YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

Report No. 2005-35

June 2005

The following problems were discovered as a result of an audit conducted by our office of the City of Marquand, Missouri. 

The City of Marquand does not have a formal bidding policy.  As a result, the decision of whether to solicit bids for a particular purchase is made on an item-by-item basis.  During the year ended December 31, 2004, bids were either not solicited or bid documentation was not retained for some purchases including $4,424 in sewer maintenance work and $1,004 for a computer system.

Board minutes do not indicate that a board member abstained from voting on the approval of a raise for his son.  Discussions and decisions concerning situations where  a conflict of interest may exist should be completely documented so that the public has assurance that no city official has acted improperly.

The Board of Alderman approved a $200 a month raise for the City  Clerk in January 2005, during her term of office.  The Missouri Constitution states that compensation to municipal officers shall not be increased during a term of office.  

The former Collector was not compensated during her term of office from April 2002 to April 2004.  A letter from the City Attorney indicated no payments were made because the Collector had not done the work or attended monthly board meetings, however there was no documentation to indicate the Board considered removing the Collector from office for failure to perform her duties. 

The city did not properly report wages, withhold taxes, or pay the employer's share of social security on compensation paid to two part-time maintenance workers and the City Collector, or on overtime paid to the Sewer Superintendent as required by the Internal Revenue Code.

A budget and a street maintenance plan were not adopted for the year ended December 31, 2004.  In addition, city financial statements were not published and there is no documentation supporting how the city clerk's salary is allocated between funds. 

Numerous problems were noted with the city's procedures for documenting board meetings, providing public access to records and maintaining ordinance records.

Also included in the report are recommendations related to the segregation of duties, banking agreements and collateral securities, expenditures, timesheets and overtime policies, contracts, and restricted revenues.

Complete Audit Report