 |
YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri |
March 12, 2004
Report No.2004-22
The following problems were
discovered as a result of an audit conducted by our office of the Village of
Pascola, Missouri.
The
Village of Pascola has failed to implement five of the eleven recommendations
made in our prior report that covered the year ended December 31, 1998.� Although the village indicated in that report
that they agreed with the recommendations, many recommendations are repeated in
the current report.� These include
segregation of duties, budgets, publication of financial statements, bonds for
officials, and documentation of the board's approval of bills.
The Board of Trustees for the Village of Pascola has not documented the specific reasons for closing meetings and actions taken by the board in those meetings, has approved payment of bills in closed meetings, and held an unofficial meeting where discussion and decisions were made concerning culverts for the village.� In addition, the Village does not have a formal policy regarding public access to village records.
The
village has one member of the Board of Trustees that serves as the Village
Clerk and Treasurer, and his wife serves as secretary.� Neither the board nor other personnel independent
of the cash custody and the record-keeping functions provide adequate
supervision or review of this work performed by the Village Clerk and his wife.
Additionally, a checkbook balance is not maintained and bank reconciliations
are not performed each month.� Also, the
village does not have bond coverage for members authorized to sign checks.
The
village had an apparent conflict of interest with one of the board members
performing restoration work on city hall.�
In 2003, the village advertised for bids for restoration work on city
hall and received two bids with one of the bids being from a board member.� The bid from the board member was for $9,800,
while the other bid was $8,292.� The
project was awarded to the board member and the reasons for this decision were
documented in the minutes.� Personal
interests in business matters of the village create the appearance of conflicts
of interest and a lack of independence that could harm public confidence in the
board and reduce their effectiveness.�
Given the circumstances of this transaction, the village should have
considered re-bidding the project.� In
addition, the village did not obtain appraisals to ensure the reasonableness of
selling two parcels of land for $5,000.�
The village had no documentation supporting the basis for their original
asking price or what they finally accepted.�
Also, the Board failed to obtain insurance for the recently renovated
City Hall building.
The village ordinances were not complete and up-to
date.� In addition, the Board has not
published a semi-annual financial statement, prepared an annual budget, or
documented
their approval of bills.�
