Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Following a process that dates back to 2011, the audit covered 12 different areas of the city's operations. Many details about the audit are included in this article.
Missouri State Auditor Tom Schweich, following an audit process that lasted 16 months, has given the City of Brentwood a 'Poor' rating for its overall performance. It's the lowest of the four possible ratings. The audit covers the year of 2011, so the city has already made improvements in some of the areas mentioned. The audit begins with a brief "citizens summary" of each area. The 'Poor' overall performance is described as: The audit results indicate this entity needs to significantly improve operations. The report contains numerous findings that require management's immediate attention, and/or the entity has indicated most recommendations will not be implemented. In addition, if applicable, most prior recommendations have not been …
Hear the audit presentation in person at the Rec Center at 6 p.m.
Missouri State Auditor Tom Schweich will present the findings of the audit of the City of Brentwood Tuesday at 6 p.m. He will also answer questions. At that same time Patch will release details of the audit as well. The audit was initiated in 2011 when supporters gathered 869 valid signatures, 287 more than the 581 needed to trigger a petition audit. Following the then Brentwood city administrator Chris Seemayer's guilty plea to stealing nearly $30,000 from the city and a scandal surrounding the Brentwood Fire Department, Brentwood residents Julie Pozzo and Maureen Saunders led the effort to petition the state for the audit. Saunders is now an alderwoman of Ward 1. Come back here for all the details on the audit and the presentation. These…
The state auditor will present his findings of the City of Brentwood at the Recreation Center tonight.
Tonight at 6 p.m. at the Brentwood Recreation Center, Missouri State Auditor Tom Schweich will present the findings of his audit of the City of Brentwood. The auditor will give the city an overall rating which will be one of four levels of performance: Excellent, Good, Fair or Poor. Excellent means the city is well managed. Poor means operations need significant improvement. For example, the city of Pacific was audited in 2011. The audit covered four areas in detail, and the city was given an overall performance rating of Good. The auditor's office met with the Brentwood aldermen and mayor earlier in the year to share the audit. The city's officials' responses to the audit will be included in the final draft. The audit of Brentwood was …
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Ward 1 Alderwoman Maureen Saunders said State Auditor Tom Schweich told her the date.
The state audit of Brentwood’s finances, which began with a residents' petition drive in the summer of 2011, will come to a close in a matter of weeks. The petition drive followed two financial scandals in Brentwood. Ward 1 Alderwoman Maureen Saunders announced in a meeting of her ward that State Auditor Tom Schweich will come to Brentwood May 7 to present the findings. She said she spoke with Schweich before the meeting, who gave her permission to announce the date. She said she had called because the audit was resident-driven, and wanted residents to have a fair amount of time to plan on coming. "We owe it as a courtesy to the state," she said. "They get a lot of requests for these and we petitioned for the audit, so they did the audit …
Friday, February 8, 2013
A meeting on Feb. 12 meeting will be closed. The state auditor's office will hold a public meeting when the final draft of the audit is ready.
The state audit of the City of Brentwood should soon be complete and made public. Following a Jan. 29 meeting with state auditors, the Brentwood Board of Alderman will meet on Feb. 12 in a closed session to discuss the board's response to auditor's office. The audit was initiated by a citizen-led petition drive in Summer 2011. The state began the audit in January, 2012. The Brentwood board has no editing power over the audit, but its response will be inserted into the final draft, state auditor spokesman Spence Jackson said. The auditor's office has given the board of aldermen a Feb. 15 deadline to submit its repsonse. Jackson said the meeting on Tuesday will be closed, as the Jan. 29 meeting was. "Because this is still considered a draft …
Friday, January 11, 2013
Resident Karen Smith said for transparency, the discussion of the state's audit of the city should be open.
On Jan. 29 the Brentwood Board of Aldermen will meet with state auditors to review the state’s audit of the city. The audit was initiated by a citizen-led petition drive, so resident Karen Smith said, in an effort for transparency the meeting should be open to Brentwood residents. “It was paid for with taxpayer money, so I think the taxpayers have the right to be able to hear the results of that audit at the same time as the board of aldermen,” she said. She said the meeting doesn’t qualify under the three topics that would justify going into a closed session, which are personnel, legal and real estate. State auditor spokesperson Spence Jackson said the meeting is the exit meeting and is always closed. “The report is still a draft and not …
Thursday, December 13, 2012
The Missouri state audit of Brentwood's books has taken longer than originally thought.
Brentwood residents may not need to wait much longer for results of the state audit of the city's books. Missouri State Auditor Media Director Spence Jackson said Wednesday the Brentwood audit will be "ready to go early sometime next year." The audit has taken almost 11 months, when it was originally estimated at five to six. The one-year anniversary of the start of the audit will be Jan. 17. Spence said the length of time has nothing specifically to do with Brentwood. The office has 147 audits to get out this year. "We have a very heavy workload and a small staff to get through all those audits," he said. "We'd rather take a little longer and do a good job and give the community a very thorough audit as apposed to just rushing something …
Barry Williams
5:50 pm on Thursday, May 9, 2013
Brentwood residents owe a lot to a civic-minded housewife in our midst who, alarmed by revelations of fiscal misconduct by city officials, took the initiative to seek a state audit of our city. The audit has been performed, the results are in, and it turns out Mrs. Saunders had good reason to seek an investigation. City officials were found to be lax, unprofessional, and inept, and to have … more ›