Council Approves Proposal Without Knowing Cost, Discusses Support Of Brown-Curry

October 9, 2008

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The Century Town Council has approved a proposal to audit the town’s books without knowing how much it will cost. And one council member expressed his displeasure at not seeing the document until it was up for a vote, despite the town having the proposal for weeks.

The council approved the proposal from Hartmann, Blackmon & Kilgore, P.C. to audit Century’s financial records from fiscal year 2006-2007 and 2007-2008, despite the proposal not telling the town how much the firm will charge.

“There’s no dollar amount in the proposal,” council member Henry Hawkins said. “It’s just telling about the firm.”

Council President Ann Brooks, who is also an accountant, told the council that she is very familiar with Hartmann, Blackmon & Kilgore, saying “years ago I worked for them in Fairhope”.

The proposal, which was the only one the town received after advertising for audit proposals, was received “prior to September 19″, according to Town Clerk Dorothy Sims.

“If this came in prior to the 19th of September, why haven’t we seen it?” asked Hawkins. “I got a problem at looking at something and voting on it in five minutes.”

Sims told Hawkins he could have set up a time to review the proposal at the Town Hall.

“If this was the only one (proposal) we got, we should have got copies,” Hawkins said.

The council also discussed supporting political candidates like Claudia Brown-Curry, who is running for superintendent  of the Escambia County School District.

Mayor Freddie McCall reported that Brown-Curry supporters had reserved the town’s Ag Building on Highway 4 for a political rally on October 11.  Her supporters never paid the fee for a building, so it was rented to a wedding party that did pay the rental fee.

McCall said he attempted to get the wedding party to reschedule or move to another location, but they refused. Brown-Curry’s rally was moved to Roadside Park.

McCall asked the council if building rental should be free for Brown-Curry, for whom many council members have openly expressed their support, or for all candidates.

“We cant waive the fee for every politician,” council member Sharon Scott said.

“Let’s not show any favoritism; just charge everybody to use the building,” council member Gary Riley said.

Pictured above: Century council member Gary Riley review an accountant’s proposal to audit the town’s books. NorthEscambia.com photo.

Comments

One Response to “Council Approves Proposal Without Knowing Cost, Discusses Support Of Brown-Curry”

  1. Ann Brooks on October 10th, 2008 8:42 am

    Audit proposals are not supposed to quote a price for the service! That is why it is a proposal, stating their qualifications and references, and not a bid. Robert Hudson had talked with this firm, and they indicated to him that they felt that they could do the audit for around $8,000, which is the amount included in our budget for the audit.