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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAudit Committee Minutes 03-12-2015 Minutes of the Meeting of the Deschutes County Audit Committee Location: Juvenile Community Justice Building, Wickiup Room Thursday, March 12, 2015 Members consist of 5 Public (P), and 3 County Management (CM) Quorum = five Committee Members present:  Facilitator: David Givans, County Internal Auditor  Shawn Armstrong, (P) Quality/Regulatory Manager for Grace Bio-Labs (CHAIR) Exc. Jennifer Welander, (P) Director of Finance – St Charles Health System  Chris Earnest, (P) Director of Finance, NVHG – Oregon resorts  Gayle McConnell, (P) Retired corporate executive  Michael Shadrach, (P) Retired corporate executive  Lindsey Lombard, (P) Finance Director, Bend Parks & Recreation District  Anthony DeBone, (CM) County Commissioner  Nancy Blankenship, (CM) County Clerk  Dan Despotopulos, (CM) Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center Director Others Present:  Tom Anderson, County Administrator  Erik Kropp, Deputy County Administrator  Wayne Lowry, Finance Director  John Hummel, District Attorney  Ken Hales, Community Justice Director  Sonya Littledeer Evans, Juvenile Community Justice Program Manager  Deevy Holcomb, Juvenile Community Justice Management Analyst Exc. Sharon Ross, Administrative Assistant – BOCC CALL TO ORDER: Chair Armstrong called the meeting to order at 12:15 pm AGENDA: Lunch/Introductions/Announcements APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Member Shadrach supported by Member McConnell moved to approve the minutes of the Audit Committee Meeting of November 13, 2014. Motion Carried INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT: Elected District Attorney Transition #14/15-4 David Givans reported an internal audit was done in the District Attorney’s Office due to the transition between Patrick Flaherty and John Hummel. The audit went well showing the transition went smoothly and only a few recommendations were made. District Attorney Hummel noted Mr. Givans proved to be a great resource and he appreciated the opportunity of the audit. Member Shadrach commented on the recommendation made on the benefit of utilizing the Information Technology Department. District Attorney Hummel explained the decision on computer support needs to be made based on response time For Recording Stamp Only AUDIT COMMITTEE MEETING Thursday, March 12, 2015 Page 2 of 3 and service level because in certain cases there will need to be an immediate response by technical support in order to maintain the department’s efficiency and effectiveness. FOLLOW-UPS: Medical Examiner expenses#14/15-7: This project was requested by the D.A.’s Office and is 100% complete. D.A. John Hummel indicated the new medical examiner and her staff have made a huge difference with the service and with implementing new policies. Member Shadrach asked if there was an opportunity to bid out some of the travel services. Mr. Hummel indicated that they will be reviewing that option after the new medical examiner has settled in. INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT: Juvenile Community Justice Division #14/15-5 David Givans reported the staff was very helpful in the process. This was a preliminary audit of the department to provide benchmarking data. The goal is to identify the needs of the community and propose ways to meet those needs. Discussion held on the value of measurements to the department’s budget. An annual report would be beneficial to provide a comprehensive picture on the community justice operation and to accomplish their departmental goals. INPUT ON DEVELOPMENT OF RISK ASSESSMENT AND WORK PLAN: David Givans asked the Audit Committee if they had any recommendations for the future internal audit projects. Chair Armstrong commented that he would like to see reports that have been done in the past. Mr. Givans noted the new County website has all of his published reports available to view and will send information out regarding the history of audit reports. Discussion held on the general topics and departments that have been reviewed in the past as well as process improvement projects. Member Lombard inquired if the Lean process has ever been used for evaluation. Mr. Givans noted every department would benefit but each opportunity has a different approach for implementation.  Mr. Givans is currently doing a fleet management audit for the non-public safety types of vehicles and their utilization. Discussion held on fuel usage and the concept of green vehicles.  Member Shadrach would like to see a review of the County’s performance evaluations. Mr. Kropp noted the Personnel department is reviewing new software for the Human Resource and Financial Management system and implementation may be sometime this Fall. Comment made that an employee survey would be an idea to gain opinions on timeliness and effectiveness of performance evaluations. Question also raised on the presence of performance improvement plans for employees.  Member Shadrach also suggested every two years electronic disbursement reporting.  Discussion on reviewing the Assessment system. EXTERNAL AUDITOR – CONTRACT MONITORING: David Givans distributed a handout showing the external auditor’s operating hours. There were 1500 hours completed with this last audit. Prior auditors had completed the audit in 1,056 hours. The majority of the hours were spent with management. Discussion held on the amount of hours estimated versus the actual hours spent. Concerns expressed on cost and length of this past year’s audit and the future audit expectations. The current contract with this audit group is a five year term. UPDATES/OTHER ITEMS:  Audit committee member renewal requests – Lombard, McConnell, Shadrach, and Blankenship. Mr. Givans inquired if they were interested in a reappointment. Members Lombard, Shadrach, and Blankenship would be interested in reappointment. Member McConnell expressed her appreciation for serving on the Audit Committee but has other commitments at this time and her last meeting will be June 2015. AUDIT COMMITTEE MEETING Thursday, March 12, 2015 Page 3 of 3  Request for addition to work plan – Sheriff’s Office transition. Captain Shane Nelson will replace Larry Blanton as Sheriff on July 1, 2015. Motion made by Chair Armstrong, supported by Member Lombard to approve the Sheriff’s Office Transition Report. Motion Carried  Code requirements for Audit Committee Charter. In the handout provided Mr. Givans highlighted areas that have not been addressed for some time. The Audit Committee and Internal Auditor are addressed in County Code Chapters 2.14 and 2.15. Mr. Givans asked the committee to review the items and provide feedback for discussion at the next meeting scheduled in June. The documents will be emailed to the Committee. In the budgeted staffing levels, the Internal Auditor position is 12% of the Administrative budget and consists of one FTE.  Audit Committee – Self Assessment Evaluation. Mr. Givans discussed the format for the Audit Committee survey. Possible change to be made will be to add a section for comments. The survey will be emailed out for additional comments.  IT security assessment update. The IT department periodically works with security consultants. The update of the recent assessment is they are planning on doing an on-line education and testing program for employees.  Current audit work status: Mr. Givans is currently working on the Fleet audit, and will begin the audit on the Sheriff’s Office transition in June.  Status Report. See attached Internal Audit status report November 2014 through February 2015  Mr. Givans asked if anyone wanted to receive free email subscription “Tone at the Top” from Institute on Internal Auditors newsletter: Members Armstrong, Blankenship, Lombard, Despotopulos, Earnest, and DeBone all requested the newsletter.  Finance Director Lowry noted there is a new feature for the County budget document available on the new County website. The website was brought up on the conference room screen for the members to see.  Question raised on why the hours of the Juvenile Community Justice audit were so high. Information was needed to come from the state as well. Audit Committee would like to be made aware of any significant changes anticipated with the audit scope. NEXT MEETING: The next meeting of the Audit Committee will be held on June 11, 2015 in the Deschutes Services Building, Allen Conference Room. TOUR of the Juvenile Facility was taken following the meeting. Adjournment: Being no further issues brought before the Committee, the meeting was adjourned. Respectfully submitted, ______________________________________ Sharon Ross, Administrative Assistant - BOCC