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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAudit Committee - 04/08/2015t Audit Commitee Meeting April 8, 2015 Board Members in attendance: Jess Aptowitz James Bazinet Jim Ragazzo Bob Krentzman Kiera O'Neil Meeting opened at 6:10 pm Chairman Other parties in attendance: John Stanbrook Finance Director/Town Accountant Gary Babin Director Mansfield Municipal Electric Ken Thomson Accountant -Mansfield Municipal Electric E F PV ED S oFF ICE IM Fr6 25 P 3� 50 Bill Ross Town Manager Mike Ahern Operations Manager -Public Bldgs/Special Projects Agenda: To evaluate the qualifications of the firms who are interested in performing Auditing services for the Town of Mansfield for the period of FY15-FY17. Evaluation will first be based on merit, then on price. (Hard copies were sent to all. Three companies were unresponsive. The interested three firms are listed below.) 1. R.E. Brown and Company 2. Powers and Sullivan 3. Melanson and Heath R.E. BROWN AND COMPANY Jim Regazzo: Experienced in the Industry, has a track record with Mansfield He doesn't believe it is necessarily good to have the same company for too long. He would have liked to have seen more detail on the proposal and did note there were no compilation on hours of work. Kiera O'Neil: She feels the same as Mr. Ragazzo. Bob Krentzman: No matter who the Town uses, we will get the information we need. The firm know us, which carries pluses and minuses. Maybe that is why there wasn't as much detail given in his proposal. I will need to rely on the other members opinions. Can we add contingencies into the contract with deadlines? James Bazinet: Mr. Brown failed to provide information as requested. Direct experience: what is done and how it's done. Jess Aptowitz: The company needs to be comfortable with the Town which will make it easier for Mr. Brown's staff as they are familiar with where things are. Jess asked about the level of Professional Liability Insurance. What if something is missed or a significant mistake is made? Would the Town be covered? A bigger firm would have a bigger poli- cy. He would like to know the exact amount of Professional Liability Insurance. Mr. Krentzman thanks Mike Ahern for putting together a great RFQ and all members agree. Mr. Ragazzo asks Mr. Stanbrook if Brown stated how many hours were spent on past Audits, Mr. Stanbrook replies: Mr. Brown did not state the number of hours spent. Bill Ross: Professional, ethical. No interference, slower than he would like but they are a smaller firm. He specializes in Municipalities is very knowledgeable and lets us know what we need to get our professional house in order. Diligently worked to get the audit down in a quicker manner. Mr. Ross believes personal health issues on Mr. Brown's part slowed things slightly. John Stanbrook: They are the smaller of the three firms. They know the people and they hit deadlines. The only negative note would be that Mr. Brown was asked to start gathering information in July to speed things along and Mr. Brown was unable to come in. John believes he just doesn't have the manpower. Which Mr. Ross responds: Bob has a methodology he uses. Gary Babin: Works hard, experienced and thorough. Overall happy with the level of detail, impressed with the quality of work. The Town has deadlines and Mr. Brown has always met them. Quality wise I have no issues with Mr. Brown's firm. Ken Thomson: It may take another firm longer to get up to speed Powers and Sullivan, LLC Jess Aptowitz: Bigger firm, wants to make sure the Town does not get any lodging bills. Mike Ahern: Under 30B Procurement- all is negotiable. Bob Krentzman: Likes the quotes James Bazinet: Provided MMA contact with Mr. Sullivan. Questioned if there was a client satisfaction survey, Mr. Ross responds "no". Mr. Bazinet states he would favor them simply on that. Kiera O'Neil: Looks professional and more together if Brown isn't chosen. Jim Ragazoo: Potentially the best of the best. Very professional. Happy with extensive industry experience. Would like to note they did a lot of training with the Finance Com- mitee. They really want the business and would put their best foot forward. They quoted 568 hours and he believes there was some thought put into that number. John Stanbrook: Very professional. They handle quite a number of Towns. IE: Plym- outh, Duxbury, Dedham, Barnstable. Are they able to meet the time table with so many other Municipal customers? Will the senior staff be here? Melanson & Heath Jim Ragazzo: Professional looking. Included a lot of information on workers' profiles. Not enough information on the work that will be done. Interesting they quoted 100 Ins more than Powers 650 Ins. Not enough there, believes they would send lower level peo- ple. The work would be delegated more. They appear to have a little less experience based on the Towns they are currently working with. There are 75 staff members but 62 of those staff members live in New Hampshire. Kiera O'Neil: Powers appears more professional and they have the same timeline as Brown. James Bazinet: Would like to discuss CAFR Experience. Discussion ensues amongst members and those in attendance concerning having a CAFR prepared for Mansfield. Bob Krentzman: Good Jess Aptowitz: Not a good feeling about it. Powers presentation was much better. His gut feeling says "No". In conclusion we need to know how much Professional Liability Insurance each firm car- ries. The members vote and Mr. Aptowitz read the results aloud. Best: Powers Second: Brown Third: Melanson The quotes are as follows: Brown comes in at $59,000.00 with Melanson and Heath and Powers and Sullivan both coming in at $60,000.00. These figures are for both the Light Department and the Town. Jess asks all in attendance if they are comfortable to engage Powers? Jim Bazinet wants to interview all three firms. The Vote on whether to interview all three firms: Nay: Bob, Jess and Kiera Agree: James Bazinet and Jim Ragazzo A motion is set to interview the top two firms -both Powers and Sullivan and R.E. Brown and Company. Motion approved by vote: Agree 4 Nay -Kiera. Mr. Stanbrook will contact both firms for potential dates. Motion to close, accepted and the meeting was adjourned at 7pm.