City Council, December 18, 2013
A special session of the Pawtucket City Council is held Wednesday, December 18, 2013, at 4:07 p.m., in the City Council Chambers, City Hall, 137 Roosevelt Avenue, Pawtucket, RI.
Present – President Moran, Councilors Barry, Hodge, Mercer, Tetreault, and Vitali.
Absent – Councilors Barros, Rudd and Wildenhain.
President Moran presides.
The Council takes up the following:
Discussion with LGC&D LLP regarding the FY 2013 audit of the basic financial statements of the city of Pawtucket and future audits for FY 2014 and 2015.
Present are Judith Enright, LGC&D; Melissa Devine, School Business Administrator; Joanna L’Heureux, Finance Director; Antonio J. Pires, Director of Administration; and Alan Tavares, City Council Fiscal Analyst.
Councilor Barry asks Ms. Enright about delays in completing the audit because, as stated in the letter from LGC&D, they did not get all the information they requested in a timely manner. He also asks about the resolution to allow the audit to go to the Mayor.
Ms. Enright states that their engagement is with the Council and typically, they present the audit directly to the Council for acceptance. Because the audit may be late, she wanted to know clearly if the Council would be okay with allowing the audit to be presented to the Mayor, so that it can be sent to the Auditor General as quickly as possible.
Councilor Hodge asks why no one informed the Council of the problems until December.
Ms. Enright states that the auditors started the audit on October 22nd; therefore, she feels that the December 2nd letter was timely.
She states that there are always growing pains when the city starts with a new auditing team. This happens with many cities in the first year. She states that they sent the letter when they realized that they weren’t going to meet the deadline. Since this is the first time working with Pawtucket, she didn’t realize the Council would want the information sooner.
Ms. Enright states that the Mayor and Mr. Pires recommended that she send the letter to the Council. She states that the delay is attributed partly to a new firm asking for different information than the City is used to providing.
Councilor Mercer asks about the need for additional hours when the Administration is apparently doing more of the work than in previous years.
Ms. Enright states that they are conforming to the standards when accounting for hours.
She states that the delay is partly caused by the loss of the senior staff at the Schools and the loss of staff in the City Finance Department and open matters with the deficit reduction plan.
Councilor Hodge states that he is perplexed by the reasons for the audit not being complete. He doesn’t believe the size of the City is the cause.
Council President Moran asks when the audit will be done. He also asks if the growing pains are done so that there will be no problems in the following years.
Ms. Enright states that the audit work should be done by January 31st and the Council should get it by early February.
Ms. L’Heureux states that the City is seeking a 60 day extension to cover themselves.
Council President Moran asks who is more responsible for the delays, the City or the School Department.
Ms. Enright states that there is equal responsibility.
Mr. Tavares questions how the auditors have done 600 hours of work if they have not gotten all the information they need.
Ms. Enright states that they didn’t wait to get all the information in to start the work. She states that all the people have been very open and the communication has been good.
She states that they had sufficient staff in place to do the work, but because of the delays, the staff is now working on other engagements.
Ms. Enright states that her firm shouldn’t bear the brunt of the responsibility for the delays, so they will probably be charging for some additional hours, but they are probably not charging for all the additional hours.
Councilor Hodge states that he will accept the January 31st completion but will not be happy if they go into February.
Ms. L’Heureux states that systems are old and antiquated so it takes more man hours to provide the reports needed.
Upon motion made by Councilor Hodge, seconded by Councilor Mercer, the meeting is adjourned at 4:51 p.m.