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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLight Comm. 11/23/2020Audit Committee Meeting Minutes November 23, 2020 Present: Christie Martin, Chairman; Kris Moussette, Vice -Chair, Steve Schoonveld, Mike DeSantis,ap�' "V O'Neil E_ERi�SOFFICE Guests: Michael Nelligan, Town Auditor of Powers & Sullivan; Barry LaCasse, Assistant Town Maker/fiharPe Director; Joseph Pereira, Mansfield Electric Business and Finance Director and Matthew Violette ,[ f ,r Tt n 2' S6 � Accountant +' , = r `EirLD 1. Meeting Called to Order The meeting of the Mansfield Audit Committee was called to order at 6:03PM by the Chair, Christie Martin. 2. II. Acceptance of Meeting Minutes Consider the possible vote to approve minutes of the August 20, 2020 Audit Committee Meeting Motion: To approve the minutes of August 20, 2020. (O'Neil/Moussette) Roll Call Vote: Mike DeSantis —Yes Kiera O'Neil —Yes Passed 5:0 Kris Moussette —Yes Steve Schoonveld - Yes Christie Martin - Yes 3. III. Mansfield Cable Access Corp agreement update Mr. Barry LaCasse provided a timeline of what has happened to date. He stated that on July 22"d he reached out to Jack O'Neil, Executive Director of Mansfield Cable Access to discuss the agreement between Mansfield Cable and the Town of Mansfield. Mr. LaCasse said that he sent Mr. O'Neil a draft agreement and then participated in a Mansfield Cable Access Committee Meeting to discuss the draft agreement. Mr. LaCasse also has since received the latest audit from Mansfield Cable and forwarded it to the Audit Committee. Mr. LaCasse then noted that on October 12th he received a red line version of the draft agreement from Mansfield Cable and it was forwarded to Town Counsel; Attorney Hoffman. Attorney Hoffman then provided revisions on October 26' which were sent to Mr. O'Neil. At Town meeting Mr. O'Neil told Mr. LaCasse that his attorney will communicate directly with Attorney Hoffman for any additional edits. Mr. LaCasse said that there was not much area of disagreement. The only issue discussed was a question of where would Mansfield Cable's assets go if Mansfield Cable Access were to dissolve. 4. IV. Review of draft FY20 audit for the Mansfield Municipal Electric Department (MMED) —by Mr. Nelligan Mr. Nelligan said that he sent two drafts of the report to the Municipal Light Department. He said their audit is complete and has been reviewed by the Light Department Management team. Mr. Nelligan referred to the report and went through the highlights of the report for the members of the Audit Committee. The members of the Audit Committee asked a few questions and 5. V. Possible acceptance of draft FY20 MMED audit and authorization to release when in final form Motion: To accept the FY20 MMED draft audit. (Schoonveld/DeSantis) Roll call vote: DeSantis —Yes, Moussette —Yes, Schoonveld —Yes, O'Neil —Yes, Martin - Yes Passed 5:0 6. VI. Review of draft FY20 Town Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) Mr. Nelligan started by stating that he is almost complete with the CAFR for the Town. He is missing the waste water district debt for the end of the year and he is hoping to acquire that information in the next day or two. Audit Committee Meeting November 23, 2020 Page 1 Mr. Nelligan went on to say that the cover picture was picked by the Town Manager, Kevin Dumas and members of the Committee agreed that the pictures came out nice. Mr. Nelligan said he added a brief description of the pictures, and if anyone wants changes he will make them. Mr. Nelligan said that the audit was done entirely remotely other than the visit in July 2020 and all the necessary documents were provided by management. Mr. Nelligan then noted that there are no new Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) statements. The only one new item has to do with fiduciary duties. Mr. Nelligan stated that the Town received the award from GFOA in 2019 and expects to get the 2020 award for the CAFRA as well. Ms. Martin asked if that $1.9M additional CARES Act money is showing up in the grants section and Mr. Nelligan answered and that it was listed as a current liability as unearned revenue. Mr. Nelligan went onto say that if you don't spend the funds then the funds would need to be given back. Mr. Matt Violette said that he has filed the quarterly reports, and has been diligent about finding out what the Town is allowed to spend the CARES Act money on. Mr. Violette said that as long as it can be tied back to the pandemic than it is acceptable. Mr. DeSantis asked how much has been spent and Mr. Violette answered that approximately $800,000 has been ear -marked. Ms. Moussette asked Mr. Nelligan what the next steps were in submitting the report and he responded that after the missing information is received a technical review occurs at his office. He then will send it to the Town for signature and it is then it will be submitted electronically. 7. VII. Review of Town's FY20 management letter Mr. Nelligan said there are no new comments in the management letter. He stated that there were eight comments in total and six have been resolved. Mr. Nelligan stated that the two ongoing comments were an internal policies and procedures manual which can't be done until MUNIS is fully implemented. He then stated that the second comment is the fraud risk assessment. Ms. Martin asked Mr. Violette if he has proposed responses to those. Mr. Violette responded that he does and stated that the fraud risk assessment was completed by an outside agency and that he liked Mr. Nelligan's idea of having the department involved and placing some of the responsibility on them. Mr. Violette then stated that as far as the internal controls the Town is in the middle of the MUNIS conversion and it would not make sense to create a procedure manual until the conversion is complete. Mr. Violette stated there are some procedures that are ready to document and gave the example of the general ledger process that his office uses. Ms. Martin stated that he should proceed with creating the manuals for the processes that are complete and add on as others are completed. 8. Vill. Possible acceptance of draft FY20 CAFR and authorization to release when in final form Motion: To accept the draft FY20 CAFR and authorize to release. (DeSantis/Schoonveld) Roll Call Vote: DeSantis —Yes, Moussette —Yes, Schoonveld —Yes, O'Neil — Yes, Martin - Yes Passed 5:0 9. IX. Discussion of establishment of confidential process to receive and investigate Town employee complaints and questions regarding accounting or auditing matters Ms. Martin stated that one of the duties of the Audit Committee is to investigate complaints and questions regarding accounting or auditing matters from Town employees. Ms. Martin stated that she believed the Committee could recommend a process to the Select Board to act on and believed it was a good idea to have a confidential way for employees to communicate comments or complaints. She added that some communities have used a confidential phone line and then asked members for their thoughts on this. Mr. Schoonveld said this has come up and it is difficult to address. He stated that he would like to see some research on this before making a recommendation of a best practice. Ms. O'Neil said the challenge is the "who" it needs to be and that it needs to be someone without invested interest and that is where the committee has gotten stuck. Mr. Nelligan said that typically it would go to the Select Board or an internal audit department which not every Town has an Internal Audit Department. Mr. DeSantis asked if there was someone who was apolitical and has no one to report to. Ms. Moussette asked if Town Counsel was an option. Mr. Schoonveld said that Town Audit Committee Meeting November 23, 2020 Page 2 Counsel is hired by the Select Board and the only two individuals that report to the Select Board are the Town Manager and the Town Accountant. Mr. Schoonveld then stated that he will bring this up with Town Counsel or at an MMA meeting to see if they could offer a recommendation. 10.Other relevant agenda items not known by the Chairman 48 hours prior to the meeting There were no other items. 11. Adjournment Motion: To adjourn the Audit Committee meeting on November 23, 2020 at 7:1013M. (Schoonveld/DeSantis) Roll Call Vote: DeSantis— Yes,Moussette — Yes, Schoonveld — Yes, O'Neil — Yes, Martin - Yes Passed 5:0 Signature Minutes prepared by Carrie Champagne Dat Audit Committee Meeting November 23, 2020 Page 3