| Henryetta city council members got the Oklahoma State Auditor's office paid off Tuesday night. The council approved three payments to the state totaling $40,000 to cover the state audit. That was requested by a citizens petition last year. That audit found some issues with payments to the Oklahoma Firefighters Association but did not find any other actionable problems. That audit bill resulted in a $4 surcharge added to water bills for a four-month period to meet the cost. The surcharge started in March and is scheduled to be finished in July. Council members tabled paying the bill to make sure the total bill did not go above the $40,000 original estimate. City attorney Lou Ann Moudy said the bill would not exceed that amount. The city audit started in July, 2014 and took some four months to complete. A 45-page report was issued by the Oklahoma Auditor's office in March. Download a full copy of the audit report here:{jd_file file==86} Also paid by the council were bills to Vail Electric and Coblentz Construction amounting to $16,241 for work on the Main Street tennis courts project. Both will be reimbursed by the Henryetta Economic Development Authority. A $14,000 bill to Crawford and Associates was approved for payment but not without some questions raised. "When are we going to stop giving Crawford big money?," asked councilman Henry Koelzer. "We have them reviewing the union contracts which we never had in the past," he added. Bill Goodner said the city used to pay $30,000 a few years ago and now it is at $120,000. "In the past we paid very little. We used to do some of this ourselves." He went on to say the city did most of the budget work themselves. Koelzer pointed out that the budget work amounted to $6,000. City clerk Donna White said the city used a different software that was less complicated than the ENCODE software now used. "We have got to get them out of the payroll business," Koelzer said. He pointed out the city is spending, "4,000 to $5,000 a month on payroll. We could hire an accountant to do that." Council members approved payments totaling $27,372.70 to Hall Estill attorneys for legal work in connection with the lawsuit over the water plant and river instate structure. City manager Ted Graham said the city has been involved in arbitration that is expected to end in July. A request for funding for KI-BOIS transit to help with a matching federal grant was tabled. "This is federally subsidized program they said last year the communities help out. I didn't realize they will keep coming back to the well," said Koelzer. He went on to say they transportation company, "operated for years without us giving them a dime." Council members tabled that discussion pending a presentation by KI-BOIS officials. |
