February 9, 2010 City Audit for 2009 Is Not in Bound Form Yet, But It May Be Ready for Finance Committee Meeting on February 11

After the Planning Commission meeting today, I asked new City Administrator Anthony Cox about the 2009 city audit.

He said it is "almost" ready.  According to Mr. Cox, the 2009 audit is not in official bound form yet, but he is hopeful that this audit--for the period 7/1/08-6/30/09--will be in final form in time for this Thursday's Finance Committee meeting.

If it's ready on Thursday, the 2009 city audit will be about six weeks late--while that's nothing to brag about, it's a definite improvement over the five to six-month delay in providing the 2008 audit! For background, click here, here, and here.

I was pleased that Mr. Cox offered to make the 2009 draft audit available upon request. The draft audit was passed out to the council on January 19th.  This was a refreshing attitude that is in marked contrast to interim-Administrator Lynn Wampler's refusal to provide a copy of the draft audit under the mistaken claim that it was not a public record.

Mr. Wampler was helpful to the council and appeared to have solid financial credentials. However, he was wrong in saying that the draft 2009 audit was not a public document and in refusing to provide it upon request.

Fortunately, the new City Administrator appears to be aware of what constitutes a public document.