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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAudit Committee Minutes 03-13-2014Minutes of Audit Committee Meeting Thursday, March 13, 2014 Page 1 of 5 Deschutes County - Audit Committee MINUTES – 3/13/14 Re: Deschutes County Audit Committee Meeting Minutes – Thursday, March 13, 2014 Committee Members Present: Commissioner Tony DeBone; Dan Despotopulos, Fair & Expo Director; Nancy Blankenship, County Clerk; Chris Earnest, Gayle McConnell, Jean Pedelty, Michael Shadrach, and Jennifer Welander, Public Sector. (Quorum Met) Others present were: Tom Anderson, County Administrator; David Givans, County Internal Auditor, Wayne Lowry, Finance Director; and Connie Thomas, Administrative Assistant. Present for a portion of the meeting: Carolyn Eagan, City of Bend. Absent: Erik Kropp, Deputy County Administrator Chair Jennifer Welander called the meeting to order at 12:10 p.m. Introductions/Announcements – Introductions were made around the room. Guest Carolyn Eagan gave her background with the City of Bend. Her job is to identify problems and it looks like it will be also fixing the problems. Tom Anderson said it may be good for David to spend some time with Carolyn directly, specifically on how to approach things and how to get results. David Givans said he is more than happy to spend some time with her. Approval of Minutes from the Meeting on November 14, 2013 SHADRACH: Move approval of the November 14, 2013 minutes. PEDELTY: Second. VOTE: Unanimous Approval. Internal Audit Report: Sheriff’s Office Evidence room (Conversion) - Mr. Givans said this was part of a prior project. This was a follow-up to make sure the conversion did occur (report attached). The big recommendation was more of an I.T./County approach on how to do software implementation. He said the next big software implementation is the finance accounting system. Behavioral Health is implementing software and he is looking at how to address items up front. He said he does put out surveys. Mike Shadrach said he likes the surveys and asked David to give an update on how many people come back with a response, possibly a six month update. Minutes of Audit Committee Meeting Thursday, March 13, 2014 Page 2 of 5 External Auditor RFP/Contract Work –  Contract Status – Mr. Givans said the sub-committee did propose that Eide Bailly out of Idaho become the new external auditor. The contract is signed and is a full contract for five years (with options). Wayne and Jeanine have already discussed some timing. Mr. Lowry said the concern they had was that they are out of Boise. It has already shown up slightly in trying to get them scheduled here. He thinks all that has been ironed out and they have a schedule in place. They will be here in June then again later in September.  120 hours level of support from Internal Auditor – Ms. Welander asked if they have talked about the support from David and in what form. Mr. Givans said not yet. Mr. Shadrach said he thought the process was very good and they have a good choice. If you compare the cost it is a savings of $20,000 per year. He encourages the County to leverage as much as possible in bidding on everything. He felt it could result in significant savings. Mr. Anderson said generally he agrees. The County does have purchasing policies and has done a reasonably good job. Additional Work Requests –  Estimated short-term work plan timeline – Mr. Givans said this plan indicates items for 2014. He foresees a public safety review in 2015. He is wrapping up Behavioral Health. Email vaulting is the next audit.  District Attorney – medical examiner costs – Mr. Givans said the DA has been talking with him for awhile on medical examiner concerns. The County is involved with the process. He is not sure of his ability to influence the medical examiner or the DA’s office. He may have some recommendations. Ms. Welander asked what the nature of their concerns was. Mr. Givans said costs. By code, for the medical examiner, the County has to pay to get a body over to the west side and back. Funeral homes get different business over the course of the years. The scheduling process had gotten mixed up. There are questions on if the County is getting the best deal on costs. There are two funeral homes. There are different expenses for labor, materials and supplies, and transports that they can look at. The DA’s office requested the audit so it comes out of their budget. They are looking for some support. State code indicates that some of the County’s costs could be reimbursed. It has gone down so he is looking into the reason for that. He wrote up the draft of the objectives. (See attached memo.)  Finance – new software system – Mr. Givans said in talking with Wayne, Finance is looking for input for processes with their software implementation. He said it is so significant with County applications he did an outline from an audit standards view. (See attached memo.) He looked at management expectations. Mr. Lowry said they are very early in the vendor process. He said David has seen the procedures and processes so he wanted him to look at the system. Ms. Welander asked how old the system is. Mr. Lowry said it is HTE and it is almost 13 or 14 years old. They are looking for process improvements. Ms. Welander asked what the timing is. Mr. Lowry said it will probably be a two to a two and a half year project. Ms. Welander asked what the estimated costs will be. Mr. Lowry said they do not have that yet. They are looking for backbone in the finance system. They are not trying to do everything at once. They are really looking for payroll, accounts payable/receivable, and HR. Minutes of Audit Committee Meeting Thursday, March 13, 2014 Page 3 of 5 Mr. Shadrach said his concern is David’s 140 hours of time for non audit work. He has a fairly limited amount of resources for audits and that time is being taken away. He is thinking it would be right if some external audit resources would be put into this. Maybe have Harrigan do it. Mr. Lowry said they will probably have one or two people in finance be totally dedicated to the project. They could get some temp help if needed. Finance will not really be able to backfill David as they will be spread pretty thin. He views David’s involvement in an advisory capacity. Is the 140 hours over one year, over two years? Maybe David will have a much more limited role. Mr. Givans said he will probably do an audit on this piece. It is more efficient for him to get the input up front rather than later. He is using non audit term because he is not following a standard. He can still document and share his information. It is a good opportunity to give Wayne some information. He thinks as a county they will be farther ahead. Mr. Shadrach said David could provide great value he just does not want to see too much time taken from his audits. Ms. Welander said what would the audit be when the system is in place. If reviewing some of those items that would be in an audit anyway, then the two projects could be as one. Jean Pedelty said a new system is so critical. Additional non Audit Work/follow-up -  Follow-up of Veterans Services – Effectiveness #13/14-7 – Mr. Givans said there was nothing unusual for them. They were able to bring a Veteran’s Service Officer up to full time. (See attached report)  Follow-up of Additional Wage Payments – Mr. Givans said there is a lot of stuff still in process, same as veterans. Things are moving and he is not surprised by either of them. (See attached report.) Upcoming Committee Vacancies/Discuss Recommendation for Filing Vacant Public Member Audit committee Positions -  Chris (Yes), Jennifer (Yes), Jean (No), Greg (resigned previously – seat vacant) – Ms. Welander went over the schedule of Committee appointments. Ms. Pedelty indicated she will not renew her term which is up 6/30/14. Commissioner DeBone and Dan’s terms end 2014. Mr. Givans suggested in keeping the directors on for awhile. Commissioner DeBone said it is up to the Board to decide for him. Ms. Welander said they now have two open public positions. Mr. Givans said the last few times they have done public advertisement and interviews and they had a lot of really good potential members. The public member count is flexible with four to six members. He said four is ok but if they would like six he can canvas for more. Ms. Welander asked if they wanted to stay at four of go out for more. Mr. Shadrach said it is his preference to go out for more. WELANDER: Move approval to fill up to six positions, with members on board by the September meeting. SHADRACH: Second. VOTE: Unanimous Approval. Minutes of Audit Committee Meeting Thursday, March 13, 2014 Page 4 of 5 Performance Measures/Activities  Audit Committee – 2012 Performance Evaluation Survey (How often – three year cycle?) – Mr. Givans said they did a self assessment in 2012. They are not required to do that so there is no formal time occurrence to adhere to. Do they want to do one in 2014 or wait a year? He sent an electronic questionnaire. He identified some items that they are weaker in but most were pretty positive. Mr. Shadrach said one of the items was to get out to other departments. That is why they went out to the fairgrounds for a meeting. He said David sends out information to educate them. He said most items were scored close to five. Nancy Blankenship asked about County College. Mr. Shadrach said he did not go but he was advised of it. Commissioner DeBone said there is a presentation for each department, there are tours and the most valuable is the group of citizens asking questions. Mr. Givans said he will make sure everyone gets invited. Ms. Welander said St. Charles does a once a year audit assessment. Out of there comes changes and actions. She said for the Committee it is effective now that they are almost down to four members. She thought next summer of 2015 might be more effective for the evaluation to give the new public members time to get up to speed. The group decided on 2015.  Internal audit – Mr. Givans did a one page summary of services and measures for 2014. (See attached.) He said the Board assesses County goals and objectives. The County mission statement covers four large areas. His audits touch on those categories. The work plan dovetails around the mission statement. He thinks internal audits are addressing the County goals. Measurements would be his surveys. He is tracking his recommendations and most of them have been accepted. Recommendation implementation rates are harder to identify. Another one is what the savings to the County are. It is hard to sometimes put a financial measure on it. Peer Review – 9/2014 (on three year cycle) –  Planning, Preparation, and Support - Mr. Givans said every three years a peer review is done. Other audit agencies come in and look at his work. They will be here for the September Audit Committee meeting. It is an effort that helps ensure that what he is doing is quality work. ALGA assigns the auditors. Mr. Shadrach asked if most have a three year cycle. Mr. Givans said is it by government audit standards. Ms. Blankenship asked if he performs peer reviews for others. Mr. Givans said he does. Leadership Recruitment Status –  Health Services Director – Tom Anderson said hopefully they are close to making an offer. They recently completed recruitment and had first and second panel interviews. They are in the reference and background check stage. When completed they will make a job offer.  County Legal Counsel - Mr. Anderson said the new legal counsel begins April 14th. He is Dave Doyle and is from Polk County. He has done about everything a government attorney can do. He reports directly to the County Commissioners.  911 Director – Mr. Anderson said they are just starting that recruitment. Hopefully by May they will have someone in place. Commissioner DeBone said 9-1-1 is aligned Minutes of Audit Committee Meeting Thursday, March 13, 2014 Page 5 of 5 under the County Administrator but it is its own district. They are putting more of the oversight on the County. The Chiefs have all bought into that. Updates/Other Items –  Current audit work status: (See Attached workplan and summary of audits performed.) o BH software implementation – Mr. Givans said this is a work in progress. o Email Vaulting – Mr. Givans is working on it as time permits. o DA Medical Examiner – Mr. Givans will see what it entails. o Finance Software – Mr. Givans will work on this as needed.  Connie Thomas’s last meeting – Everyone thanked Connie for her support to the Committee and wished her the best in her retirement.  Communications from State on 2013 single audit– came to the Board-all single audits ok.  See Internal Audit Status Report November 2013 through February 2014 (See attached.)  For September meeting location: Mr. Givans said BH is hard to get into as a lot of clients are coming and going. Ms. Welander asked if they have been to Solid Waste. Mr. Givans said it has been awhile. Mr. Anderson said the annex remodel will be done or they could meet in the community room at the Mike Maier building. Other Business/Closing - Upcoming meetings: Meeting 6/12/14 Being no further issues brought before the Committee, Jennifer Welander adjourned the meeting at 2:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, __________________ Connie Thomas Administrative Assistant