11-28-16 Personnel and Finance - Laserfiche WebLink

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OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK KAREEMAH FOWLER, CITY CLERK PERSONNEL & FINANCE Committee Members Present: Committee Members Absent: Other Council Present: Others Present: Agenda: NOVEMBER 28, 2016 3:00 P.M. Karen White, John Voorde, Will Smith (Citizen Member) Regina Williams- Preston, Gavin Ferlic Dr. David Varner, Tim Scott, Jo Broden Kareemah Fowler, Joseph Molnar, Michael Passavoir, Kathleen Cekanski - Farrand, Adriana Rodriguez Bill No. 69 -16: Establishing Internal Controls and a Materiality Threshold Committee Chair Karen White called the meeting to order with one (1) item on the agenda. Bill No. 69 -16: Establishing Internal Controls and a Materiality Threshold John Murphy, City Controller with offices on the 12`h Floor of the County -City Building, stated that in 2015 the State legislature passed a law requiring all local governments to develop an internal control policy. This must be completed before next year's audit, otherwise there will be an audit exception, which the City would prefer to avoid. The State has developed a template consisting of seventeen (17) points. The City has modified it, looking toward other cities as well as using its own ideas. The City is required to get that adopted by City Council prior to the end of the year. He stated that Indiana is ahead of the curve in terms of implementing internal controls. In addition to the policy, there is a task force charged with looking at all City financial policies. The team consists of Deputy City Controller Jen Hockenhull, Ken Glowacki of the Police Department, Danny Copenhauer of the Fire Department, and Amy O'Connor of the Department of Administration and Finance. They are putting together a more formalized policy for the first half of 2017. Meanwhile, Mr. Murphy and his team put together a Word document that has links to certain training videos in it, which will be distributed to a large number of those working in the County -City Building. Mr. Murphy stated, There is a zero (0) tolerance policy for theft. He recalled only two (2) instances of petty cash being stolen, but neither was internal. Any situation of the sort is to be reported to the State Board of Accounts immediately. There is 455 County -City Building • 227 W. Jefferson Boulevard • South Bend, Indiana 46601 Phone 574- 235 -9221 • Fax 574- 235 -9173 • TDD 574 - 235 -5567 • www.SouthBendiN.gov JENNIFER M. COFFMAN ALKEYNA M. ALDRIDGE JOSEPH MOLNAR CHIEF DEPUTY/ CHIEF OF STAFF DEPUTY/ DIRECTOR OF POLICY ORDINANCE VIOLATION CLERK