Okaloosa County BOCC — January 18, 2013 — reading text

Walton Beach 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 BCC Meeting 6:00 p.m. W&S Bldg. Fort Walton Beach 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 May 1 May 2 May 3 May 4 28 29 30 Packet Pg. 330  8.3.b Board of County Commissioners Meetings & Workshops Attachment: Apr - June 2013 (1261 : Approval of Board Meeting Calendars, January - June 2013) MAY 2013 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY April 28 April 29 April 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 BCC Meeting 6:00 p.m. Crestview Courthouse 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 BCC Meeting 8:30 a.m., W&S Bldg. Fort Walton Beach June 1 26 27 28 29 30 31 Memorial Day Holiday Packet Pg. 331  8.3.b Board of County Commissioners Meetings & Workshops Attachment: Apr - June 2013 (1261 : Approval of Board Meeting Calendars, January - June 2013) JUNE 2013 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY May 26 May 27 May 28 May 29 May 30 May 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 BCC Meeting 8:30 a.m. Crestview Courthouse 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 BCC Meeting 6:00 p.m., W&S Bldg. Fort Walton Beach 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Packet Pg. 332  9.1 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA REQUEST DATE: January 8, 2013 TO: Honorable Chairman and Members of the Board FROM: James D. Curry SUBJECT: Response to the Auditor General's Report DEPARTMENT: County Administrator BCC DISTRICT: All STATEMENT OF ISSUE: The Board is requested to review, provide direction and authorize the Chairman to transmit the County’s response/corrective action plan to the Auditor General’s preliminary and tentative audit findings and recommendations dated December 18, 2012 and amended December 28, 2012. BACKGROUND: For the past several months, county and clerk staff has been working closely with the Auditor General’s Office (AGO) during an audit of the board’s oversight of the Tourist Development Council and use of tourist development taxes and funds received from British Petroleum resulting from the unauthorized expenditures and theft of funds by the former tourist development executive director. The Auditor General’s preliminary and tentative audit findings and recommendations were received on December 18, 2012 and the Board’s response is due within 30 days. The responses were still being finalized at the time of the agenda preparation but will be transmitted to the board prior to Tuesday's meeting in order to provide time for your review and facilitate meaningful discussion during the meeting. Since most of the AGO’s findings cross jurisdictional responsibilities between the Board of County Commissioners and the Clerk of Circuit Court, the draft responses have been a collaborative effort between staff of both offices. As a result, the proposed transmittal letter would be executed by both the Board Chairman and the Clerk of Circuit Court. RECOMMENDATIONS: Provide direction and authorization for the Chairman to transmit the County’s response/corrective action plan to the Auditor General’s preliminary and tentative audit findings and recommendations dated December 18, 2012 and amended December 28, 2012. RECOMMENDED BY: APPROVED BY: James D. Curry, County Administrator Packet Pg. 333  9.1.a AUDITOR GENERAL STATE OF FLORIDA G74 Claude Pepper Building 111 West Madison Street Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1450 DAVID W. MARTIN, CPA PHONE: 850-488-5534 AUDITOR GENERAL December 18, 2012 FAX: 850-488-6975 Attachment: Attorney General P&T Audit (1278 : Response to the Auditor General's Report) Honorable Don Amunds, Chair Board of County Commissioners Okaloosa County 320 Wilson Street, Suite 302 Crestview, Florida 32536 Dear Commissioner Amunds: Enclosed is a list of preliminary and tentative audit findings and recommendations which may be included in a report to be prepared on our operational audit of the: Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners? Oversight of the Tourist Development Council and Use of Tourist Development Taxes and Funds Received From British Petroleum Pursuant to Section 11.45(4)(d), Florida Statutes, you are required to submit to me within thirty (30) days after receipt of this list a written statement of explanation concerning all of the findings, including therein your actual or proposed corrective actions. Your written statement of explanation should be submitted electronically to flaudgen_audrpt_lg@aud.state.fl.us (flaudgen_audrpt_lg@aud.state.fl.us) in source format (e.g., Word or WordPerfect) and include your digitized signature. For quality reproduction purposes, if you are not submitting your response in source format, please convert your response to PDF and not scan to PDF. If technical issues make an electronic response not possible, then a hard copy (paper) response will be acceptable. If you are submitting a hard copy, address to Auditor General, Local Government Audits/Section 342, 111 West Madison Street, Tallahassee, FL 32399-1450. Please e-mail this Office at flaudgen_audrpt_lg@aud.state.fl.us to indicate receipt of the preliminary and tentative findings. Absent such receipt, delivery of the enclosed list of findings is presumed, by law, to be made when it is delivered to your office. If within the 30-day period you have questions or desire further discussion on any of the proposed findings and recommendations, please contact Marilyn Rosetti at (850)487-9031 or at marilynrosetti@aud.state.fl.us. Sincerely, David W. Martin DWM/jk Enclosures c: Board of County Commissioners Don Howard, Clerk of Courts James D. Curry, County Administrator Gary Stanford, Finance Director Packet Pg. 334  9.1.a ****PRELIMINARY AND TENTATIVE FINDINGS**** OKALOOSA COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS? OVERSIGHT OF THE TOURIST DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL AND USE OF TOURIST DEVELOPMENT TAXES AND FUNDS RECEIVED FROM BRITISH PETROLEUM SUMMARY Attachment: Attorney General P&T Audit (1278 : Response to the Auditor General's Report) Our operational audit of the Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners? oversight of the Tourist Development Council and use of tourist development taxes and funds received from British Petroleum disclosed the following: ORGANIZATIONAL OVERSIGHT Finding No. 1: The Board of County Commissioners (BCC) did not establish annual budgets for expenditures from restricted resources at the level the resources were restricted, or project budgets for each advertising project and marketing campaign, to ensure that available resources were not overspent. Finding No. 2: The Tourist Development Council (TDC) and TDC subcommittees performed duties that were not of an advisory nature, contrary to law. Finding No. 3: The TDC did not continuously review all expenditures of tourist development taxes, contrary to law. Finding No. 4: The County purchased goods and services from companies or organizations that were affiliated with members of the BCC, TDC, or a TDC subcommittee, contrary to law. FRAUD CONTROLS AND CONTROL RISK ASSESSMENTS Finding No. 5: The BCC had not adopted a fraud response plan, and the County did not perform periodic fraud risk assessments or establish action plans to implement and monitor fraud controls. Finding No. 6: The County did not perform and document periodic control risk assessments over the activities of collecting, accounting for, and disbursing restricted resources to identify and respond to identified control risks. PROCUREMENT AND PAYMENTS TO VENDORS Finding No. 7: The County did not consistently follow prescribed policies and procedures relating to the competitive procurement of goods and services, including the selection of two advertising and marketing firms. Finding No. 8: The County negotiated and entered into contracts that did not contain adequate provisions to effectively protect the County?s interests. Finding No. 9: The County did not perform an adequate review or preaudit of invoices submitted by two advertising and marketing firms,