YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

January 15, 2003

Report No. 2003-04

The following problems were discovered as a result of an audit conducted by our office of the Health Department of Barry County, Missouri.

• The Health Department did not solicit or advertise for bids as required by state law.  Approximately $90,000 and $53,000 was spent for labor and materials to remodel the Cassville and Monett facilities, respectively, without soliciting bids.  In addition, the Health Department did not practice compliance with statutory bidding requirements for other purchases unrelated to the remodeling projects.

            Invoices submitted by the independent contractors performing the remodeling were inadequate, providing no detail of time worked, jobs performed, or labor costs incurred.  Given the lack of detail noted on the invoices, reasonableness and propriety of the amounts claimed by the contractors cannot be ensured.

            The Board did not request or obtain an independent appraisal prior to purchasing the land and building in Monett.  In addition, Board minutes did not document actions taken to ensure the amount paid was reasonable.

• The Health Department Administrator did not document miles driven to support $250 received monthly for mileage.

            The Health Department also pays one-half (approximately $55) of the Administrator’s personal cellular phone bill each month.  There is no documentation to support why one-half of the total bill was determined to cover any business related calls.

• While renovating the Health Department facilities, numerous assets were disposed of; however documentation was not maintained to ensure these assets were disposed of properly.

Complete Audit Report