Amador County – Ione City Council today (Tuesday, Sept. 20) will consider a draft response to the 2010-2011 Grand Jury report.

The letter was prepared by City Attorney James Maynard, and former City Manager Kim Kerr, and City Manager Jeff Butzlaff. The letter referred to the Grand Jury finding that between 2003 and July 2010, the “monthly treasurer’s Reports were not prepared.” City staff’s draft letter said the city partly agreed because monthly treasurer reports are up-to-date in 2010-2011.

The letter said “over the past seven years, six different finance personnel were responsible for posting in the system and producing reports that would allow reconciliation. Until 2010, the city did not have a competent financial manager resulting in an inability to produce reports so that reconciliation of accounts could be completed. The current finance manager is a former auditor and has fixed and updated the posting within the finance system so all treasurers’ reports are done on time and accurate.”

The letter disagreed with the finding that “Ione’s General Plan is being used to justify expenditures at a growth rate that has not been realized.” The letter said “the City Council makes expenditures based on an annual budget and funds available” and “every council member is aware of the Ione budget situation and each expenditure is carefully scrutinized” by staff and the council.

Staff’s draft letter disagreed with the Grand Jury recommendation that “Ione’s city manager should stop all further projects until bank reconciliations are completed and it is determined that sufficient funds are available to meet obligations as they are incurred.” The letter said the “recommendation will not be implemented because it is not warranted and is not feasible as the city’s first responsibility is to ensure the health and safety of its citizens by complying with state and federal law.”

The draft response letter said the “city council must make project determinations on a case-by-case basis but always has the city’s financial conditions foremost in mind when making such decisions.”

The letter said the city agreed with and had implemented several recommendations, including bank account reconciliation, and finishing monthly financial reports.

The letter agreed with and changed the city’s wastewater plant proposal, to not base it on a growth rate of 6 percent. It was changed to 5 percent with adoption of the city’s 2009 Wastewater Master Plan. The letter cited the plan, in part, which said the “city intends to provide the maximum amount of flexibility in wastewater service planning and may increase or decrease the rate of development so long as the overall wastewater service is adequate.”

The letter said the city had implemented reports on audit deficiencies, findings, and scheduled of corrections.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.