Columbia City Council considers charter change
Now that the city of Columbia has hired an internal auditor, the City Council is considering whether it should ask voters for a charter change so that the auditor can have direct contact with members.
As it stands, the charter does not allow that position to report directly to council. Instead, the auditor reports to the city manager.
“My concern with this reporting structure is it puts more power in the city manager while it should be in the hands of the City Council,” said Mayor Brian Treece.
During the council meeting, Mayor Treece told members he did not think this replaced the need for an external, independent audit.
Treece has been calling for an audit for more than a year, and ran his re-election campaign partly on that platform. He has already proposed moving the auditor position away from city manager.
Ward 3 Councilman Karl Skala did not agree, but Treece said it’s hard for one person to do all the work necessary.
The internal auditor is responsible for “internal protective and constructive audits of the controls, financial records, administrative procedures and operations of City departments in accordance with guidelines established by the City Manager,” according to a previously posted job description.
During Monday night’s council meeting, Carey Bryce presented her tentative audit plan. The city hired Bryce in February, and she has nearly 15 years of experience with audits.
She told council members Monday that the best practice would be for the internal auditor to report directly to City Council.
“The standards demand it,” she said.
Bryce’s position remained vacant for nearly a year before she took on the job, and council members were concerned that the long-term vacancy left the city vulnerable to financial mismanagement.
Ward 5 Councilman Matt Pitzer has come up with and proposed a draft policy that he said would strengthen the role of the auditor, and protect the independence of the position. The policy works within the framework of the current charter, in which the auditor reports to the city manager.
“It requires more openness and transparency from the city manager in terms of what the internal auditor is working on, and providing that information to us,” he said in an interview with ABC 17 News Wednesday.
It also allows for council to at least annually approve an audit plan.
The proposed audit plan from Bryce comes from her discussions with department heads. It identifies areas that are high risk and where they rank in terms of importance within the framework of the plan.
Utility billing and pooled cash have been ranked as No. 1 and high risk.
“For the most part [utility billing] works, but there are too many mistakes that seem to keep recurring,” said Pitzer. “That’s something council’s wanted to get to the bottom of for awhile.”
Bryce told council that the audit plan is a “living document” and there’s opportunities to make adjustments. Council can provide feedback, but can’t direct her to do anything specific.
Council agreed to send the plan and proposed policy to the Finance Advisory and Audit Committee so it can provide feedback.
Committee chair Maria Oropollo told council members the committee supports having the internal auditor report directly to the council.
