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Audit

Audit Sioux Falls

UPDATE II: Sioux Falls City Council Audit Committee meets Thursday, August 25

l3wis 11Comments

Normally this wouldn’t be a blip on the radar, but there have been rumors swirling around city hall that the internal audit manager left, I guess we will find out on Thursday.

UPDATE: You will notice that the agenda is NOW posted, and while there is no mention of the internal audit manager leaving the position, most of the presentations are being done by two of the other existing auditors including the committee’s handbook. We will see if this will be brought up in the committee’s new business remarks at the end of the meeting.

UPDATE II: There was NO mention of the audit manager leaving during the meeting today though the two remaining auditors who had to do the presentations did touch on how the assignments are being ‘covered’. Audit board member Dean Buckenberg asked about being able to hit goals with being short staffed. Still no mention that the manager left.

Most people would wonder what that means?

Rumor has it not only did the audit manager quit, she went back to work for mayor, not sure if it is in the housing or finance department.

I wonder how long the City Council will continue to try to hide the audit manager leaving? Surprised she might be working for the mayor considering she may want to fulfill her life long dream of owning a pet store and being a ROCKSTAR! (Neitzert quote).

Audit SF City Council Sioux Falls

Is another City Manager bailing on us?

l3wis 3Comments

I remember when we were told how incredible our liquor cart boy Technology Manager was going to be and there was push back from concerned councilors. He got hired anyway. Then he left, and recently his replacement left. You know, all that ‘building a team’ bullsh!t Paul feeds us.

Remember when we were told how great this person would be as our internal auditor even with push back from city councilors.

Now I am not sure if Shana Nelson is quitting the position, but I find the above employment listing interesting since I thought they were fully staffed in the auditors office.

But I do know that while her and her husband Matt Nelson (parking director) are full-time paid directors with the city they are also owners of a very busy pet store franchise. So how is it that you can both work as full-time city managers and manage a retail business? At least we can’t accuse them of drinking at 3’O Clock in the afternoon at a DTSF bar on a weekday like two other directors were a couple of weeks ago (yeah, I saw you Ron Swanson).

Like I said, I am only speculating that there will be turnover in the Auditor’s office, again, but if it is true maybe this time they will actually do a national search for someone who is qualified to run an auditor’s office, or at least one that actually does audits.

Audit Charter Revision Commission SF City Council Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Charter Revision Commission Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

City of Sioux Falls Meetings, Dec 6-8, 2021

l3wis 0Comments

Audit Committee • 4 PM • Monday 6th

• Update on External Audit of City’s 2021 Financial Statements by Eide Bailly, LLP

• Annual Risk Assessment

• 2022 Proposed Audit Plan

Sioux Falls City Council Informational • 4 PM • Tuesday 7th

• Engineering Design Standards Updates

• 2021 Crime Trends & Statistics by Police Chief Jonathan Thum (So now the City Council is finally getting a presentation yet still NO links to the Power Point presentation).

Sioux Falls City Council Regular Meetings • 6 PM • Tuesday 7th

Item #6, Approval of Contracts,

Sub Item #7, RR Crossing Improvements, $82K (I would assume this has to do with some of the development going on with the RR Redevelopment. I recently had a few beers with a business fellar who works closely in this industry that flat out told me any major changes to rail traffic through this area MUST go thru the FEDS.)

Sub Item #11, Zoo design for Lion exhibit, $482K (I find it curious this is going thru Parks and Rec. So now our parks budget is being used to ‘Design’ things for the Zoo. Just think of using this money for actual improvements to our FREE parks system?)

Sub Item #17, (you will notice this has to do with a payout to the Chamber for BID taxes since the separation from the CVB that NO ONE in the media wants to talk about. There is also NO mention of the dollar amount).

Item #40, 2nd Reading, the mysterious alcohol licensing fees.

Item #47, 2nd Reading, Fire sale for parking lot for UN-affordable housing DTSF.

Item #50, 1st Reading, approving new districts in Sioux Falls

Item #53, Resolution taking money from streets to the Facade Core Revitalization Program, $120K, but who is it going towards?

Sioux Falls Parks Board Meeting • 4 PM • Wednesday 8th

Ironically, this meeting is being held at the Overlook Cafe at the same time as the CRC meeting. How convenient? There is one item on the agenda that sparked my interest under ‘New Business’;

Sanford Parking Agreement – Don Kearney

Not sure what this is about, but maybe it has something to do with the soccer and ball fields they are building right now?

Charter Revision Commission • 4 PM • Wednesday 8th

Well, well, well. It seems the CRC has decided to move this meeting back to 4 PM instead of 3:30 PM like last month. I wonder why? There seems to be a lot more agenda items this time around . . . this will actually be a really interesting meeting. While I support Kirby’s ideas about the mayor, I don’t support rank choice. But it really doesn’t matter because the CRC will KILL all of these proposals anyway.

Audit Charter Revision Commission Planning Commission SF City Council Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls City Council Agenda, Oct 4-6, 2021

l3wis 6Comments

The City Council and other boards have a full agenda this week;

• The Audit Committee has finally released some audits, been awhile. On Spectra (the people who provide concessions to several city owned entertainment facilities) they found a ton of non-compliance especially with insurance requirements. On the Midco Aquatic Center they have seen an over 50% drop in attendance since 2019 and around a 40% drop in revenue. They were also non-compliant on several fronts and like the Spectra Audit it seems our own Finance Department is not doing regular checks of compliance. For Travel expenses there was several instances of non-compliance. $137,000 travel reimbursements paid directly to travelers (city employees). Many of these results don’t surprise me. I have said the City Manager (The Mayor) is running a rudderless ship and when you have a poor city manager, it results in poor management under that person.

• The Planning Commission has decided to go full rogue by putting every single item on the consent agenda this month. Now items can be pulled for discussion by the Commission or Individuals from the public but I find this startling considering that all items are recommended for approval by the Planning Department and I am sure several Commission Members will recuse due to conflicts. Folks, this is what true cruise control government looks like. I am still puzzled why we even have a Planning Commission.

• The Charter Revision Commission will continue to review the Charter.

• City Council Informational will review building code changes.

• City Council Regular Meeting;

On the contracts and agreements (Item 6) in sub items 17-18 they are paying this consulting firm out of Florida to do this?

And of course sub item #38 where we are reviewing the Human Relations Commission.

Audit Bunker Ramp Downtown Sioux Falls SF City Council Sioux Falls

The Bunker Ramp is going to bite us in the rear

l3wis 14Comments

The Audit Committee of Sioux Falls meets tomorrow, and they have some precarious recommendations about the Parking Enterprise Funds.

As you can see our debt service is extremely high (mostly due to an ill-advised Bunker Ramp). There is even suggestions that parking employees work in other departments.

This is what happens when supposed leaders make very bad decisions. Will we ever learn?

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