Dr. Paul DiGiovanni – as Chairman of the Assessment Committee, we are performing a complementary function to this committee. Our focus is more backward looking while this committee is more forward looking. There is some overlap; our Committee is tasked with generating response to the Comptroller’s Report, which is due the first week in September. The first recommendation is that the Treasurer should provide a plan to provide oversight of his staff. Have read the Corrective Action Report, in my estimation it is a restatement of what should be happening now and isn’t as opposed to what has been changed from the standard operating procedure and will continue to be done differently, so problems won’t continue.

Mr. Willcox – the Corrective Action Plan appears to be business as usual, and he could not recommend it.

Mrs. Breed – it appears to be an outline of job descriptions as opposed to a timeline of when corrective action will be taken and how it will continue to be addressed and when the committee will receive information and when tasks will be completed. I still don’t see a response to when the committee will receive the needed reports. One of the Comptroller’s criticisms is that the Legislature didn’t provide oversight – we can’t provide certain oversight if we don’t receive the information.

Mr. Ross – I read it and felt it was very good. It is up to us to see that it is done. There isn’t any reason that once a month we can’t check on this and see that it is done.

Mrs. Breed and Mr. Willcox did not agree with Mr. Ross’ response – they do not feel it is the committee’s responsibility to ask for the information. It should be reported to us and the committee should not have to build information in to the Corrective Action Plan.

Mrs. Tytler – I have glanced at the report and have no comment at this time.

Mr. Behrenfeld – We have talked in general terms so far. The Treasurer has given us some specific on some things in each area. Looking at each criteria, he did address the specific findings. Where we seem to have some disagreement or areas of discussions is with regards to the substance and timeliness/dates of the corrective action to take place. Those two things are in question. We can do this two ways – specifically we can look at each item and state where we think shortcomings are and suggest where we think they should be – but we shouldn’t come up with the corrective plan but rather respond to what has been given to us. The other thing we can do – the Treasurer is here – is to ask specific questions and have him elaborate on these things and determine if it needs to be beefed up and give the Treasurer the chance to respond in more detail if this isn’t conveying what he wants to convey in a manner to satisfy us. If he says this is his plan and he feels this is the only way to articulate it, we’ll go forward.

Dr. Paul DiGiovanni said he felt that we should choose one area and give the Treasurer an example of what we feel is lacking. I don’t want to go through this report line by line and do the work for the Treasure. We should choose an area and give specifics of what we are looking for.

Mr. Behrenfeld – I don’t want to create the Action Plan, but there are only two areas in the report – the first and second ones – that I see are the most important form the Comptroller’s report. I think of the two, the first one is the most important because it encompasses the information we need to function properly.

Dr. Paul DiGiovanni addressed the first paragraph under postings: has this been happening; how has it been happening; if it has been happening, can I see some proof that it has been happening. What is the recourse if what is supposed to be done isn’t being done. When I have to respond to the governing authorities to whom I report with a corrective action plan, I must give specifics of how the deficiencies are being addressed. I don’t see any recourse for staff if the job that is to be done isn’t done.

Mr. Behrenfeld asked if the concern is that the items are difficult to measure. The committee asked for clarification of what Mr. Behrenfeld met. Mr. Behrenfeld responded that to ensure reconciliations are done is difficult to measure. Dr. Paul DiGiovanni responded by asking what the committee just couldn’t see the signed off reconciliations.

Mr. Behrenfeld stated that if the committee receives current monthly information, then there should be a presumption that work has been done. Mrs. Breed responded that just because the committee receives a report, doesn’t meet the work has been done.

Mr. Behrenfeld stated that when you receive a report, there is some presumption that the information is accurate.

Mrs. Breed disagreed with Mr. Behrenfeld and felt that the question has to be asked if the information is accurate.

Mr. Behrenfeld stated that he feels that what the committee needs is information to allow the committee to do its job.

Mr. Behrenfeld feels we should implement a plan close to what Mr. Ross indicated. We don’t necessarily have to go down to the Treasurer’s Office, but that will exhibit due diligence in doing our job. We need timely financial information in order to do our job.

Mrs. Tytler – my overall issue is how the information gets back to the Legislature. I’m not seeing how that is going to be done in the Corrective Action Report. I agree with Paul, that just because we get the reports doesn’t mean they are accurate. I’d like to believe that if we received monthly budget reports, all issues are being taken care of, and I need to be convinced.

Mr. Behrenfeld – the real issue is that we need financial statements. The information in the Corrective Action Plan is important, but our real issue is receiving financial statements.

Mrs. Breed – and receiving those financial reports should be a part of the Corrective Action Plan.

Dr. Paul DiGiovanni – asked for clarification of timeliness. Wasn’t timeliness/time lines a part of the criteria?

Mrs. Breed – do we have the financial report that I requested from the Treasurer at the last meeting to be presented at this meeting?

Mr. Ferris was provided the opportunity to respond. What you have before you is the Revenue and Expense report as of May 31, 2004, which is the most current reconciliation. I believe this information provides the information you requested in your resolution last week. If this is a satisfactory format, I can provide it on a monthly basis. If you want something changed, let me know. We are in the process of reconciling the books as of June 30, 2004.

As far as the Corrective Action Plan and reconciliations – we receive bank statements between the 7^th and the 15^th of the month, depending on the bank. By the 25^th of each month, we should be able to prepare a report like this. This is not a canned report or a standard report in MUNIS. It is a spreadsheet created in our office with a little bit of help from a couple of other people, and requires manual input of year to date information and any revised budget amounts. It takes 3 to 4 hours to do this because we have to pull information off MUNIS in summary format and then manually input. If this format is satisfactory, then I will ask for a report from Data Processing that will import the information from MUNIS in to this report. It will take Rob and/or his staff some time to do that. I also need clarification from Mr. Schrader on what accounts he wants combined where. Once we receive the information from Mr. Schrader, we will shut down MUNIS for a day and go in and re-do the groupings for what he wants and then we will be able to give you a report in the same format. There seems to be a discrepancy in the budget in the E & T accounts and we need to get clarification from Mr. Schrader on this.

Mrs. Tytler asked if this report was created in the Treasurer’s Office. Mr. Ferris responded that it was pulled from MUNIS after the accounts were reconciled.

Mr. Ferris stated that in preparing this report, he found some errors in posting where checks written by the Legislature were posted to the wrong period. The expenses for one month, therefore, are understated and are consequently overstated for another month. This will be corrected today.

Mr. Behrenfeld stated that he feels that problems are being stumbled upon and there are not appropriate checks and balances put in place. He asked Mr. Ferris if the problem that was found in preparing this report have checks and balances or if we shall just continue to stumble on them.

Mr. Ferris indicated that he is not aware of anything in MUNIS that would raise a red flag about this. The posting error was done in the Audit Department and he does not oversee the Audit Department. There are times when you will want to post something to a different month rather than the current month.

Mrs. Tytler asked what type of check? Mr. Ferris responded Board Audit checks – bills.

Mrs. Tytler – I don’t have the accounting background others due, but if we have an estimation of what we are spending on a monthly basis and it appears $18,000 off, we should know there is a problem.

Mrs. Breed – if we had this report from day one, the error would have been caught sooner. As far as postings, I reflect back to what I do. At the bank, I flipped through nearly 1,000 pages on a daily basis to look for exception postings – unusual postings, etc. You could tell that by looking through the report quickly and would call the department and ask about the discrepancy. It was a daily process; you didn’t wait for the end of the month. It didn’t catch everything but it would catch a large number of things. It was a routine daily procedure that took me about 20 minutes a day to flip through the pages; if there were problems, it took another 15 minutes. Then at month end, if something comes up, you go back through the daily reports and find the information. If we had the information monthly, we would have caught this problem. That is why we need this report.

Mr. Behrenfeld – when we receive the financial report, when we are given those, we shouldn’t expect getting them and have a lot of "buts." We don’t want to get a financial statement and have you say "it’s almost correct except…" In the future when we get the financial statement, we expect the report to be correct. We don’t want something that is almost there.

Mr. Ferris – I told you I provided this to see if this is what you want. If it is what you want, then we will fix it and give you a corrected one. I want you to see the type of problems that we encounter. When we find a problem, we can’t go back to the department that made the error and have them correct it because they don’t have the rights to go in the system and make corrections. We need to implement quality control in the departments because if the quality control is not there, we can’t comply with the request for reports.

Mr. Behrenfeld – when we hear that type of statement, as legitimate as it might be, we aren’t given any type of guidance as to how we are to respond to that. We believe someone in charge of an area is in charge of overseeing those things. So, if you are not in charge of a department, you have mechanisms you can use. If you have worked with a department to correct errors, and you allow the problem to persist without reporting the issue to this committee or the appropriate committee and tell them that you have done all you can do and it is not working, then the committee needs to get involved. We have been here seven months and you have never come to us with specific problems. Situations have either been stumbled upon or discovered when someone cannot do something they need to do. It seems then to always come back on the Treasurer’s Office. If you don’t give us specifics, they are only conversations. Not much can come out of a conversations. You cannot continue to come to us and tell us you can’t do the financial reports because other departments are having problems. We are demanding financial reports from you and it is your responsibility as the individual who is paid to do this to ensure that it happens. If you can’t correct what is causing the problem, you need to tell us that. We are not receiving information that will help us do our jobs.

Mr. Willcox – isn’t what is really being stated is that the Corrective Action Plan is business as usual?

Mr. Behrenfeld – no, what I am saying is that there are things we need and they are not happening.

Dr. DiGiovanni – in my world, there are certain steps we follow. There are two ways you can find a problem – there are random errors that you cannot control. But then, there are systemic errors that must be addressed. The Treasurer must address systemic errors. The whole issue of presenting information on a percentage basis doesn’t give me information I need if I don’t have something to compare it to. MUNIS – no other County is using MUNIS to generate monthly reports? We were told this took hours and would need a custom software to do the report. I find it difficult to believe that the MUNIS system can’t do it. Carol, didn’t you and I provide some formats of monthly reports that are a reasonable basis. I still haven’t seen that.

Mr. Behrenfeld – I have a report here from Mr. Schrader that I believe is developed out of Mrs. Tytler's format.

Mrs. Tytler – yes, I asked Mr. Schrader to give you and Paul a copy, but I still have questions.

Mr. Behrenfeld – then I see overlap here if Mr. Schrader prepared this report. However, whomever prepares it needs good information to prepare this.

Chairman Steve – Don, when I asked for a report a couple of weeks ago, I asked for some outstanding checks and the accounts were reconciled. Does this report mean that all accounts are now reconciled? Mr. Ferris responded, all the accounts on the report are reconciled through the end of May. Chairman Steve asked specific questions about certain accounts – such as the revenue for Elections – Mr. Ferris responded he did not know the specifics. Chairman Steve asked Mr. Ferris if he would sign this document as accurate. Mr. Ferris reported not until all the adjustments are made. Chairman Steve asked what County employees are helping do this. Mr. Merwin Armstrong helped with the report.

Mr. Behrenfeld moved that we receive every month accurate, complete financial statements as of 30 day post month end– reflecting revenue and expenses – for month and year to do – a comparison to the prior year and percentages – a statement of financial standing and a debt schedule – under GASB. We would like to see documented the verification that the responses to the corrective action is also given to us each month. And a monthly report of systemic issues that may have arisen so problems can be identified – showing when and where it is occurring so we can respond if necessary. And an accompanying narrative with the financial statements (e.g. variances from previous years, reasons for changes, things we should have a heads up about). Seconded by Mrs. Breed. All members voting in favor; none opposed. Motion adopted.

Mr. Ferris responded that four or five counties in the state are using MUNIS, one city, and some school districts. The counties who are using MUNIS in the state are not using it to the extent we are. Yates County is using only a portion of it. Your motion last week was that you wanted a one page report; I tried to give you what you wanted on one page.

The consensus of the committee is that the report could be multiple pages if the information if what they want.

Mr. Ferris responded on the report prepared by Mr. Schrader and Mr. Corpora – it doesn’t give you budget information.

Mrs. Tytler asked if we should accept the report since Mr. Ferris indicated that he would not sign it.

Mr. Ferris indicated he did not want the committee to accept the report. It was basically presented for format approval. He needs to get with Mr. Schrader to discuss some of the issues.

Mr. Schrader asked why the revenue is so low in the Treasurer’s Office – line 15 of the report . Mr. Ferris reported that it is sales tax. Mr. Schrader indicated that it is also property taxes. Did we not book the revenue from the taxes received from the township? Mr. Ferris responded he thought it was booked but he will check with Carolyn.

Mr. Ferris reported he has a balance sheet that came out of MUNIS that he will provide to Mr. Behrenfeld.

Mr. Behrenfeld will schedule the next meeting and notify everyone.