Alexander City Council discusses Legislative Audit report for 2022

The Alexander City Council received the annual Legislative Audit report for the calendar year 2022. The audit is conducted annually by the State. The audit for 2022 was performed in 2023.

"We evaluated the City’s compliance with certain state laws concerning general and district court accounting, budgeting, purchasing, and investing and depositing of public funds," the cover letter states. "During our evaluation, noncompliance with state law and accepted accounting practices was noted in the offices of the Mayor, Treasurer, and District Court Clerk."

"We have the legislative audit review from the (year) 2022 that has now been completed," Mayor Crystal Herrmann said during the council's January 22 meeting. "Legislative audit said actually one of the dings on this audit is not bringing this to the very next council meeting once it's presented."

The audit listed the following issues as in "Noncompliance."

Mayor

"1. The Mayor was overpaid $1,620, and his wages were not taxed from January through September 2022; therefore, $30,780 of his salary was not reported on his IRS Form W-2. The Mayor’s term ended in December 2022.

"2. The governing body (Alexander City Council" did not review the prior year report and accompanying comments at the first regularly scheduled meeting following receipt of the report, in noncompliance with Ark. Code Ann. § 10-4-418."

Treasurer

"Accounting procedures for municipalities are set forth in Ark. Code Ann. §§ 14-59-101 - 14-59-119. The City was not in compliance with these codes and other accounting procedures as follows:"

• "Receipts were not deposited in a timely manner."
• "Prenumbered receipts were not issued for all funds received."
• "Cash receipts and disbursements journals were not properly posted and reconciled with bank deposits
• and withdrawals."
• "Cash receipts and disbursements journals and monthly bank reconciliations were not prepared for the Debt Service Fund."
• "Monthly bank reconciliations were prepared but were not accurate."
• "The annual financial statements were not published by April 1 of the following year." (2023)
• "A detailed fixed asset listing was not maintained to include additions, deletions, and a control total."
• "Monthly financial reports were not always submitted to the council."

District Court Clerk

"Balances remaining in the bank were not identified with receipts issued for cases not yet adjudicated and payments made on all unpaid individual time accounts, as required by Ark. Code Ann. § 16-10-209. A similar finding was noted in the previous report."

"So I think just for the record, everybody's clear that this was for the year 2022," Council Member Joy Gray said. "So this was not last year."

"And then so it looks like under the treasurer portion, there were quite a few points about receipts," Gray continued. "How we won't continue to make these mistakes? That's my question for that."

Each individual, responsible for the noncompliance issues, must write a letter to Legislative Audit explaining what will be done to address those problems. Two of those individuals are now gone. The previous mayor, Paul Mitchell, lost his re-election bid in the November 2023 election. City Treasurer JoAn Churchill resigned in December.

"So the mayor (Crystal Herrmann) had to write a letter already, let them know the action plan on the over-payment and the IRS thing," Office Manager Jennifer Hill said. "So the (new) treasurer herself will have to come up with her own."

Alexander is now searching for an interim city treasurer to fill the void until the current term expires December 31. The only legal qualifications are that the applicant must live in the city limits of Alexander, be 18 or older and be a registered voter. Having an accounting background would be a plus. Resumes should be turned in at City Hall to either Mayor Herrmann or Office Manager Jennifer Hill.

Department Reports presented during January 22 meeting:

Salt and sand stock piles to be refilled

Street and Parks Department Superintendent David Durham was unavailable to attend the January 22 council meeting. His report was provided by Mayor Herrmann. The recent weather was at the center of the report.

"They (street crews) had a long run," Herrmann began. "They started on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday with the roads."

"We're completely out of salt and sand," she continued. "We have an order in, but it might actually take about five or seven days before we can bring any more. We're going to go ahead and do the stockpile over again because it's still early in our winter."

Police Report for 2023

Police Chief Robert Burnett provided council members with a quick rundown of the statistics for the calendar year 2023.

"(W)e had 10,164 calls for service this past year," Burnett said. "We had for citations, regular citations and warnings and warrants that we served; there was 4,297."

Wrapping up with the total dollar amount deposited into the court fund Burnett said, "The final of all the basic deposits from (the) year were added up to over 408,000 (dollars)."

Fire Department; More training and certification

"One of the goals of this year ... is to start doing additional type of training and certification for our guys," Fire Chief Ryan McCormick told council members. "We're sending two right now to the EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) school, to medical, EMS (Emergency Medical Services), and we're also starting some hazards material classes. We're trying to keep up our hazardous material response."

Mayor gives Treasurer's report

With the resignation of City Treasurer JoAn Churchill in December, Mayor Crystal Herrmann provided brief comments concerning the monthly financial report. The search for an interim treasurer has begun.

"It (financial report) was created by the office (staff)," Herrman said. "We have the financial update by reconciliation."

Hess mess, Bass Pro grant

In the Mayor's monthly report Mayor Herrmann addressed several complaints she has received concerning people dumping trash around the dumpster at the closed Hess station. Hess is located along E. 1st Street.

Hess was purchased last year by SQRL Fuel. Renovation of the building began but then stopped.

"So I know I've got a lot of calls about the HESS, the dumpster and all that," Herrmann said. "I've been working on that for a couple of months. [W]e've actually even tracked down some people that are illegally dumping."

"SQRL did purchase the HESS," Herrmann continued. "I have even red tagged the store when it got all grown up (weeds) because it was really bad. ... They sent somebody out, mowed and cleaned up and got all the trash up and everything. But they did not remove the dumpster."

Herrmann said SQRL was given two weeks otherwise they'll be tagged again and be, "[I]n that end of the courtroom."

Herrmann then moved on to the topic of another grant she is attempting to acquire.

"This past month I put in (for) a grant with Bass Pro," Herrmann said. "[T]hey have a $10,000 grant community opportunity."

Herrmann has been working with Arkansas Game and Fish in order to make the pond, at the south end of the former Alexander Human Development Center, safe for stocking it with fish. Now she's trying to find a way to finance the renovation of the pond dock and nearby restroom building without using park funds.

Next meeting

The next meeting of the Alexander City Council is Tuesday, February 20 at 6:00 PM in the courtroom at the Alexander Municipal Complex. The public is invited to attend.