Riverside receives audit

The Riverside City Council received its audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011, from Ann M. Menke CPA at its meeting Monday night. Menke presented the findings to the council, which she said showed that there were no instances of non compliance. She said there were areas that the city could improve upon and that her firm has discussed those with City Clerk Missy Carter. Carter said some of those issues have already been taken care of and that she and the council are in the process of addressing the rest.

Menke said that the city did not publish the gross salaries of its employees as it should have. Carter said that would be corrected in the future. Menke also said the city?s handbook is silent on whether exiting employees should receive compensation for their unused sick time. The council agreed to pay the unused sick time of former public works director Brad Herrig. The city handbook does not say that sick time should be paid nor does it say that it should not be paid. Menke said the council should update the handbook so that it says one or the other.

Councilor Ralph Schnoebelen said he thought that sick time was in the handbook at one time because it had been addressed in an earlier audit. Carol Ross, an employee of Ann Menke CPA who performed the city?s audit, said that Schnoebelen was correct in that the handbook once included a policy on sick time. She said her records showed that the city removed mention of sick time by passing a resolution to that effect on Dec. 17, 2007.

Menke said there were instances in which the city held water deposits too long, sometimes six months longer than the city should have. At the end of her presentation, Menke said that she felt comfortable that the inadequacies she highlighted would be fixed.

?We feel all of these things have been resolved,? she said.

Schnoebelen asked Menke why she gave the city a bill for $26,500 when Menke had earlier given a quote of $11,000. The city entered into a contract with Ann M. Menke CPA to perform its audit. The estimated fee, including out of pocket expenses, was given as $7,500 to $9,500. The cost of auditing the year-end report was estimated at $1,500.

The contract states that the maximum fee would be $11,000 assuming that there are no unexpected circumstances encountered during the audit.

Menke said the bill for the audit is more than the quote because her firm invested 150 more hours into researching the city?s funds than it expected. She said that the state auditor?s office received citizen requests to investigate certain things, and requested that Menke?s firm perform these additional investigations.

Schnoebelen told Menke that had her original quote been $26,500, her firm would not have been hired.

Schnoebelen said, ?I am a private business man. I have to fulfill my quote whether it kills me or not.?

Councilor Kevin Kiene asked Menke if her firm would have met the quoted price without the 150 hours of additional work. She said her firm would have met the quote in that case.

Councilor-elect Bob Schneider was in attendance and said that the most recent audit uncovered some of the same problems that the audit did four years ago.

?I don?t want the council to sit up here and blame the group that presented the petition,? he said. ?The community wants to make sure everything is on the up-and-up.?

Menke admitted that it was an unusually high bill for a town the size of Riverside. However, she also said that Riverside has an unusually large budget for a town its size.

The council voted 5-0 to accept the findings of the audit. The council did not vote on whether to pay Ann M. Menke CPA the $26,500 the firm requested. Carter said the council just received the bill that night and that the council would vote on that bill at its next meeting.

In other news, the council discussed whether to build a shelter on the former site of a tar tank on the south edge of town just off W61. Schnoebelen opposed the idea because he said there would be too much dust in the air from the nearby grain bins. Councilor Christine Kirkwood said she walked by the area in the fall and did not notice the dust. Schneider said the council should find out how much a shelter costs first.

A few councilors asked if city employees Bryan Lenz and Kevin Engel could build the shelter. Lenz said it would have to wait until spring but that it could be done. Councilor Rodney Waldschmidt made a motion to find out the cost of steel and tin, and that if those estimates come in under $3,500, to instruct city staff to build a shelter. The motion passed 4-1. Schnoebelen voted no. Waldschmidt, Kirkwood, Kiene and Todd Yahnke voted yes.

Monday?s meeting was the last for two councilors, Waldschmidt and Yahnke, and mayor Brian McDole. Waldschmidt?s and Yahnke?s seats will be filled by Schneider and Nate Kasdorf in January. McDole?s seat will be filled by former mayor Bill Poch.