All right, welcome to the regular meeting of the audit committee for December 8th, 2025. I'm Jay Singleton and I'm the vice chair of this committee. Uh I want to offer a friendly reminder to all members, staff, and the public that these meetings are broadcast live to enable greater public participation. These broadcasts include real-time captioning as a further method to increase the accessibility of our proceedings to the community. Therefore, all speakers need to be mindful of the rate of their speech so that our captioners can fully capture and transcribe all comments for the broadcast. We ask all speakers to moderate the speed and clarity of their comments. At this time, I'll ask the clerk to call the role so that we can verify a quorum for this meeting. Aen >> here. >> Committee member Chuck Thai >> present. >> Hosbean >> present. >> Omar is absent. Williams >> present. >> Vice chair Singleton >> present. >> Chair Payne >> present. >> There are six members present. >> Let the record reflect that we have a quorum. Uh and I will now pass it over to uh Chair Payne. Uh, thank you, Vice Chair Singleton. Um, colleagues, our agenda is before us. May I have a motion to adopt the agenda? >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos say nay. That carries and the agenda is adopted. Next, we have the acceptance of minutes from our October 20th, 2025 meeting. May I have that motion? >> So moved. >> Second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose say nay. The eyes [snorts] have it. And the October 20th minutes are accepted. We have five items in new business today. We'll begin with item three, which is an update report from the police department on actions related to recommendations from the 2024 MPD fleet management audit. I will now now invite Commander Justin Roycefer, Administrative Services Division to give that presentation. Uh, Chair Payne, um, and committee, I'm going to introduce all of our MPD guests this morning. Um, we've got, um, Deputy Chief Olsen as well as Commander Risdorfer and Commander Lewis. Uh, and I also want to thank them for the work that they've put in to provide these updates for you today. Um, I know it's been a lot to pull some of these numbers together, so I do appreciate it. And uh we'll start off with um DC Olsson. Welcome. Okay. So the fleet management audit the objective this of this was to review the process and controls around fleet management at the Minneapolis Police Department including squad cars to ensure sufficient and operating effectively. So I'm going to discuss uh issue one and eight. So it's the vehicle accident investigations. Um there are delays in investigating vehicle accidents involving MPD employees leading to a backlog of cases. So this is our policy. Our MPD policy and procedure is 4411. The accident review committee shall make a preliminary review of all accidents. Upon finding an accident preventable, the accident review committee shall forward the case to the internal affairs unit. After approval of the re recommended finding, the IU will determine if any MPD policy procedure was violated and if so, an IAU investigation will be conducted. So, the accident review committee um as listed in policy is a traffic unit commander or designate, a sworn employee trained in accident reconstruction. The current best practice for MPD accident review committee utilizes the following. A traffic investigator trained in crash reconstruction assigned to the case. Traffic unit investigator trained in crash reconstruction for peer review of a case. Traffic review, I'm sorry, traffic unit lieutenant as chair of the accident review committee and final determiner of facts. So some of our barriers human resources. So in 2020 we had um several people leave and then we had a lieutenant uh sergeant that was promoted to lieutenant and then we lost one of our sergeants and the training is really intensive. It takes three to four years to train as a traffic reconstructionist. So we had to take the time to get somebody trained up. Um other cases taking precedence. So they don't just do those cases, they also do fatalss. They do criminal vehicular operations. So in order to have that experienced staff, we just need a time to get them trained up. So current staff um MPD administration, myself has been notified of needed positions. We trained at those new employees for succession. Um support staff assigned. So we did get somebody in the traffic unit to help with some of that support staff. There's a lot of paperwork that's involved in calling community community members back when they have an issue to include hit and runs. Um, we assigned a cso to help with a daily tasks and assigned a second investigator who has recently completed their reconstructionist training. Well, that turned out really small. [laughter] Sorry. Um, I should have worn my glasses. Um [clears throat] so these are some of the numbers. We are at 100% cases closed for 2019 and 2020. The numbers are small for 21 and 22. Um the reason is that we decided to not go back at this time we will go back but a lot of those cases that aren't um closed are from um cases where employees have left and the damage is minor and doesn't involve another person. Um so then we decided to prioritize the cases from 23 24 25. We are at 62% in 2025. Um 47% in uh 2023 and then 53% in 2024. And then um for risk 8 it's very brief. um the riskmanagement alignment. There are opportunities between MPD and risk management for alignment and coordination in the vehicle accident process. So now risk management receives an email notification whenever there is an MPD squad accident. And our next step is we're working to with the city enterprise to align policy with overall city policy. So our policy was not the same as the city policy. So, we're working to make that um so that they are more similar so that we're not in um competition with one another and that's all for me. So, if you have questions, we are not going to stay for the rest of it because it's not my department. Did you have questions for me? >> Uh member Williams, >> just a quick question involving the percentages of closure. How do you pri I think you alluded to this, but how do you prioritize which cases you take? Is it chronological? Is it more by um severity? Just maybe talk me through that process. >> Yep. They do do it by surve severity first and then the priority would be if it's uh somebody was injured in the accident obviously that would take precedence and if there are multiple policy violations and if there's more than one preventable accident that occurred by an employee that would also take precedence. >> Thank you uh member Hosby. >> Thank you chair Payne and thank you DC Wilson. appreciate this uh overview and I just um so I'm hearing three sorry 363 open you alluded earlier that not all involve another person and I think one of the questions um back in December of 2024 was around how many community members were impacted and that leading to insurance claims and other types of um potential delay on their end. Do you know of the 363 how many involve community member either property or persons? >> I don't. Um I do know that we have added that as a part of now our data gathering for 2025. We added that to the form if a community member was involved. So a community member involvement although it's difficult to um quantify that but if even if we strike a vehicle that's unoccupied nobody's injured but it's their vehicle we do consider that community involvement. So we are tracking that now. >> Perfect. And that includes like they would need to have an insurance claim for that vehicle right on their end. Okay. >> Yes. >> Perfect. And then um just a quick clarifying question. So the one the number that go to internal affairs is not captured here. That's a separate number. These are the ones that are open with your division. >> Correct. >> Okay. All right. Thank you so much. >> Uh I just had a question. How many crash investigators did we have in 2019? >> Five. >> Five. And where are we at right now? >> Four. >> Four. And then just out of curiosity, are we doing any focus? I think you had a mention of secession in terms of it being a three-year lead time to get somebody trained up. Do we have people kind of in the pipeline continuously or do we try to keep a steady state and then we will go through that three-year training process once an opening happens? >> We have one more that we are looking to that we're putting through the process now. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh not seeing any more questions. Thank you so much for the presentation. Thank you. >> And then we will welcome up our next presenter. >> Good morning. I'm Commander Oh, Can you hear me? Okay. >> Yep. >> Uh I'm Commander Risedorfer. I oversee the administrative service division, which um the issues that we'll talk about right now fall into that. Um okay, here we go. So out of this we've had uh several issues to cover today. The first one is the fleet policies and procedures. As you'll see in here the policy sides we have that in progress right now whereas the procedures were in that remediate phase which um after Travis Cam was nice enough to kind of help me through this. Um we're working towards the compliance side where we just have to submit those supporting documents. We are running into an obstacle within the policy side because we have a limited number of policy makers and the vast majority of those are tasked right now within the settlement consent decree. And so they're very overworked right now with what we have. And so our hope is that second to third quarter of 2026 we would be able to amend those policies and then by quarter 4 we would be able to get that to the command staff for review and consideration. which issue uh excuse me with issue three of the GPS and vehicle tracking. The G GPS tracking and monitoring all of our mark squad cars are monitored through the CAD system that enhances our safety, the dispatch efficiency and accountability. It also supports the review, investigation, and compliance section of this. In addition to that, it helps us with our inventory and asset control because we see the vehicles that are being moved and they're being used and we have meetings not only with fleet services, but we also have it within our own staff. Ways that we've worked into that remediate phase to get compliance. It sounds like we'll be able to say that this one's checked off by the end of the year once we supply those supporting documents is I have a weekly executive um oversight meeting with the chief and the executive staff to go over the fleet needs where we stand on um resource allocation, the status of different vehicles readiness and just kind of all those risk management sides that we would see. In addition to that, we've also implemented a monthly fleet service review meeting, which is with fleet service, Chris Royston, and his staff to kind of go over where our numbers are right now. If a vehicle is flagged because it's low miles or something like that, we just work through that to make sure it's being highly utilized and nothing is sitting with the external fuel card. Okay. Um that's another one that we're in that remediate stage where we should be able to um say that we achieved that by the end of the year as well. Um the task that we did in that situation was working with the audit committee is we pulled back all of our external fuel cards with the exception of just five and those five are because they're in that um immediate need area. And we implemented a smart sheet to show the usage. And then we also have a form in process now that we didn't have before for that request. And then also the tracking. And then my fleet manager, he does a monthly review to reconcile with our finance to make sure any receipts submitted line up so that way there isn't any issues in that area. Issue six right now is the additional oversight and activities. That's an inrogress section right now with the weekly executive staff oversight. Each week again, we meet to talk about our fleet issues. In addition to that, we have the enhanced internal audits um strengthened with the review process to improve accountability and accuracy. The weekly command meetings. In addition to that, the division commander and deputy chief meet weekly to review the fleet issues and operational needs. And then we also have our monthly meeting which I know some of this is repetitive but we meet monthly once again to talk about these oversight issues. The reason why this one isn't in remediate is one of the things that we're implementing is through the service now integration to make it easier for our officers and others to report maintenance issues versus the current process we have. It's a bit outdated and so we're expected to go live with that in January 2026. So, we just thought until that's live and functional, we wouldn't push for the remediate. Within the mileage entry, we're in that remediate stage. Once again, once we support it, as you can see, we've taken significant steps to effectively address and manage this issue. We sent out that departmentwide email to address it. Then we also have a weekly and monthly meeting with myself and the deputy chief along with fleet management to address anything where the mileage may have been entered in wrong when they were getting fuel. That goes to the supervisor to make sure that they understand that this happened and we can work through that process. There is one thing that I will add that at the very end is, you know, we've been working really well with fleet services with aspects on how we do our fuel, but it's an outdated system and unfortunately it's not something that MPD controls and there just really isn't a good solution right now to work us away where it's a better requirement or to flag like, you know, on one day you entered 701 in miles and now you're entering 9999. like it there's just no way for us to flag that besides the follow-up that we're doing now. So issue 10, this is the other one that's going to be in progress. It's the MPD fleet management program. Right now we're working in a legacy DA database and that assessment was completed and so a lot of our work is actually moving into service now because it's an enterprisewide system and it's already in use and it's cost-effective for the MPD. In addition to that, we're working with the integration planning which is underway to make a smooth transition from the legacy system into the new system. In addition to that, the modernized platform and upgrades are under review. Some of those things include the new systems that fleet services is trying to look at to update their systems so that way service now will effectively, you know, interlock with each other. And that concludes my section. Do you have any questions for me? Any questions for members? Uh, member hosting. >> Thank you, Chair Payne. Just a quick question. In terms of implementation and um training, do you feel like you have the resources? This is feels like a lot of change to what someone did yesterday versus January 2026. Is there buyin and training available that you feel to get folks to this new process? >> Yes. Um the one thing that I will say is it's been actually received very well when we reached out to um patrol and also supervisors about like the reporting process for how we're going to do things differently because before it was on paper >> and having something that's on your phone that you can just do or just go on to your MDC and be able to do it right there. It just makes it easier for them and that's kind of what we're focused on right now. So we do have that buy in. >> Perfect. Thank you for that insight. Not seeing any other questions. Uh, thank you so much for being here. >> Thank you. >> Uh, next we will welcome up Commander Lewis. >> Thanks. >> Good morning. >> Good morning. >> I'm Renee Lewis, uh, commander of the inspections unit, and I'm going to be talking briefly about, um, I'll start with issue four, which is the driver's license program. Um we completed that program uh a couple of couple of u months ago where we had I would say 100% compliance with all drivers meeting qualifications. Uh the next section I'm going to be speaking about >> down. Am I going the wrong way? down. There you go. Keep going. Got keep talking. >> Oh, yeah. Is it? >> Yeah. >> Is that a different one? >> Yeah. Oh yeah. >> Okay. All right. There we go. So, offduty work audit some updates for you. So, we're just going to jump right into things that we've been doing the last um couple of years and months. So, I'm going to talk about some measures that were taken regarding the findings from the audit. Uh one of the things that we have done is we have established a what we call a POD um entry into workforce director which requires officers to enter um all offduty assignments into workforce under um POD which is our uh our time code. These entries are currently being used to verify hours worked at offduty jobs throughout the city of Minneapolis. Squad usage. Uh squad uses must be approved prior to the beginning of the officer's shift. Request is made to an onduty supervisor working at the precinct or the uh unit supervisor where the squad is located. Once approved, officers complete the squad sign out smart sheet. And the information included is things like officer's name, their location, um the name of the site, site, uh the P number for the squad, etc. Supervisor compliance checks. All street supervisors, including lieutenants, are required to visit at least one site, one offduty job site during their shift. requirement of super supervisors to complete a compliance check smart sheet. Uh once again, they're in entering information um regarding that site and the officer working that site. Um some things that they're they uh include in the smart sheet is officer name, the date, location, um the squad number, call sign, um whether or not the officer is approved to work that at that offduty site. offduty site coordinator. Um they are required to send a monthly schedule for each officer working at the site that they are responsible for. Um and this information is used as a way to verify what the officers are putting into a workforce director under their PL time entries. Um something new that um we are working on is an offduty scheduling app and this power app uh was recreat created to replace the email system that we currently use to receive um the schedules. The app should be should help I believe it will help uh supervisors with their daily compliance checks by giving them knowledge of offduty jobs being worked in their precinct during their shift. The app will also collect data including name of business location, officer name, officer rank, and the uh precinct that the job is located in. And the off the app will also help with tracking the number of offduty hours uh officers are working on a weekly basis. However, workforce director will continue to be the system of record for officers PL hours as this is information that the officers are entering themselves. Some um current and future projects uh that the uh inspections unit is working on is creating an all-encompassing audit program that will monitor all regular overtime and offduty hours worked by officers. acquiring new technology that can help with overall system integration and improve functionality. This technology would help with analyzing, reviewing, and tracking officers off duties, hours worked. Um, and what I'm referring to would be the new payroll system, UKG, and something along line the longs of along the lines of roll call, which uses GPS for real-time location tracking of officers in the field. So that concludes my presentation. Thank you. >> Thank you for the presentation. Any questions from members? >> Um if you could go back a slide and maybe one more for the power app uh for for what you're tracking. Is it common that uh the precinct that the shift is happening in would be uh covered by an officer within that precinct or is it going to be fairly common that the precinct's home the officer's home base is a different precinct than the business? >> That is correct. >> Okay. cuz I it looks like there might be an opportunity to also capture that cuz it looks like we're getting the rank of the officer of the precinct where the business is location but located but I didn't see the precinct where the officer is like based out of. Is that something that we can connect with our current systems? >> Um chair uh chair Payne at this time I don't have an answer for that but that is something that um we can definitely look into. >> Okay. Okay. Any other questions from members? Oh, member hosting. >> Thank you, Chair Payne. Just a quick question. Issue seven, are we going back to that or did we cover that? >> That that was with the >> of the fleet audit. >> Oh, I'm sorry. The previous um >> yes, Chair Payne or Committee Member Husbing. Yeah. Um Deputy Chief Montgomery wasn't able to be here for that update on that one. So, >> apologies. We just skipped between the two. So, I appreciate you doing both of them. No further questions. >> Thank you for the presentation. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Seeing no further questions or comments from committee members, I'll direct the clerk to res receive and file that report. Uh, next item five is the 2024 state of Minnesota office of the state auditor management and compliance reports. I invite Karen Stacken, audit director from the office of the state auditor to give this presentation. Thank you, Audi Chair. We also have uh Rob Lang uh deputy controller and George Harrove uh the city's controller on hand. So, if you have questions specific to uh Minneapolis's response, they are here to answer those questions as well. But Karen, thanks so much for being here. >> All right. Good morning, Chair Payne and members of the audit committee. Uh my name is Karen Stacken. I'm with the state auditor's office and I'm here to present the results of your 2024 audits. First, I want to thank management and staff of the city of Minneapolis, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, and the Municipal Building Commission for their cooperation and assistance during our audits. Um, we audited the city of Minneapolis, uh, the M municipal building commission, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board for the year ended December 31st, 2024. We issued our opinion on the cities and the park board's financial statements and issued management and compliance reports for the city, MBC and the park board. Um NBC does not have a separate opinion because it's included in the financial statements for the city. Um we performed our audits in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America, government auditing standards and the uniform guidance. and uniform guidance is the federal requirements for federal award programs. Um our opinions for both the park board and the city were dated June 25th, 2025. Um our opinions included in the respective entities audited financial statements. Um our opinions for the city and the park board were unmodified which means that it's a clean opinion. It's the best opinion that can be issued. Um, this means that the financial statements are fairly presented and conform with applicable accounting standards. We also audited the cities and the park board's major federal award programs and have issued our opinion on compliance for major federal programs that we audited. Um, the opinion for each of the cities and the park board's major federal programs was also unmodified. This means that the city and the park board have complied in all material respects with the compliance requirements that are direct and material to the major federal programs. Um throughout our audit, any findings related to internal control compliance, Minnesota legal compliance, federal program internal controls over compliance or federal program compliance were discussed with the respective management and staff. Um at the end of the audits, we discussed the written findings. um those would be the ones that are included in the management and compliance report um in detail with the respective entity um with their respective members of management and governance. Um our management and compliance report for the city includes a corrective action plan and a summary schedule of prior audit findings um both are which are provided by management. There was uh no findings reported for the park board in the current year. Um and the MBC included only the summary schedule of prior audit findings. All right. The corrective action plan is management's plan for resolving the current year findings and is provided to us just before the report is issued. Um we do not audit the information included in the corrective action plan, but we are required to follow up on it in the next audit. The summary schedule of prior audit findings lists the findings that were in the previous year's report and then gives the follow-up for those and those will either be show a status of either fully corrected, partially corrected or not corrected. So in our 2024 management and compliance report for the city, we reported four findings and we were able to resolve three from the previous year. Our schedule of findings and question cost includes findings about each finding. Um, it includes the criteria, that's the basis that we're measuring against. The condition, which is a description of the issue, the context, which provides additional information or gives more perspective. Um, the effect, which is the condition that it has led to or could lead to, the cause, which is um why the finding exists and this was reviewed with finance management. And then the recommendation is how we suggest to improve for on each issue. So of the four findings that I mentioned um just a minute ago, two of them are related to internal controls. Um the first one was a prior period of adjustment. Um the second one related to service organization controls and then the third and fourth related to federal award programs. Um one was related to suspension and debarment and the fourth one was related to subreient monitoring. Um the city has provided a corrective action plan um and that is included in the financial report. And then as with all current year findings um we will review them again at the next audit and management will provide um the current summary of prior audit findings. Um and then in that prior audit findings for the city, we resolved three comments. Um one was related to the federal funding accountability and transparency act reporting. The second one was related to suspension and dearmment and the by um build America by America act. And then the third one was related to activities allowed and unallowed. So those three were all related to federal award programs. Um our 2024 management compliance report for the park board had no findings. There was also no findings from 2023 to follow up on. And for MBC, there was no current findings in 2024. And we had one finding that we followed up on that was resolved um from 2023 and that had related to a prior audit adjustment. Um does anybody have any questions? >> Any questions from members? Not seeing any. >> Okay. Thank you for your time today. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. Uh, Chair Payne, uh, the controller and deputy controller would just like to say a word if you, uh, don't mind them addressing you, >> please. >> Thank you. >> Welcome. Well, uh, yeah, thank you. Thank you. Uh, thank you, uh, Chair Payne. Um, audit committee members. Um, my name is George Hardrove. I'm the city controller. Um, just wanted to, you know, just to say a few things. I mean, Rob and I were pleased, you know, when we got here that uh, you know, things were pretty well set up and um that we were limited to in the findings that we received. And the most important thing for us is that we get an unqualified opinion, which we were able to do for both the main city audit as well as the federal audit. Um, just to give a few uh a few uh Robert I could talk a little bit few about the about some of the findings that we got. Um, we did uh we did receive one on suspension and dearment. What we've asked um for that one is to ask our procurement department to basically set up any v any any vendor that's set up um especially on the ones on federal awards and things that they they check that there's a website that we can go to to check that and then we print off a copy so we have a copy of that. So we want to you know make that um more more complete I guess ultimately we you know hopefully with workday or something we can uh we can maybe have the system automatically do that. That's what I'd like to get to, but that'll be a few years from now. Um, audit finding, another audit finding we received was on the value of land held in CPED. For that one, we do have a new accounting manager there. They meet with um we've set up a regular uh series of meetings. I believe it's at least quarterly if not monthly. And they review the records on sales force, which keep their land transactions with what we have in our general ledger. So, we've been working on that as well. too. And then finally for the subreient monitoring, that's a federal um finding that's something like when we get grants from the federal government, we have to pass those on to what's called subreients to help us manage the grant. We're obligated to monitor them and make sure they're following the rules for that one. Um we did uh we did kind of um restructure one FTE to kind of beef up the the support in that area. Yes, we do expect to do a a pre-awward uh uh assessment on every any any subreient that we have in the city to make sure that they're monitored and we review their financial statements and audits as well too to make sure they're in compliance. And then we have kind of various levels of um letters that we send out to to these subreients and if they're fine, we tell them they're fine. And if they're not, then we have various levels, you know, of, you know, how much we want to talk to them or, you know, worst case, you know, we we might have to, you know, think about, you know, whether we can continue to do business. But fortunately, you we don't have any subreients that are anywhere near that category. For the last one, I'm going to turn this over to Rob. That's our most concerning finding um is uh is with our is with uh some of the software vendors. We're now required to do a what's called a sock one type two. they have to do an audit on themselves to make sure that there isn't things happening. These are like hosted financial systems and there was one on the convention center that I'll let Rob uh de deputy controller Rob Lang speak to it this time. There's quite a bit has happened there. >> Welcome. >> Yes, thank you George and good morning. Uh so for this finding it is related to the sock one type twos which as George mentioned um is we have financial softwares that are required to be internally audited to show to us that the information coming from those financial softwares into the city's general ledger is appropriate. Uh for the convention center the software we use wasn't able to produce such a report. Um so we have developed um an internal um review process to go through that information verify that it is appropriate as well as working with momentous leadership um to figure out a plan moving forward to get those reports. Um and that's my status on that. Thank you. >> Yeah. Yeah. Thanks Rob. So yeah, this is something we're working with it to implement citywide. We have a list of all the systems that have a major material effect um on our financial statements and we plan to monitor them every year um just like we do the federal subreients to make sure they have these audits. It's kind of a new and evolving area in the audit world since so many systems are now hosted and not hosted by our own servers. So the auditors need some assurance that uh that everything is h you know everything is going well and that are accurate and things aren't being siphoned off or things like that. So um with that certainly can Rob and I can take any questions you may have. >> Any questions from members? Uh just really quick for the um convention center financial software. Is this an issue where the vendor has the capability to do this audit and we need to just push them to generate that audit on our behalf or is this a thing where we might have to work with a different vendor that actually has these types of standards in place? Um yes, excellent question uh um chair uh chair Payne. Uh no, they certainly have the capability to do get this audit. Now whether they've agreed to that or not, um Rob, I don't know if you have anything more to say, but not not exactly. They haven't fully agreed. So that is still on the table. I hate to say it. >> Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Thanks. Seeing no further questions or comments from committees, I will direct the clerk to receive and file this report. And next we have item six, which is receiving and filing an assurance services report on revenue collections for audit phase 2 of the Minneapolis Park and Recck Board. I will invite uh Mr. Pudall up to introduce this item. Good morning, Chair Payne and the member of the audit committee. Uh we recently completed uh revenue and collection audit for the Minneapolis Park and Recreational Board and I'm here to present the results. As I go through the presentation, if you have any questions, we also have Julie Weisman, the finance director, and Chad Lober, the IT director, here to answer some of those questions as well. So these are the overall areas we're going to cover for the audit during this presentation from the background audit objectives scope and methodology conclusion and results observation recommendations management action plans and any questions that you have in the end. So regarding the background, the Minneapolis Park and Recreational Board, MPB serves as an independently elected semiautonomous body responsible for governing, maintaining and developing the park system, Minneapolis Park System. MPRB provides services to park visitors, residents, and local businesses. Payment collection is decentralized with revenue coming from rental ice arenas, golf courses, parks, um, rec centers, sports programs, seasonal activities, and consistent agreements. MPB staff play a key role in this process by collecting payments directly from park users. MPB accepts multiple form of payment including cash, checks, credit cards, and debit cards. Collection sites are responsible for monitoring their own revenue collection process. They also work with MPB finance department to reconcile revenue with NPRB's financial systems. Finance department staff reviews reports from collection points and monitor for accuracy. So to give credit to the MPB management, MP RB was already in process of reviewing uh its own policies and procedures as we started this audit. Um so this proactive work reflects strong commitment to its mission and to the safety of park visitors and staff. So the objective of this audit um was to review the design and effectiveness of controls around MPRB's revenue collection process. And talking about the scope, uh we reviewed how MPRV manages revenue across its collection points including rec centers, parks, golf courses, lake facilities, and NPRB headquarters. Our review covered transactions from January 1st, 2022 through June 30th, 2025. We focused on how NPRB collects various types of payments including online transactions, credit cards, cash, checks, and money orders. We also examined the consensus uh agreements as well. We used audit methods such as interviews, sites, visits, process, observation, key control, testing. As a part of this audit, we covered key areas such as governance collection process and associated internal controls, concession agreements, safety and security of staff and revenue collected and data security. So the overall conclusion of this audit is that NPRB should strengthen its policy procedures and internal controls related to revenue and collection to ensure consistent and effective management. So in terms of results uh so there were uh total seven issues that were found as a part of this audit. So there were one rated as high and six rated as moderate that were identified during this audit. Uh we'll go through each of them in details in sub subsequent slides. [clears throat] So the first one is related to handling customer information. MPB should strengthen policies, procedures, training and oversight related to handling customer information to adequately safeguard customer data and comply with payment card industry data security standards which in short we call like PCI DSS. We noted that one of the sites most staff understood their duties. However, staff have written down customer credit card information when the credit card system was not functioning correctly. In addition, we also found uh outdated references to PCIDSS which was retired in March 2024. Moreover, PCI compliance procedures did not include guidance related to customer credit card data protection. Also, the credit card terminals inspections uh were not consistently performed and reported. So um as a result we recommend IT and finance department management to update policy and procedures and training documents to reflect correct version of PCIDSS ensure roles responsibilities and oversight are designed uh so that uh defined uh terminal inspection and security awareness create training materials uh train all staff involved in revenue collection and manage the training through the web-based training portal and strictly prohibit the stories of credit card data on paper. The next one is related to policy and procedures. Uh policy and procedures uh related to cash handling are not reviewed in a timely manner and do not clearly define the roles and responsibilities of collection point supervisors and managers. In [snorts] addition, most of the collection point visitor did not have their own procedures for collection beyond the collection systems payment processing steps. So as a result, we recommend uh IT and finance department manage management regularly review and update cash handling policy. Clearly define the roles and responsibilities of the collection point and supervisor managers. Establish a policy management process that provides guidance to review policies and procedures as well as direct all collection point supervisors and managers to create and establish specific procedures for their own collection point. So the third one is related to oversight and monitoring. We observed that finance department works with collection points to ensure funds are collected, reconciled and appropriately deposited. However, they do not conduct periodic reviews of cash handling internal controls. [snorts] In addition, we observe that the collection point supervisors and managers monitor and oversee the collection process. However, their duty their duties are not documented in the cashing policies and procedures. As a result, we recommended finance department management strengthen oversight duties by performing periodic reviews of gas handling internal controls and also define the oversight roles and responsibilities of collection point supervisors and managers. The fourth issue we identified uh was related to internal controls. Um there is a lack of control during transfer of accountability at various collection points. Specifically, reconciliation is not completed between shifts. There is a lack of access control around the safe at one of the collection point we tested. Also, staff do not immediately endorse checks for deposit when collected as required by policy. Instead, supervisors endorse checks when preparing the deposits at end of the day. In addition, there is not a centralized mail room to properly handle mail payments, nor is there a documented process that defines roles and responsibilities to ensure separation of duties. So as a result, we recommend finance department management periodically review controls in the collection process, establish control to address deficiencies specifically specifically to when uh performing reconciliation between shifts and access controls to the safe. requires staff to endorse checks immediately and ensure stamps are available to the collection site managers and supervisors and also create a mail room process with effective controls. The fifth issue is related to training. The NPRB finance department has not developed training as outlined in its implementing implementation section of the cashing policy. We observed that collection point leaders train staff on the payment process using the point of sale system but there is no revenue collection process training. PCIDSS training video is available. However, many staff members who process payments are not aware of such training that exist. As a result, uh we recommend finance department to create and establish training materials and make them available through MPB training portal. Work with city management to allow MPB staff access cashing training while developing their own training material. Work with IT and HR to update training related to BCIDSS to include up-to-date standards and also once those things are completed systematically track and monitor training through training portal. So the next one is um concession agreement. We observed that NPRB has not formalized a process to perform inspections of cons concessional uh accounting records. Even though MPRB generally reserves the right to perform monthly inspection, it has only conducted an review a review of two to three consistent um accounting records via email annually. As a result, um we recommend finance department management regularly conduct inspection of contractor books and records and establish procedures for conducting such inspections. And the last issue is related to security over assets. Uh we learned that most of staff felt safe in their work environment and staff were aware that they should contact park police in the event of an emergency. However, we observed that not all all collection point had documented emergency safety plans and some site lacked other conventional security technology to safeguard MPB property and personnel. In addition, policy doesn't clearly define roles and responsibilities for who can transport uh deposits. As a result, uh we recommend finance department management, strengthen policy by clearly defining procedures and oversight mechanism to ensure staff safety, assess the security around facilities and provide security measures deemed necessary and update policies to clearly define the roles responsibilities associated with transporting the deposits. And coming to the management action plan. Um so MPB management has agreed to recommendations included in the uh report. They also have drafted their action plans accordingly. Based on our review of those action plans, we are confident that they'll effectively remediate the issues identified during the audit. The detailed management action plans are included in the report for each observations as well. Uh, I stand for any questions that you might have. >> Thank you for that presentation. Are there any questions for members? Member Williams. >> Thank you. Um, can I just clarify something on issue one um of the staff writing down credit card information. It says in the recommendation that you're going to update policies, procedures, training documents. Um does the training today or previously state that credit card information should be written down in the event that the credit card system is not working appropriately. >> So basically the the only time they were taking um credit card information is whenever some of the machines were not working um and they were shredding that later on. But the goal is to not to even take the uh information on paper. So they can utilize some of the other sites and contact them to take the payment that way so that it can be taken electronically instead of writing those information on paper. >> Yeah. And just the reason I'm asking that question is it said that we're going to update procedures in the training documents. I think what I'm trying to decipher is did the training document say in the event that this machine is not working you should write it down and now we're updating that to say now you should not do that. >> Okay. So we have Julie Weisman the finance director here so she'll be able to answer. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Welcome. >> Thank you chair Payne and member Williams. The current policy does state that you can write it down and shred it and so we do need to eliminate that from the policy. >> Okay, that that helps. Thank you. >> Member Hosby. >> Um specifically Oh, thank you Jane. Um I guess specifically about issue one but just generally did audit observe any um I don't want to call them breaches but any issues where there was a mispayment or fraudulent attempts >> during this audit or was it just that this needs to be kind of tightened up so that that cannot happen in the future. >> We didn't observe those issues and even some of these as a part of the like process understanding some of the staff mentioned that to us. Oh, it's not. We observed that they were taking credit card information, but that's what we were told by the staff. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Member Bennett. >> Thank you, Chair Payne. Um, okay. So, I'm I was uh I was glad to read be able to read the materials ahead of time as well, and I'm really uh grateful that this um audit was completed. In fact, I think I was here when in this role when the city's version of this was was conducted. So, I'm glad to see this is completed. And I'm also reassured that the park board was working on their own internal policies and handling. And I actually have to just say one more bit of editorializing. I really am actually glad that the park board accepts so many different ways of of paying because there are people that really do need to want to operate with cash or need to operate with cash. Um, [clears throat] so one of the things, and it was more in the writeup and less in the presentation, but there was a piece where the park board is going to has uh kind of a follow-up task to do the on-site procedures um documentation for the specific site procedures. And I'm worried is that going to be how customized is that going to be or will that be I see Miss Wiseman's coming. Um or what will be the approach there? Because that that has me a little concerned. That seems like a lot. Uh, Chair Payne and um, member of NA, we have categories of sites. So, our recreation centers will have a sightspecific procedure that will be the same for all recreation centers. Their business is typically the same. We'll have sightspecific procedures for all of our golf courses. That'll be the same. So I'm estimating about 10 separate site specific procedures and I've already completed with uh the site managers uh four out of those 10. Oh, that's reassuring because I know that actually some employees move between locations and so that that that's reassuring. Thank you. Not seeing any other questions. So, uh, I will direct the clerk to receive and file this report and direct staff to publish the report. All those in favor say I. I. Oppose say nay. That carries and we will have that report published. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Uh, item seven is approving updates to the audit charter. I will invite Robert Timberman, city auditor, to present on that item. Right. Good morning, Chair Payne and audit committee members. Um, before MPB leaves us, I do want to just uh acknowledge their cooperation during the audit. um but also the fact that when we started our audit they they had asked us to delay because they were already in progress on self-reing uh their procedures and so I think it's worth recognizing that uh they take seriously the the oversight responsibility that they have. So I I wanted to mention that uh getting into the audit charter, this has been a collaborative effort between the audit committee. Uh at our last meeting, we went through and had a a fairly robust discussion about some of the uh what should be included, what should not be included in the audit charter. Um after that meeting, we worked with the city attorney's office to make sure that the things that we had discussed were uh agreeable on a legal level. Um, and that brings us to our what I what I think is maybe our final product. Um, barring any final tweaks or amendments that you recommend uh today. So, uh, this was uh shared with you a few days ago, so I hope you had an opportunity to review it. I think that if you do have uh any final suggestions, we can incorporate those quickly. Um but today we're looking for approval and then uh Chair Payne and I can sign this and we can get it out on the websites and in our own uh documents for um for future use. Any questions from members? Do we need to take a formal motion on this? Yeah. All right. I uh will move to approve the uh audit charter as presented. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Uh do we need to do a roll call? Let's do a roll call. Why not? Uh call the girl. >> Aben >> I. >> Chuck Tai is absent. [clears throat] >> Hosby. >> Omar is absent. Williams >> I >> Singleton >> I >> chair Payne >> I >> there are five eyes I's >> that item carries and then we'll just get that printed out and signed so that we can get it published. Uh last is the report of the city auditor and I will again invite Mr. Timberman up to give an update. We'll get through this update update quickly and stand for any questions at the conclusion. Um, today our updates include in progress and completed work. Uh, a quick update on where we're at with fraud, waste, and abuse investigations just with some statistics. Uh, an update on prior audit issues and following up on those. So, as you know, we regularly reach back out to the audies and ask for updates on their corrective action plans. Uh, so this is an update on that work and then some other updates just um logistical updates as far as personnel budget uh and some things that are uh relevant to your roles as well. So, completed work. I will skip right through this because this is a report that you heard from uh Director Puyall on. This was uh voted on and published today for the MPRB revenue collections audit work in progress. We've got quite a bit going on right now. Uh we've got a review which is a a state required audit. This is of u the Minneapolis Police Department's bodywn camera and automatic automated license plate reader um systems. We've done this review recently for park police and now we are doing this for MPD. This is in the fieldwork stage. We're also in the fieldwork stage for an NSD, a neighborhood safety department audit to look at contract management. Uh NSD, as we've talked about in the past, um has gone through some significant changes in their contract oversight in the last year. I think that some of the the work that um they've done has really demonstrated the type of oversight we want to see in other departments as well that can be adopted um by the enterprise as a whole. Uh that said there leading up to some of those changes there were some concerns that audit had um that NSD leadership has also um self- acknowledged. So, uh, that is some work that is in progress that we hope to bring to you early next year. Other in progress work, the afteraction reviews of the shooting of Davis Muri as well as the death of Allison Lucer. Um, we spoke at our October audit committee meeting about some delays that we were experiencing. I'm happy to share that. Uh, we've gotten over that hurdle. We've got a number of meetings scheduled with individual officers who were um involved uh in responding to some of these calls and those should be happening within the next week or two. We've had a number of meetings with uh MPD SWAT as well as the chief's office. So, we're making good progress. I do think that um the final report from our consultant will probably be released at our April audit committee meeting. I know in the past we've targeted February and and now April. So, uh the the work is is coming to a point where I feel fairly confident that that's the audit committee meeting that this report will be released at. Other work in progress. We have kicked off the Shot Spotter performance audit. This is an audit that the city council as well as the audit committee was interested in. Um this is going to be an interesting audit because one of our new auditors uh hills from the city of Chicago which is one of the cities that um has done a report on Shot Spotter and has made some decisions based on their work. Uh, and so I'm excited to have um Matt Kwaters who has joined us recently, our our newest addition. Um, he's starting to take a look at this work as well as a few of our other auditors. So, um, we we hire folks and we get them right to work. So, I'm very excited about that. Procurement phase two. This is a uh a followup to a phase one report that we did uh specifically about a contract for an event that occurred at the convention center. We had committed on our audit plan to doing a phase two that looks more broadly at procurement. That's the purpose of this audit. Uh we did want to take a look at one program specifically as a part of this to kind of um do a a walkthrough of process and we'll be doing that with meet Minneapolis. The city uh provides a significant amount of funding to meet Minneapolis. there are are contracts and meet Minneapolis uh maintains subcontracts and so we're going to take a look at contracting and controls with that organization as an example and then look at controls more broadly uh as well and then the work that you will uh get from us in February um the enterprise risk assessment we are in the midst of about 35 meetings with department heads and leaders across the city including uh audit committee members and city council members um as well as department heads to get an idea of where risks exist in this city. We will evaluate those risks and uh rate them uh by considering the likelihood and the impact of those risks and then we will develop uh communication for management. The idea with this risk assessment is for management to have something in hand that they can refer to throughout the year um and start creating mitigating strategies for those risks. And then finally, the audit plan. Uh as you know, every year we have an audit plan. This year it's going to be a separate document from the risk assessment. Uh I think that helps um for those who need or want to use the risk assessment. our audit plan is not necessarily relevant to them. So, the audit plan will be um a separate document and it'll look a little different in the sense that we're going to calculate based off of available auditable hours. Um the the standard when developing an audit plan typically considers that uh an auditor has the ability to use 70% of their time or in some cases 75% of their time for audit. So we will calculate based on our current staffing levels, determine what uh ability we have to perform the audits. And uh to one of your questions, um committee member Williams, you had asked about prioritization in February this past year and we will um make great efforts to prioritize a reasonable amount of audits based on those auditable hours. Uh as far as our fraud, waste and abuse investigations, these are typically referrals that we get in through the website, emails, phone calls. Um we have two in progress. As you know, we do not uh share much for details on these um because of the sensitive nature of them. Uh and then I think I will just hand it off to uh director Pudial here uh to start talking about the open issues and some of the validation work that the office has done since our last meeting. >> Chair Payne and members of the audit committee. So regarding the prior audit issues, uh we closed uh six issu open issues uh since the last audit committee meeting, but then we added seven today. So it's like a kind of plus one to the um category. So we have 10 uh open issues which includes also seven that we um issued today and 22 of them are also like overdue audit issues that we have been actively working on resolving those with the management as well. and we have um four of them in validation uh in progress. So basically we at least get partial or full supporting documents from the management and we're right now uh reviewing those to make sure those are completely remediated. So six of those closed issues um are so we closed uh two issues from the 2021 personal work issued mobile device policies and control audit and so that's issue number two mobile device inventory management and then issue number three mobile device disposal. So for that audit we only have one um issue remaining to completely remediate that uh issues from that report. So we also completed uh closed two issues from the 2023 revenue and collection phase uh audit phase one which we uh reviewed the uh for the city and we closed out issue number one policy and procedures and issue number three internal controls. So there still have three more issues and hopefully we should be um remediating at least one sometime this week as well. So we're trying working with the management to resolve some of these issues as well. And then again we resolved um two issues for the 2024 NCR funding to neighborhood organizational audit as well. So that's issue number two policy and procedures and issue number three uh oversight and monitoring. So for this one uh we just had like one audit issue remaining which is not due till January 2026. So we still have time. So um these are all the reports that with at least one audit open audit issues and I have a detailed uh information in the subsequent slides as well. And these are all the ones from today's audit. So like I said earlier, we have um three open issues for the 2019 MPD offduty uh work audit and the management provided that update uh today. Uh we have one open issues um related to the personal work issued mobile device policies and controls audit uh related to the data governance and we're working with management uh to resolve this issue as well. Uh we have two open issues for the 2022 hiring and promotion process audit. And so the first one uh issue number five hopefully we'll be able to remediate by end of first quarter or early second quarter of 2026 and issue number 16. Uh to be honest like this should close out sometime this week as well. So the next open issues are related to 2023 revenue and collection phase one audit. Uh we have issue number two oversight and monitoring issue number five asset safeguarding and security and issue number seven uh mail handling. And um we're working with management uh to remediate these issues as well. And the next two open issues are non-public. So that's why he just mentioned issue one and issue two. So that's related to 2023 sexual assault examination kit special project follow-up audit and management did provide an update back in during uh June audit committee meeting but we'll be following up with them as well regarding these two issues. So the next um audit is a 2023 MPD property and evidence audit. So right now we have seven open issues and the issue number one and two are non-public uh and uh they provided the update during the June um audit committee meeting as well and we'll be following up with them again soon to get the status of those open issues. So the next one is 2023 pecart spending audit. So we have one issue open issue number three oversight and monitoring and so for this one uh controllers's office is responsible to remediate and as uh yours earlier said like they have been busy uh remedying some of those priority items as well related to the internal controls but we'll be working with them to resolve this issue as well. So the next audit is 2024 MPD fleet management audit. So we have nine open issues right now. That and the management provide that update today regarding all those open issues. And the last one is related to the 2024 NCR city funding to neighborhood organizational audit. And for that one uh we just have one issue open related to the risk assessment and the tentative date for that completion is January 30th 31st uh 2026 and uh any questions? Yes, member. >> Thank you. Chairp more of a comment. So slide nine, it's the table of open audit issues, overdue audit issues. Um and then the supporting table. >> Yes. >> Um I think it's a sign of a really good program and thank you to all the work to have things added each meeting. I think the number that is always not concerning but that I want to focus on is that 22 like the overdue items. >> Overdue. Yes. >> And I just wonder if it's worth um I appreciate the updates, but is it worth saying maybe like out of 22 20 of them we have management updates from? Yes, we know they're being worked on. and maybe use this slide as kind of a a trigger point to say we really need support from the committee or whatever for maybe these two overdue items that we're just not getting the response we needed. So I guess my question that's a long way of asking question of out of the 22 do you have any that are overdue that you're not feeling like you're getting the support or the follow up on right now? So, so out of those 22 like some of these like MPD uh fleet management those are part of the overview as well and for some like I mentioned for the revenue and collection >> right now the priority is to make sure the internal controls related to the convention center gets taken care of before they focus so it's not um uh they're not willing to do that but it's just like when you pri you try to prioritize more important stuff than I know this is important as well but based on their limitation with their staff they just need to prioritize their resources and that's why we have some of those uh overdoses as well. So um so it's not completely like they need resources or like they're not willing to um um resolve some of these issues but there are some by 2 months 3 months some are more like some of the older ones but the other ones it's all less than uh 6 months or so. So I'm pretty confident they'll be able to close that out in future. >> Perfect. Yeah. and for future meetings just if there's any that are kind of raising to that level. just really appreciate that kind of like identification of hey these are the [clears throat] two that we're really not seeing movement on for without justification like that one I uh appreciate the conversation today about how they need to prioritize that but if there are any other ones that come up and and I would just say another thank you when I first started that number I think all the overdue audits were like 10 years ago so I really appreciate that the >> the overds are much more recent so thank you for that >> and even like we try to bring management on annual basis so that we they can cover some of those overdue issues as well. So, >> perfect. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, >> Member Williams. >> Thank you, Chair Payne. Maybe in that same vein, and I apologize for the naive and this, but you have a 2019 open audit issue that we heard about today. I'm assuming that there's a schedule in which you will have that audit come back up again. At what point does the new audit over like take over the old audit? And if that question doesn't make sense, >> uh it depends on the area as well and the size of those areas and what we're actually looking at. So sometimes uh some of those uh cyclical audit it depends on whether it's 5 7 10 years right it depends on the topic and the process that we'll be reviewing but we do have the offduty um audit in our future plans as well so we will be looking at those whether you know those things are resolved or not based on the earlier findings u but as uh MPD has mentioned so some of these findings we know won't be remediated in at least in like 2 3 years because they have plans to bring some of these new technologies in 2027. So we know for sure you know that might take time. >> Okay. >> But we do uh revisit some of these um processes based on how um crucial that that process is for the city. >> Okay, that makes sense. Thank you. And then maybe one more just real quick comment and this might be more for the city auditor. We talked about an in progress work uh the procurement phase two and it talked a it's talking about the procurement processes and the oversight activity. Can I also mention if it's not already uh thought about the the background check of the vendors who were also going to potentially win contracts? Is that also part of the scope of that procurement process? Uh, Chair Payan, Committee Member Williams, typically yes. Um, when I've done audits like this in the past, we we certainly look at that. Um, this audit is in the pre-planning stage, I would say. Um, and so I will note that to make sure that that is included in our methodology. Um, I think that's very important. different contracts or or types of contracts require different types of background, whether that's an individual having a certain certification or um you know a a certain um makeup of their leadership team. Um we will look into those things. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome, >> Vice Chair Singleton. >> Thank you. Um uh a question on two of the overdue audit items. Um slides 19 and 20, the sexual assault examination kit audit and the MPD property and evidence audit. Um my memory from um our June update was that there were um some constraints related to investment um that were um causing delays and remediating a couple of those issues. Do you know if there's any movement in that regard? uh to be exact uh I need to follow up with the management first before I answer that question. Thank you. >> Not seeing any more questions. Uh thank you for the presentation and the update and I'll ask the clerk to file that report. >> Chair, I'm sorry. I do have just a few uh additional slides of other updates. Uh it won't take too long here. Uh so I do like to provide some updates on where we're at with staffing uh considering the council's investment in our office uh this past summer and also their deliberations uh to further invest in our office for 2026. Uh we're excited to share that we've uh brought on two new auditors that uh once our special review and advisory services division is fully created with a director to help lead that. Um, Eric Wyn and Matt Kwaters um have joined us. They will be in that division. Um, Eric comes from the legislative auditor's office uh at the state level. As I mentioned earlier, Matt comes from similar uh public safety oversight from the city of Chicago. So, we're very excited to have both of them and their experience. Currently, we're going through uh background checks for an internal auditor one candidate uh to fill a vacant position as well as an internal auditor 2. Uh this was Klin Al's uh position. And if he's watching for whatever reason, I just want to thank him. He was also um incredibly um involved in that MPB audit that we heard about today, as well as Nikita. She um helped uh pull everything together at the end. So, thank you to both of them. Uh, but interviews are in progress for that position. And then our quality assurance and training manager, uh, we should be performing interviews on that uh, within the next couple weeks here. As far as budget updates that impact the office of city auditor, council is voting on budget amendments now today. Um, and they're finalizing the 2026 budget this week. Uh optimistically, our office will retain all current FTEES based on amendments that are currently uh for consideration. Uh and we will also secure uh funding uh hopefully for the director of special review and advisory services so we can build out that division as well as a lead worker for that division that may cross over between internal audit and the special review division. Unfortunately, uh, every department has to, uh, you know, play a game of of, um, uh, push and pull. And this year, it doesn't look like we'll be able to have the funding for the deputy city auditor. And that's okay. We will go back to the drawing board next year. We will um further um, discuss the needs of that role. But I do think where things currently stand um, budget is looking strong for our office. And so I do appreciate the work from the council members including the committee chair. Uh the last piece of the budget update, we did go through the process to amend the contract with Hogan Adams, which is the law firm that's assisting in our special reviews uh or our afteraction reviews. Um that has been amended to get us through June of this year. As I mentioned, the report should be uh released in April, but we want to make sure that we are considerate of any follow-up meetings, other council meetings that may want an update. Um, and so we have um just actually I'm the last signature and I just got it this morning for that uh contract to be fully amendment amended. Uh we've talked a little bit about the workforce optimization and comparative benchmarking study and review. Um we've contracted with the 65th North Group uh which is out of um the southwestern part of the country but the the principal of that um grew up in the Brooklyn Center or Brooklyn Park area. So uh is very familiar with Minneapolis, very familiar with the Twin Cities and was very excited to take on this work. Uh we've had a kickoff meeting with him. Um and we will soon be meeting with uh the COO as well as the commissioner of community safety um because we will want some uh collaborative efforts from them to share with their department heads and other leaders in the city that surveys will be coming out and meetings will follow. Uh and so this will uh kind of follow closely after the meetings that we have for our annual risk assessment. uh and this work is to understand uh tools that different departments have implemented to pursue cost savings. It's to compare staffing levels in various departments uh to sister cities. So I think this will be a very helpful uh study uh that will result in recommendations that come from the contractor but also from our office that should hopefully hope hope hopefully help the city council in their budget work next year. Uh the last of our updates the uh the next year in January we need to have an organizational meeting for the audit committee. So with a new city council that means that uh potentially there could be new city council members on this audit committee and that's true also for the MPB uh representative on this committee. So the the city council and MPB will be deciding on their leadership and who they will appoint to this committee. Um and that needs to be sorted out in early January. Uh and then for the citizen members on this committee, you've all been appointed to three-year terms, which I believe have just uh at the end of this year completed. So, the clerk has asked that when the information goes out that you uh if you're interested uh please express that interest, reapply. Um and that will uh get sorted out hopefully by uh the time we have that organization organizational meeting on the 26th. At that meeting that's also when leadership for this committee is uh determined. Um also at that meeting the rules of the audit committee. I don't know if you know that this document exists and I think I mentioned it a few uh months ago but it was last updated in 2010. It still has some very uh specific language that you can tell is for our old government structure. So I I think we'll bring this to that meeting to start a discussion about updating rules. I think there's a lot in there that we can just remove because it's been included in our updated audit charter and so we can focus more on Robert's rules and actual logistics foro uh holding these meetings. Um, last thing, we have been advised by the clerk's office to only send email communications to city of Minneapolis emails. I know that's a challenge, especially for some of our resident members because you don't check those emails very frequently. That is something we're going to start doing in January. Um, and, you know, we'll we'll see how it goes. We'll see by that January meeting if if people are seeing what we need them to see. and we may come up with a way to send to your private email uh or your personal email just a note, hey go look at your city email. So um but this helps with data requests and ensuring that you know information is managed transparently which of course our office is a proponent of. Um just a reminder you guys are all really good at this. Don't reply all when I send you something or when anybody sends something from our office just so we uh avoid creating a serial meeting or unintentionally um having quorum in any emails. I usually blind CC the audit committee but every once in a while I'll I'll send it to everyone and I'll just put a note on there. Please don't reply all. That's it. We are staffing up. We're at nine folks now. we should be um at about uh 12 within the next six weeks, which is our target uh for 2025. And then with the funding that council's working through right now, um we we may be able to be at 14 of the 15 by mid year in 2026. So, I'm really happy about that. Um, one of the the primary objectives that I've had over the last 10 months is to rightsize the office, but also to elevate it to the level that um the citizens or the residents of Minneapolis voted for this office to be at. And so that's where a lot of the focus has been. That is it for today. We will gladly accept any questions or um just you you're welcome to also email us with questions after the meeting too. Thank you Mr. Timberman. Any questions? Okay. Now I can direct the the clerk to receive and file that report. And uh I just want to take an opportunity to you know this being our last meeting of the year and the last meeting of the term thank everybody. This has been an intense season of change. I I'll say I want to thank Mr. Timberman. You came in midstream to a lot that was happening. I want to thank Mr. appall especially for stepping in into a leadership role. >> Um while there was a lot going on and as you said uh the the residents created the the city auditor when we created the strong mayor system uh in 2021 2022 was a heavy focus on the administration and restructuring the the administrative side of our government. Uh we reconstituted the audit committee under the new form of government in 2023. Uh we had a midterm uh change on council and I came on to chair in 2024. Uh we got a new city auditor. We had to move staff out of the auditor's office. We are adding staff into the auditor's office. you've taken on. Um I mean I think your very first day in council chambers uh the family of Allison Lucer was demanding justice for Allison and you were able to really navigate that with a lot of um I don't know cander clarity and I'm just really grateful for your leadership and everybody here and all of our auditors. You guys have just been rock stars all along. So, just wanted to say a note of appreciation and I'm hoping to come back as chair next term, but again, that's not up to me. That's up to the body. So, um hopefully everybody gets a good rest between now and then. And I hope to see everybody back next year. >> Thank you, Chair Payne. Thank you, Audi. It's been fun this year. Hope to see you all next year. >> All right. Well, seeing no further business before us and without objection, I will declare this meeting adjourned. Sorry. >> Yeah. The um [clears throat and cough]