Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutAudit Committee Minutes 06-09-2016J-tes e 0 C For Recording Stamp Only Minutes of the Meeting of the Deschutes County Audit Committee Thursday, June 9, 2016 Members consist of S Public (P), and 3 County Management (CM) Quorum =five Committee Members resent: ✓ Facilitator: David Givans, County Internal Auditor exc Shawn Armstrong, (P) Quality/Regulatory Manager for Grace Bio -Labs CHAIR ✓ Chris Earnest, P Director of Finance, NVHG — Oregon resorts ✓ Michael Shadrach, (P) Retired corporate executive ✓ Lindsey Lombard, P Administrative Services Director, Bend Parks & Recreation District Anthon DeBone, (CM) Coun Commissioner Nanc Blankenshi , CM Coun Clerk rexxc Dan Des oto ulos, (CM) Deschutes Coun Fair & Ex o Center Director Wa ne Yeatman, (P Assistant Professor COCC John Barrett, (P) CPA, Barnett CPA Others Present: ✓ Tom Anderson, County Administrator ✓ Erik Kropp, Deputy County Administrator ✓ Wayne Lowry, Finance Director ✓ Sharon Ross, Administrative Assistant — BOCC ✓ Todd Dunkelber — Director of Deschutes Public Library ✓ Kevin Barclay — Assistant Director of Public Services at Deschutes Public Library ✓ Susan Ross — DC Property & Facilities Director ✓ Jessica Campbell — DC Property & Facilities Administrative Assistant CALL TO ORDER: Acting Chair Lombard called the meeting to order at 12:05 pm. AGENDA: • LUNCH/INTRODUCTIONS/ANNOUNCEMENTS: Introductions were made. No additions to the agenda. Minutes of Audit Committee June 9, 2016 Page 1 of 6 • APPROVAL OF MINUTES There was a call for approval of the minutes from the meeting on March 10, 2016. No additions, deletions or modifications were suggested. A motion to approve minutes was made by Nancy Blankenship and seconded by Michael Shadrach. All were in favor. Update on Finance software implementation: An overview was provided by Wayne Lowry of the activity since the last meeting (3/2016). Since then, we have signed the contract and on our way towards implementation. The project has been organized for success. Includes and executive leadership team, project team, and change manager. We are currently in the business process phase in implementing the finance modules. This process started in May and will go through Sept. Ultimately go live in June/July of next year. WE are also working to finalize an RFP process for time and attendance software that will integrate with the HR software. Overall cost of Finance & HR software is $1.6 million (before time & attendance). • INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT: Law Library Transition: Audit #15/16/5: Budgeted 80 hours. Actual 90 hours. Note: At this time, the caterer did not present lunch and Sharon Ross was excused to gather lunch for the meeting. David Givans recorded the meeting minutes. David Givans went through the objectives of the audit and that this audit was much like a transition of department head as this is transitioning our law library services to another provider. The County is not in the habit of doing this and so it was thought to be a good idea to audit the transition. Erik Kropp indicated that this idea came from the budget committee as a way to outsource in a more effective and efficient way. Deschutes Public Library (DPL) was also interested in providing this service. The County receives state funding to provide this service. We have used a part time law librarian and part time hours. Services included online services as well as books and reference materials. The service catered more to small law practices who could also be allowed after hour access. The services provided weren't tracked much. County internal services were charged to this activity. DPL's focus was intended to be more of an online service (Lexis/Nexus). They didn't need to keep many of the books or references. Nearly every resource we had was available online and was constantly updated. Not aware of many other law libraries attempting a similar transition. Law library service is now available at branches and library staff has been Minutes of Audit Committee June 9, 2016 Page 2 of 6 trained. Basic versions available to public and advance version available through a checked out laptop. Todd Dunkelberg, Director of DPL, further added that there was logic behind the transition as they already provide many legal resources to the public. They also were able to provide greater staffing and access. They also were able to increase the level of online resources provided by the provided funds. • Not a lot of measures to draw on. Expect that they will be making a recommendation for measures to be used going forward. Will be reporting back to BOCC in August. • Kudos to all of us for making this change. Erik — Indicated that Property & Facilities was instrumental in closing down the law library and the disposal effort. He also indicated that a lot of thought was given to how the contract would work and gave latitude for DPL to direct the services. Todd —They nearly tripled the cost to get the best possible legal database and wanted to be flexible. Talked about MOU and will need to develop performance measures. DPL is on track with developing measures and exploring practices from other law libraries in the state. Erik — Circuit court provided input on this and is intent on improving public access through "access to justice" movement. Tony DeBone — Are any other law libraries doing? Todd —only a couple have some elements but not to the extent of this move. Susan Ross — In 2011 Counties under a certain size were allowed to outsource law library. Departments needed space being used. Lindsey Lombard — Thought we should promote this solution. It is effective and provides greater access to the public. Very powerful. Good job! Michael Shadrach — Appears to be good for library. Todd — Yes —Training with staff has been a big investment. This service nicely falls within mission. Michael — Are you satisfied with funding? Todd — Yes — Services are geared towards funding received. Services might change if funds change. Erik — If state changed funding we didn't want to use general fund. When that happens we'll have a discussion to figure out. Tony —Jeff Hall, Court administrator will be talking about access to justice. Minutes of Audit Committee June 9, 2016 Page 3 of 6 Michael — Question for Susan. Audit indicates didn't follow County policy on disposal. Susan — Originally worked with a non-profit on shelving. Those fell through and their furniture vendor found Bend Surgery Center. She thought they were non-profit but they were not. Made attempt but didn't ultimately follow policy. Bend Surgery Center purchased the shelving for $3,000. Tony —Origin of funds? Susan —They handle moves of property all across the County. They don't track all of the furnishings. Don't charge departments if haven't paid. Once it becomes theirs, they keep the proceeds. Michael — He thinks he would do the same thing. Lindsey — When revenue and expenses, from an accounting perspective, shouldn't we make efforts to net those if possible for accounting purposes. Susan — Not considered. Note: at this time Sharon Ross was back in attendance and continued recording the meeting. FOLLOW-UPs: • Fleet Management: Audit #15/16-10 Mr. Givans reported the county wide policy for fleet management is being developed. Mr. Shadrach commented on the lengthy period of time for addressing recommendations on this audit. Discussion held on department responsibilities for a more timely response. Suggestion made for expectations for a deadline to be set up in the beginning of an audit and should be the priority. County Administrator Anderson noted this situation was unique and required a work group to be created to assess and create the policies on fleet operation. Notary ees: Audit #15/16-11 Mr. Givans noted this audit is 100% completed. Mr. Givans noted Mr. Kropp and staff have implemented all of the suggestions. Mr. Kropp stated the County charges a $10 fee for people coming in with non -county related documents to be notarized. For documents relating to county related transactions or for county employees, the fee is waived. Notary services provide a convenience for county related transactions not only for the person but the County department preparing the documentation. Minutes of Audit Committee June 9, 2016 Page 4 of 6 NON -AUDIT WORK: • District Attorney's Office Benchmarking: This project work took a dedicated 15 hours and the information was used for the 2016 budget committee. Fair & Expo: Implemented IPad registers and Mr. Givans participated in that demo. Credit card sales have gone up. This was one recommendation that came out of the fair audit. Discussion: Mr. Shadrach voiced a concern that there is a lot of non -audit work done and believes the primary role of the auditor is to audit county process and procedures. Over the past year he has noticed there was only 512 hours of audit work done (as reported by completed audits) and wonders if it is acceptable by the audit committee. Mr. Shadrach suggested it is time for the County to consider another auditor to be able to accomplish more in audit work that is required for the County. Mr. Givans noted that if he is purely an auditor that would be a concern. Mr. Givans is also involved in implementation of processes which aren't included in the hours recorded of audit work. Question raised on including that discussion on a future agenda to consider if there are more audits that need to be done that aren't getting done. Internal Auditor Level of Service and Purpose of Function will be included on the September agenda. Mr. Givans noted he is being pulled in different ways and his participation in the Association of Local Government conference took some of his time. OTHER: This meeting serves as Chris Earnest's final meeting as he has other commitments. Mr. Givans presented him with a letter of appreciation of service. His plaque from the Board and thank you letter are in the works. UPDATES: • Committee members Dan Despotopulos and Shawn Armstrong are renewing their terms. There will be a vacancy with Chris Earnest resigning. • Mr. Givans noted he is the president of the Association of Local Government and the ALGA conference in Austin that he coordinated went well. • New Member Training: Mr. Givans reported introductory training was given to new committee members John Barnett and Wayne Yeatman. • Mr. Givans also noted he continues work on the internal audit of Community Development Department. Minutes of Audit Committee June 9, 2016 Page 5 of 6 NEXT MEETING: Thursday, September 8, 2016 ADJOURNMENT: There being no further discussion, the meeting was adjourned at 2:01 p.m. Respectfully su mitted, aron oss Administrative Assistant - BOCC Minutes of Audit Committee June 9, 2016 Page 6 of 6