After months of discussion, it appears the City of Indianola is poised to finally have a forensic audit conducted on its banking transactions.
This was something that apparently was tentatively agreed to about a year ago, but the Board of Aldermen had yet to hire a firm until the city’s Jan. 4 meeting.
That decision did not come without a lengthy discussion, however.
The board did eventually vote 4-1 to hire Digital Forensics Corp. for Phase I of forensic auditing services, evaluation and investigation for the years 2007-present for 60 days of work at a cost of $7,000.
City Attorney Kimberly Merchant pointed out that the board needed to correct a few things about the proposal, including the fact that Mayor Ken Featherstone was listed as the contracting agent instead of the city.
She also said that the city is not authorized to make advanced payments for services that have not been rendered, and that was one thing that was requested in the proposal.
“(The board is) not authorized to make advanced payments because they are seen as donations,” Merchant said. “It’s like being paid before the services are rendered.”
Essentially, Digital Forensics Corp. asked for a $1,000 deposit.
There would be a “strategy call” at some point in the near future and after that call, the company asked for payment in full before getting started on the forensic audit.
Some board members seemed hesitant to agree to that since Merchant had explained the legality of advanced payments moments prior.
“If we vote to do this, then we are liable individually for this money,” Ward 2 Alderman Darrell Simpson said.
Featherstone stated that he was in favor of making it work in order to get the ball rolling on the project.
“We do have a firm, and this is something we’ve been waiting on and the board approved last year,” he said. “We have a firm that we are vetting right now, and we need to really move forward.”
Ward 4 Alderman Marvin Elder made a motion to solidify the contract with Merchant’s suggested changes.
There was no initial second, so Ward 5 Alderman Sam Brock attempted a subsidiary motion, which Merchant said was not necessary since there had been no second to the first motion.
Brock’s suggestion was to pay Digital Forensics Corp. one-third of the contract up front and the remainder after the work is completed.
Elder then made his case for his original motion.
“We’ve been playing with this for two or three years,” he said. “We’re still playing with these audits. I don’t know what the problem is… It appears to me that the can is being kicked down the road.”
Brock’s motion eventually got a second from Ward 1 Alderman Gary Fratesi, who was present by phone.
All voted yes except Simpson, who voted no.
