Audit Advisory Committee - Regular Meeting

And I'm gonna call the meeting of the audit advisory committee to order. It's Tuesday, 04/21/2026. Would And would you have a roll call, please?

Member Fontana?

Here.

Member Castome?

Here.

Member Ricci? Vice chair McFan?

Here.

Member Scherzinger?

Here.

Member Sommerfeld?

Here.

And Chair Siegel?

Here. And make a note that we got with us today, Consular Schwann and Henry joining us. So we appreciate two counselors coming. You probably have red eyes from last night, but happy you're here you're happy you're here. Could I ask everyone to join me in standing if you can then for the pledge of allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the God of The United States Of America Thank you. Our previous meeting was on Tuesday, March 17 and everyone had an opportunity to review the minutes of that meeting. And if so, I'd appreciate a motion to approve those meeting minutes of Tuesday, 03/17/2026. Do I have a motion?

So moved.

Second.

It's been moved and seconded. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed like sign. So the meeting minutes of Tuesday, March 17 are approved.

Going to all business would be our main reason for early being here today is an update of the audit and the progress of the audit. And Carol, if you would give us an update. Also, Chris Kessler, I'm not sure if Chris is on. He was going to join us virtually, and I'm not sure if he's on yet. But

He's not on yet. Chris is not on yet.

Okay. So we'll start with Carol. Carol, if you would give us an update from your perspective. And then Chris, since he joins us, we'll ask him to add to his comments to that.

The audit, when we last met, we were penciled down for a couple of weeks. The auditors were penciled down. We took that time as a team here in finance to regroup, provide the additional information that was requested so that they could pick the pencils up and keep going. So they're reviewing the work papers right now for the basic parts of the audit. What's outstanding are the GASB reviews related to subscriptions and leases.

And we have a statement of work that we're working through with CLA so they can help us with that accounting for the treatment of the two GASBs to make sure that we're in compliance. And so that's underway and that's the largest part, I think, right now of the audit. They're still reviewing the work papers. And as the questions come in, we're responding to them. We did apply for an extension for May and it was accepted. So that is the status of the audit at this point in time. It's moving. The two biggest things that I think that are outstanding, aside from any questions that may come up, are the GASB reviews for the treatment of technology subscriptions and leases, leased assets.

Thank you, Carol. You know, I I spoke to Chris this past week, and he basically gave me an update along the same lines that Carol just said. We're moving along. It's we're we're getting everything that we're supposed to get done. We're getting done. So he's confident that we should be completed by sometime mid May. That's our goal. And at that time, we will hopefully have a completed audit. So I wish he'd be here to talk to us. He said he would, but obviously he got hung up. So moving along Can I ask one? Clarification?

Can I ask

one clarification? The

extension, Carol, that we've requested and that's been granted, that takes us through the May for the extension for filing?

I just wanted to make sure I

had visibility.

It takes us through the May.

Got it. Okay.

So the deadline for filing is June. Hopefully, if we can complete by the May or mid May, we would be ahead of that deadline filing. And Chris didn't think there would be any reason why we shouldn't be completed. So if he joins us, we'll have him pop in too. If not, we'll move on. Next on our agenda is we've had some Sure.

Can I just

Oh, certainly? I'm sorry, Chris.

Sorry, I lit up my light.

Yes, go ahead.

Just it would help me, Carol, if you could just walk the timeline of the sequencing of events. So because I know there's a it's the I going get my acronyms wrong GFOAS.

The GFOA.

That's GFOA. That's for the May filing.

That's right. So we want

To get that certification.

Right, that certification. So their deadline is June 30. So in order to get their certification, we need to file by June 30. And technically, theoretically

But we would March be month ahead of that based on the current plan.

Right. Most well, yes. I mean, the goal is, really, if you're in a perfect world, is to do it within ninety days after your year end close. So it would have been a March 31 for everything, which would have given us plenty of time for council review, audit committee review. So it's going to be a very compact process, I believe, once we get this done in May.

So the question I wanted to ask is, could you walk through, in a calendar type approach, the sequencing of events of when you would finish with CLA, when the audit committee would see content, when the city council would see content, and when it would be submitted, like those four key anchor points.

And I can't give you those dates, but that would be the sequence, the preferable sequence that we would get to the audit committee first so that you'd be aware of what's going to the council and then what is going to be submitted to the GFOA. And then I believe certification happens after that by the council. So I was hoping Chris could speak to that because he is more in tune with where they feel they are in the timeline versus what we've presented to them. But that is the sequencing that optimal we would like to do.

I see. So if you wanted to meet the May deadline

Chris is joining the meeting, I'm sorry.

Okay. Maybe Chris can answer this as well then. Maybe I should table the question, but let me just get it out there. I'll forget it. If our desired deadline, even though the back against the wall deadline is the June, if our desired accomplishment date is the May, we would want both the audit committee and the council to have a chance to look at it prior to the May.

Right. So optimally, if we could get it done mid May, May, we would target early June for the meetings with the council and maybe late May for the audit committee.

Thank you. Thanks

for your comment, Chris. We basically have a meeting scheduled for May 19. At that point, when we scheduled this meeting, we were anticipating that we would have the audit completed by then. And that would be the date that the committee here would see at least a draft of the audit. I don't know if that date is going to work or not. But we'll shoot that as a target. If we can, it would be great. And then on our agenda, we'll talk about how we're going to present to the council. That's coming up

That's coming up as an item. In the meeting. Okay. I wanted to get one One of the things I wanted to get clear on was whether the May 19 date was adequate and fit with the city's

If the audit is complete, there's a draft of the audit, that would be the date we would look at it as a committee. Hopefully, that's if

were completed four days later than that, would we want to We move our

may want to move our meeting.

Be running into some potential contracts.

Yes. We'll be flexible on that. Going along, staff update. And Carol, would you bring us up to date on our staffing and what's going on there? I think there's some good news.

There's definitely some good news. I copied you on an email that Casey sent out to the the city directors as well as the council about some changes on the finance team. We've hired a finance director, her name is Masha, I can't pronounce her last name well, Swolo, who's the comptroller in the city of Jacksonville. And she'll be joining us in May remotely, early May, and coming down relocating to the area towards the May. We've also hired a finance manager to come in.

We're without a controller right now, and it's Chase Callaway. And he started yesterday remote. He's relocating from Mississippi. He and his wife have chosen to Southwest Florida as their home. And he'll be joining us in a couple of weeks in person. So he'll be taking some of the role that a controller would do. He's taking accounts payable of the accounting team over so that we have oversight over that. And eventually, we'll grow into the role of controller. I'm going step aside. I'm going to help finish up the audit, work with the auditors on process and procedures and controls to bolster that, and eventually hand over payroll and billing to Chase once he gets up to speed in his role.

He'll most likely move into the controller role, and then I will step out. So that's the approach.

Thank you, Carol. Well, that's really great positive news. Not the part of you stepping out, but you're adding these people to the finance staff. And it's something that our committee has been complaining about because we've been so understaffed. And there's been an undue amount of burden placed on Carolyn. She's been doing three jobs or more in a role. And I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. And I know you've been under such stress because you had so much on your plate. So thank you for what you've been doing. And I know this extra help is going to make a big difference in our department.

Also, once everybody's on board and we get the audit out of the way, we can start looking at our financial results and have a balance sheet one of these days to look at and some of the things that we should be doing, but we haven't had a chance because of a lack of staffing. So that's very good news. Once we have the audit and we'll go on to the next item on our agenda, and that's a procedure for presenting the audit to the city council. If we do have the audit completed by May, it's our obligation to present it to the city council so they're totally aware of the audit before it actually gets filed. So I'm not sure what the procedure should be.

I need some help on that. But I mean, we can do it at a regular scheduled council meeting or a special workshop. I don't know what has been done in the past. But we'll have to ask Darren Palumbo what he would like to do as far as presenting it to the city council. Probably would do it at a city council meeting. But if he wants to make it a special workshop or a special meeting, we can we're happy to do that with them too. I don't know if anyone else has any thoughts or ideas on that. Elena, did you want to

I was going to ask, did Chris Kessler indeed join? I can't tell from here.

Doesn't seem like it.

I don't

know if there were

any best

practices at other Yeah.

Doesn't seem like it.

At other cities because it has been a while since there's been such a presentation made. Did. It would be helpful to get confirmation as to a date when we would have a draft.

Exactly.

And we drop the pin and we move forward quickly. So is that a request we can make of Chris to very quickly? Because we've got lead time to get on various agendas here. Yes.

When I spoke to him, I told him that once we are complete, that we would need to make a presentation at City Council, and he's aware of that. And he's committed to making that presentation along with us. So he's board with that. He understands he's got to do that. We also talked about some possible extra charges, because there will be some.

And we don't know the extent, but we know that they're doing some things above and beyond and taking a little more time than they would originally wanted to do. So he didn't have any idea. And we just the only thing is it's not going to be like it was last year. But there will be some additional charges attached to the audit. Terry, did you?

Yes, had my light on Kind of following what Elena said. This is our meeting before the May 19 meeting.

Correct.

So we are expecting to have this at the nineteenth meeting and then make decisions there about how we want to present to the council. I'm thinking that because of all the chaos that existed and maybe still exists with the audit that when you talk with Chair Palumbo that we look at maybe recommending a workshop as opposed to incorporating it into the council meeting. If it was simple, I would recommend the council meeting. But after I watched the council meeting last night, things don't get simple. And I think that the audit for the sake of the residents would be a great place to reassure them that we've got our ducks in a row and that we would have Chris there to really explain what's going on.

Yeah, definitely.

Sorry to build on that. Could we go as far as to make a motion to recommend that we set a workshop with the council?

I think that would be a good thing to do.

Would certainly go along with that.

Then I recommend to Chair Palumbo that this become a workshop rather than just being presented at a city council meeting.

Okay. Point well taken. So I would agree with that. That would be a wonderful way to actually present it and have an opportunity for open discussion. And Chris Kessler would be there. So our goal, I guess, is if we can have the audit completed by the nineteenth, then sometimes after that, we would discuss it here at our meeting and then have a workshop shortly after that. I'd

like to second the motion that Terry put forward.

So it's been moved and seconded that we request city council to have a workshop to review the findings of the audit. And it would be a joint workshop of the audit advisory committee along with the city council with Chris Kessler at CLA joining us at meeting.

So I was going to ask what's

Yeah, sure. The Yeah, go ahead, Dan.

How do you differentiate the two? If

I could offer my observations, understanding that I am not an expert in how to run a city council meeting. Based on what I've observed of workshops, they tend to be very focused on a single topic area. And you're not limited to sort of an artificial ten minute present, ten minute questions, and then you get bare which is what happens in a city council meeting in the scope of a much longer agenda with

So single purpose

That's my based on what I've observed. I could be dead wrong

on that. I think that would My

theory that

would be is last night's meeting was like five hours, maybe a little more or a little less. There were a lot of agenda items. I think that the audit, especially because of the way we saw it unfold last year and all of the rhetoric that went back and forth amongst the counsel themselves, opportunity to, as Elena said, one subject, very focused on the audit to reassure people that we are back on track and that there's opportunity to ask questions and not get not get the audit buried into an agenda where there are a lot of other topics.

Got it.

Right now, many of the topics that were discussed last night are still hanging out there. So our audit topic on the agenda may not get the attention that I think it needs.

Yeah, well, I'll take. Well, you know, what I would suggest and then we can vote on this workshop motion. Go back well, if it's approved, we'll go back to Chair Palumbo and ask him if he would schedule a workshop, maybe sometimes early June. Because let's assuming we have the audit completed and we have an opportunity as a committee to review it, and then a workshop would be sometime early June, if that would work out for he and the rest of the council. That would give them a chance to really go over it, and it would be sufficient time before the deadline of filing.

Does everyone think that's a good idea? And if so, we have a motion on the floor in a second, so to have request a workshop, can we say something nice, very early June with City

Hey, Gene. Gene, can you hear me?

Is Chris?

Oh, Okay. Chris, thank you for coming on.

So I have been on for whatever reason Well, when I spoke up

wonderful. Thank you. We didn't realize you were on. And we thought we were going on without you.

But thank you for being here. And as long as you're on, would you be so kind as to give us an update on the audit from your perspective?

Absolutely. And I appreciate only saying kind things about me when I was here listening

to But you look my like you're driving in your car, so be careful driving.

I am not moving. Am parked here, so all good.

All right.

No, no. I joined probably right after Carol gave an update. It's probably very consistent with what Carol has said in that we're moving through the city is moving through the remainder of the open items. There's still pieces that are that the city's got to put together and get some of the calculations and some of the numbers for us to audit. But that open items list, that punch list is getting smaller and smaller every week.

So things are moving along. No concerns from my standpoint from where we sit of June 30 being at risk from a regulatory standpoint with the state. So all good on that perspective. And so from what I just want to communicate is that as you all keep working through these things, we're moving as efficiently and quickly as we can to wrap up those open items on our end, ask any questions, things like that. So that we're all moving in the same direction at this point.

So I did want to chime in a little bit and that's why I kind of tried to make sure I was coming through on the sound as you all were talking to that timing. What I would suggest for you all from a timing perspective is kind of knowing where this journey has been over the last few months. I would give you all as much cushion as possible in all of these dates because just again everybody is working in the same direction to get this done. Just knowing scheduling and knowing coordination and knowing all of these things, I would hedge on pulling counsel together on the later side of June so that you all have plenty of time to make that happen. And then from your all's perspective on a committee standpoint, again, if you all are wanting to review this and I would be looking as late into May as you all are comfortable with on that.

But the question I was going to have, we talk about counsel wanting that presentation before it is released. If that's the case, the May deadline almost doesn't matter because then you're not sending it to GFOA until June anyway at that point. So that gives you all a little bit more flexibility from that standpoint since there's not a issuance submission until counsel gets their presentation anyway. So I don't know if we want to go into that or you've got more questions or if I just made things more confusing. But those were some of my thoughts just on timeline with kind of where we are that you all should probably be giving yourselves a large swath of time to make sure it's getting done appropriately.

Now, Chris, I think you've given us good advice. But could I do you think that could you give us kind of an idea of when you think the audit would be completed for our committee to take a look at it? Or in some kind of draft form?

I mean, we're still waiting on certain calculations for the city to complete for us to finish the audit work. And those are some of the arbitrage rebate liability as well as the leases and subscription liabilities. Those are things that are going to impact your numbers. They're not necessarily items that are on the books currently that we're just waiting on some open documentation so we can wrap up on our end. So we're still in a moving target position right now.

So until those pieces settle, it's tough for me to give an estimate. I mean, I would like this thing done as soon as possible so that we can get it through reviews, get it off the plate, and you all can focus on the next year. But today, I don't have an estimate around that because it's going to depend on when we're able to get all the remaining pieces. I'd say once all that's in place from preparation of work papers to going through all the rest of the detailed review through my principal review and then through quality control review, I'd give it thirty days roughly at that point. There's ways to accelerate that here and there. But that just kind of ballpark.

Thirty days from the day you get all the information? Yes. Yes. And then Carol, when do you expect that info to get to Chris?

We're working on the contract for the arbitrage calculation. And once we get that done and I'm trying to wrap that up this week. The subscription and leases, that's a joint effort with CLA. We've taken an inventory of what we think is out there to be reviewed. And that's a statement of work we're waiting to see what that's going to cost and get that work started.

But once Okay. Started let me just press on that a little bit. Once started, how long will that work take?

That's we'll have to work with CLA to establish the accounting for the leases. So I don't know. I don't know. I don't know the volume

if you go out to April 28

We have to get a contract

days onto that, that's May 28 right there. So the May 19 meeting

It won't work on the ground.

Is not going to work.

Yeah. I agree with that.

I would suggest, unless anybody so let's be, like, very direct. I don't see a pathway for us to have a draft report to review on the May 19 meeting, right?

Absolutely. I would agree with that because we also have to write the MD and A. And I need the financials done in order to get to do the MD and A. I

think, Chris, if I could ask you, does your team put together a Gantt chart to lay out all the steps in this process to set deadlines and then manage accountability for hitting deadlines? It feels a bit like it's just flowing along and progress is good, and we're we're getting there, but we have no idea when we're gonna hit the date. I think with a hard deadline, we need to have or the team needs to have hard midpoint deadlines, you know, milestones or benchmarks that we have to hit in order to stay on time, especially when, Chris, you're able to throw out, we need thirty days for your reviews at CLA. And then there's an MD and A, and I'm not sure if CLA reviews the MD and A or not. But if so, that's part of I mean, it's like you stagger all these steps on top of each other, and it's hard for me to imagine us getting to June.

I think that's a I'm looking at

my before June.

Not before June. No.

No. It's Chris. You know, I'm I'm looking at the calendar also, and and it the the May 19 date doesn't look like it's gonna be a date that would would give us the information we need. I would be smart probably to push out a couple of weeks, which would take us to, like, say, June 2.

I'm not Okay. So if now we're going to start looking at dates, I could tell you that I'm not available the first through the June 3 and unlikely the ninth through the eleventh, because we've had other board meetings and other commitments that we've moved around to accommodate. Not that that's I mean, that's an Us problem and not a you problem. But we've got to start looking at we need to I think what we should do is suggest a timeline for the workshop and back off of there as to when is the last when would we look at dates? That's a me problem.

Well, we're talking about the extension that we had to the May. So we have to submit something by the May.

No. Or extend?

No. We could apply for another extension to get us through the end Do of

you think that that's what we're going to have to do?

I think that is definitely what we're going to have to do. Our hope is that we're not coming up to the midnight deadline as they did last year, and that we have something to review in June.

So for the GFOA, I have in my notes from our last meeting that it was extended to April 30. And then you've filed another one?

I filed another one last week for the May.

Got it. So we'll have to and when do they stop allowing extension?

June 30 is the drop dead date.

That's the real deadline.

So let's we can right.

My preference would be to not dump this on city council with a workshop on, like, June 29. That won't work.

Right. Well, and I'm looking at the calendar of some of the things that I think the council has scheduled. And they scheduled a workshop for May 11, which is the interview of city manager candidates. And then they have their regular meeting that following Monday on the eighteenth. So we're filling the first two weeks where Elena's not available. And then we go into a workshop on the city manager and regular city council meeting. And then the the next week is basically the last week in May. So that's May.

And then June is a problem that, I think, for a lot of folks. So then

What I'm hearing, though, is this isn't going to be ready until mid June.

That's the risk. That's exactly what I'm hearing here.

Is Chris on? Can Chris confirm that our timing lines up with how he's thinking about it?

Yeah. Yeah. Can everybody hear me? Sorry, think I was cutting in and out there for a little bit. Yeah, I mean, think June is the most realistic window for you. And just from a deadline standpoint, just as some points of clarity for the group, GFOA, there is no cutoff on extensions. Eventually, they will start coming back and saying, hey, you've told us you're behind. Why are you not focused on this? If you go a year beyond, there's plenty of organizations that have continually extended. They still get their certificate.

But they don't want that to happen year after year. So there is pathway. You can only get month extensions. So you just have to apply every single month. From a state regulatory deadline, June 30 is the deadline. That is what you should be targeting for. That is the standard in Florida of when to report. If you go past June 30, you don't end up at a list at the state level until July 30. So it's an unofficial thirty day grace period. Once July 30 hits, then you end up on a list where the legislative audit council will send you a letter and say, why have you not filed?

When are you planning to file? What is your estimated timeline? And then you'll continue to get follow-up as each month ticks off the calendar for that. So again, suggesting that you want to be in that scenario. But just so everybody has an understanding of just all the moving pieces and dates on that, that's how all of those pieces come together.

So it sounds like all of them are soft deadlines.

That's a

new theory. Well, no. You

can go beyond that.

I would yes.

Want You to.

You don't want to.

We've already got trust issues

and reputation issues.

We don't

need to compound Yeah. Them. GREGORY We're going to have to ask Counselor Palumbo to set up this workshop. So we have to give him some kind of a parameter or a wicker. I would like for him to shoot for like the week of June 15, say like the sixteenth or seventeenth or something like that.

They have their regular council meeting on the fifteenth.

On the fifteenth. So, yeah, maybe I don't know if it's throwing too much at them to have a workshop the following day or

And does it make sense to do it on the twenty second, the following week when they would regularly have right. On the twenty second, it's basically almost the last week of the month. So we're very close to submission. But I think that once that workshop occurs, then it's a matter of counsel signing off on it and

should My question is, what is the counsel's role in engaging? Are they to be informed before it's submitted? Or could they have comments or request changes that would require some time for modification prior to submission? If it's only to inform, then I think going into the week of the twenty second isn't an issue. But if they're going to have suggested changes or require some additional work after that before submission, then I feel like the twenty second is risky.

Yeah. Historically, I don't recall.

Can I

answer that?

Yes, Chris.

GREGORY From an audit perspective, that approval and presentation to counsel does not impact the audit. The audit will be done. Our opinions will be unchanged. The results will be unchanged. It is informational standpoint only at that point. So there would not be a scenario where anything changes in the audit at that point.

Thank you. That's helpful. That

was my view historically. I've never seen the counsel trying change or not.

Could I suggest, Chair Siegel, based on what you said and combining that with member I'm sorry, Terry, your last name Summerfield. Could we give Chair Palumbo a window to say, we would like you to find a workshop sometime between the fifteenth and the twenty sixth, in the two week window, and find a date

that works for the council? Definitely could do that. Yeah, that's a good suggestion.

GREGORY And then our goal as a committee would be to have our date locked and loaded prior to that, a week before or something like

that. What we'll do is we'll work backwards. We'll see when it would be an appropriate date for the workshop. Once we know that date, we can work backwards and schedule a meeting for ourselves. Or we can schedule it now. Let's assume it might be the week before that. So

we scratched the nineteenth?

Yes. I think scratched the nineteenth. Can we tentatively book a meeting for the June 9? When are you back from your Elena, you said what dates are you I

will see what I can do to avoid I will solve for my client matters the week of the eighth if I have to. So I'll take care of that.

So Martin, is that used

it not the ninth, but the tenth that's available.

The tenth is Martin,

what time on the tenth is available? Eleven Perfect.

Okay. So we'll reserve 06:10.

Do we need a motion to capture all of this and do an official decision?

Yeah, we will in a minute. So June 10 at what time? 9AM, Martin? 11:11AM?

Of course, we didn't check with anybody else. Like I said, this does not need to be an Elena problem.

Well, that's good.

So if anybody

else We're flexible on that. Speak up. Okay. So we have a motion to request a workshop meeting with the city council. Date would be sometimes between June 15 and June 25, let's say, give him a chance to come up with a time for his workshop. And that we would postpone our May 19 meeting and move it to Wednesday, June 10 at 11AM. Did I get everything right? Yes. A motion and a second. All in favor of that, signify by saying aye.

Can I just clarify one

thing? One clarification. Okay.

Workshops, can people participate virtually?

Sure. Why not? Okay. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Martin says yes, he can arrange for people to participate virtually.

That includes All right. Good. So we're moving forward. Chris, are you still with us?

I am. I'm still here. Yep.

Anything you want to add to our discussion? Chris? Chris?

No. No. I don't I I don't think so. I I I put I can you hear me?

Yes. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. We can hear you.

No. No. I've I've I've put the the dates put the dates on my calendar. So I've got those blocked off. I think just between Carol and myself, we'll just keep staying in communication with the committee as we move through here. And as the timeline progresses and if we need to adjust, we'll adjust accordingly. But that's I think that's a good plan.

Okay. And if once a workshop is scheduled, will we give you the date? And we are hopeful that you would be able to join us for that workshop?

Yep. Yep, absolutely.

Okay. We appreciate what you're doing, Chris, and being so flexible for us. It's a pleasure to work with you.

If I may appreciate it. I'd You as like to second that. His team has been phenomenal in their support, especially with the staffing issues we have in finance. They've been really responsive. So I do appreciate their help.

Thank you. That's good. Moving along. Any other updates on the staff? And if not, I'd be open for any city councilors to communicate with us and give us your thoughts. So we planned another meeting for you? Just what you wanted is another meeting? Okay. Any other public comment? Dennis, you're here. Always happy to have you.

Well, thank you. Always happy to be here and to see you guys do your work. Dennis Bartolucci, a resident of Marco Island. Let me just make a few comments that I think reinforce what you're trying to do and a few that might point you in a good direction for, where you focus going forward. First of all, Carol, I I don't know how much to thank you because you've held this together, and it's very difficult.

And I've seen people in similar circumstances completely crater. I have. And you've done it with dignity and graciousness and dedication, and it's really to be admired. And I mean that sincerely. So second of all, transparency is a big deal.

And the big improvement from last year isn't measured in the timing of the audit and so on or how many audit adjustments there are, but it's the transparency of the process to get to an audit. And this this audit committee, has done a wonderful job with transparency. And I think that that that's a foundational step in the right direction. It's a big step. And, you know, it's a big step toward trust.

So transparency leads to trust, and trust leads to good outcomes in the community among all interested parties. So I want to say that I sincerely appreciate what you've done to bring transparency to the process, And it's it's all for a good purpose. I'm glad you arrived at the June thing. I would suggest that, your timing of filing the audit may be slightly improved from last year, but not greatly improved. But, you know, what's the difference?

It there's none. So don't put that pressure on yourself. Just assume that you'll get it filed before June 30 and that your numbers and your books will be correct. I wouldn't schedule a workshop before you file it because it's not a necessary step. As as Chris said, the audit partner said, it's it's a courtesy, I suppose. I think the chairman is supposed to sign the audit. I don't think that happened last year. I'd recommend that you do that. But I think the workshop probably ought to come after you file it because, it it it's not a necessary part of the process to file the audit. So that's important.

Now what's important going forward? What's important going forward is the ability to have periodic reporting, which adds again to transparency and trust. And so I don't think I could be wrong, but I don't think I or anyone else has seen any financial statements of substance since we saw the last audit. And that's way too long. And there are a lot of financial things that the city is trying to do with borrowing money, figuring out budgets, and so on that require us all to have a good idea of where we are in the water.

Think of a boat out in the middle of the ocean with inadequate navigational tools, generally speaking, it doesn't reach the harbor on time or certainly at all. So I would say that periodic reporting should become a very important topic for you to consider. And there's one more topic for you to consider that I think is even more important than that because any of the financial statements, whether they be periodic or they be the audited financial statements, they're a point in time. They tell you where you were at a point in time. And, you know, in the case of an income statement, it tells you a little bit about how you spent money and and earned money.

But it's historical. What's really important is a focus on the condition of internal controls for this entity called the city of Marco Island. And that means, a pretty good and deep understanding of what does that mean. What does it mean to have good internal controls? There's a layman's definition of that that we probably all share.

There's also a professional definition of that that we may not. I understand the professional definition of it. And I can tell you that that provides the guardrails to continue to move forward in a trusted way. So focus on internal controls. Focus on what Chris will tell you about internal controls.

Focus on any remedies that are needed with internal controls. And focus your efforts on the preservation of a good internal control environment. I can't emphasize this enough. I've seen too many situations in too many places that have gone south because they did not have a good understanding of these concepts. And these require training.

And to my knowledge, no one on the council has had any of the training. I don't think you guys have had formal training. You probably have had it in your private lives and whatever you've done. But I think it it's good to to focus on that, to focus on the training, and to continue to focus on on do they do they function the way they should. Thank you for all you're doing. And please keep it up. Thanks.

Dennis, thank you for your comments. We respect everything you have to say and always appreciate your being here at our meetings, and particularly your comments regarding and compliments regarding Carol. Because we second that, Carol. What you've done to hold things together is truly amazing. So thank you very much.

What I appreciate is I know that it's been a challenging few years, but I do appreciate the support of the citizens and the council and their feedback. And sometimes it's not always easy to hear, or you know it's coming from the right place, but you're just trying to move things along. But Dennis, your points are very well taken, and I do agree that controls are key. And that's one thing I'll be focusing on with Chris when I step aside is getting all of that documented, making sure we have the appropriate segregation of duties and training because it is necessary.

Great. So going forward, we know what the topic of our June 10 meeting is going to be. So One that point is covered. And is there any other comments, Terry?

Dennis made a good point in that the workshop on the audit does not need to occur before the audit is submitted. That could help. And if I recall last year, I think it was July that they scheduled some presentation on the audit. So when you speak with Chair Palumbo, you might let him know that this isn't we're not pressuring this, whatever is convenient for the council. And it seems that they've got a pretty full plate.

My counterargument to that would be that his point around having seen the audit and being able to sign it,

the

chair of the council can sign the audit as it's submitted. I think if we want to be doing things the right way and to keep the trust, as you said earlier, I would suggest that we hold ourselves to that and not. It's been an ask. Think when I joined the council, one ask that I heard from the council was, we'd like to see it before it's submitted. And so I would prefer to deliver on that request.

That's been our goal. So I think that's what we'll try to shoot for, yeah, definitely. Soon as we

Can I add two things,

Chair Segal? Go ahead. At

some point, we'll have Q2 results to review in whatever format?

At a minimum, there'll be the standard flash report that'll be available. It'll be going to the council for the second meeting in May. So as soon as that's available, I'll send that out to you. And Casey and I are we're trying to figure out what we can present, given all of the work we have to get done with the audit. It may just be the flash. But if we can provide some additional information, we're going to try to do that. But there will be financials going to the council in May.

Then the second piece I thought of was we would want to meet the new staff members ideally because they'll both be in chair.

When they're physically here, we will definitely bring them in. I think for the June meeting, may not be here. She's joining us in May. But I believe she's going be on vacation, a pre planned vacation. But when Chase is here, can have him come meet the team.

Elena, do you have something?

No. I think that between Terry and Chris, all took care of that. All right. So

I think we've completed everything we need to complete. Does anybody we have that meeting. We'll ask well, as soon as we know a date for the workshop, we'll keep you informed. And other than that, I would entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting.

I move to adjourn.

All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you.