The Jackson City Council held yet another clown show last week. The City Council discussed the 2022 annual audit with past auditor Scott Hodges of Tann, Russ & Brown. Instead of a serious discussion of city finances, what took place was a fount of foolishness as the Council asked if the audit would be finished by the end of the summer even though the city had not hired Mr. Hodges nor provided him with any financial information.
It gets even better. Mr. Hodges sent an engagement letter to the Mayor, CFO, Councilman Ashby Foote, and Councilman Aaron Banks on March 1 yet no one responded to Mr. Hodges. No auditor means no audit.
The rather sad but entertaining video is posted below and JJ highly recommends watching the circus. However, JJ understands some readers do not have time to watch a 12-minute video. Thus, JJ took the liberty of posting a transcript of the special City Council meeting and highlighting the good stuff. Enjoy.
Transcript
Tori Martin: We are authorizing the mayor to execute the audit agreement letter from Tann, Russ, and Brown, PLLC, for said firm to provide auditing services for the year ended September 30th, 2022, and to provide auditing service for the City of Jackson State Tort Claims Fund for the year ended September 30th, 2022.
Virgi Lindsay: Submit.
Aaron Banks: Second.
Ashby Foote: Got a motion and second. Any discussion? Mr. Banks?
Aaron Banks: Yeah, just going into discussion, and Scott, thank you for bringing—
Ashby Foote: For the record, we’ve got Mr. Hodges here.
Aaron Banks: Scott, thank you for being here. In this order, I’m looking at the – one, two, three, four, fifth – after the fifth “whereas,” and it has that line, it talks about the commits out-of-field work starting June 1st, but then it says, “to present the asks for and report to City Council on September 30th.” One of the reasons, Mr. Hodges, why we want to make sure we get this done in a timely manner and make sure that we go through what we need to to engage, et cetera, is because it’s important that we’re able to know the fund balance, what’s restricted, what’s unrestricted, et cetera, before we adopt a budget, and I’m looking at our tentative budget hearing schedule, and we have here that we adopt a budget on September 7th, and I guess this body would like to know if there’s a way that we can move this… What did you say, by the 31st of July?
Virgi Lindsay: I’d love to see it by the end of July, if at all possible.
Aaron Banks: By the end of July.
Scott Hodges: So you’re asking me to complete an audit that we have no information on yet, don’t even have an engagement letter on yet, in two months?
Virgi Lindsay: Yes, that is what we… (laughs)
Scott Hodges: That is not possible.
Virgi Lindsay: For the record.
Aaron Banks: Yeah, for the record.
Ashby Foote: The end of August?
Virgi Lindsay: That helps.
Aaron Banks: He said that’s not possible.
Ashby Foote: So give us some more feedback, then, if not possible. Is there something we could do better on our side to facilitate it getting done by the end of August?
Scott Hodges: I don’t have any information at this point, so I don’t have any idea of what’s wrong or what needs to be done. All I can base it on is the previous years, and based on the previous years, there are just way too many issues to have it all resolved in that short length of time. I just received a call from Shanekia 10 minutes ago that this meeting was happening, and I haven’t even received the order. I don’t have a copy of the order that you’re looking at, so I don’t know what’s in the order that you’re looking at.
Ashby Foote: Okay. Mrs. Lindsey, you had a question?
Virgi Lindsay: Yes. Wait, I’m sorry. Legal, did you have a response?
Tori Martin: I’m just gonna respond to you, Scott. The order is the exact same order we’ve done in the past, we just changed the dates. So we did just use the exact same template that we used in the past. I didn’t know you did not have it, but it’s the exact same template we’ve used in the past, same one we used last year, we just changed the dates out. And the dates that they’re talking about, you originally had dates that went from the commencement of the field work all the way through to presenting it to the City Council, and the only dates they’re looking at is the commencement of audit fieldwork on June 1st, so today, and then presenting it to the City Council on the State Tort Claims Fund to be presented to the Council on September 30th 2023, and that’s based on the fact that I think in the past, you had about a six to seven month time span between commencing the work and actually presenting it, and so Sharon in finance decided to stick with the six months, and she gave us the September 30th date.
Virgi Lindsay: Mr. Foote, I would like to continue now. Mr. Hodges, first of all, I think we all understand that by the end of July was unrealistic, but we also feel like we have to ask. I wanna know on average how long has it been taking for us to get these audits completed, given the back and forth between the different departments and finance, your office. When do you generally start on it, and how long does it take to get it finished?
Scott Hodges: Last year, we received the initial information around the end of April, and we issued the reports in February, so that’s about 10 months.
Virgi
Lindsay: And has there been any preliminary work done this year to get ready?
Scott
Hodges: We can’t do any work until we have an engagement letter. We’ve not been
hired yet.
Virgi
Lindsay: That’s right. So we have to do that today. So starting now, you said
you started last year in April, and this year you would start maybe June if you
can schedule it. When would be a realistic date for us to receive this report?
Scott
Hodges: Realistically, probably February. Hopefully by the end of September. I
mean, the goal would be to get it done by the end of September, but
realistically I’m not sure if that’s possible. But again, I don’t have any
information. It may be in much better shape than last year, and it may be that
we can get it done by the end of September.
Virgi
Lindsay: Well, we appreciate you, Mr. Hodges, and we know this has not been
easy. So thank you for being willing to do it again. We’re grateful to you for
being willing to do it again. So we can hope for the end of September. At least
we would have the numbers before October, before we start the new fiscal year
October 1.
Ashby
Foote: Note that Mrs. Lee has now joined us by teleconference, and Mr. Grizzell
is now in the Chambers. We have five people here. Do I have any questions from
Mr. Grizzell or Mrs. Lee for the auditor?
Bryan
Grizzell: No, just basically we can’t get one until after we pass the budget
again?
Aaron
Banks: When the audit will be presented to us, is that what you’re asking?
Ashby
Foote: He hasn’t started yet, because he hasn’t been engaged.
Aaron
Banks: Typically, I guess from what Scott is saying, he would have been engaged
by February.
Bryan
Grizzell: Last February?
Ashby
Foote: Three months ago.
Aaron
Banks: Yeah.
Bryan
Grizzell: Okay.
Aaron
Banks: And it’s June now. Budget starts in August. We adopt a budget on the 7th
of September, and one of the things I was explaining, just to catch colleagues
up, how hard it is to make that decision not knowing what’s in the fund
balance, what are restricted, what’s unrestricted, et cetera. I guess, Scott,
you said that the earliest… And I’m just pushing, because we have till the 30th
or the last day of September to adopt a budget legally.
Virgi
Lindsay: No, it has to be done by the 15th.
Aaron
Banks: Oh, it has to be done by the 15th. Is there any way with this
engagement happening, pending a very good relationship or exchange of
information between the Department of Finance and yourself, that we could push
to get this done before we have to adopt our budget?
Scott
Hodges: We’ll definitely make every effort to get it done, but based on prior
years, I doubt that will happen. But it is possible, and we’ll make every
effort to do that, but understand, we have other engagements scheduled, because
we had no idea when the City was going to approve hiring us. I sent the
engagement letters March 1st and have had no response as far as
hiring us for three months now. We had time on our schedule, but that time has
passed. We can’t just leave our schedule wide open not knowing when we’re going
to be engaged. We still don’t even know when the City’s going to be ready, if
they’re ready. I have no idea if they’re ready today or it’ll be two months
down the road before we even get initial information.
Bryan
Grizzell: Mr. Hodges, who did you send the engagement letter to?
Scott
Hodges: I sent the engagement letter to Mr. Malembeka, to Shanekia, to you, to
Mr. Foote, to Joe Caldwell on March 1st.
Ashby
Foote: Any other questions? Any other discussion between ourselves? I think we
should go ahead, and I would encourage my fellow Councilmembers to support this
item, because we need to get started. I’m not sure, the finance people aren’t
here to talk about whether they’re ready to go, but I think we need to assume
that if we didn’t support this item, that we’d be even further behind.
Aaron
Banks: Yeah, I think you’re right. Mr. Hodges, I guess for us to understand, I
don’t want to belabor the time, but whatever needs to happen in finance or
between yourself and finance in regards to particular deadlines, the things
that we need to meet at a timely manner, the portion that we were waiting on
from even our outside agencies, I think we were waiting on the Convention
Center to get some stuff, all those other things, will you be providing a
running checklist to Mr. Malembeka and the Department of finance with some
deadlines that you would like to meet?
Scott
Hodges: At this point, yes. We will request information as we go along. We’ll
do our best to get all of that out there. The information that we need is pretty
much the same information that we requested last year. There’s nothing that we
need that the City shouldn’t already have available or know that we need. But
yes, we will send updated request lists to the finance department as we go
along.
Ashby Foote: Any other questions for Mr. Hodges? If not, is everybody ready to vote?
So
on item I, all in favor of this order, authorizing the mayor to execute the
audit agreement letter with Tann, Russ, and Brown. Item passes 5 to 0. Thank
you, Mr. Hodges.
Scott
Hodges: Thank you.
Ashby Foote: Feel free to call us if you’ve got some issues that you think we need to know about.
Kingfish note: Posted below is the engagement letter. Nice. Just nice. You really can't make this up.
71 comments:
Are their Intelligence Quotients really this shallow? Foolish is an understatement.
I don't know Scott Hodges, and I only know the name of the auditing firm that he works for. They must be hard-up for business to do any work for the CoJ. I wouldn't touch that shit pile with a 10 foot pole.
This is just appalling - a complete dereliction of duty. And Virgi comes off as a complete ditz.
these city council members are so dumb. It’s funny until you realize that these people are the smart ones. Imagine what this city is going to look like in 10 years and the next crop of city council members are driving the bus 🤣
Ok, Kingfish...The jig is up! Fess up! This whole thread is comedy, right. You copied this transcript straight out of a Laurel and Hardy episode, didn't you?
Amazing....saying we need the audit so we will know what the fund balance is so we can do a budget for 2024. Just amazing.
Also amazing that Scott submits himself to this. WTH?
It all reminds me of the NY Mets' first year, when Casey Stengel uttered the famous words, "Doesn't anybody here know how to play this game?" Our city is being managed by a mayor and department heads that do not perform their basic duties in an orderly and timely fashion. To all appearances they may know how to "act" like someone with their respective titles, but there is no competence reflected in the results. Most of the time, there ARE no results.
Virgi's husband is a highly respected CPA. It would be fascinating to get a transcript of their pillow talk. On the other hand, why isn't Virgi throwing conniption fits? The council has a catastrophic problem with getting an outside audit done at all, let alone in a timely fashion. She should be the one leading the prosecution of the many "allegedly" guilty parties.
In the past I have repeatedly called for putting Jackson into receivership. What I just read makes me more certain, if that is possible, that such a step needs to be taken ASAP.
Hahahaha! If this was a sitcom, I would say the writers are making the city council members too dumb and therefore, unrealistic.
But its real life!
Hahahah! How humiliating to be represented by actual buffoons.
So...5 months to get a contract approved (Feb to now), allow up to 10 months to get it done, so 15 months back from September 15 need date of 2024 plus time to evaluate it means they should start writing contract for 2023 audit right now. Think they've ever seen scheduling software?? How about we get ahead of it now.
Glad that idiot Virgi finds this so amusing.
Virgi is married to a CPA.
Consider that maybe kicking the audit can down the road is the hidden agenda. That helps keep the skeletons in their closets.
if this is how they treat an outside professional- I'd be damned if I'd work for them.
The city should have reliable numbers to give the council the fund balances at the end of any period. The auditor "audits" what the city maintains. The fact that the city is pushing the auditor to finish so they know fund balances tells you just what a cluster the city financial department is. But who didn't already know that. I'll assume that Virgi's husband CPA doesn't talk shop at home otherwise she plays a nice village idiot.
Mr. Hodges and his staff aren't paid enough to put up with this circus, much less put their name on anything to do with this circus. He's a braver man than I. And I don't even know what they are paid, just it isn't worth the stress and liability. What's the odds that this is their last year to be the auditor?
2024 IS JUST 6 MONTHS AWAY!
No Audit. No Budget.
Grizzell doesn't even know hot got the letter, much less read it.
Maybe if he fit the 11-page engagement letter onto an index card they would read it. It's pitiful, just pitiful.
"There’s nothing that we need that the City shouldn’t already have available or know that we need. But yes, we will send updated request lists to the finance department as we go along."
You just can't help some people.
It is a clown show but you have to love it!
Well when only 26% of your students are proficient in reading what do you expect
@3:50 - Exactly!! The City should be embarrassed to be admitting that they need the auditor to tell them what their fund balances are. That is NOT the auditor's job. Any properly run city would likely have the audit completed on time, but if not, just use their preliminary figures they've provided to the auditor, and include a caveat that they are unaudited. Properly run cities should not be anticipating millions of dollars in audit adjustments year after year.
It's as though the City (Mayor) isn't even attempting to hold the CFO and department heads accountable for producing reliable financial information for the auditor to audit. Why do you think it takes them so long to do the audit in the first place?! But naturally, let's blame the auditor rather than fix the underlying issue.
Can KF submit a public records request for the first draft of the 2021 financial statements provided to the auditor and/or the schedule of corrected or uncorrected audit differences so that the citizens of Jackson can see how far off these balances undoubtedly were?? I guarantee it would shed some light on why the audit takes so long, for the councilmembers who seem confused...
City should be able to provide fund balances to council without auditors help.
Yarbers people were able to do it
$
$
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Oooo Weeeee!
What are they smoking?!
They are about to get $115,000,000 and can’t even handle basic municipal government. HFS!
No. The receiver is about to get the money.
Judge Wingate last week mentioned "city dysfunction" as one reason for Jackson's out of control murder rate. The dysfunction, as well as sloth on all sides, carries over to something as basic as an audit of city finances & spending.
The Mayor doesn't WANT to be audited. He is a dictator in his mind. Kenneth I. Stokes is trying his best to help trace the theft. Say what you want about him, but he is honest.
Who's on first.
What a bunch of fucking idiots
I can't wait to see what the audit brings. Will the CPA firm be paid for all their time that they will be testifying in court?
$$$
What municipal bond covenants doing?
$$$
Assuming they targeting a higher billing rate to accept the engagement, let’s say $200/hour, that gives them roughly 1,475 hours to complete the audit. Just given what I’ve seen here it make take 3 times that long to complete. This firm should walk away right now.
Lumumba is working overtime to keep the totality of the Keyshia Sanders corruption from becoming public knowledge.
Shit like this is why you'll hear in church that we need to pray for our leaders.
I guess Lumumba’s people get to keep everything the auditor doesn’t catch.
Let’s all of us meet at Freelons Club to discuss this matter. What about 3:05 am Monday morning the shooting may be over by then! Drinks are on the House, bring a bodyguard from the Mayors Office if any are available.
Y’all know I’m just kidding! I do not want anyone showing up!
3:10, bless his heart!
Typical Democrats
@6:29 is paying attention. I couldn’t have said it any better.
I'm legitimately disappointed that nobody stepped up and hollered "audit? We don't need no stinking audit!"
This is a textbook example of the incompetent leadership in Jackson. These people who don't know the basics of finance and auditing. This is a joke.
Stokes has the only pair down there!
Meanwhile, downtown in the City Hall Breakroom...
https://youtu.be/sVdaFQhS86E
What about the county audit? Last I heard they were three years behind.
new Africa doesn’t have to do audits.
The mayor, council and every city employee are imbeciles. I think it should go into receivership as another person stated previously but you know that that word that stars with an “r” will come up and many uneducated people will be holding poster boards and calling the naacp to step in.
Why is no one held accountable??? get it??
What other notices and business letters with agreements and deadlines are not being read by administration and council? Is such correspondence dumped into same drawer as unpaid bills?
@10:13 PM - NO! it is CORRUPT "leadership."
I’m ready to move our capital and never hear about Jackson again.
"Grizzell doesn't even know hot got the letter, much less read it."
As he like to portray himself on social media as Mr. Big Time.
This is absolutely Lumumbas fault. The administration is supposed to keep track of spending and finances and report to the City Council.
June 8, 2023 at 7:36 AM
The voting population appears to support blatant incompetence. That perception will persist until either legislation for recalls is passed or Lumumba is voted out.
Yes, this is the very picture of incompetency. But being a Democrat has nothing to do with incompetency. It's something else, not party affiliation. Who's in control here and holding the reins of the majority?
No way in hell would I sign up to audit City of Jackson for any amount of money in the world.
Little wonder why the Biden administration made the determination to sideline the Clown mayor as a requirement to providing financial help to fix Jackson's water system.
While Rome burns they indeed act like a bunch of clowns. They should be ashamed of themselves. Mr. Stokes seems to be the only adult in the room.
You folks just don't seem to understand. You are trying to apply the logic of intelligent people to this situation. It won't work. The vast majority of the council just don't understand as they are intellectually challenged. You are expecting intelligent discussions, decisions and actions from a group of people that are not.
Can I get an
Ooops?
Obligatory reminder that not-a-medical-Dr. Omari is a phony to the cause and does not live in Jackson.
I want to make jokes, but it is genuinely starting to feel like making fun of a special needs kid.
The people who voted for this, and the NE Jxn white guilters who Social Justice Warrior-ed so hard for this bunch...those are the ones I will continue to make jokes about.
Mr. Malembeka. Somebody should hold him accountable.
City finances went to shit as soon as Rick Hill retired. We need Rick Hill!
This is very simple to prevent, so listen up City Council members. It's a very simple matter of calendaring:
According the City Council, a new budget has to be adopted no later than September 15 of each calendar year, and they need to see the prior year's audit in order to come up with a decently accurate fiscal budget for the new year. You know from prior years that it takes an auditor at least 6 months to perform a thorough audit, and in fact, due to the City's horrible record-keeping and thousands of incorrect figures, it took the auditor 10 months to complete the last 2021 audit. So if you want the 2022 audit by September 2023, you need to both hire the auditor and provide him/her with all the financial records no later than the end of October 2022. That gives the auditor the 10 months he/she may need in order to have an audit to you by September 2023. Waiting until June to hire an auditor and give him/her the records needed until June will not and does not give him/her sufficient time to do an audit by September, and certainly not by July as was initially requested.
So, in the future when a fiscal year ends on September 30, hire the auditor in October and give him/her all the records they need in October, and then and only then can or will you have an audit by the next September 15 to help with adopting your new budget. Heck, you may even get the audit sooner if the records give to the auditor are properly kept. The financial records should be easily accessible and accurate on September 30 if they're properly kept throughout the year. It really is that simple. So put on your calendar the date of October 1 as the date to hire an auditor and give them the financial records they need every single year from here forward if you want an audit in a timely manner.
So when will the NYT and the AP blame the white Republican state leadership?
Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine - Scott Hodges
(genuine confusion) Ok...But can we have it by August? - the entire city council of Jackson
Can you do a follow up to see if an engagement letter was ever sent?
If it took 10 months to produce an audit opinion, the books were in terrible shape and likely not properly closed for the fiscal year. It’s a deeper problem than just a late audit report. For an effective audit in a 9/30 close, have the year end closed by the third week in October. Have the auditors begin field work at that point for about 10-15 working days, review the report, tick and tie, foot and cross foot, and issue by Thanksgiving. Have some interim field work done in the late summer before the fiscal year closes. That is how competent entities get it done.
I don’t even have to read the story. I just come here for the comments and that’s enough for me. So entertaining.
Tick and Tie, Slip and Lie. They could care less. Your jargon sounds pretty ridiculous, but must mean something. What firm do you work for?
@10:30 PM - Your jargon could use a little work. It's "they COULDN'T care less."
Anyone with a sense of self-worth and commitment to the constituents would resign in embarrassment and shame. But, this is Jackson where your perceived value is how you measure-up to the person sitting next to you...or, the Lord Mayor. Either way, it's a very low bar.
Was that a high school theater skit? Saturday Night Live? Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in?
What a pathetic and embarrassing display of incompetence.
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