Title
Amending Appendix A-2 of the Administrative Code to establish the creation of a Saint Paul City Council Audit Committee.
Body
WHEREAS, Section 4.07 of the Charter reads that “[t]he Council to make investigations into the affairs of the city and the conduct of any department, office or agency and for this purpose shall have the power to administer oaths and require the presence of witnesses and production of evidence by subpoenas obtained by order from the district court on application from the council.”; and
WHEREAS, Section 4.08 of the Charter reads that “[t]he council shall provide for an annual independent audit of all city accounts and may provide for such additional audits as it deems necessary. Any audit of all city accounts made pursuant to law by the state public examiner or other state officer designated by law shall be deemed an independent audit.”; and
WHEREAS, as part of the City Council’s Organizational Committee’s 2019 work plan, a Performance Audit Work Group was formed in February 2019 to research and evaluate the benefit and costs of re-introducing the function of City Council audits of City departments and programs; and
WHEREAS, the Performance Audit Work Group considered the following questions in its deliberations:
· Lessons from the Council’s old performance audit program,
· Potential improvements in efficiency and effectiveness of City operations,
· Cooperation with the Administration in establishing a new program,
· Connection of a new program to the Administration’s Innovation Team on programs of interest to both the City Council and Administration,
· Cost of a new program, and
· Use of consultants or hiring Council Research staff; and
WHEREAS, the Performance Audit Work Group reviewed their final report and recommended at an Organizational Committee meeting on October 23, 2019 that the City Council restart its audit function; and
WHEREAS, the City Council confirmed the recommendation to restart the Audit Committee at an Or...
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