Brainerd City Council: Council retains auditing firm

The Brainerd City Council is retaining CliftonLarsonAllen to conduct its annual audit, after seeking quotes and interviewing two other auditing firms.

Monday night, the council approved a motion to retain CliftonLarsonAllen at a cost of $44,000 on a 6-1 vote, with council member Mary Koep voting against the motion.

At the Aug. 4 council meeting, the council directed city staff to seek quotes for audit services. Eight proposals were received, and at the Sept. 21, council meeting, the council voted to interview CliftonLarsonAllen, BerganKDV and Eide Bailey.

Those interviews took place on Oct. 21 and were conducted by the Personnel and Finance Committee. City Administrator Jim Thoreen and Finance Director Connie Hillman were also present for the interviews. Council President Gary Scheeler was present for two of the three interviews.

The companies submitted all inclusive fees of:

• CliftonLarsonAllen, Brainerd, $44,000

• BerganKDV, St. Cloud, $41,800

• Eide Bailly, Fargo, $40,900

CliftonLarsonAllen has been working with the city for a long time, council member Gabe Johnson said, and understands the city's accounting procedures. The firm also audits Brainerd Public Utilities and Housing and Redevelopment Authority, which makes all three audits more efficient, he said.

"It's all under the same roof, it just saves time," Johnson said.

Their Brainerd location makes it easier for staff to communicate with the firm, Johnson said. Any training city staff would require would be able to be done locally.

"A big benefit is staying with the same firm we have been using," Johnson said. "It will save considerable amount of staff time."

City staff would spend between 20-40 hours on learning new procedures if the auditing firm changed, Johnson said. The time spent learning new procedures was something the interviewers asked the firms, he said.

It's valuable to have a new set of eyes on the city's audit, Koep said. All three candidates have excellent credentials, she said, but the difference lies in how each firm looks at the books and the scope of their evaluation.

"That is where the benefit may come in," Koep said.

Koep countered the additional time it would take to get city staff up to speed if there was a change isn't known. A new firm could also possibly offer insight on new ideas, she said, like how to restructure the debt.

"Possibly the new set of eyes would say something to us that would be beneficial," Koep said. "We are not exactly a stellar performer in our recent budgets."

Council member Dave Pritschet said the city is essentially getting a new set of eyes from CliftonLarsonAllen because the person who had conducted previous audits was retiring and someone else was taking over.

"They've done a wonderful job in the past," Pritschet said. "The city has received numerous awards for the way we've done our accounting."

An audit is to make sure the city's financial statements are material and correct, Johnson said.

"An auditor isn't going to tell us how to cut money out of our budget," Johnson said.

In other business, the council:

Received a written report from Fire Chief Tim Holmes on the department's activity from the month of October. For the month, the department fielded 25 calls for service, six of which were canceled en route. Fourteen of those calls were in the city of Brainerd, with three of those fourteen canceled en route.

Approved a payment of $733 to Preservation Design Works for an evaluation of the historic water tower.

Approved a final payment of $1,725 to Tri-City Paving for the Safe Routes to School Garfield sidewalks project.

Approved the city's drug and alcohol testing policies for commercial and noncommercial drivers. The policies were updated to reflect law changes that have occurred since they were adopted in 1994.

Approved a motion to keep city hall open on Christmas Eve, Thursday, Dec. 24, during regular business hours.

Appointed Lynda Hummel to the Kitchigami Regional Library Board on a term to expire Dec. 31, 2019. The council also appointed council member Mary Koep as council liaison to the Northland Arboretum Board on a term to expire Dec. 31, 2016. Council member Chip Borkenhagen was also approved as council liaison to The Center Board on a term to expire Dec. 31, 2016.

Called for citizen applicants to fill vacancies on the Cable TV Advisory Committee, Charter Commission, Planning Commission, Rental Dwelling Board of Appeals and Walkable Bikeable Committee.

Accepted a quote from American Engineering and Testing in the amount of $2,750 to perform falling weight deflectometer testing on Oak Street between South Sixth Street and Southeast 19th Street. The testing is intended to identify the cause of excessive rutting on the road.

Approved a purchase agreement at a cost of $3,200 with Natural Resources Management LLC. The purchased property is where a lift station is proposed to be located, as part of the 2016 Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport utility extension project.

Approved an event application for Light Up Downtown, from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 28 in downtown Brainerd.

SPENSER BICKETT may be reached at 218-855-5859 or spenser.bickett@brainerddispatch.com . Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/spenserbickett .