Most of Eureka Springs City Council’s Monday, July 10, meeting handled business previously brought to the table with relative expediency, although discussion lingered on how to proceed with results from the state’s 2021 legislative audit.
Every year, cities are audited by the state to make sure financials are in order and that preferred procedures in categorizing those financials are followed. Finance Director Michael Akins said the state had not found evidence of missing money, fraud or embezzlement, but there were procedural issues that needed fixing. He said he had long talks with the legislative audit team, and that the 2022 audit will have many issues already fixed.
Akins gave an example of changes, such as the cost of the city’s solar project being labeled as a debt while the payments were labeled as an expense rather than payments toward a liability. He also said the legislative audit team had taken him “under their wing” in autumn of last year and explained how they wanted financial items recorded. He reported that when they presented certain changes needed earlier in the year, the finance department had already made the necessary changes.
Regarding other departments and commissions, Akins said that Parks had bank reconciliation issues and needed to change how the bait shop issues receipts that are not numbered sequentially. Under the city finance department, bank reconciliations and fixed asset listings were not up to date.
Akins said the last fixed asset listing was done prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2019, and is being updated. The Cemetery Commission also had outdated bank reconciliation, and the City Advertising and Promotion Commission purchased a piece of equipment without soliciting bids.
Alderman Autumn Slane asked when city water and waste audits would be completed., and Akins explained that the water department audits are handled by the state separately, and the state is issuing the 2017-18 water department audit and will soon begin working on the 2019 water audit.
Akins said previous years’ files had been lost by both the audit team and the city or failed to be transferred to the auditors, which resulted in the drawn-out timeline of completion. He also said that the relationship with the legislative audit team had warmed, and the audit team would be assisting Eureka Springs more than in previous years.
Alderman Harry Meyer noted that due to the Water Department being required by state law to be self-sustaining, that was the reason audits had to be handled separately from the city’s audit.
Aldermen discussed how commissions are to handle results of the audit. Commissions and departments that receive items to improve upon are required to send a report to the legislative audit team on how they will rectify those issues and how they intend to avoid them in the future. Council can request for commissions and departments to attend a council meeting and present those intentions, as well.
Akins iterated that the audit team had found that the books were “okay” and that the findings of their audit were merely procedural.
Council approved the audit as submitted. Akins said that the team will be back next Monday to start on the current year’s audit.
Other Items
- Council agreed to hold a workshop with Planning to go over an ordinance that will amend the Tree Preservation code.
- 2342 that raises water rates passed second reading with a 5-1 vote, with Slane voting No.
- 2343 passed with three readings and emergency clause. The ordinance amends the fee structure for street and alley vacations so that $100 of the $200 fee for an application to vacate a street or alley is kept by the city if the application fails to pay for publication of hearing dates.
- 2344 to vacate an alley between Blocks 5 and 2 of the Riley and Armstrong Survey passed unanimously. The portion of alley that was vacated is located between Nelsons and the Rowdy Beaver Den and is only the portion of the alley where the building is built onto a platted street. The rest of the alley remains open to the public.