Suwannee Commissioners review audit findings

Christian Peterson

reporter.riverbendnews@gmail.com

During its regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 21, the Suwannee County Board of County Commissioners met for its regularly scheduled meeting, during which the commissioners heard several concerns.

Before the floor was opened for public comments, Chairman Travis Land addressed the room, saying he had received numerous concerns about the board enforcing the three-minute time limit for public comment. He clarified that the rules dictate an individual speaker has three minutes to speak, whereas an individual representing a group has seven minutes.

Following his clarification, Wendy Martin stood up to speak, voicing her concerns about the Trump Administration and her unhappiness with its operations.

Following her was Keith Broaders., who expressed his concerns with Congress, referring to them as children in need of discipline. He then directed people to visit his website, libertytreeonline.us, to learn more about American history.

Charles Dees was the next speaker. He was concerned about Suwannee County's lack of a leash law, alleging five dogs were running around his neighborhood, killing livestock and causing issues. Dees requested the board look into establishing penalties for the animals' owners.

Gigi Simmons followed. She was there to speak about her late husband, Donnell Gwinn. Simmons requested the board make a proclamation honoring his legacy, to which the Commissioners responded by directing staff to start drafting a proclamation for the next meeting.

Moses Clepper was the next speaker. He voiced his concern about exempt salaried employees and the recent installation of Flock cameras throughout the county. He then expressed his concerns regarding four items on the consent agenda. Clepper began by voicing his distrust of the head of the building department and noted that the county had an agenda item to allow the department to raise permit fees by up to 3% annually. He also took issue with two items related to a piggyback contract the county was considering with the Suwannee County School District to replace the courthouse roof. Clepper requested the board instead bid the item out. His final concern was about the plan to buy two roll-off trucks, claiming there were cheaper options available.

The final public comment was from Pat Hines, who invited everyone to a ribbon cutting at Southern Heritage Farms, located at 13157 116^th St., in Live Oak on Saturday, Nov. 22, at 10 a.m.

The board then moved on to the portion of the agenda for presentations and proclamations. Bo Beauchemin, Bea Coker and Michael Coker stood up to present a proclamation for the board for Red Ribbon Week. Beauchemin, represnting the Our Community Cares Coalition, read the proclamation and the board voiced their support for the program to help prevent drug abuse across the county.

After this presentation, the board moved on to the consent agenda. The commissioners pulled two items for clarification and discussion, then approved the other five items all at once. The first item pulled was item five, “adoption of a resolution authorizing amending permit fees for building, zoning, and related permits, and authorizing the head of the building department to raise fees up to 3% per year with notice to the Board of County Commissioners.” Land said he had pulled the item because he was concerned about the three percent raise every year with notice. He said he was more interested in it being an agenda item that comes before the board for approval. Ronald Meeks stated he was fine with this reguest and wanted to begin to include it in the budget process. The board then approved the item, with these changes.

The second pulled item was to “authorize replacement of Courthouse Copper Roof at Clock Tower through Suwannee County School Board's piggyback contract with O'Neal Roofing Company in the amount of $334,518.83.” After some discussion and clarification on what a piggyback contract entailed, the board elected to deny the item and instead go out to bid on the project.

The board then called for staff items, to which there was one response. John Duhaime, the airport manager, updated the board about the recent Wings Over Suwannee fly-in that was hosted at the airport on Saturday, Oct. 18. He told them 83 youth had experienced their first flight, 145 meals were served, 30 aircraft visited, 15 vendors were present, and there were a total of 500 attendees.

Following his update, the Board turned to County Attorney Adam Morrison's items. He told the Board that a search warrant had been served at Mills Gas and Diesel Repair in Live Oak. Alongside that search warrant, the county had been served with a subpoena regarding the company, which the county would comply with. The county had 20 days to provides the state with records from county offices regarding any transaction made from Jan. 1, 2024 to June 1, 2025, with Mills Gas and Diesel Repair. Morrison assured the Board that the county and the Emergency Operations Center, which had also been served with a subpoena, would be able to comply in the timeframe.

The board then moved on to the main agenda item: an audit presentation from Powell and Jones CPA. The firm told the commissioners everything looked good except for eight findings, all related to the Suwannee County Sheriff's Office (SCSO).

Finding 1 concerned accounting software conversion; this was the second year of the finding, with the previous appearing in from the 2022-23 audit. The auditor's recommendation was for SCSO to “arrange for targeted and comprehensive training for the finance director on American Data Group's (ADG) year-end close, bank reconciliation, and reporting functions, ensuring that accurate financial data and reports can be produced without vendor or auditor intervention.”

SCSO responded by stating it recognized “the importance of ensuring that all financial data and year-end reporting functions are accurately maintained within the ADG accounting system.” It also noted “Targeted training will be provided to the finance team to strengthen proficiency in ADG's year-end close, bank reconciliation, and reporting processes, reducing reliance on external assistance.”

Finding 2 regarded inadequate segregation of duties, another repeated finding from 2021-22. “We recommend that the sheriff's office either discontinue the use of pre-signed checks and require manual signatures from authorized signers, or reconfigure the ADG accounting system to remove administrative access from the finance director and enforce an electronic approval ladder,” the auditor recommendation reads. It goes on to note the approval ladder should “require that all checks and disbursements be authorized by an individual outside of the finance function, ensuring that every transaction is independently reviewed and approved before release. In addition, the sheriff's office should consider adding an accounts payable clerk or other finance staff to strengthen segregation of duties in vendor management, payment processing and review.”

In response to the finding, the SCSO wrote it “utilizes an electronic signature process within the ADG accounting system to ensure that vendor payments are processed efficiently and without unneccessary delay. As a compensating control, all check runs and disbursement registers are reviewed by the Chief Deputy to verify accuracy and authorization.” It also wrote that Finance Director Michelle Emmons will produce a monthly check register for review, signed by Chief Deputy Buddy Williams, confirming all disbursements have been independently reviewed. “At fiscal year-end, both the Chief Deputy and Sheriff will jointly review the annual check register to confirm the completeness and accuracy of all disbursements issued.” The department's response reads.

Finding 3 was for fixed assets. The audit or recommended the sheriff's office “establish and enforce stronger controls over the acquisition, custody and disposition of fixed assets,” noting “all fixed assets should be assigned a unique identification number or asset tag at the time of purchase, and the information should be entered promptly into both the accounting system and any supplemental tracking spreadsheets...”

The sheriff's officeresponded, acknowledging documentation and tracking “were not applied consistently during the 2023-24 fiscal year.” It went on to note the agency does assign fixed assets a unique identification number and tag them with a property control sticker at the time it is acquired. “However, corrective measures have been implemented to ensure full compliance moving forward,” the SCSO response reads.

Finding 4 related to budgetary practices. The audtior recommended the sheriff's office “prepare and adopt budgets for all funds subject to budgetary control and implement procedures for active monitoring of budget-to-actual results during the fiscal year, with timely corrective actions when variances occur.”

The sheriff's office's response was in agreement, stating the agency has begun preparing individual budgets for all funds subject to budgetary control, including those maintained outside of the county's general fund. “Going forward, each fund will have a formally adopted budget that aligns with the requirements of Chapter 129, Florida Statutes, and the financial reporting standards applicable to constitutional officers,” SCSO's response states.

Finding 5 was in relation to bank reconciliations. The audit recommended SCSO ensure bank reconciliations are completed monthly for all accounts in the ADG system and that Finance Director Emmons receive comprehensive training on reconciliation procedures, including transaction matching, clearing reconciling items, and the effect of month-end and year-end closes on reconciliation data. “In addition, reconciliations for accounts maintained in other software should be submitted to the finance department each month for centralized review and approval to ensure accuracy, consistency, and accountability across all accounts,” the report states.

The sheriff's office responded by acknowledging the importance of timely and accurate bank reconciliations for all agency accounts. “Moving forward, reconciliations will be completed monthly for every account to ensure consistency and financial integrity,” the agency wrote.

Finding 6 concerned a lack of credit card policy and documentation. For this finding, the auditor recommended the SCSO adopt a comprehensive credit card policy clearly defining allowable purchases, cardholder responsibilities, spending limits, documentation requirements, and supervisory review procedures. “All cardholders should be trained on the new policy,” the recommendation reads. “Management should also implement routine oversight procedures, require that receipts and written justifications accompany all credit card charges and that transactions be independently reviewed and approved for compliance before payment.”

In response, the SCSO wrote it is “actively developing a comprehensive card policy to govern the issuance and use of agency purchasing cards,” The new policy, the response states, will define allowable purchases, cardholder responsibilities, spending limits, documentation standards, and supervisory review requirements.”

Finding 7 was related to netted amounts, backwards accounts, and other inaccuracies. “We recommend that the sheriff's office strengthen review procedures as part of the bank reconciliation process to detect and correct errors in posting,” the audit report reads. “Consolidation account functions within the finance department would also improve consistency and reduce risk of misstatements. In addition, adjustments should be made to automatic postings in the accounting software to ensure transactions are recorded in proper accounts. Staff should be provided with additional training on governmental accounting classifications, and periodic supervisory review should be conducted to identify and correct backward balances and other posting errors. Finally, the finance department should perform a periodic review of the trial balance to ensure account balances are reasonable, consistent with expectations, and in line with approved budgets.”

In response, the sheriff's office agreed with the reccomendation and wrote it has “implemented corrective measures to ensure that revenues and expenditures are propery recorded in the Inmate Welfare Fund (IWF) and other affected accounts. Moving forward, all IWF transactions will be processed using the appropriate revenue and expense classifications to maintain the integrity of financial reporting.”

Finding 8 had to do with grant management. For this finding, the auditor recommended the sheriff's office “establish centralized grant management within the finance department to ensure timely reporting and accurate inclusion of grant activity in the financial statements.” It went on to state advanced grant funds should be separated from other resources, and unspent balances should be properly deferred until earned. “A clear separation of duties should be implemented so that individuals responsible for grant accounting are not also responsible for expending funds or requesting reimbursement.”

SCSO responded by stating all grant activity will be centrally managed within the finance division beginning with fiscal year 2025-26 to “ensure accurate reporting, proper accounting, and full compliance with grant requirements. The Finance Division will review all new and existing grants to confirm that financial activity is recorded correctly and that reimbursement requests are processed or reviewed by finance personnel before submission.”

The entire audit report and the SCSO's responses can all be read by visiting the Suwannee County Clerk of Court website at suwgov.org.

After reviewing the audit, the board asked if Sheriff Sam St. John would like to respond. That night, and later, in a phone call with Riverbend News, St. John explained his position.

“This is not how we normally run business,” he said. He stated that, due to the new finance director and three consecutive hurricanes, a lot had been thrown at the office, which it was not prepared for. He pointed to his first seven years as sheriff, stating there had been no findings until the past two years. St. John continued, explaining everything had culminated at one time, and the sheriff's office was actively working to resolve it.

“We are taking this seriously,” St. John said. “I am the sheriff; it falls back on my shoulders. I understand that I have to own it.”

In a call with Riverbend News, St. John explained his plans to implement all changes within the next two weeks. He will present them to the Board at their next regularly scheduled meeting in November.

The commissioners then moved on to the evening's final item, which was in relation to a recent compensation and classification study. The Board approved the reclassification of job titles, as well as updating existing job descriptions. It also approved bringing employees up to the state minimum payment, with interim County Administrator Jason Furry noting each department could cover this item with their own budget. The board did, however, request that the idea of merit-based evaluations and raises based on such be brought back before them for consideration with a more fleshed-out plan.

The meeting was then adjourned. The next Suwannee County Board of County Commissioners meeting will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 4, at 5:30 p.m. in the Judicial Annex, located at 218 Parshley St. SW, in Live Oak.