More than a year and a half after it first entertained then backtracked from conducting a “forensic audit” on its own government in response to one resident’s undocumented claims that the administration was corrupt, the Palm Coast City Council late Tuesday night agreed to issue a request for proposal for a “risk assessment,” something quite different from what would have been a prohibitively expensive forensic audit.
The risk assessment may cost anywhere from $15,000 to $45,000, depending on the scope of the task. What the council agreed to is difficult to define in simple language. The accounting firm the city is looking for is to provide “guidance on prioritizing risks and designing mitigation strategies aligned with attaining operational efficiencies,” in the words of Helena Alves, the city’s finance director, as she attempted to summarize the council’s objective. as reflected in the RFP’s language.
Mayor Mike Norris was quick to distance the council from any commitment just yet: the RFP, he wanted to make sure, does not commit the council to an actual risk assessment beyond exploring what it may look like, and what it will cost. Nor is it committing any money. No money is budgeted for the assessment anyway, Interim City Manager Lauren Johnston said. The council would yet have to do this.
“We could put together a risk assessment team of concerned citizens, really we could,” Norris said, probably raising a few eyebrows. To him, the RFP is not forcing the hand of the council with that in-city option available.
When completed, the risk assessment is to help the city administration improve decision making based on a better understanding of risk management, and to address potential risks and safeguard assets. What those risks might be is not clear. The assessment will also help the administration better comply with various regulations.
Notably, the council in the past already approved a “risk and resiliency assessment” for its utility and future infrastructure, and the city’s independent auditors annually conduct a preliminary risk assessment “and tells us where we’re vulnerable or where there’s areas that we need to improve,” Johnston said. So there’s a degree of redundancy ahead, aimed at placating the few voices who see a nefarious shadow behind every shadow at City Hall.
City Council member Theresa Pontieri is the only member of the board who was on the council when the forensic audit idea was first pitched from the floor. “I would like to make it very clear that in the scope of services, we want to look at opportunities for for more operational efficiencies, specifically in our bigger departments like utility and stormwater,” Pontieri said. “If we were to do an organizational wide operational efficiency evaluation, I feel like that cost would be very high. Now we could see what the RFP comes in at, and then scale back. It’s always easier to take away than it is to add.” But she agreed that for the sake of the RFP, the scope will be “general,” meaning citywide.
What the accounting firm will actually do if and when retained is still puzzling, however. The council will review the responses in April.
Ed Danko, former Vice-Mayor, PC says
I want to be clear, I fully support a forensic audit in Palm Coast. I was the one who made the motion to get a bid on the procedures and cost of a forensic audit. The rest of council at the time did not support moving forward after that presentation. We are facing a very deep financial burden and we need to know where all the money has gone. I urged the public to speak out for a full forensic audit, especially before agreeing to any increase in taxes or water/utility bills. There is so much waste that needs to be dealt with first. We need a DOGE approach to cut all the wasteful spending in Palm Coast now.
JimboXYZ says
What sense does it make to get an risk assessment when everyone in Palm Coast knows that risk exists. The forensic audit at least might uncover a criminal that needs to go to prison ?