Legislative Joint Auditing-Counties and Municipalities

Co-chair representative R, he will offer us a very brief word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the great things that you've bestow on us day by day. Thank you so much for the folks who are on this committee and in this legislature and also the people that are here today. We ask you to bless everyone. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. OK, uh. The chair would entertain a motion to adopt the minutes of September 12th meeting. Moved by Representative Dalby, seconded by Representative Fight. Any discussion all in favor say aye opposed. Thank you. OK. We'll move on to the update on the delinquent private reports, uh, Mr. Archer, can you give us today. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, in the September meeting with uh staff was requested to send the 2nd round of letters to those that have not both water and sewer departments that have not submitted their audit as for the, um, Fiscal year in December 31, 2022, we sent out 79 letters we received 44 responses. Uh, 6 of those reports, 28 were engagement letters which, with the intent to get and 10 others contacted us with their plan. So, uh, we, we whittled that down from the original set of letters went out in August of 132 and we're down to basically 35 or 45 that have not, uh, give us a response. So do y'all have further instructions. Representative Darby, I have a question, Mr. Chair, for staff, when you send those letters out, are you sending them out by registered mail? Are you sending them by regular mail or any of them coming back? I'm just curious as to are they get these 45 getting them because why would you ignore us your question to whom are they sent? Are they sent to the county judge or clerk or someone else the first two rounds were sent by regular mail. I said, we've had a great. Response to them other than those, but if that's what if the next step is certified letters to we want to go to the city council, the whole city council instead of just the mayor or? What have you done in the past we hadn't done anything on the water and sewer in the past because this, this law just wouldn't affect June 30th, but on a private audits, which were now 100% on the second letter we would send it to the entire, uh, city council. I think follow that practice and. Surely we'll get somebody responds. It's kind of concerning that you've got. People out there ignoring us. Well, I've got on record, as you know, Representative, I don't like being ignored like we were with the little littleRo police chief the other day, uh, so I'm, uh, obviously we have options to do something that I oftentimes, especially when we're dealing with small cities. You've got people that, you know, they do well to go get the water turned on. I mean, I'm grateful for serving, but you know, when we get into little people a little bit more responsibility. We expect them to act a little more responsible. So let's, uh, We'll just, is, is there any There is discussion, Senator Love, I just have a question because I'm I'm supportive of what, uh, Representative Dobby is saying, but are we, are we doing that on the 2nd round, the 3rd round, because I was just thinking about city councils, the number of city council members that are within the state. Are we doing that on the 2nd round of letters, I mean like this will be the 3rd letter, so we've done, did 1 August 8th and we did another round of letters on, uh, September 16th. Just the mayors and like I said, we've whittled that down from 132 that were delinquent. And now we've got it down to 35 that has not contacted us. So it'll be 35 times. Somewhere between 5 and 8, so it'll be a. We could go start. I mean, the other option would be to send a certified letter to those first and then see what we get there. Yeah, because, because I was thinking that like if we did that on the 2nd round, the certified letter to the mayor and maybe the, the, the. President of the of the council you know, and then the third time it should go to the city officials because I don't know why they would be ignoring us, but I just, um. I just was thinking about the cost on the 3rd round, but on the 2nd round if we could get a certified letter, I mean in the future, going in the future, if we could get a certified letter to the mayor and maybe the president of the city council or however most of them don't have one of those, uh, Senator, but we, we might ask Senator Cricher if he has a suggestion on who might be the best one and at least in the municipalities to, uh, uh, address that too. Senator Crutcher, you were recognized, former Senator Crutcher for everybody else that does not know him with the municipal league. Thank you, thank you, Mr. Chairman. is that all? OK. uh, Jack Richard Municipal League, um, I, I would certainly say the mayor. Um, and, uh, I was looking at one of the reports there I I think I understood the question, but if I didn't, Well, I mean, the, uh, the, the, the chair was saying that there's not a president because I, I'm used to the present to Little Rock and, OK, yeah, so, uh, Chairman Johnson is right there, uh, city councils don't have a, a president, however, some cities have vice mayors, uh, so, uh, I, but I think the mayor and Uh, I would, I would suggest each council member may be unless they do have a vice mayor, uh, which. would probably be a council member, so OK, thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator Lo. Representative Dalby and I agree with, oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. No, no, go ahead. I agree with Senator Love. I don't want to see a great expense, but we need to somehow or another ramp up. To a certified leather. Letter whether like Mr. Krichner said, either the the mayor and the vice mayor will get get it to 2 people at least so that somebody else is on notice. I, I don't know the best way to do it, but it sure seems like to me we're gonna have to take another step and I'll yield to Representative Fight. Representative 5. OK, thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, my opinion is if we don't watch it, we'll be dealing with this or you all will be dealing with this next summer. And so I, I, I feel that Representative Alby's motion to sit at the city council and to the mayor's will, nobody can say we didn't get it. Would you recommend to be certified? Yes, I would, OK, and it seems a little draconian, but, but on the other hand, we can't just let this drag out indefinitely and since you're leaving us I won't have the, the advantage of your wise counsel, maybe we just need to get this wrapped up this year. Uh, any other discussion? On this particular matter. Yes, ma'am, you can go there at the table and introduce yourself. Yes, ma'am, if you'll sit down and push that button and, and when the light comes on, you just identify yourself for the. Greetings. I'm Janice Roberts. I am the city clerk of the City of Pine Bluff to assist you in this arm and this discussion, one of the most effective ways to get information out to any municipality is through your city clerk or your clerk recorder. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you. Thank you, Ms. Roberts, and I think it's very sage advice and uh uh while I don't want to disparage any council members or mayors. I found that city clerks often are about the most responsive people in local government, at least in my experience, and so I'm grateful for your advice on that. Representative 5 And I would agree with her also, but in these smaller cities like that, these seems to be our problem that we're having in the smaller cities part-time people. Yes, sir. OK, we send it to everybody maybe somebody will respond. So I, I guess I do have a motion on the table to send it to the council and if you would agree to a recommended amendment, Representative that are and Represented Dalby that we also also send to city clerk or the recorder treasurer, is that I mean, we'll do a scattergun approach, uh, and we have a motion in a second. Is there any other discussion? If not all in favor say aye, opposed, OK, we will staff y'all will take care of all that for us and appreciate that, uh. Any other thing we need to do on the, the reports of Archer on to Adam D. OK, we're going to move on to Adam. This is an update on Act 605 of 2021 the water rights studies, uh, is Mr. Collazer here? Perfect timing, Mr. Cloo pleasure, if you will step forward. He is, everyone knows he's with the ANRC and uh if you'll identify yourself with the record and you may begin. Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon, uh, members. So I'm, uh, Chris Calazer. I'm the natural resources division director at the Arkansas Department of Agriculture and just want to provide an update on Act 605 of 21. For those that may not be familiar with it, it, it was legislation that was passed really focused on retail water providers to ensure that they're, you know, fiscally sound and that they're taking care of their systems, so two main components as part of Act 605. Uh, first is that they, uh, do a rate study and there's a schedule for rate studies and then that they implement the rate studies and then there are some, uh, repercussions if they don't, for example, we can put them in fiscal distress if they do not do the rate study or implement the rate study and the, the whole purpose is that they're charging an adequate rate to take care of their system. Bottom line. So I'll, I'll give you just a quick update. The first set of rate studies that were due were for those that, um, systems that had 500 customers or less, those rate studies were due to us July 1 of this year. Uh, to date we have received 134 rate studies out of 259. Um, And we've been reviewing those, uh, and then. Excuse me, director, could you repeat that one more time? That's numbers. Yes, sir. So we were anticipating 259 rate studies for those systems that had 500 customers or less. To date, we've received 134. So a little bit more than half. Yes, sir, uh, about 52% sorry to interrupt you. And then, um, we have about 111 rate studies that are in process. One of the things that we learned. Was that a lot of our smaller communities, they, they are migrating to two rate study providers. We have about 33 rate study providers in the state that we've approved. But majority of those small communities are going to Communities Unlimited and to the Rural Water Association because they can get those rate studies done at a much cheaper cost than hiring a, a consulting engineer or a CPA to do those. And so they're backlogged right now and that's something we didn't really anticipate, but that's just kind of where we find ourselves two providers are, are backlogged, they're the majority of smaller systems to do their rate studies. OK, yes, sir, uh. Anything else, Mr. Cole? The other thing that I'll mention is, is one of the other major components of Act 605 was rape, uh, or. Water board trainings, so the majority of those um water system boards or city boards if they don't have their a separate system is that they're required to have the majority of the board has to go through 8 hours of training. And so since, uh, Act 30 or since Act 605, um, was enacted. We've had 140 individual trainings, um. And we've trained a total of 1,796 retail water provider board members. And so those board members that had more than 10 years of service on the board are exempted, so they didn't have to go. So if you think about it, uh, if a standard board had 5 members, uh, that would be total about 3,135 members and we're at about halfway, uh, of that. So we, we consider that to be a success. We funded. Training through the Arkansas Environmental Training Academy down in South Arkansas and then the Arkansas Rural Water Association, Dennis Sternberg back here in the back, they're also providing training, so we see that as a success. Next set of uh rate studies will be due to us in July 1 of 25, and those will be for those, um, Uh, retail water providers that have 501 customers to 1000 customers and we expect that to be close to 130 rate study. That concludes my report. Now, I have one question, Mr. Kleer, um, when you talk about these trainings, is that. When you say a training, that's one board member that got the training or if it is at one session. That's so there were 140 trainees made available. OK, so. Some might have had one or two. Some might have had 5 or something were only required to do one, but between virtual and I didn't mean the, I mean, number of members of the local water boards that that were trained, one training might have 1 or 2 members of the board and another might have several. Yes, sir, that's correct. OK, yeah, that was, I just wanted to clarify, you, sir. OK, uh, any questions for Mr. Cole Claisher, Representative 5. Thank you, Mr. Chair. You said you had a backlog between these, uh, these two consultants, have they given you a time frame on. On clearing up that backlog, I think Communities Unlimited has the smaller of the backlog, um, rural water has the larger of the backlog, and I think in visiting with Dennis, he's still going back and forth with some of those communities or the the water systems to get information from them so it's hard to predict because, uh, they may not have submitted all the information needed. Follow up, please. Yes, sir, go ahead. Uh, is, is it pretty detailed, uh, the information they need to complete these. Yeah, I mean, so in the rule, it's, there's the guide on what is required in the rate study and all the rate study providers have that information and then they're submitting them to us and we are reviewing those to make sure that they comply with the rule. OK, so it's not that complicated then. It's not that complicated. All right, thank you. Thank you, Representative. Other questions. Representative more Thank you, Mr. Chair. Are there repercussions for the looks like 125 that have not met the July 1st date. So yes, there are repercussions if if a system fails to do a rate study or fails to implement the rate study, then we can put them in fiscal distress. We're trying to be flexible since this is the first year and it's a new, you know, it's a new requirement on them and we have some unforeseen backlogs, so we're trying to be flexible, um, but at some point we will have to put some systems in fiscal. OK, other questions. No, thank you very much for coming, Mr. Collazer. We'll try to show a little patience and I know that they're trying and if there's just a limited number of, of nominally priced. Entities that can do that. We understand, we know they're trying to save their uh system people money, so anyway, thank you for coming. Thank you very much. OK, we will now move to update on, uh, now before I go to Jefferson County, I, I understood there may be some people here from Lone Oak County, is that correct? That's the first time on the deferred. I mean, you do when you go to someone that's on the deferred list. Oh, it's on the deferred. I did not. We're going do that after we do these two, you folks will stand by we'll we'll do Jefferson Phillips next, um, uh. Ms. Roberts, are you here to represent, the judges, OK, well, I'm sorry, I just, I want to be all-inclusive if I could, uh, Your Honor, um, and then, then we'll do uh update on Jefferson County. You recognize Mr. Archer. Thank you, Mr. Chair. In the September meeting or in the July meeting, the committee asked uh Judge, uh, kind of Judge Gerald Robinson to, uh, appear in the September meeting with the minutes of the August. Uh, court meeting to, um, Demonstrate that the finding had been corrected, which was that the that the um. Priority audit findings had not been reviewed and discussed, uh, Judge Robinson had a conflict. He sent the minutes to me and I also they sent me a link to the live stream and I viewed both, but Judge Robinson is here today to answer any questions that y'all may have in his absence of last month, Judge, if you'll go to the end of the table and introduce yourself to the room. Good evening, good afternoon, everyone. I'm, uh, County Judge Gerald Robinson, uh, I was here in July, I believe, uh. Uh regarding this, there was a conflict and apologize for, uh, not being able to make it, but there was, we had a judges conference, uh, that was some pretty hot topics we needed to uh. Clear work on and clear up. So, uh, that was the reason why I wasn't here but uh again I apologize, but I'm, I'm here, uh, at the, you know, because I said I would be back and I and we took care of business and. And so if anyone had any questions I'll be, um feel free to ask any questions for Judge Robinson, Representative Dalby. Thank you Mr. Chair. This is more a question for staff, Mr. Archer, you reviewed what was sent to you, uh, did they comply with our request in your opinion? Yes, they did. They, they reviewed the minutes, uh reviewed the reviewed the 2, the 3 findings that were in the report, I believe, and they had good discussion on it and uh I said, I went ahead and they sent me the minutes and I went ahead and watched the live stream and they did comply. OK, thank you. I have a question. But the judge, if I may please proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Judge, what actions are you taking to for y'all to become a compliant into the audit findings that were found there in Jefferson County, can you just kind of let the committee know what you're doing to rectify that. Yes, ma'am. Thank you for that question. Uh, uh, for each issue there was a pretty hearty discussion as to how to correct um um those Those issues and so we have uh uh. Pretty good, uh, again discussion on what each department needed to do in order to do that as far as uh um. My office, what we did, uh, that was not sufficient before what we just had audio and video and we failed to put it in the minutes and that's why uh we did that so we it's, you know, with my legislative clerk, uh, uh, it is mandatory that she review and make sure that we get that, um, uh, on the agenda and to follow up to make sure that those minutes uh at a request either by email or Uh, or physically going down to uh retrieve those minutes from the county clerk's office and so uh so that this won't happen again. Any more questions? OK. Judge, thank you for coming. I really appreciate you guys' patience and uh so hopefully it's hard to be everywhere at once. You can see their turnout today. Got a few memories I wish they would have put us a little higher on the pecking order. I understand Mr. Archer, no action needs to be taken action needed today. OK. Thank you, Judge. A appreciate it. Thank you. Now we'll move to Phillips County and I understood that uh Judge Hall had a, a health issue or something he's not able to be here, but is there anyone representing Phillips County here today. Can I give a quick update. Uh, yes, please, Mr. Archer, give the update and then we'll see if there's someone here I've been in contact with, uh, officials from Phillips County on numerous occasions this week in the September meeting, uh, Judge Hall was provided with a list of documents to supply to us by this date and he was to bring them here and he, he sends his apologies and he was, says he's available for the December meeting if the committee so chooses, of the items that he was, um, asked to provide Uh, our staff looked over these yesterday. We met with him yesterday morning, looked over him, and it's, it's our opinion that he provided everything that is available and the only things that weren't available were, were bid documentation for the janitorial services, which Um, believe Judge Hall said that they, they didn't bid it to start with, so that wasn't, uh, surprising, uh, as far as anything different that we received this time and when we did the engagement, nothing substantial was provided, so just nothing that certainly nothing that would change the finding or, uh, cause us to revisit it. One other note that we're there, um. Presently and hope to finish the 23 engagement to have it here in the December meeting, fingers crossed. OK, Mr. Archer, was the amount of the, you believe you said janitorial services, was it, uh, low enough that it would be exempt from bid requirements or not. So they should have bid it, OK. Noted for the record, uh, any other comments, questions on the Phillips County situation? Representative Dalby, just a quick question for for our staff. Um So, What the chair just ask you in regard to the fact that these were not underneath but or above and needed to be. Uh, bid out is this now something that we need to make sure is referred over to the prosecuting attorney and to the attorney General's office. As part of our I believe this one was referred already. It's been referred referred I just wanted to make sure it was if it hadn't been. OK, thank you. Thank you. Good question, Representative Dalby. OK, so we do not need to do anything else on Phillips County right now. Do we have a standing invitation for Judge Hall to come answer questions when he gets around to it. He's an old friend of mine. I can pick on him if I want to, and he's also a former legislator, so. Uh, do we want to invite him to December's a good question, any discussion on that matter? Do we want to invite Judge Clark Hall to attend, uh, next month. Or be December now, wouldn't it December. Y'all seem enthusiastic about that. But I mean, I don't see if he's done everything. I mean, he's and staff is, OK, I I believe our staff and so if we've got what we've asked for, I can add this that it's a standing policy with any engagement we do that we follow up on any prior you're finding for the current status. So if there's a problem with any findings, whether it's this one or any other finding, it will be repeated or revisited in the current engagement and that should be anyway. Or the next meeting after that at the very latest, so which would be like me since we're going into a session, um. I appreciate your point, Representative I'm good with whatever the chair thinks we need to do, the chair is good with what the staff thinks we need to do in this case. I'm, I'm, uh, uh, the only thing I want to make sure of is that if, uh, there are any questions that the committee have of, of Judge Hall that they actually are entitled to get their answers, so, uh, if there's nothing really pressing, and again there's nothing to keep him from keeping any of us from calling them and saying, Hey, do you, can you tell us what's going on here? Send us a letter to the staff that answers that. So I guess at this point, we don't need to. Revisit it, but we reserve the right to do that. Is that a fair way of looking at it, Mr. Arch? That's that's y'all's prerogative. Yes, sir. OK. OK then, well, we'll, we'll move on to the review reports and I guess we've got deferred that we'll start, so turn it over to our staff, Mr. Archer. Uh, thank you, uh, Mr. Chair. We have 3 deferred reports from the prior meeting starting on pages 1 through 5, we're gonna focus on page 4. We have a Lone Oak County. We're just going to focus on the uh county clerk's finding, uh, this meeting, a review of payroll records in the county clerk's office for the period January 1, 22 to July 22nd of 23 reveal the following questionable payments totaling over $4200 involving three employees due to the following vacation leave taken before leave was earned. Comp time without taxes withheld. Overpayments due to hours worked before reported, uh, by because of due to reporting and incorrect pay period. duplicate payments for inclement weather, personal leave without adequate supporting documentation for hours available and miscalculation of comp time. We recommend the county consult with legal counsel regarding the legality and the irreconcilable nature of the clerk's executive office policy compared to the Lone Oke County's personal policy. Uh County clerk, Don Porterfield has been here the last two meetings to answer questions. Uh, she's here 3 meetings, uh, she's here again and I If we have questions for her or how does the committee want to proceed? Well, Ms. Porterfields here, I think we'll ask her to come to the table. You don't mind? Senator Love. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, I, I recall this, um, this report back because uh I had actually, um. ran into some of the staff or previous staff or whatever and they said that they had a comment or two to make in regards to that and then they had some information that they wanted to submit to to legislative audit and so I mean I don't wanna just belabor this point, but if they could come, they could make a comment or two in regards to what they have and then turn the information over to staff. I don't think this needs to be belabored, and I don't think that Ms Ms. Porterfield did. Come and answer the questions, but the thing about it is that when I talk to to I guess these employees or former employees or whatever they said that they had a statement that they would like to make in regards to this, so I don't want to just drag this out, but it drag out, I promise. OK, so if, if we could just have them come and make their comments so that we can. That those from Lake County and the clerk's not just, uh, Ms. Porterfield, but whoever else needs to come. If you could come to the end of the table and give us the information and you know as Senator Love suggested, let's keep it concise and certainly you can extend your record by providing the written information you have to our staff. Ma'am, you would identify yourself for the record. My name is Ray Bryant. I work at the Lonoke County Courthouse. I've been there for 17 years is a custodian supervisor. Yes, ma'am. What I'm about to tell you is I am scared that I'm going to be fired for reporting what is going on inside the Lono County courthouse, but it has to be told. I am here today in rebuttal to what Lonoke County clerk Da Porterfield testified in the September 2024 meeting. Don't po the was the Lonoke County clerk when she when I started working for the county in 2007. So this is not done first term as Long County clerk. Dan has been a loan account clerk for over 15 years. The office is still not calculating the clock time right in March 2024, Don Page, 70 hours cash and comp time to one of her employees. And in June of 2024 Doug paid cast out another one of her employees 30 hours of come time. So she can go on vacation. I fo I done. Employees' time sheets and I found that they are still getting comp time and not working the full 40 hours a week that they're supposed to be working. We also Went over dawn's time sheets. And we found that no time was given back to the county like Dawn said in the September meeting. This is taxpayer money, and I'm on Loo County taxpayer, and I'm in Lono County employee for 17 years, and I see the misuse of our county dollars. And there are so many more issues that needs to be looked at and Don Porterfield's office, Delono County Treasury, Patty Wether's office, Delono County Circuit clerk office, Deborah Oglesby. We have been very vocal in almost every corn court meeting about the issues in the Long County courthouse, but nothing is being done. We have been asking for time clocks, human resource office, an accounting degree uh for somebody to take care of all the time sheets. They are putting my social security number from Dar's office on my check stubs. It is so much going on down there. That they really need to be looked at. This is Mr. Pete Peterson here. He's Donald Peterson, Delono County Assessor's husband, OK. Mr. Peterson, do you have a brief statement? I'm Bill P Peterson. Uh, I'm a It's just identify yourself for the record and make your statement. Yeah, I've been, I've been elected JP down there 2 times and appointed 1 time. And when this when this was first brought up. I went, I went to start looking at what Ms. Ray's complaint was, and we found out and we found some so much stuff. And after listening to the last month. Me, I would like to speak on the uh some comments that Miss Pfield had made and in my view, we're not factually sounds. OK, sir, now as I've mentioned previously, we are under time constraint. I'll be happy to allow you to speak for just a few minutes very quickly, pleasefield said that this was just a clerical error. In her office. Well, When we found this, I went to the labor board and they showed me how you figured the comp time. Went back to the court me and and, and told them about how to figure the time. This is about a year, 1 year and a half ago. So she been made of breast of what was going on then, but it's absolutely nothing about it. Can also she's talking about. Um, Jason talking about there was no money paid back. I mean more money pay the accident was like Missrank Sam that they were being paid for the calm time, which is outside the shop of the personnel policy. And the vacation time that had been overpaid. Uh, to, to one of the employees in question. What was, was the fact that She had resigned prior to her date of eligibility for the 80 hours that you had. And then they sent in our policy books so you have to give 22 weeks now to be in good standing. That is a good standing in case you want to be rehired. Well, after, after that point, she resigned. 25 days later she was rehired as a part-time employee. So that, so that that that tells me. Now this poor fellow also said that When the situation arrives. Yeah time or many time on back would be repaid back to the county with their last check, which in this case was not done. Yes sir, I'm gonna interrupt you there and I appreciate you sharing this with us. You do have some written documentation that you can present to our committee staff. Is that correct? I've, I've got some stuff that that would have to make copies of they'll work with you, these ladies over here will help you, but I want to mention this, we're with the, the deferred report. Is the uh Period for on the payroll records was through January 122 through July 22, 23 and information you've shared with us is both inside and outside of that time period and I want the staff to have the opportunity to reconcile all that so we're, we're either making note of something that needs to be reviewed for the 23 audit or let's see if it's a consideration for the 22 audits, so, uh, as you can see, we're in different time periods here and I want to make sure that It's all done carefully, uh, if, if it be all right, I'd ask y'all, if we could wrap up, you'll see these ladies over here and provide that information and also your contact information if we need to do that. Excuse me. I, I'm, I'm, I've got one other thing that troubled me very quickly, sir, said he gave a school. Well how do you want my car? And all the election officials in Keny that Miss Pham made a statement that she didn't have to listen to this crap. He got up and walked out of his meeting which which tells me she's untrainable. She's gonna do it her way, the only way. And nobody else is going to tell them what to do and how to do it. I cut you off on that because this is kind of what some places would be called hearsay, I believe, uh, but thank you both for coming. Please provide our staff with that information. I have a witnesses that fast. Thank you, sir. Representative Dalby, you recognize and y'all are dismissed. Thank you, Mr. the written test information for our staff. Representative Day, you ready, I have a question for staff. This will show I, I, I'm not sure about this, but doesn't the state have like a wage an hour uh department or division that can go out and investigate, uh, wage and hour issues. Do we? I'm the Department of Labor Department of Labor wouldn't fall within there? That I would, I would presume so, but I don't absolutely know Representative my question would be to staff is could we investigate to see if the Department of Labor might be able to go out and look at some of these wage and hour issues that have just been brought up that would be in violation of state and federal law and let them also look along with Wall our audit, uh, folks are looking just as the chair has suggested that they review the material and That, but can we ask them to bring Jones to respond to it just seems like to me that would be, let that department look at that issue and our department, our audit people look at their issue. I would think so, but I don't want to speak for the staff. Mr. Jones, could you talk about there may be some responsibilities that go both with the, the executive branch side and the legislative audit side, Mr. Jones, if you'll comment or the best you can to clarifying what Representative Dalby was asking. has the authority to ask us to, we could refer this, we could send the matter to them and visit with them about that. Um, so they could look into the issue. I think a lot of What their argument was at the table was that the clerk Wasn't truthful in her Um, Testimony last time. Now that You know, you know, we have the finding in the, the report dealt with those payroll issues. There were several issues there, um, but yes, we could, we could contact the department of, you know, if the committee. That that's the committee's will. Mr. Chair, I would, uh, make that request if it needs to be in the form of a motion that we ask audit to also contact that department, work hand in hand so that if there are truly wage in our violations that there's somebody on that. Avenue working it. That would be my, my request if that needs to be a form of motion, and that's our motion motion. Is there a second? Seconded by Representative Moore, discussion. Senator Love, you're looking at me, but you, and you have but I didn't have much more to say. I, I definitely agree with Representative Darby because uh Mr. Jones is correct, the premise of, of me recalling the report was because the people did say that Ms. Porterfield was not truthful now I'm not here to debate if Ms. Porterfield was truthful or not, but to actually have labor look at the look at the reports and actually see what's going on. I think that. more uh a more pragmatic approach to this, OK, thank you, Senator. Uh, did, did we get a second, more, more representative Moore did suck. Any discussion on the motion or any questions about the motion. Can I get a point of clarification? Are we deferring the report to get that or we filing the report with that request? I don't know. What do you think? That's why I can update you on, I can, I say let's defer it so that we'll maybe we'll have some more information your motion to defer and request that they request that. That is a proper motion. You're still seconding that representative Moore, I presume. OK. Any discussion on the amended motion. If not, all in favor say aye, opposed. Motion passed. Thank you. One more point of clarification. Yes. Do we want to invite the officials back for this update or just you want us to update it whatever they that we did because I'm, I have no time frame on when they're going to get to that. I mean, we can't control what wage and hour reduction we could let the staff decide once the information is received, whether it would be appropriate to certainly notify those, the, the local officials, so they at least know what's going on and. Can come whether it's that I see nods from Porterfield. We, we're not hiding from you, but we're not compelling you when there's nothing here for y'all to talk about. So we'll, we'll leave that until we know a little bit more about where we are on it. OK. That's we've got Lone Oak I guess. It was there more on Lone Oak that structure. OK, you're moving forward continue with deferred reports on page 6. We have the town of Mount Vernon. On the recorder treasure. The quarter treasury did not submit to the council a monthly financial report, a similar finding was noted in the previous report. Uh, recorder treasurer Sherry Beason was invited. She has been in contact with us. She has some health issues. We reached that staff reached out to her and the mayor, and they provided us with a current packet that was provided to the city council and it has made great strides in, in becoming compliance staff recommends that we file this. With that objection, it'll be filed. We move on to Whitaker village now. I continued on page 6. We have Whittaker Village under the recorder treasure. The bank accounts were not properly reconciled and reconciliations were not approved by someone other than the preparer as required by code. This is the 2nd time this one's been repeated. The annual financial statements were not published or posted as required by code. Uh, summer final has been uh. repeated prior to reports, cash receipts and dispersement journals were not properly posted or reconciled with bank deposits and withdrawals and non-compliance with code. This is a repeat finding. I believe we have a quarter treasurer Michelle Robbins here today to answer questions. Yes, sir. Uh. We are working on that, identify yourself for the record and we'll be glad to hear your testimony, Michelle Robbins, recorder treasurer for the city of Whittaker Village. Please proceed, ma'am. We are, I am working on that, uh, well, I have finally got a roof on my office. I have things that get wet. And uh I've had computer issues because Uh, my computers went down twice and uh when I was getting ready for my audit, um. I had to put in 4 years' worth of data to get it everything up for the audit because I had gotten a virus in my computer. Had somebody come in to check it and try to get it back online, but we just could not. But, but any, but everything is we, I've got a roof now. I don't get wet when I work in my office, uh, my papers are not getting wet. And so everything is proceeding forward. Bless your heart, we, we see what's going on in Florida and the East Coast, we didn't realize we folks in Arkansas with their roof leaking too, but I feel for you and thank you for making progress on this, uh. Any questions again? If not, uh, And without objection we'll file this report. Thank you for coming. Thank you. Thank you. on page 7, we've got two reports that are certified to the bond board as well as referred to the prosecuting attorney and the attorney general. Um, on page 7, we start with Yale County 2022. Under the sheriff Cash receipts collected by the sheriff's office personnel exceeded cash bank balance, deposits by over $41,000 for the period January 1, 2023 through March 8th of 24. Our review identified improperly voided receipts, funds transferred improperly from another sheriff's office bank account and unreceeded checks of almost $9500. The sheriff's office bookkeeper was custodian of these funds, not deposited and responsible for the 40 receipts and account transfers. Subsequent to an investigation by the Arkansas State Police, Ches de Gault was charged with theft of property. This is again, this has been referred to the prosecuting attorney in the AG's office. Staff recommends we file. Any objection to filing the report. If not, it's ordered file. 10 on page 8 still referred to the bond board and the PA and the AG's city of Brinkley, 2023. Under the clerk, treasurer and the police chief. City discovered that a credit card issued to a police officer whose employment was terminated in October of 23. was not canceled or returned to the police department. The car was used to make non-business fuel purchases totaling over $2800 for two months after the officer's employment ended. Staff recommends we file a question. I got a couple of questions on this, uh, it says under. Response and this was 23 and so it's almost a year ago. And it says after an investigation it was determined that former officer had been using the card for about 2 months and letting other people use it. This was after he was terminated. And that we're still awaiting warrants on that, is that That's the current status as of today? All right, Michelle. OK, I'm not. Somebody step. I'm sorry, Michelle. That's OK you were about to respond. I didn't see you sitting there. Go right ahead. This is the response of the entity provided. Uh, we have just referred this matter to the prosecuting attorney. So we haven't received a response from the prosecuting attorney OK, I just want to make sure they weren't, uh, you know, we're getting all paranoid here that they're ignoring us, but hopefully, they're not. So we'll just, then we will go ahead and file this, that objection. Thank you, Michelle. OK. Uh, we have 5 reports that are referred to the PA and the AG's office, um, starting on page 9 through 12. We have the Fulton County Volunteer Fire Department and we've got staff member Michelle Ashley here to present this report. It's actually you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This report is issued in response to requests from the 16th Judicial District prosecuting attorney for audit to review selected transactions of the Morriston, Glencoe, and Nine Mile Ridge Volunteer Fire Departments in Fulton County. The objectives of the review were determined if all revenue was properly deposited, selected disbursements for for proper department purposes and selected equipment items were accounted for properly. The review was conducted primarily for the period January 1st of 2020 through September 30th of 2022. Each of the three departments are nonprofits that provide various levels of fire, rescue and emergency medical services throughout Fulton County. The departments are each governed by a board of directors. and financial records are maintained by a treasurer. Funding sources for each department are primarily county-wide sales tax and state aid also referred to as Act 833 funds. First, we'll look at the Morriston department, uh, public funds distributed to the Morriston department were traced to deposits in the proper bank accounts as as indicated in exhibit 1 on page 2 of your report and no exceptions were noted. A review of undocumented disbursements, a review of records revealed $10,599 in undocumented dis dispersements by the Morriston Department, as shown in exhibit 2 on page 3 of your report. Due to insufficient documentation, audit staff were unable to determine a valid business purpose for these disbursements, included in this amount was undocumented Act 833 expenses totaling a little over $1100. In addition, at the Morriston department, the fire chief moved a recreational vehicle on the department property in 2021. The RV was connected to Department Electricity and the fire chief and family members utilize the bathroom and kitchen facilities located inside the fire station daily. Review of financial records revealed that no reimbursements were made to the department for use of its resources. According to the fire chief, this arrangement was approved by the board to decrease the response time of the department. ALA staff were unable to verify this assertion because board meeting minutes for this time period was unavailable. Furthermore, staff did not have sufficient information to determine how much of the increase in utility costs resulted from this arrangement. In other matters, volunteer firefighters for the Morriston and Glencoe departments received 15 and $10 respectively for each call to which they responded to assist them with the cost of fuel and other expenses. It was brought to the attention of audit staff that some volunteers are dual members of both departments. Allegations were made that some individuals receive duplicate payments for calls for which both departments responded. Call logs for the period January 20th. Timber of 2022, only identified volunteers by their call numbers and call numbers for volunteers who have left the departments are reused and a record of the numbers assigned was not maintained. As a result, these allegations could not be substantiated. Next, the Glencoe department, a public funds distributed to the Glencoe department were traced to deposit in the proper bank accounts, as indicated on exhibit 3 of page 4, and no exceptions were noted. A review of records revealed 6,805 in undocumented disbursements by by the Glencoe department. Due to insufficient documentation, staff was unable to determine a valid business purpose for these disbursements and no undocumented Act 833 expenses were noted. In addition, fire protection premium tax funds are restricted by Arkansas code for expenses related to the purchase of equipment, training, capital improvements, insurance for building, utility costs, and other expenditures necessary for upgrading the service provided by a department. ALA staff noted a purchase of a $4000 lawnmower paid from Glencoe Departments Act 833 funds that appears to be an unallowable use of these funds. Next, at 9 Mile Ridge, public funds distributed to the Nine Mile Ridge department were traced to deposits with no exceptions. A review of records revealed $11,000 in undocumented disbursements by the 9 Mile Ridge department as shown on page 6 of your report. Due to lack of documentation, staff was unable to determine a valid business purpose for these disbursements and included in this amount was undocumented Act 833 expenses, totaling $6,345. The 9 Mile Ridge department donated a total of 400 to a business, $200 to a business and a $200 to an individual in 2020. Although the nine-mile ridge department is a nonprofit corporation. It is primarily funded with public money, therefore, making gifts and private donations and improper use of funds. Our review discovered inadequate financial records and internal control deficiencies in all three of the departments. Invoices were not always retained to support disbursements, equipment listings were not maintained periodic inventories were not conducted. Ledgers were not prepared for all bank accounts and bank reconciliations were not always recorded. Financial duties were not adequately segregated, and the board did not provide fiscal oversight and minutes were not available for all board meetings. Staff recommends that Three departments maintain adequate financial records and segregate financial duties to the extent possible. We further recommend that the boards provide adequate fiscal oversight of their respective departments, bank statements be reviewed monthly by someone not involved in the bookkeeping process and financial transactions be monitored. Furthermore, staff recommends that Fulton County consider implementing a monitoring and reporting process for volunteer fire departments that receive sales tax funding from the county and it should be noted that At Fulton County ordinance, Fulton County ordinance requiring Departments receiving sales tax funds to track spending and provide a list of all expenditures has been passed and staff verify with the county treasurer that the departments are following the requirements of the ordinance and no issues have been noted. So in closing our staff reviewed that public funds received by the three departments were properly deposited. However, there were undocumented disbursements totaling 10,000, 6000, and $11,000 noted at the various departments. A portion of the disbursements at the Morriston and Nine Mile Ridge apartments were associated with Act 833 expenses. This report was requested by the PA, and the results have been provided to the 16th Judicial District prosecuting Attorney and the Attorney General. OK, actually I had a couple of questions first. Uh, these These 3 pretty good size undocumented disbursements. They were done and then I would assume in response to that the quorum Court passed an ordinance that Require them to keep the documentation, so we at least give them the county credit for trying to address that. The other thing I had is about the lawnmower, uh. When you say appears unal allowable for I, I know that Act 833 can go for equipment. I don't know if. Um, this is a stretch, I know, but if you have an area where you have fires and the grass is high, if you cut the grass, it might reduce the risk of fire. I don't know, but who would determine Whether an expense like that is allowable under Act 833. Because I know that's, that's a premium tax amount that that's special revenue, I believe, is that right? I would believe the Department of Emergency Management would have that. They oversee the AA33 funds, if you could verify that for us, Michelle. I'm. Uh, not that we do anything about it in the past, but we'd like to, I think it's fair if it's unclear that we have what their, what the status of a of a law, I again it's what's the actual situation wherever, but let, let them tell us. We can follow up on that. And the other thing I had was, it was pretty well answered later. I'd noted it, but OK, I, I think that's all my questions. Any other questions? Representative 5. Uh, is there intentions by these fire departments to pay to act 83833 money back. For the proper purpose. A lawn mower is not a proper representative, I guess we, we're, that's a good question. I want her to answer it, but remember, we're talking about Something that that was not adequate documentation, documentation, should they be able to find that could perhaps make it acceptable, but then again, might not. So I'll leave that end open, but please continue with your question. Normally the fire service coordinator signs off on these, it's usually training and equipment to improve ISO ratings. Uh, with what she's read today, none of that was for that and they would disqualify them the next round of funding that would happen, I think in November normally they they meet split the funds up. So by this, we don't know if any action has been taken in that part, uh, but the court did take some actions, it appears, you know. And that was my point too, Representative, is that while they maybe closing the barn door after the horse got out, at least they're trying to forestall any any future problem but lawnmower is definitely not qualified for it. OK, well, but I want to hear that because in certain contexts it might be in certain types of lawnmowers are almost like a tractor you can hook a lot of different things up to them and and do that like a uh we'll let, we'll let the proper authorities at emergency management tell us. Thank you. fight and I won't tell you for the record for everybody here. Is it too late for you to change your mind and run again. Yes. OK, but thank you for your always valuable input and of course, uh representative Fit's a former county judge, so he brings us a lot of wisdom, uh. Ms. Ashley, you may continue unless we're done or are we done with there's a separate Fulton County, that's that's. Archer has that. OK, we need the one on the on the fire departments, uh, is it motion to. 2 Second, all in favor say aye. OK, thank you. So those will be filed continuing on page 13 under referred reports referred to the prosecuting attorney and the attorney General's office. We have Fulton County 2023. Under the county judge and county circuit clerk. The county paid $99,100 from May 2023 to June of 24 to employee for cleaning services without an authorizing ordinance as required by code. Staff recommends we file. Without objection, it'll be filed. Cersei County continued on page 14 under reports referred to the prosecuting attorney and Attorney general. We have Cersei County on page 14 for 2022. Under the county judge and the county circuit clerk. A review of disbursements revealed the following payments issued without adequate documentation and noncompliance with code. Over $73,000 to a local quarry over $44,000 to equipment dealer $2400 to an individual for the purchase classified as equipment and $971 to a local hardware store. Under the district court clerk and probation officer. Probation officers responsible. For collecting district court time payments to be settled with the sheriff and city of Marshall, as well as probation fees to be settled with the county treasurer. During our review of receipts collected by the probation officer, we were unable to reconcile receipts to to settlements from January 1, 22 to May 28th at 24, was just a little over $11,000 net difference in that period. In addition, we note the following areas in noncompliance with code. Receipt books were not. Pre-numbered by the printer, receipts were not deposited timely, receipts and receipt books were not maintained and settlement documentation did not identify receipts settled. Oh on page 16 under the airport commission chairperson. The following issues were noted in our review of the air airport commission records in noncompliance with code, cash receipts were not issued for all items of income, cash receipts and disbursement journals were not properly maintained. Invoices were not provided for review. This is a repeat finding. Electronic fund transactions were used, but no written policy or procedures existed in noncompliance with code. Former a former bank reconciliations were not prepared for bank accounts. This is a repeat finding the last two reports. The um The first two findings on the judge and the settlements were are reported to the, uh, prosecuting attorney in the AGs, the airport commission did not respond to our audit, uh, staff recommends that we defer to give him more time to defer, I mean, to respond to the findings of discussion on deferral. That objection will be deferred to the next meeting. Continue on page 16 with engagements referred to the PA and AG. We have Cent Grove Water Users Association Incorporated for 2023, which was prepared by a private CPA. The organization had an employee use organizational credit cards for personal expenses. The fraudulent use of credit cards started in 2022 with the majority of the unauthorized expenses occurring in 23 and 24. The employee was terminated and currently being prosecuted. The employee managed to defraud the organization of over $60,000 in 2023 and over $12,000 in 2024. The organization filed a claim for insurance and was reimbursed over $70,000 in May of 2024. Staff recommends we file. Any questions or comments? With that objection, it'll be filed. Tucker, page 17, continued under uh referred to the PA and the AG. We have the city of Tuckerman 2023. Under the mayor and the city clerk treasurer in May of 2022, the city council passed a motion allowing Jackson County to purchase a drug dog for the city. Contract between the city and the county was not executed. However, according to city officials, the parties verbally agreed that the dog would be used countywide. But the handler would be a city officer. Additionally, the city conducted fundraisers to help cover expenses related to the dog. In March of 23, the officer handler resigned from city employment and began working for the county in April of 23, the city dispersed the remaining funds raised for dog expenses a little over $1800 to the handler without proper support. documentation. This transaction appears to be in conflict of Article 12, Section 5. That's kind of complicated. It is, uh, continuing on the city clerk and treasure, the city clerk on page 1618, I'm sorry, on page 18, the city clerk treasurer presented monthly financial reports to the council. However, receipts, disbursements, and balances on hand were not presented for all funds and amounts presented were not accurate. And noncompliance with code. This is a repeat finding. I believe city, uh, clerk treasurer Vicky Adams is here today. Ms. Adams, would you like to take a seat there. Identify yourself for the record, Fiy Adams, Tuckerman City clerk. Yes, ma'am. Uh, can you talk to us about this? What was that again? Could you repeat it? Well, we just, this is your opportunity to respond to the, the, the audit. OK. What part of it? Start with the drug dog payment to the handler, the officer come in and, um, He, he, uh, we had opened an account for the They had done a fundraiser for the expenses of the drug dog. He had left and gone to the county and he come in for the remainder of the 18, it was 1803, something like that. And the mayor. Said, pay him. I didn't do it on my own, and that's what. What I did. He opened up an account at the bank. And he showed that it was for the drug dog, but he did not have the proper documentation. And just as soon as the auditor pointed, I saw it when it when I went to the bank to get the information I knew it was a mistake. Yes, ma'am. I so the The the handler, the officer that was the dog handler, basically left the city, went to work for the county. Yes, but, but the dog the dog's doing the same thing he was doing before. Yes, he took the dog, the county took the. Purchase the dog from us. Well, this is. I thought we'd covered just about anything, uh, but I don't know if we can ever anticipate, you know, the dog moving around next time you'll have to bring the dog so he can answer these questions, but I. I don't know if I have any other questions. I wanted to give you an opportunity to respond, but I, this is, if you can try to keep those things sorted out in the future, I think everyone, including the dog would probably be happy. Any questions from the committee or comments? Co-chair, you recognize one question, um, on the uh page 18, it mentions 23,00533 was not transferred from the general fund to the fire truck fund, and it also says that uh in uh 48,000. Uh, for the years 19 and 22 were not transferred resulting in 71,0686 due from the general fund to the fire truck fund that I took office in 2019. My 1st 5 years, I was not aware that it had to be transferred. From the general fund to the fire truck and maintenance. We were paying for a fire truck out of the general fund. I don't know why the auditors didn't catch it. Before the whole 5 years. We have started Moving it General fund putting it in the fire truck and maintenance and we have set up a uh, Plan to repay monthly till we get it paid back to them. And how much would that monthly amount be paying a little over $1000 a month. And if we see that we can pay more, we, we're going to do that. OK, now you said this, let me, let me see what I heard. I might have said something different. That the city out of general fund was paying the expenses that would have been paid through the fire truck truck the dollars were used as they should have been but not accounted properly. I would stop moving it to their account, so it didn't take all of it. To make the fire truck payment. There was still some left over. And so we still owe them some money and that's the difference is the amount you're paying back at about $1000 a month the fire trucks off this year, and so when we can pay more, we'll pay more to get them payback. Any questions? If not, then go ahead and. file this report. objection. Thank you, ma'am, for clarifying that and make sure the dog gets fed the dog that's the county's problem, this, this is. I'm sorry, but I love dogs. The officer is no longer an officer and he actually has the dog as his personal dog now. So the the dog left the employee as well as the officers. They both left the county. So that may be yet another violation, especially if the county paid for the doll or the city paid for the dog before he became a county the dog from the county. He did, yes he did. OK. I tell people, if you really want to keep up something unusual, come to our committee. All right. Thank you, ma'am. I appreciate it. Did we, did we file it the motioning without objection, this will be filed. OK, start on page 19. We have 4 reports with repeat findings and on night opinion it's the city of, uh, Bradford, 2023. Under the mayor, city funds disbursement, excuse me, general fund disbursements exceeded appropriations by over $157,000 in noncompliance of code. This is a repeat finding under the district court clerk, the balance in the district court bank account was not identified with receipts issued for cases not yet adjudicated, and the payments made on all unpaid individual time accounts as required by code. The ending cash balance exceeded identified receipts by almost $4000. This will be repeated in the last 6 reports. I believe we've got the mayor, uh, Dennis Whitner and, uh, District court clerk Brandon McFaul here today. Mayor, Ms. Paul, y'all come forward? Y'all both sit down and please turn those mics on, introduce yourself to the record, Mayor, I guess you should go first. Uh, thank you. Uh, my name is Dennis Whitetner. I'm the mayor at Bradford. Um, a response to the finding. Since our last audit, uh, We put in place on our, uh, annual budget, uh, every 2 months. We go back myself and the clerk goes back and reviews, uh, the budget and. Try to keep it updated for this won't happen again. OK. You have anything to add, ma'am? Uh, I'm Brandy McFaul. I'm the district court clerk. On ours, uh, we have been dealing with it for apparently 6 years. This is prior to my employment, uh, last year we got with the attorney to start an order to get this taken care of and put into the correct account. Uh, we have finally got the order and it will go through city council on the 21st of this month, and it should be distributed to the correct account. OK, great. Any questions? Representative. Thank you, Mr. Chair. My question is to the mayor. Can you tell us where this $157,971. Oh, that's a lot of. The is for a town of 678 people. Yes, ma'am, I agree, uh, Wyatt County passed a countywide fire department tax for the, uh, the spending and stuff. Uh All of that was Toward the fire department like uh a new fire truck, but that's where the money come from. It was a, uh, a sales tax you tell me if I'm hearing this correctly. You got this as your share of that fire department tax from the county, but you didn't have an appropriation ordinance to spend it. Is that kind of what happened? Well, what it was, we have, it was 4 equipment, but it was when they got ready to like purchase a fire truck. We never went back and added it to the. Um, The appropriation ordinance, sir. OK, and that's, that's why I got have y'all corrected that? Yes, sir, we have. OK. Any other questions for the mayor and the clerk that objection is to be filed. Thank you, Mayor. Thank y'all. Continuing on page 19 under reports with deferred, I mean with a repeat findings we have the town of Gilmore, 2023. Under the mayor and reporter treasurer. Schedule one of this report shows a general fund balance of $5500. In addition, it was brought to our attention that as December 31st of 23, the general fund owes significant amounts to the IRAS for taxes owed as well as balances to the street fund and the fire equipment and training fund. It's noted on as shown in note 5 on Schedule 3 when these outstanding amounts are considered. The general fund had a deficit balance of over $28,000. Just to repeat finding from 2019. On page 20. Restricted street fund monies of $2100 was expended for unallowable purposes. Property taxes of $788 in state aid of over $6500 for highway funds in previous years owed the street fund will not transferred during the engagement period as required by code. The total amount due the street fund at $1231239,502. The city council passed the ordinance in 2022 to pay 10% of general revenues to the street fund each year until the ballots were paid in full. However, only 1.6% of the revenue was paid to the street fund in 2023. This finding a repeat finding back goes back to 2006. Mayor Bruce Delaney was invited. Don't believe he's here. Staff recommends we defer this report. You know, we're constantly dealing with these situations where they're paying things out of the wrong funds and everything and I. that when When people make an agreement and they don't honor it, I get a little aggravated, especially when what they paid was only 1.6% of revenues paid back to street funds so I'm, yes, I think without objection we will defer this, but this is one I want to just to kind of note for the record that we need to check out a little bit more carefully and uh a lot of these are just plain old honest mistakes. This one looks a little egregious because they obviously had made a deal and didn't follow through with it. Comments questions about this one? OK, if not, we, we, it will be deferred and we'll move forward I guess Grady's next. Continue on page 20 under repeat findings of the city of Grady, uh, Mayor Charles Knight was invited. 00, there he is, he's hiding mine in the post back there, uh, city mayor, city of Grady 2023 uh under the mayor, they audit or agree Paul procedure report has not been obtained from this, uh, Grady Water and sewer system for the years 2022 to 200. 18 is required by code. It's a repeat finding through 2018. Mayor Charles Knight's here to answer questions. Mayor Knight, please identify yourself for the record, Charles Knight, Mayor, City of Grady, OK. Y'all doing something toward getting this worked out? Yes, sir. I, I brought with me uh agreed upon procedures, uh, engagement letter with the uh Cersei, uh, company out of Monticello there at CPA fire is there, OK. Uh, alrighty, do we need to do anything else? recommend we file. OK, well, Mayor, that's we'll accept that and thank you for bringing that and sharing that with the committee and, uh, without objection, it'll be filed. Mayor, could you leave a copy of that or email me a copy. He's got it in his hand and just these ladies over here will take it from me. Thank you, Mayor. OK. Mr. Archer, you got it again. Continuing on page 2 under repeat findings, we have the city of Patmos 23, 22, and 21.quarter treasurer Randy Peters, uh, was invited. I've talked to Mr. Peters and he had a, uh, Uh, conflict and he wishes this to be deferred to the December meeting. OK. With that objection is deferred. Is there a second thing on Patmoss, or is that all the whole thing? I can read the findings if you wish, but we normally don't dispense with that. OK, Is there a second thing on Patmoss, or is that all the whole thing? I can read the findings if you wish, but we normally don't dispense with that. Thank you. Page 22. Starting on page 22, we have 12 private reports that we did not receive responses on staff recommends that we defer these until we have a chance to reach out and get responses. And that's, that's 22, 23. 24 and 25, is that pages 22 through 2323. OK, all the way down to number 27 on the list. OK, these are the The ports that have had not had responses that'd be down to the end of page 23 without objection, they'll be deferred. Uh, start on page 24. Start on pages 24, uh, through page 30. We have 30 reports with findings, uh, we recommend to file if there's no questions. I'll give you all a minute to kind of glance at these. If you have a question and we'll hold up until everybody gets a chance to at least take a look. I saw Cave Springs on here. I always think, do I need to stop and let Senator Hester know about this, but I guess we'll let it go this time, or he would have probably been asking me about it. Questions or comments on any of these reports? If not, then without objection, it'll be filed. Mr. Archer, pages 31 through 35 we have 108 reports without finding staff recommends that we file them. Without objection, they will be fired. Other questions? Of course one of my teachers once said, questions, comments or complaints. Uh Are we done fight F, Mr. Archer, sir. OK, now we won't be meeting next month. We will be meeting on December 5th. Uh, hopefully some of these folks. show up that had a little problem uh for health issue, uh, any questions, comments or complaints, advice? If not, then we stand adjourned. Thank you all for coming.