Report No. 2007-29
July 2007

The following findings were included in our audit report on the City of Gerald, Missouri.

Contrary to an Attorney General's opinion, the City Clerk of Gerald is responsible for all record-keeping duties of the city, including duties which would normally be performed by a City Treasurer and a City Collector.  No personnel independent of the cash custody and the record-keeping functions provide adequate supervision or review of the work performed by the City Clerk.  In addition, checks were sometimes signed in advance by the former Mayor.

The city does not have a formal bidding policy and did not solicit bids or retain bid documentation for some major purchases including the dam project at the city park ($12,779) and cleaning services ($2,550).  In addition, there is no bid documentation for rock, excavating, and sewer supplies on a city sewer construction project completed in 2004. 

The city does not periodically solicit proposals for audit or engineering services.  Additionally, the former City Attorney/Prosecuting Attorney was paid $11,680 in December 2006 although the attorney's written request did not provide a detailed accounting of dates and services provided to the city.  Also, the city needs a written contract for providing certain services to the City of Rosebud.  

The city paid $2,160 in clothing allowances to city police officers in 2006; however, the officers were not required to submit invoices or itemized expense reports, nor were the allowances reported on their W-2 forms.

The city needs to adopt policies which address and prohibit nepotism.  Because of the serious consequences which result by hiring a relative, the board should ensure its members abstain from any decision to hire a relative and that the action is fully documented in the board minutes.

The city's budgets do not include some information required by state law, budgets are not approved prior to the beginning of the fiscal year, and an annual maintenance plan for city streets is not prepared.

Complete Audit Report