John Chamberlin, from Chamberlin, Owen and Company, came to the virtual meeting of Park Hills council Tuesday night to present his report on the 2021-2022 audit.
He said the audit was an unmodified opinion, and fairly presented, which is the highest result.
Chamberlin said there was one issue in compliance that the city did, and that was in the transfer of money.
On the advice of their advisory accountant, when a payment for the road tax was due, $300,000 was transferred to the city’s general fund, out of the road fund.
That made the books look like they spent more than they budgeted, but Chamberlin said if they had kept the money in the road fund and written a check out of that fund, it would have been okay, or if they had put the money back into the road fund and written the check, it would have been fine. It isn’t a large problem, just an issue of non-compliance.
Mayor Kathy Zembrodt, City Clerk Julie Alig, and councilmember Sarah Froelich all had questions about the procedure, and Zembrodt clarified that they hired a specialized accountant to always keep the issues correct. Chamberlin answered all the questions to make it as clear as he could.
He told council their cash position is very good, very solid. He said they like to see three months of cash on hand, and the city has six months cash in hand, at $719,000. He complimented the city, saying they have been improving over the years with their contingency fund.
Councilmember Pam Spoor asked Chamberlin if he could provide a 10-year comparison of the revenues, expenditures, and savings, because the city, like everyone else, is facing inflationary pressures. Chamberlin said it was no problem, he could do it in a few minutes, but he would send it to the council members on Wednesday.
Another issue the city had was that Chamberlin said he didn’t see an approval policy for when credit card purchases are made. He said the mayor should formally approve them, then have Council formally approve the charges, and he didn’t see the written policy.
Zembrodt said their practice is to approve the charges as a lump sum at every meeting. Chamberlin asked if that was a written policy, and he told them they need to have it as a written policy so that as other people are elected as mayor and council, they will know what the procedure is due to the fact that it is a written policy. Zembrodt said they would see if the city has one under a procurement policy and if not they would get one.
Council approved a municipal order declaring a truck from public works surplus so that it can be sold at auction.
Public Works Director Dan VonHandorf was praised and thanked for the work he did to clear the snow and ice during the last storm.
Police Chief Cody Stanley related the numbers from the traffic meter on South Arlington. He said there were 14,515 cars that went past, and the average speed was 20.96 miles per hour. The highest speed was 38 miles per hour. The speed limit for that area is 20 miles per hour.
He also explained about the break-in at Fort Mitchell garage, saying his officer was at Covington Catholic, so he arrived quickly, but the thieves were already gone.
“Basically, two guys pull up in a car, they throw a big rock through the window, they run in and grab something and they’re out, probably within 30 seconds,” he said.
There was a surveillance camera and an alarm. One suspect has been identified and he said they were working on the other.
Fire Chief John Rigney said the new fire truck should be at the city in the next few weeks. He said it shouldn’t have taken this long, and it was delayed several times.
Zembrodt told council that the city would be paying off a road fund loan in nine years. She said the loan says that it would be paid off by 2030, but she always had in mind that it would be paid off in 10 years, and it will be paid off within the next 3 years.
Spoor said that they discussed raises for the mayor and council at the financial committee, and the number they had in mind was in a range of $7,500 to $10,000 for the mayor, who is paid $3,600 currently, and a range of $2,000 to $2,500 for councilmembers, who receive $1,200 currently. She reminded council that the wages have not increased in at least ten years. The raise would not go into effect until after the next election.
