Amador County – Sutter Creek last week took an audit report in stride, with Mayor Gary Wooten saying “the sky is not falling,” and Councilwoman Linda Rianda deflecting accusations of inaction. Rianda said the Finance Committee of herself and Vice Mayor Tim Murphy had an “entrance” meeting in January with City Auditor Ralph Murcello, who had already begun the 2008-2009 annual audit. Rianda said she “went over those financial concerns that he raised,” and told him to “look into these” and “let us know what you find, or if you find anything to confirm the concerns, or what we need to do to eliminate the issues.” He brought up one particular personnel issue in January, which was handled at the time, Rianda said. She couldn’t reveal more information, but said most issues Murcello brought up were issues the finance committee was already aware of, already discussing and trying to rectify. Rianda said: “Contrary to accusations, we did not ignore the issues that came forward.” She said Finance Director Jeff Gardner and Assistant City Manager Sean Rabe “were supposed to be working on tightening up financial control issues.” Rianda said “there wasn’t good oversight by the council to ensure that those policies were followed.” She said remedies would include “doing more public reports so that people know what we are doing on our projects.” She wants to use spread sheets to report major ongoing projects, showing completion dates, “when it was approved by the city council, and any monies involved.” She wanted to prevent decisions from being made incorrectly, saying: “As projects come to the city for approval, I want to make sure they get on our project spread sheet,” which will “keep it public what projects our council is working on.” Murcello spoke of $200,000 that appeared to be loaned to Gold Rush Ranch developers (“on a handshake”) to purchase Nobel Ranch. The council last week defended that as money spent to extend escrow on the purchase of the land for a golf course and spray field. Murphy said all council members were aware of the spending. Rianda said the city has recouped all but about $50,000 of those funds. Rianda said it was “one of our biggest problems,” where the small town atmosphere allowed the council “to do things with a handshake.” She said now they must “make sure it goes through the approval process and that everyone in the city is aware about it.” She said the small county, small city, small agency practices of the past, and “just the way Sutter Creek used to do business” doesn’t work. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. -
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Amador County – Sutter Creek last week took an audit report in stride, with Mayor Gary Wooten saying “the sky is not falling,” and Councilwoman Linda Rianda deflecting accusations of inaction. Rianda said the Finance Committee of herself and Vice Mayor Tim Murphy had an “entrance” meeting in January with City Auditor Ralph Murcello, who had already begun the 2008-2009 annual audit. Rianda said she “went over those financial concerns that he raised,” and told him to “look into these” and “let us know what you find, or if you find anything to confirm the concerns, or what we need to do to eliminate the issues.” He brought up one particular personnel issue in January, which was handled at the time, Rianda said. She couldn’t reveal more information, but said most issues Murcello brought up were issues the finance committee was already aware of, already discussing and trying to rectify. Rianda said: “Contrary to accusations, we did not ignore the issues that came forward.” She said Finance Director Jeff Gardner and Assistant City Manager Sean Rabe “were supposed to be working on tightening up financial control issues.” Rianda said “there wasn’t good oversight by the council to ensure that those policies were followed.” She said remedies would include “doing more public reports so that people know what we are doing on our projects.” She wants to use spread sheets to report major ongoing projects, showing completion dates, “when it was approved by the city council, and any monies involved.” She wanted to prevent decisions from being made incorrectly, saying: “As projects come to the city for approval, I want to make sure they get on our project spread sheet,” which will “keep it public what projects our council is working on.” Murcello spoke of $200,000 that appeared to be loaned to Gold Rush Ranch developers (“on a handshake”) to purchase Nobel Ranch. The council last week defended that as money spent to extend escrow on the purchase of the land for a golf course and spray field. Murphy said all council members were aware of the spending. Rianda said the city has recouped all but about $50,000 of those funds. Rianda said it was “one of our biggest problems,” where the small town atmosphere allowed the council “to do things with a handshake.” She said now they must “make sure it goes through the approval process and that everyone in the city is aware about it.” She said the small county, small city, small agency practices of the past, and “just the way Sutter Creek used to do business” doesn’t work. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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