The Crookston Ways and Means Committee held a special meeting on Monday night in the City Hall council chambers and reviewed the City’s audit, as well as the proposals for the City Administrator search.
CITY AUDIT PRESENTATION
The City hired Miller McDonald out of Bemidji to undertake the auditing duties. Jon Roscoe, an employee of Miller McDonald, gave the audit presentation to the board. Having an audit presentation is statutorily required by Minnesota municipal cities.
“The auditor comes and brings his report and tells the council essentially two things,” said City Administrator Corky Reynolds, “One, how are we doing operationally in terms of cash flow and things like that, and more importantly, he tells council members those policies and procedures. Which, in his opinion, can be better implemented in our City.”
During the presentation, it was determined by Jon Roscoe that the City reviewed its internal control policies. These policies regard the checks and balances, how the City can contract money received, and ultimately, what fund they can be placed in. “Those policies and procedures which are the best practices to make sure that our money and our funds are properly receipted,” said Reynolds, “Also properly expended and properly recorded so that we have a true picture of the operational, financial conditions but also the long term financial position of the city.”
Council members were also given the amount of money Crookston possesses in unrestricted funds, which is in the amount of approximately $2.7 million. This balance is created and indicated by assigned and committed funds, which can be subject to change with council member action. “Here’s a great example of that. We have committed funds in reserve for the purchase of a fire truck,” said Reynolds, “We keep accumulating money, so when the fire truck has gone past its useful life, we have money there to help buy one as opposed to having to levy one year for the entire purchase.” Reynolds also explained that if the City needs funds in other departments or funds, they can rearrange money budgeted in specific funds.
During the presentation, it was reported to the council that there was a $1.2 million deficit that the City has in regard to a street project from years past. The reason there is a deficit is there is no record of where the funds came from. “This wasn’t out of a particular street construction fund,” said Reynolds, “It came from somewhere else. So, this street construction project owes another fund or a group of funds money for the payment of that project. You can’t have on a financial statement a negative number in a fund.”
The council can choose how to pay this project back, whether it be from the unrestricted fund balance or LGA (Local Government Aid) money from the state, where the City is estimated to receive $4.5 million in 2024, which is approximately $500,000 more than they received in 2023.
PROPOSALS FOR ACCOUNTING SERVICES AND CITY ADMINISTRATOR SEARCH
The City of Crookston Finance Director Audrey Passa recommended her choice of entity to be hired by the City for accounting services. The entities for the accounting services and city administrator search remained anonymous during the meeting. “The proposals for both the accounting services and city administrator search were concealed,” said Passa, “This is because of the competitive bidding requirement that is offered through the League of Minnesota Cities.”
Passa recommended the entity referred to as “option 2” during the meeting due to that entity being able to provide the services that the City needs at the moment. “Currently, we do not have the staff to enter in the required transactions,” said Passa, “These are to complete the various accounting services that we are searching for.”
The committee gave the consensus to recommend Passa’s proposal during the next City Council meeting scheduled for Monday, November 13.
City Administrator Corky Reynolds recommended his choice of entity to conduct the search for the next City Administrator for Crookston. Reynolds recommended “option b” during the meeting. “I recommended option B tonight because, One, they are a well-respected entity and search firm,” said Reynolds, “Two, they gave specific tasks that they would undertake on behalf of the city of Crookston in finding a city administrator.”
Along with the specific tasks and timeframe layouts from this entity, they also agreed to search a cost-effective price. The City has budgeted $50,000 for the search for a new administrator, and this specific entity has decided to undertake these duties in the amount of $26,000. The committee gave the consensus that this recommendation would be given to council members on Monday, November 13.
To watch the full Ways and Means Committee meeting, click here.
