Okaloosa County BOCC — January 7, 2014 — Commissioner Changes — reading text

Modify title to read “Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners Operating Procedures For Law Enforcement Trust Fund” A. Okaloosa County LETF Application: 1. Eliminate Category 5. Other Law Enforcement Purpose from the form for non- law enforcement applicants. Rationale: This category is a very "gray area" open to interpretation and should be reserved only for law enforcement purposes. A couple of these from non-profits last year caught the interest of the Auditor General and they did not seem to buy the fact that our County Attorney said the Board can set its own criteria for this category. 2. Recommend any organization that uses the provided LETF for purchases other than as authorized by the FL Statute and by what they stated to the Board in their application and/or that does not provide the required receipts for their expenditures within the required time frame should be disqualified from applying for funding for a minimium of two years. Rationale: In the past, many organizations did not provide any documentation for how they actually spent the LETF funds within the required time period and caused multiple requests from our finance Dept. to get the receipts. Then, when the receipts did come in, many of the expenditures were for items that did not have any relationship to the statutury uses of for what the organizations stated in their applications of what the funds would be used for. Having this disqualification criteria in our program will better ensure receiving organizations use the funds for authorized purposes and that they get their receipts submitted on time. NOTE: It will be easy for organizations to avoid disqualification by merely complying with the program requirements. 3. The "reimbursement" criteria should apply to the Sheriff, since it appears that the funds from the LETF account as authorized by the Board will actually be disbursed to the Sheriff. The Sheriff needs to be accountable since he is the one selecting the applicants and the one who actually disburses the funds to the organizations. This will also provide incentive for the sheriff to ensure his selected organizations comply with program procedures. B. LETF Operating Procedures: 1. Sections2. subpara. c): After last sentence, add; "Such programs require approval of the Board prior to disbursement of funds." Retionale: Although the OCSO has the discretion to select the programs, this will clarify that Board approval is also required. C. Application for Traffic Education Disbursements; 1. Para. 2 of application states "proposed uses(s) ... these funds shall be used ..." whereas the statement in the next block on page 2 states "... I have submitted appropriate documentationn of expenditures ..." Recommend this process be similar to LETF in that funds can be disbursed after approval by the Board, however, the Sheriff and the School Board must provide receipts/documentation as to how the funds were actually spent. 2. Recommend these application forms only be signed by the Sheriff (for OCSO porposed expenditures) or by the Chairman of the Okaloosa County School Board (for school district expenditures). Rationale: This would be in keeping with the intent of Ordinance 11-7, and, since these funds are 'outside of' normal budget expenditures it will better ensure that such expenditures have been reviewed and approved by the appropriate elected officials prior to coming to the Board.