We have received several inquiries regarding the status of the Centerville State Audit.
The Office of State Auditor has been met with and the matter is in their hands now.
Regarding what will be investigated:
It is up to the State officials to determine what will be looked into.
Some of the spending concerns raised by many residents may fall under the City's jurisdiction.
At this point we have no further information and do not expect to receive any until the audit is complete. At that time it will become public information.
Thanks again to all the people that supported the effort.
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16 comments:
"At this point we have no further information and do not expect to receive any until the audit is complete..."
What? You do not even know what they will be looking for until AFTER it is complete? This does not seem right.... how did your meeting go and what was discussed? It is our tax dollars, so we should at least know what it will be used for.
The meeting went very well and the three auditing officials took many notes.
Your tax dollars will be spent on the issues the State deems appropriate and nothing more.
The concerns expressed by the many residents of Centerville were conveyed to the Auditor. Some may not qualify for investigation and NO time or money will be wasted looking into matters that are irrelevant to a financial audit.
Sorry it doesn't seem right to you but even we can't know what they will be looking into until it's completed.
From the State Auditor website:
"Please direct all media inquiries regarding request audits to Communications Director Jim Levi at 651-297-3693 or jim.levi@state.mn.us.
While the Office of the State Auditor can confirm the receipt of a request audit, it does not release information about an audit while it is in progress."
Address:
http://www.osa.state.mn.us/default.aspx?page=20040809.001
Some anonymous people just love to complain, don't they?
10:25 probably didn't even sign the petition!
Also from the State Auditor website:
After signatures are collected, the appropriate county auditor determines whether the required number of qualifying signatures have been obtained. If so, the county auditor certifies the petition and forwards it to the Office of the State Auditor.
If a petition audit is certified by the county auditor, staff from the Office of the State Auditor would then meet with a committee of petitioners to review the petitioners' concerns. The audit staff then would review the concerns to determine the scope of the audit. The audit might not include all the concerns identified by the petitioners if the audit staff determined that the concerns were based on decisions within the discretion of the governing body. Once a certified petition is received, data relating to an audit are “protected nonpublic data” or “confidential data on individuals” until the time when the final report of the audit has been published by the Office of the State Auditor or the audit is no longer being actively pursued. See Minn. Stat. § 6.715.
Anonymous at 10:25 certainly has the right to ask questions!
Thanks for explaining more and adding the link to the auditor.
It lays out the process for those of us that are unfamiliar.
Very helpful.
"The concerns expressed by the many residents of Centerville were conveyed to the Auditor"
Can you be more specific? As a signer of the petition I would like to know what was conveyed. I had concerns and I want to ensure these were expressed. A blanket statement seems a little fishy...
PLEASE explain more on this issue.
I would guess the petitioner's would not want to "show their hand" to City Hall by putting all the details of the meeting with the auditors on this website? I personally, would not reveal all the details and give city officials the opportunity to do their own "audit" before the State. So, I for one, am very glad to see details are not being posted to this website.
"I had concerns and I want to ensure these were expressed. A blanket statement seems a little fishy..."
That is insulting considering what this group has accomplished for you. It has been clearly explained that the State will only look into what is relevant to the audit as determined by law.
I am also glad that there are no specific and possibly irrelevant concerns posted here.
This behavior seems responsible, not fishy to me.
Thank You, Thank You!
For those concerned their suspicions were not conveyed, feel free to express them to the state auditor. The contact information is clearly available to you.
Thanks for all your hard work and for waking up this city! My goodness, I had no idea the things that were taking place that we were not even aware of! I will certainly be watching and be more involved in our local government from now on. Thanks to all who work for us at the city and the elected officials, I see that they have difficult jobs! Hopefully they will see the concerns of OUR community and not an us vs them situation. The tone needs to change around here and people need to work together! I also hope that the re-elected realize they did not win by popular vote. That is not an insult, purely a note to Ms.Capra, Mr.Paar, And Mr.Ben that they need to reflect on what the community has said with this election, with these road and audit petitions and this blog and the Centerville Citizens for Ethical Taxation and Representation. THE COMMUNITY is speaking very clearly and has been. Council and staff can continue being as they have OR ALL involved can work together to resolve differences to work within our means for the benefit of our small town. I would also suggest an ethics and elections commitee be set up from citizens as a conduit of communication. Thank you for your time. Special thanks to those who take the time and have the dedication to keep this line of communication open. I applaud facts not opinions.
Interesting comments on how you do not want to "show your hand" to city hall. Don't you have to? How else will your concerns be addressed? Can they magically read your minds? That would be neat! And, you have been very open to "showing your hand" prior to meeting with auditor. What has changed? Why the change of heart? Could it be that the meeting did not go so well?
My guess is that the auditor is going to blow off some of the concers that were conveyed..... so please post them here so the residents know what was asked for and what was actually performed.
Inquiring minds want to know!
I'm sure there were plenty of valid concerns raised that may not be relevant to a financial audit.
The City will be made aware of what is being investigated upon being contacted by the State.
Inquiring minds will have to wait just like the rest of us.
If the auditor "blows off" some of the concerns, that means they are irrelevant to the audit.
What is so hard to understand about that?
Inquiring minds may be a little nervous.
Maybe inquiring minds are not nervous. The group should be honest with the residents about the discussion they had with the State. By not doing so they are doing the same thing that they accuse the City Council of doing.
The majority of people that signed the audit only care about the financial health of our City. What was discussed was not important. Either the audit will find something or it will not. Rumors and innuendo mean nothing without facts to back them.
The State will determine what is valid and deserves further investigation. Not this group.
Your analogy stinks.
Don't you mean the analogy is stupid?
Apparently some people don't care how their money is spent.
Like Ostriches with their heads in the sand.
Baffling, isn't it?
The best they can come up with is to tell us to move out of town?
Good luck with that!
Not very community orientated!
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