T. Scott Boatright, Reporter
11-07-2008
GRAMBLING — A day after 2007 audit report findings caused friction between the Grambling City Council and Mayor Martha Andrus, they were back to work Thursday night for their regular monthly meeting.
This time there were no skirmishes, and the group made progress toward addressing future financial woes. On Wednesday, Allen, Green and Williamson, the company that handled the city’s overdue 2007 financial audit, attached a disclaimer giving no opinion on the audit, stating it could not be qualified. Tim Green said an abundance of insufficient documentation to reconcile the audit and the fact that there is no signed letter of representation from city management for the audit caused the trouble.
The council approved a motion to hire a full-time accountant/business manager to handle day-to-day financial affairs for the city.
“Hopefully this will help bring better accountability with our financial records and get us back on the right track,” Andrus said. “I’m looking forward to this new employee helping us avoid any of those problems in the future.”
City councilman and finance committee member Roosevelt Bryant was pleased to see the hire he’s been requesting for months finally on the table.
“This is great for the city and something that’s been needed for a long time now — we have to have someone that’s accountable and has the ability to properly manage the city’s finances,” Bryant said. “In light of the problems we’re going through, this was a very important and necessary move.”
The city council agreed to hire for the new position at a salary of $55,000 annually and said they would hopefully vote on a new accountant during the December meeting.
“We’ve already done interviews and have written a detailed job description, so we have a pretty good idea of what direction we want to go with this,” Bryant said.
In other business, the council also voted to restrict proceeds coming in from the Grambling Bingo Palace to be held to be used when deemed necessary. Previously the proceeds went to the general account to pay bills.
In slightly under two quarters of business, the Bingo Palace has added $86,882.60 to city coffers. Some of that money has already been designated to purchase two new police cars for the city for a combined estimated cost of about $37,000.
The council also approved a request from Lincoln Parish Police Juror Theresa Wyatt that the Grambling Recreation Center be opened during the day for citizens wishing to use computers that were provided there by a federal grant.
“The grant is over, there are no more funds available,” Wyatt said. “If the computers aren’t being used, we have to send them back. But we’d like to keep those here and open up the rec center for public use on those computers.”
Grambling police chief Tommy Clark requested police involvement in the process to eliminate city liability for any potential cyber-crimes committed on those computers.
The council also pledged its support to 4 Paws Rescue Inc. in its hopes to build an animal shelter in Lincoln Parish and from Triton Water involving a plan to possibly replace the city’s water meters, which are becoming less accurate due to age.
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