The Dublin City Council was presented with the 2018-2019 audit and voted to take on the duties of the Board of Adjustments during a busy regular meeting Monday night.
Jeremy Shell of Boucher, Morgan and Young was present at the meeting to guide council members through the audit. Shell pointed to several issues for the period ending Sept. 30, 2019, but added that he feels those issues have already been addressed since the period and has “complete faith” in the employees overseeing the city’s financial matters now.
The first issue he reported was money being taken from debt service and moved to the general fund. Shell reported that debt service funds are reserved for specific expenses, and the matter would have been very bad if funds hadn’t been moved from the enterprise fund to debt service to more than cover the previous transfer.
Shell also said there were a “ton of journal entries” and material mistakes in accounts. Shell said extra oversight could help this, but feels that the city is already moving in a good direction nearly two years after the end of the financial period being audited. He doesn’t anticipate these errors to be made again.
Council member Darrell Curry asked how soon the next audit could be performed. Shell said it could be started soon although some already known issues from the 2019-2020 report will create some extra work. Shell and the council members expressed a desire to get caught up on the city audits. Shell said in the past they provided audits by November of the year reported and that information is beneficial in making financial decisions.
Council members present (Mayor David Leatherwood and council member Sammy Moore were absent) were also presented with a vote on moving the responsibilities of the Board of Adjustments to council members. City Manager Bobby Mendez reported that the duties have resulted in BoA members having to make frequent meetings and a discussion with attorney Brady Pendleton revealed that it’s unusual for a city of Dublin’s size to have such a board.
Council members present unanimously voted to accept the BoA duties.
Mendez also suggested decreasing the cost of credit card fees for city customers paying by phone or internet from $5 to $3. Mendez said that many in the city adapted to paying bills this way during the pandemic and the lower charge is in line with what the city is charged to process credit card transactions.
Dublin Police Chief Cameron Ray requested to sell an old Ford ambulance not being used by Dublin EMS and to purchase a used Chevrolet Tahoe from Erath County for $5,000. Chief Ray said the 2014 Tahoe has 95,000 miles and the city tries to get 150,000 miles out of its patrol vehicles before retirement. Council members approved both items.
Public Works Director Cory James was present to speak on a bid from Durk’s Farm Services for removal of sludge from the aerator at the city’s wastewater treatment plant. James had requested bids earlier in the year, which came back at more than $70,000 but negotiations with Durk’s led to a bid of $48,800. James said the removal was necessary because the drying box can’t keep up with the current amount of sludge being generated. Although the job wasn’t budgeted, James said he had enough in another Public Works item to cover the cost. Council members unanimously voted to accept the bid.
Council members also unanimously voted to close the intersection of Elm and Grafton (stopping south of the City Hall parking lot so emergency vehicles can get out) on Sept. 18 for activities in the Hispanic Heritage Festival. Plans for the three-day celebration include a beer garden and live music in that area on Saturday, Sept. 18.
Council members also approved two recommendations from the Planning and Zoning Board introduced by Kassie Eads: a conditional use permit for 524 and 528 E. Blackjack to allow the operation of a mini-mart and breakfast and lunch restaurant at the home there; and the replat of 950 N. Patrick into two lots to allow the Cugini family to add a location for their FoxFury Lighting Solutions next to their Renew02 location.
The meeting ended with council members accepting a tax rate of $.9001 per $100 valuation, but Mendez said he would be meeting with the Erath County Appraisal District with questions about appraised values before they got closer to the actual amount.