIN, UH, ITEMIZED RECEIPTS.
UM, AND MAKE SURE EXPENSE REPORTS ARE BEING APPROVED BY THE MANAGING DIRECTORS OR EMPLOYEES.
UH, AND PERFORM CASH COUNT OR PETTY CASH COUNT ARE RECONCILIATIONS QUARTERLY.
AND USE THE PRE-NUMBERED RECEIPTS AND MAKE SURE THAT ACCURATE MILEAGE IS BEING USED FOR MILEAGE REIMBURSEMENTS.
AND SO MANAGEMENT FOR THE MOST PART, CONCURRED WITH ALL THOSE, AND THEY WERE WORKING TOWARDS IMPLEMENTING SOME OF ALL THE ITEMS. THEN THE DETAILS OF THOSE GONNA BE, BE SEEN BELOW.
WHAT WAS THE PARTIAL CONCURRENCE ON NUMBER 20 RELATED TO, YEAH.
UH, THEY, THEY ARE IN CONCURRENCE.
UM, BUT THEY DIDN'T WANT TAKE THE FULL RESPONSIBILITY, THE MILEAGE RATE FORMS. UH, UH, THEY PARTIALLY, THEY'RE USED THE WRONG FORM.
UH, AND ON THE OTHER HAND, UH, OUR FINANCE DEPARTMENT HAD A DELAY IN UPDATING, UH, THE RATES ON THE MILEAGE SHEET.
SO THEY SAID, WELL, IT'S BECAUSE THE RATES WERE NOT APPROVED, UPDATED ON THE MILEAGE SHEET.
THAT'S WHY, UH, THAT'S WHY THEY ONLY WANTED TO, EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO CHECK.
SO THEY BLAME FINANCE A LITTLE BIT.
YEAH, THAT'S WHAT WE ALL, WE ALL DO THAT.
SO CAN I KIND SUMMARIZE THIS AS THOUGH, UM, WE DEFINITELY HAVE A LOT OF TRAINING NEEDS, UM, AND WE HAVE SOME THINGS WE WEREN'T DOING CORRECTLY, BUT THERE WAS NOTHING IN HERE THAT GAVE ANYBODY ANY CONCERN WHERE THEY COULDN'T SLEEP ON IT.
THERE NO, NO THEFT OR ANYTHING MAJOR SHORTAGES UNTIL WE JUST, WE JUST HAVE SOME SERIOUS TRAINING NEEDS THAT HAVE TO BE ADDRESSED.
AND THERE WERE A FEW WEAKNESSES, WHICH COULD HAVE CAUSED SOME SLEEPLESS NIGHTS, UH, BECAUSE CERTAIN BAGS WERE SITTING OUTSIDE WITH OUR, WITH A LOT OF MONEY, BUT IT DIDN'T GO.
UM, AND, AND, AND THERE, THERE WERE REASONS FOR IT, BUT AS SOON AS WE BROUGHT UP THAT THEY IMMEDIATELY CONTACTED FINANCE WHEN THEY NEED HELP, THEY WILL CONTACT FINANCE AND RECEIVE THE SAVE FROM THEM.
AND I, I BET THEY DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO WAIT.
FINANCES ALWAYS MAD JUMP IN AND SAID, WE HAVE AN EXTRA SAVE.
SO THEY'LL BLAME THEM AT THE SAME TIME.
ANY ADDITIONAL ON THE PRESENTATION? ARE WE AT A GOOD STOPPING POINT THERE? OH YEAH.
WE'RE, THAT'S AT THE END THERE.
COUNCIL MEMBERS, ANYTHING? YES, GO AHEAD, MR. MOORE.
AND IT HAS, UH, EVERYTHING TO DO WITH WHAT YOU SAID EARLIER.
I'D LIKE TO ASK, UH, THAT WE HAVE A FOLLOW UP REPORT ON THESE LAST TWO REPORTS, UH, THREE MONTHS, UH, I'M GONNA SAY
[01:40:01]
THREE MONTHS, BUT MAYBE, YOU KNOW, IT MAY, IT MAY TAKE MORE TIME THAN IT, YOU LET ME KNOW WHAT IS THAT APPROPRIATE.UM, SO I'M GONNA GO THROUGH THE AUDIT PLAN, OKAY.
UH, ACTUALLY THIS CASH COUNT AUDIT, WE DO IT ON A ANNUAL BASIS, SO WE MAY NOT GO TO THE SAME DEPARTMENTS, WE WILL GO TO OTHER DEPARTMENTS AND IT'S, IT'S KIND OF FOR ROTATIONAL, BUT SOME OF THE ONES WHERE WE HAD LITTLE CONSENTS, WE CAN INCORPORATE THAT INTO THAT, IF YOU DON'T MIND, WITH GP L I'M ASSUMING THAT'S THE LAST ONE.
THAT'S, THAT'S REALLY THE ONE THAT I WANT TO HAVE THE REPORT ON.
IF YOU CAN GIVE US MAYBE SIX MONTHS, BECAUSE I WANT TO GIVE HIM A LITTLE BIT OF TIME, UM, TIMEFRAME.
THAT WAY WE CAN ACTUALLY EVALUATE.
THIS LAST ONE, THE, UH, THE CASH REPORT.
UH, I AGREE WITH THE, UH, COUNCIL THAT, UH, NOTHING BLARING THERE.
I MEAN, YOU TALK ABOUT A FEW DOLLARS HERE AND THERE AND IT'S TRAINING PROBABLY IS, BUT THE GP AND L I REALLY WOULD LIKE TO SEE SOMETHING, A FOLLOW UP ON THAT.
IS THAT, IS THAT GOOD ENOUGH TIME? ASSUMING YOU'RE GONNA TAKE FROM OCTOBER? YEAH.
AND JOE, NEVER UNDERESTIMATE BOARD POLITICIANS.
UH, DO WE HAVE ANY MORE QUESTIONS ON THE CASH COUNT AUDIT? ALL RIGHT, MOVING ON TO ITEM NUMBER SIX, UH, WHICH IS THE FY 2023 AUDIT PLAN CHAIRMAN.
UH, SO, UM, THIS AUDIT PLAN WAS PREPARED FOR OCTOBER, 2022 TO SEPTEMBER, 2030.
AND I HAVE A LOT OF AUDITS IN HERE.
HOPEFULLY, UH, OUR GOAL IS TO, UM, YOU KNOW, TRY TO DO ALL OF THIS AUDIT.
UM, BUT WITH THE LIMITED RESOURCES IN TERMS, WE, WE END UP FINDING ISSUES AND, UM, AND WE MAY HAVE TO EXPAND THE SCOPE OF THE AUDITS, SO PLEASE DO CONTROL THAT.
UM, USUALLY, UH, THE BASIS FOR THIS AUDIT PLANS, WE PERIODICALLY PERFORM A CITYWIDE RISK ASSESSMENT.
WHEN I SAY WE INTERNAL AUDITED, WE USUALLY SEND OUT SURVEYS AND MANAGEMENT, UH, COMES BACK WITH, UH, RISK THAT THEY HAVE IDENTIFIED WITH IN EACH DEPARTMENT.
UH, LAST TIME WE DID A, UH, TWO YEARS AGO, APPROXIMATELY 736 OR PLUS, UH, RISKS WERE IDENTIFIED BY MANAGEMENT ALONE.
UM, SO THAT'S TELLING US, UH, HOW MUCH MANAGEMENT CARE FOR ADDRESSING RISK, UH, AND OTHER REQUESTS THAT COME FROM CITY COUNCIL, CITY MANAGEMENT, OUR OWN AUDIT OBSERVATIONS, UM, MY STAFF'S OBSERVATION, OTHER THINGS THAT'S HAPPENING AROUND.
SO I'LL TAKE A LOOK AT A LOT OF THIS AND KIND OF SEE WHAT WE CAN DO FOR THE NEXT YEAR.
AND THAT'S HOW THIS AUDIT PLAN IS, UM, IN FRONT OF YOU RIGHT NOW.
I'M GONNA GO OVER SOME OF THESE QUICKLY.
A LOT OF TIMES, UM, WE ARE A BIG CITY.
UH, UH, WE WOULD LIKE TO GO TO NEW AREAS.
I KNOW SOMETIMES THAT TAKES A LOT OF EFFORT FROM ON OUR PART TO KIND OF EDUCATE OURSELVES BEFORE WE CAN START, UM, REALLY EVALUATE, UH, THESE AREAS.
BUT, UM, UH, SO YOU WILL SEE A FEW AREAS THAT WE'VE NEVER BEEN IN, UH, BEFORE, UH, THAT I WOULD LIKE TO TACKLE ON.
I ALSO WANT TO INFORM YOU THAT I DID WENT WHEN THE, WHEN WENT OVER, UH, THIS AUDIT PLAN WITH, UH, MR. BRADFORD, UH, MR. REX, AND ALSO MR. BATES.
AND SO, UH, WE HAVE GONE THROUGH ONE ROUND OF REVIEW OF THIS.
THE FIRST AUDIT IS THE ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT FEE ASSESSMENT AND COLLECTION.
I WOULD LIKE TO DO A SIMILAR AUDIT THAT WE DID IN THE PLANNING DEPARTMENT.
THESE OBJECTIVES ARE PRELIMINARY UNTIL WE GET INTO THE WEEDS AND START DOING OUR RISK ASSESSMENT.
SO THAT WILL BE, UH, YOU MIGHT SEE BY THE TIME YOU SEE THE REPORT, THESE OBJECTIVES MAY BE EDITED OR UPDATED.
THE NEXT ONE IS THE CONTRACT PROCUREMENT AND MANAGEMENT AUDIT.
UH, THIS IS TO ENSURE THAT WE LOOK AT CONTRACTS THAT FELL BELOW THE CITY COUNCIL SIGNATURE AUTHORITY.
UH, COUNCILMAN, UM, WILLIAMS REQUESTED THAT AUDITS.
THE NEXT ITEM IS THE COMPLIANCE PROGRAM CITY.
UM, SUPER COURT HAS A COMPLIANCE PROGRAM TO ASSIST PEOPLE WHO ARE UNABLE TO MAKE THEIR PAYMENTS.
UM, SO WE'VE NEVER LOOKED AT THAT.
IN FACT, TALKED TO KEVIN SLAY, HE'S LIKE, JED, I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT IT.
UH, HE ALSO INDICATED THAT HE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS PROGRAM WHERE WE OWN THIS.
SO AGAIN, WE'VE NEVER LOOKED AT THIS.
SO THAT'S A NEW AREA THAT WE WILL GO TAKE HOME VEHICLES.
COUNCILMAN WILLIAMS INITIALLY MADE THAT REQUEST.
I TALKED TO THE AUDIT COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN MR. SMITH, AND ENDED UP BEING IN THE AUDIT PLAN.
UH, WE WERE GONNA CHECK THE REASONABLENESS OF CURRENT TAKE HOME PRACTICES BORN PROGRAM.
UH, WE'VE DID AN AUDIT A YEAR AND A HALF AGO.
UM, WE JUST WANT TO GO BACK AND SEE WHERE WE ARE FROM A FOLLOW UP PERSPECTIVE.
I, I INDICATED EARLIER THAT WE DO FOLLOW UP.
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WILL LOOK AT, BUT THIS TIME WHEN WE GO AROUND, WE'LL BE LOOKING AT NEWER PROJECTS.UM, I WILL COME BACK TO THE CULTURAL ARTS COMMISSIONS GRANT ONE, UH, IN A MINUTE, UH, AFTER I GO THROUGH THE REST COMMERCIAL SERVICES REVENUE AUDIT.
IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE WE'VE BEEN THERE.
CITI HAS A LOT OF CONTRACT CUSTOMERS AT, UH, THE LANDFILL.
WE WANNA LOOK AT THOSE CONTRACTS AND SEE ARE THEY PAYING ACCURATELY? ARE WE BILLING ACCURATELY AND THE EFFICIENCY OF THE OPERATIONS.
PARKING ENFORCEMENT, UH, OR THE CHAIRMAN OF THIS AUDIT COMMITTEE REQUESTED THIS, UH, MAYBE A YEAR AGO.
AND THE ATTORNEYS ARE ON CITY MARSHALL'S OFFICE.
CITY ATTORNEY IS SUPPORTIVE OF DOING THIS AUDIT.
THIS IS ONE, WE'VE NEVER DONE AN AUDIT IN THIS AREA, SO THIS IS IF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT, WE WANTED TO CHECK THE INTERNAL CONTROLS OVER DRUGS AND FIREARM DESTRUCTION, VEHICLE REPLACEMENT AND AUCTION PROGRAM.
UH, COUNCILMAN WILLIAMS REQUESTED THIS, EVALUATE THE APPROPRIATENESS OF SERIES VEHICLE REPLACEMENT AND AUCTION PROGRAM.
TO BE HONEST WITH YOU, WE'VE NEVER LOOKED AT THIS, OR THIS WILL BE A NEW AREA AS WELL.
MR. BRADFORD REQUESTED THE NEXT AUDIT A FEW YEARS BACK, BENEFITS PROGRAM.
UH, I'M HOPING THAT WE CAN DO THIS AT LEAST BEFORE HE RETIRES.
SO THAT THAT IS WE'LL BRING, WE'LL BRING HIM BACK.
YEAH, HE DOESN'T GET TO LEAVE UNTIL IT'S COMPLETED.
HAVE THAT DONE BEFORE HE LEAVE.
I, I WAS ABLE TO SPEND SOME TIME WITH MYSELF.
YOU GOOD? OH, I'M AFRAID THAT'S OUT OF ORDER.
WE DID AN AUDIT IN THIS AREA, THE, THE BENEFITS AUDIT NUMBER OF YEARS AGO.
SO, UM, MR. CITY MANAGER WANTED TO TAKE PROACTIVE STEP AND ASKED ME, CAN YOU GO BACK AND DO IT? BUT THEN SINCE THEN, UM, WE DID CHANGE THE PROCESSES, PERSONAL CHANGE.
WE BROUGHT IN A NEW CONSULTING FIRM, SO I DON'T EXPECT TO SEE THE SIMILAR ISSUES THAT WE HAD BACK THEN.
SO EVEN SKIPPING THAT AT THIS POINT, I'M OKAY WITH IT, BUT IT'S, IT'S IN HERE.
IF YOU'RE ABLE TO DO IT, WE'LL DO IT.
UH, THIS IS AN AREA THAT WE'VE NEVER DONE IT.
UH, EVALUATE THE FUEL ORDER AND DELIVERY PROCESS TO VERIFY THE CITY HAS AN EFFECTIVE MONITORING IN PLACE.
AS YOU KNOW, THE FUEL PRICES HAVE BEEN GOING UP.
JUST WANTED TO SEE, UH, WHERE WE ARE ON THAT ONE.
I MAY HAVE TO POSTPONE THIS SINCE WE HAVE THE OTHER REQUEST RIGHT NOW, BUT I BELIEVE, UH, IT'S, IT'S IN THE PLAN.
UM, WE DO THIS ROUTINELY JUST TO MAKE SURE.
UH, WE ARE SPENDING, UH, PER CITY COMPLIANCE AND CITY DIRECTIVES.
AS I MENTIONED BEFORE, CASH COUNT AUDITS, UM, IS ANOTHER ONE THAT WE DO ROUTINELY.
UM, THERE IS AN AUDIT THAT'S CURRENTLY IN PROGRESS, WHICH IS THE ALARM PERMITTING PROGRAM.
AND, UH, WE ARE, I WOULD SAY 60% DONE WITH THAT, BUT WE NEED A LITTLE BIT MORE TIME TO FINISH IT SO WE WON'T BE ABLE TO FINISH IT UNTIL NEXT FISCAL YEAR.
DID AN OUR C IP REIMBURSEMENT AUDIT, BUT TWO YEARS AGO, IT'S TIME TO GO BACK AND DO A FOLLOW UP AUDIT ON THAT ONE.
SO I WILL ADD, UH, THE GP L ONE UNDER THIS AUDIT FOLLOW UP BEFORE IT COMES TO THE COUNCIL.
OTHER PROJECTS, AS YOU'VE HEARD, WE DO HELP THE EXTERNAL AUDITORS WITH A NUMBER OF TESTS.
UM, SO WE'RE WORKING ON THAT, UH, HOPEFULLY NEXT YEAR.
UH, I WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE FLEET FUEL INVENTORY.
IT'S A ONCE A YEAR, UNFORTUNATELY, THEY ARE, THEY'RE DOING THAT TODAY.
UH, SO HERE, AND, YOU KNOW, SO I'LL SEE IF WE CAN GET TO IT.
AND ALSO DEDICATED SOME TIME FOR INVESTIGATIONS, SPECIAL PROJECTS, ADVISEMENT, RISK ASSESSMENT AND, AND OTHER THINGS.
NOW, IF YOU MAY, I MAY GO BACK TO THE CULTURAL ARTS COMMISSION GRANT AUDIT.
AND COUNCILMAN YOU'VE REQUESTED THIS AUDIT.
COUNCILMAN MOORE REQUESTED THIS AUDIT SINCE YOU MADE THIS REQUEST.
UM, UH, THE ANDY AND AMY HAVE PROVIDED ME WITH SOME UPDATES.
I'M SURE THEY HAD SOME, UM, DISCUSSION WITH YOU AS WELL.
THEY HAVE INFORMED ME THAT, UM, THEY ARE IN THE PROCESS OF BRINGING THE CURRENT, UM, UH, VALUATION OF THIS GRANT, UH, BACK TO YOU, UH, BELIEVE IN TWO WEEKS.
UM, SO JUST WANTED TO, I KNOW THEY'RE HERE.
I WELCOMED THEM TO THIS, UH, MEETING.
ANDY OR AMY, WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARE AS SOME OF THE PLANTS THAT YOU HAVE IN PLACE? SURE.
ANDY HESSER WITH, UH, PARTS RECREATION CULTURAL ARTS, AND AMY ROSENTHAL, THE DIRECTOR OF CULTURAL ARTS.
UH, APPRECIATE THE INVITATION BY, UH, JUDGE TO BE HERE.
WE BASICALLY ARE JUST AVAILABLE FOR ANY QUESTIONS THAT MAY BE SPECIFIC TO THIS AUDIT PLAN.
UM, AND I BELIEVE IT'S THE SECOND MEETING OF, OF OCTOBER.
YOU'LL TYPICALLY SEE THE HOT FUNDS GRANT, UH, RESULTS AS IT IS INDEPENDENTLY SCORED BY THE, BY THE ARTS COMMISSION INCORPORATED THE NONPROFIT.
SO, UM, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE WANTED
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TO ALSO MAKE REMIND IS WE HAVE A, UH, THE OCTOBER 10TH, WE WILL BE BRINGING A PRESENTATION TO THE FULL COUNCIL TO JUST KIND OF GIVE A, AS REQUESTED BY, BY COUNCIL TO GIVE A, UH, AN UPDATE ON WHERE WE'RE GOING.WHAT DOES THE FUTURE OF GARLAND ARTS LOOK LIKE? UH, WE'LL HAVE THAT PRESENTATION READY.
SO THOSE TWO THINGS WE'RE HOPING WILL SHED SOME LIGHT ON SOME OF THE QUESTIONS THAT ARE OUT THERE.
UM, WE'RE AVAILABLE TODAY, MAYBE SOME ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS.
UH, AMY'S GOT SOME INFORMATION, UH, THAT MIGHT BE HELPFUL, UH, KIND OF REGARDING, UM, THE TYPICAL GRANT RECI, UH, GRANT APPLICATIONS WE RECEIVE IN THE PAST VERSUS WHAT WE'VE RECEIVED THIS YEAR.
SOME OF THE PROACTIVE STEPS THE STAFF HAS TAKEN, UH, TO ADDRESS SOME OF THE CONCERNS THAT WE'VE TALKED WITH COUNCIL ABOUT.
SO, THAT BEING SAID, WE CAN ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS THAT ARE, I'D LIKE TO, UH, JUST REMIND EVERYBODY THAT ANY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS THAT WE HAVE TODAY SHOULD BE CON UH, FOCUSED ON THE 2023 AUDIT PLAN, CUZ THAT IS WHAT WE'RE POSTED FOR, RIGHT? UH, HOWEVER, WE'LL HAVE A LOT OF TIME IN THE NEXT TWO COUNCIL MEETINGS TO REALLY DIG INTO SOME OF THIS.
SO, UH, WITH THAT SAID ALL YOURS, SIR, YOU'RE, YOU'RE CORRECT THAT WE HAVE, I'VE HAD CONVERSATIONS AT THIS POINT WITH, UH, QUITE A FEW PEOPLE AS IT RELATES TO, UH, THE SANDY AUDIT.
I STILL LIKE TO SEE THE AUDIT TAKE PLACE.
AND THE REASON FOR THAT IS THERE'S JUST SO MUCH INFORMATION THAT COMES FORWARD BASED ON WHAT WE'VE SEEN HERE TODAY.
I MEAN, ALL OF THE DIFFERENT, UH, UH, NUANCES OF WHAT WE FOUND THAT WAS RIGHT, WHAT WE FOUND THAT WE COULD IMPROVE UPON, AND SO ON AND SO FORTH.
I THINK THAT THE, AND WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THEY, THEY, THAT WAS AN AUDIT CONDUCTED? 2016.
SO I'M THINKING THAT WE ARE STILL QUITE APPROPRIATE TO, TO HAVE ONE.
UM, I'M, I'M, I'M A LITTLE CONCERNED AS IT RELATES ALSO TO HOW THE CORPORATION, AND MAYBE THAT'S NOT EVEN TO BE PART OF THIS CONVERSATION, BUT HOW THE CORPORATION OF, UM, THE, UH, THE CULTURAL ARTS COMMISSION IS CONDUCTED AS OPPOSED TO THE, THE COMMISSION ITSELF AND, UH, HOW WE ACTUALLY GO OUT AND WE, UH, BRING IN THE DIFFERENT ENTERTAINMENT, UH, THAN THE WAY OF ORCHESTRAS AND THE WAY OF PLAYS AND THE WAY OF, BECAUSE WE HAVE A VERY DIVERSE, A VERY DIVERSE, UH, COMMUNITY, OVER 200 AND SOME DIFFERENT LANGUAGES BEING SPOKEN.
AND TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, UH, SOME OF THE THINGS THAT I HAVE HEARD IS, UH, WE, WE, WE WOULD, DON'T GET ME WRONG EITHER.
I THINK THAT WE HAVE ONE OF THE BEST CULTURAL ARTS CENTERS, UH, UH, PLANS IN THE STATE IF, IF NOT THE UNITED STATES, UH, HAVING, UH, GONE TO SOME PLACE THERE IN NEW YORK AND, UH, THINGS OF THAT NATURE.
I, I THINK WE'RE SECOND TO NONE AT THE SAME TIME.
I THINK THAT MAYBE WE MAY BE A LITTLE COMPLACENT IN THE WAY OF WHAT WE ARE WE'RE SEEING ON A REGULAR BASIS YEAR AFTER YEAR AFTER YEAR.
AND I WOULD LIKE TO JUST KIND OF JUST ASSURE THAT WE ARE VERY OPEN TO, UH, UH, NEW THINGS THAT ARE COMING DOWN THE PIKE.
UH, FOR EXAMPLE, UH, I'D LIKE TO SEE SOME, MAYBE SOME ALEX HALEY OR SOME, UH, SOME, SOME MORE VIETNAMESE OR SOME MORE CO.
IN OTHER WORDS, I THINK IF WE DO THE AUDIT AND DO IT PROPERLY, IT'S NOT A MATTER OF ALL THE MONIES BEING, UH, UH, MISAPPROPRIATED AND SO ON AND SO FORTH, THAT THAT'S NOT IT AT ALL.
IT HAS EVERYTHING AT THIS POINT TO DO.
BUT I THINK THAT WE AS A COMMUNITY, UH, WE'RE DOING GREAT, BUT I FEEL WE MAY BE ABLE TO DO BETTER.
SO, UH, THAT'S THE REASON THAT I ASK FOR AN AUDIT OF THE CULTURAL ARTS COMMISSION AS A, UH, AS A PART OF THIS AUDIT.
UH, USUALLY I KNOW THAT OUR AUDIT DEPARTMENT ASKS QUESTIONS AND Y'ALL GIVE RESPONSES.
UH, DO YOU THINK IT WOULD BE APPROPRIATE IN THIS CASE, UH, TO USE THAT AUDIT AS A VEHICLE FOR STAFF TO MAKE SUGGESTIONS OF POLICIES, CHANGES WE MIGHT MAKE ON OUR SIDE TO HELP REMOVE OBSTACLES TO THEIR SUCCESS? I THINK THAT WOULD BE GREAT.
SO WE'LL GIVE YOU GUYS A VEHICLE TO, UH, COME BACK TO US AND SAY, OKAY, WE, WE UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU WANT.
HERE'S THE, THE SYSTEM YOU GUYS HAVE IN PLACE THAT Y'ALL SET BY POLICY.
IF YOU'D MAKE THESE CHANGES FOR US, IT WOULD REALLY HELP US FULFILL THE MISSION OF THE ORGANIZATION.
AND WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT YOU GUYS REALLY HAVE A CHANCE TO, TO GET OUT THERE AND KIND OF BUILD THE, THE PROGRAM THAT WE KNOW, UH, THAT Y'ALL WANNA BUILD IN, THAT WE WANT TO BUILD.
AND, AND OF COURSE, YOU KNOW, WE WE'RE HAPPY TO, UH, PARTICIPATE, UH, IN THE, IN THE AUDIT, IN WHATEVER FORM THAT TAKES.
AND, AND, YOU KNOW, CERTAINLY DON'T WANT TO PRIORITIZE AND SCHEDULE JED'S LIST OF LENGTHY AUDITS, BUT I FEEL THAT, YOU KNOW, WE, WE WOULD BE READY TO PARTICIPATE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE IN ORDER TO BE IN ALIGNMENT WITH THE, THE GOALS OF OUR MASTER PLAN.
AND SO, AGAIN, YOU'LL SEE A PRESENTATION ON THE 10TH, UH, BY AMY.
AND SO THAT WILL HELP US FACILITATE SOME ALIGNMENT BETWEEN COUNCIL STAFF COMMISSION AND THE, AND THE NONPROFIT.
AND SO THAT WAY WE'RE MAKING SURE WE'RE
[01:55:01]
DELIVERING ON EXPECTATIONS.SO PERHAPS THERE'S SOME INFORMATION IN THAT THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL AS WELL.
MR. BEDFORD, COULD WE POSSIBLY REVISIT THIS JUST BRIEFLY AFTER THE, UH, WORK SESSIONS IN OCTOBER? ABSOLUTELY.
I, I'D REALLY LIKE TO SEE SOME DELINEATION AS TO, AS TO WHAT AUDIT'S GONNA DO, WHAT MANAGEMENT IS GONNA DO.
AND, AND I THINK THE PRESENTATIONS THAT ARE COMING TO COUNCIL ARE GONNA ADDRESS A LOT OF THESE QUESTIONS.
AND SO, UM, IF, IF WE COULD PUT THAT IN THE MINUTES WITH THE COMMITTEE'S PERMISSION.
WELL, UM, UH, I, I THINK WE WOULD ALL FEEL COMFORTABLE DEFERRING TO THE J AND TO, TO BRIAN AND ANDY AND AMY ON, ON HOW BEST TO TACKLE THIS.
UH, I THINK YOU GUYS KNOW WHERE WE WANT TO TAKE THIS, UH, SO WE'LL GET OUT OF THE WAY AND, AND LET YOU DO IT.
BUT BECAUSE HONESTLY, IT'S NOT SOMETHING THAT, UH, YOU KNOW, IT'S A FIREFIGHTER OR ANYTHING.
WE'VE BEEN DEALING WITH THIS, I THINK I ASKED THIS QUESTION, WHAT, SIX MONTHS AGO, EIGHT MONTHS AGO, OR WHATEVER.
AND, UH, WE KNOW THAT WE ALREADY HAVE AN AGENDA IN PLACE FOR THIS YEAR ANYWAY.
WE PROBABLY ALREADY PRETTY MUCH HAVE NEXT YEAR'S IN PLACE.
BUT, UH, I THINK THAT, UH, DUE PROCESS, IF WE START NOW, WE SHOULD HAVE SOMETHING IN PLACE THAT, THAT, AS WE LOOK AT 2024, SOME OF THE QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED.
SO CHAIRMAN, IF I MAY, SINCE I HAVE, WE HAVE TO PROCEDURALLY APPROVE THE AUDIT PLAN.
UH, IF WITH YOUR BLESSINGS, IF I MAY TAKE THIS OUT AT THIS POINT, THEN AFTER THE PRESENTATION, IF WE WANNA AMEND THE AUDIT PLAN, WE CAN BRING IT BACK TO THE NEXT AUDIT COMMITTEE MEETING.
YOU WANNA TAKE IT OUT, UH, IF FOR THE PURPOSES OF, UH, REFINING THE SCOPE AND THEN PUTTING IT RIGHT BACK IN.
SO I WILL BRING IT BACK IN THE NEXT AUDIT COMMITTEE MEETING.
I'LL MAKE IT, MAKE IT AS AN AGENDA ITEM, AND BY THEN WE'LL HAVE MORE INFORMATION.
AND, AND I AGREE WITH BRIAN, SO THAT WAY THERE'S A CLEAR PATH, OKAY.
WHAT AUDITORS ARE GONNA DO, WHAT MANAGEMENT IS GONNA DO.
AND AMY, I I FEEL LIKE I'VE CUT YOU OFF TWICE NOW, RIGHT? YOU'RE ABOUT TO SAY SOMETHING.
DID YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU WANTED TO ADD,
SO, SO THREE MONTHS IN, UM, YOU KNOW, AGAIN, REALLY GRATEFUL TO BE HERE AND, AND THERE ARE SOME, SOME ABSOLUTE SOME THINGS THAT WE NEED TO DO TO, TO STREAMLINE THIS PROCESS.
I WILL SAY THOUGH, IN THE, THE SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME THAT I'VE BEEN HERE, I THINK WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO, UM, WELCOME NEW APPLICANTS.
YOU KNOW, PRIMARILY WHAT IS, WHAT HAPPENS AT THE ART CENTERS, THOSE ARE RENTAL ACTIVITIES.
THOSE ARE GROUPS THAT THIS, THE CITY IS NOT PRODUCING THAT MATERIAL.
THOSE ARE, YOU KNOW, GROUPS THAT, THAT MAY BE RECEIVING A GRANT OR MAY NOT BE RECEIVING A GRANT.
UM, BUT WE WANT TO ABSOLUTELY ENCOURAGE MORE PARTICIP PARTICIPATION FROM OUR RESIDENTS.
AND, UM, AND I, I THINK WE HAVE A COUPLE STRATEGIES TO GET THERE.
I REALLY LOOK FORWARD TO, TO SHARING MORE ON THE 10TH.
I THINK THAT WILL HELP, UH, GIVE US A BROADER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT THE COMMISSION'S ROLE IS VERSUS WHAT WE ARE ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH AS STAFF, VERSUS MAKING SURE THAT YOUR GOALS AND PRIORITIES ARE HEARD AS WELL TOO.
YEAH, IT'S NOTHING LIKE GETTING AN AUDIT THREE MONTHS IN.
WE KNOW HOW TO WELCOME NEW STEPS,
AND YOU, UH, WITH THOSE AMENDMENTS, CAN, CAN THE AUDIT COMMITTEE APPROVE THE AUDIT PLAN? YES, SIR.
I, I'LL TAKE A MOTION FROM THE FLOOR.
UH, I KNOW THAT WE APPROVE THE PLAN WITH THE RECOMMENDED, UH, WITH THE RECOMMENDED CHANGE.
WE HAVE A, UM, WITH THE CITY MANAGER MOTION ON THE FLOOR TO ACCEPT THE AUDIT PLAN, UH, IS PRESENTED WITH THE, UM, THE SHORT TERM REMOVAL OF THE CULTURAL ARTS AUDIT, UH, WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT IT WILL BE BROUGHT BACK LATER ON, UH, AT THE NEXT QUARTERLY AUDIT MEETING, UH, WITH, UH, REFINED SCOPE IS THAT AND PLUS, AND, AND ADDING THE FOLLOW UP AUDIT FOR GP L AND ADDING THE FOLLOW UP AUDIT FOR THE GP L UH, VMS. RIGHT, RIGHT.
DO I HAVE A SECOND, MR. MOORE? SECOND.
UH, YOU'RE THE ONE WHO CAN DO IT.
ITEM NUMBER SEVEN, THE AUDIT COMMITTEE OF THE CITY OF GARLAND WILL RECESS INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION PURSUANT TO SECTIONS 5, 5, 1 0 8, 6 AND 5 5 2, 1 33, THE TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE TO DISCUSS COMPETITIVE MATTERS RELATED TO GARLAND POWER AND LIGHT.
UH, MEMBERS ARE JUST CURRENTLY THREE 30.
WE'RE GONNA RECESS UNTIL 3:40 PM UH, YES, SIR.
IF I MIGHT JUST, IF I, I WAS DOING SO WELL THERE.
YOU'RE DOING, YOU'RE DOING WELL.
IF I CAN JUST THROW IN A CAVEAT.
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THERE'S SOME NUGGETS OF ADVANCEMENT THAT OCCUR PRIOR TO THE SIX MONTHS, UM, THEN A GPL WILL COME BACK AND SHARE THOSE NUGGETS OF PROGRESS WITH THE COMMITTEE.WELL, WE WILL, UH, LOOK AT THE, AT THE DECEMBER MEETING AND SEE IF THERE'S A, WELL, IF, IF THERE ARE SOME NUGGETS THAT, THAT, THAT, THAT, THAT DARE WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH THIS EARLIER THAN THE SIX MONTHS, IF THERE'S SOME THINGS THAT HE THINK WE, THEN HE COULD DO THAT, COULD WE? ABSOLUTELY.
WE WILL FIND A WAY TO DRAG YOU UP HERE, SIR.
YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M SAYING? THIS CHAIR? I DO, SIR.
UM, WE'RE GONNA RECESS UNTIL 3:40 PM IT IS 3 32 AND THIS COMMITTEE'S IN RECESS.
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR COMING.