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I WILL CALL THIS MEETING ON THE COMMITTEE THE SPECIAL CALLED MEETING ON THE COMMITTEE OF FINANCE TO ORDER AT 8:45 AM THE FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS IS APPROVAL OF THE FEBRUARY 23RD, 2026 MINUTES.
CAN I GET A MOTION FOR APPROVAL? MOTION TO, ALL RIGHT.
NEXT IS OUR DISCUSSION ITEM ON, AND IT'S OUR REALLY OUR ONLY ITEM DISCUSS AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS TO CITY COUNCIL FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF AN INTERIM CITY AUDITOR.
UM, THE ONLY OTHER THING BESIDES CITY HALL, I BELIEVE, UM, FOR FULL COUNSEL, UM, AS WE KNOW, OUR FAITHFUL AUDITOR, MARK SWAN, IS, UH, RETIRING ON MARCH 17TH.
WE HAVE STARTED THE SEARCH PROCESS FOR THE NEXT AUDITOR.
WE ARE ALSO GONNA BE NOMINATING THE CHAIR OF THE NOMINATING COMMITTEE TODAY.
AND, UH, IN THE INTERIM, WE NEED AN INTERIM MONITOR.
SO MARK SWAN HAS EMAILED ALL THE COUNCIL MEMBERS, PROVIDED A LETTER STATING, UH, HIS RECOMMENDATION TO FILL THAT ROLE IN SOME RECOMMENDED TERMS OF EMPLOYMENT.
UM, THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY, AS I HAD MENTIONED, FOR COUNCIL MEMBERS ON THE COMMITTEE AND ALSO FOR OTHER COUNCIL MEMBERS, UH, WHO, WHO ARE INTERESTED TO ASK QUESTIONS OF MS. MOHA SPARKS.
WHO IS THE RECOMMENDED, THE ONLY RECOMMENDED, UH, INTERIM POSITION.
I DON'T ANTICIPATE COLLEAGUES THAT THIS POSITION WILL LAST ALL THAT LONG, AND OF COURSE IT COULD, BUT, UM, WE HAVE A REALLY AGGRESSIVE, UH, SEARCH PROCESS GOING ON ALREADY.
WE ALREADY HAVE THE NOMINATING COMMITTEE ACTIVE, AND I FULLY ANTICIPATE, YOU KNOW, THIS NOT BEING THAT LONG OF A ROLE, BUT I'VE BEEN WRONG BEFORE AND COULD BE WRONG AGAIN.
SO IT'S IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE WE HAVE THE RIGHT PERSON.
SO WITH THAT BEING SAID, UM, I'LL ASK, UM, DIRECTOR ARIAS, CAN YOU JUST COME UP HERE JUST IN CASE WE, WE, UH, HAVE ANY QUESTIONS FOR YOU? AND I'LL START OFF WITH THE QUESTION OF, MY UNDERSTANDING IS TODAY WE ARE JUST GOING TO, UH, MAKE A DETERMINATION ON THIS COMMITTEE IF WE ARE GOING TO RECOMMEND SUPPORT TO FULL COUNSEL FOR THE HIRING OF MS. SPARKS AND ALSO HER SALARY DETERMINATION.
ALL THE OTHER THINGS THAT WERE PUT INTO MR. SWAN'S LE UH, EMAIL TO US, WHICH WERE VERY DETAILED, CAN BE WORKED OUT THROUGH THE, THROUGH HR AND AS WE BRING HER ON BOARD.
UH, GOOD MORNING, NINA ARIAS, DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES.
UH, TODAY YOUR RECOMMENDATION WILL BE ON THE APPOINTMENT OF, UM, THE INTERIM AND THE, YOU, YOU DEFINITELY MAKING A RECOMMENDATION ON SALARY WILL BE APPROPRIATE AS WELL.
AND EVERYTHING ELSE WE WILL HANDLE ADMINISTRATIVELY.
SO THE HIRING AND THE SALARY ONLY TODAY? YES, THE APPOINTMENT AND THE SALARY ONLY.
AND THEN HER, HER ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITY SALARY ADJUSTMENT WOULD START ON MARCH 17TH WHEN MR. SWUNG, OR MARCH 18TH THE DAY AFTER HE LEAVES? YES.
JUST HANG OUT IN CASE WE HAVE QUESTIONS.
COLLEAGUES, DO ANY OF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS FOR THE DIRECTOR OR SHOULD WE MOVE ON TO QUESTIONS FOR THE CANDIDATE? ANYBODY? I KNOW WE GOT MS. WILLIS ONLINE AS WELL.
SO AT THIS POINT, UH, WE HAVE, UM, MS. SPARKS IN THE ROOM AND SHE'S, WE CAN ASK HER QUESTIONS HERE.
IF THERE'S ANY QUESTIONS, WE CAN ALWAYS GO TO EXECUTIVE SESSION IF THERE'S PERSONNEL RELATED QUESTIONS THAT ARE NOT APPROPRIATE.
I'M GONNA ASK YOUR HELP WITH THAT, NINA, IF, IF, IF THAT COMES UP, UM, BUT I WILL BRING MS. SPARKS UP HERE IF YOU WANNA JOIN US AT THE, AT THE FRONT.
AND COLLEAGUES, WE DO HAVE A SET OF QUESTIONS THAT HAD COME FROM, UH, DIRECTOR ARIAS.
I THINK THEY'RE IN THE VERY BACK OF YOUR PACKET.
UM, SO THERE'S A FEW QUESTIONS BACK THERE.
I'M NOT GONNA GET INTO LIKE THE, THE WHOLE LIKE, VISION OF THE AUDITOR DEPARTMENT BECAUSE I THINK MR. SWAN HAS, YOU'VE BEEN WORKING WITH HIM FOR A WHILE, RIGHT? YES, THIS IS TRUE.
MAHA SPARKS, DEPUTY CITY AUDITOR.
I'VE BEEN WORKING WITH MR. SPA OVER SEVEN YEARS.
I'VE BEEN WITH THE OFFICE FOR 17 YEARS.
I'VE WORKED WITH THE MANAGEMENT AND I'M VERY FAMILIAR WITH OUR INTERNAL OPERATIONS.
AND IS YOUR, WOULD YOUR ROLE AS YOU UNDERSTAND IT, IF WE CHOOSE TO HIRE YOU AND YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT, BE TO CONTINUE THE AUDIT WORK PLAN THAT WE'VE ALREADY PASSED AND JUST KEEP THINGS RUNNING SMOOTHLY WHILE WE ENGAGE IN THE AUDITOR SEARCH PROCESS? EXACTLY.
TO ME, THE INTERIM PERIOD IS ABOUT STEWARDSHIP.
IT'S JUST MAINTAINING STABILITY AND CONTINUITY AND CONTINUING TO DELIVER OUR SERVICES WHILE YOU'RE SEARCHING FOR A PERMANENT CITY AUDITOR.
I'LL TURN IT OVER TO MY COLLEAGUES.
ANYBODY WHO WANTS TO CHIME IN, I'LL, I'LL TAKE IT TO THE VICE CHAIR NEXT.
UM, I'M JUST RELIEVED TO HEAR YOU SAY WORDS LIKE STEWARDSHIP AND STABILITY.
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UM, THAT'S MUSIC TO MY EARS.UM, SO THANK YOU FOR STARTING OUT WITH THAT.
DO YOU FORESEE ANY CHALLENGES GOING FORWARD? DO WE HAVE ANYTHING ON THE HORIZON THAT, UM, YOU, YOU'RE CONCERNED ABOUT OR WOULD NEED INPUT FROM COUNCIL, OR DO YOU THINK IT WILL BE KIND OF BUSINESS AS USUAL? I, I ANTICIPATE THAT IT'LL BE BUSINESS AS SU USUAL.
I'M PRETTY CONFIDENT THAT WE HAVE EVERYTHING THAT WE NEED TO KEEP THE, THE SHIP STEADY AND MOVING IT FORWARD WHILE YOU'RE SEARCHING.
MAYOR PROTO, OR COUNCIL MEMBER RESENDEZ? NO, UH, ANY OF MY OTHER COLLEAGUES WHO JOINED US TODAY.
COUNCIL MEMBER CADENA, UH, I JUST HAVE A COMMENT.
I THINK THAT IT'S WONDERFUL TO SEE THAT, UM, THE CITY AUDITOR HAS SOMEBODY IN LINE THAT HAS BEEN DOING THE WORK AND IS, UM, LOOKS LIKE HE'S INVESTED IN LEADERSHIP WITH HIS OWN STAFF.
SO IT GIVES ME COMFORT KNOWING THAT, THAT YOU'LL BE ABLE TO CONTINUE ON.
MR. SWAN HAS DONE A WONDERFUL JOB OF KEEPING OUR TEAM TOGETHER AND GETTING US READY.
COUNCIL MEMBER, UH, COUNCIL MEMBER BLAIR, THANK YOU FOR WHAT YOU'VE ALREADY DONE AND WHAT YOU ARE, WHAT, WHAT IS ASKED BEING ASKED OF YOU TO, TO DO.
UM, I KNOW RIGHT NOW WE ARE LOOKING AT WASTE WITHIN THE CITY AND THERE WERE QUESTIONS, UM, THAT NUMBER 10, IMAGINE YOUR TEAMS DISCOVERS A PATTERN OF PROCUREMENT.
I OR AH-HUH I CAN'T SAY IT TODAY.
IR IRREG IRREGULARITIES IN A HIGH PROFILE CITY DEPARTMENT, ONE THAT IS POLITICALLY SENSITIVE AND CURRENTLY IN THE PUBLIC SPOTLIGHT.
TAKE US THROUGH HOW YOU WOULD HANDLE THE INVESTIGATION, THE REPORTING, AND THE PUBLIC DIS DISCLOSURE STEP BY STEP.
UM, AUDIT TOPICS ARE OFTEN, UH, PART OF THE CITY OPERATIONS.
SO THERE ARE ALWAYS SITUATIONS WE'RE LOOKING TOWARDS OUR AUDIT.
WE LOOK FOR FRAUD, WASTE, AND ABUSE.
WE'RE LOOKING AT INTERNAL CONTROLS THROUGH THE PROCESS OF INTERNAL CONTROLS, WE CAN IDENTIFY IF THERE'S A POTENTIAL FOR WASTE, AND WE REVIEW THOSE ISSUES AS WE'RE GOING THROUGH OUR FIELD WORK.
AND THEN WE INVESTIGATE IF NECESSARY, AND WE SHARE THAT INFORMATION AND WE TALK IT THROUGH WITH THE MANAGEMENT AS WELL AS THE CITY STAFF ON WHAT WE THINK WE UNDERSTAND TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE ALIGNED WITH WHAT'S ACTUALLY HAPPENING AND NOT JUST JUMPING INTO CONCLUSIONS WITHOUT HAVING EVIDENCE.
I USED TO BE A PROCESS MANAGER.
I LIKE TO STEP THROUGH THINGS TO FIGURE OUT WHERE'S THE LINK, THE, UH, THE WEAK LINK.
SO TELL ME HOW DO YOU LOOK AT PROCESS AND HOW DO YOU MANAGE THROUGH PROCESS? SO WE TYPICALLY START OFF, THE PROCESS WOULD BE WE, UH, START UNDERSTANDING WHAT THE ACTUAL, HOW THE STAFF DOES WORK, HOW MANAGEMENT DOES WORK, AND THEN WE GO STEP BY STEP.
WE FLOW CHART, WE IDENTIFY THE CONTROLS, THEN WE HAVE INTERVIEWS, THEN WE'LL HAVE WALKTHROUGHS THROUGH EACH OF THOSE PROCESSES.
THEN WE GO AHEAD AND START LOOKING FOR FACT-BASED EVIDENCE THROUGHOUT THE PROCESS.
WE MAKE SURE WE'RE REMAINING OBJECTIVE AND WE TRY TO HEED WHAT, UM, WHAT'S BEING SAID IN THE PUBLIC.
WE ALSO INCORPORATE COUNSEL'S, UH, CONCERNS AND COMMENTS, BUT WE DON'T LET THAT CLOUD OUR JUDGMENT.
WE MAINTAIN OUR INDEPENDENCE AND OBJECTIVITY.
WE'RE STILL LOOKING FOR FACTS.
WE'RE LOOKING FOR EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT WHATEVER WE FIND.
COUNCIL MEMBER, UH, DEPUTY MAYOR, PRO TEM, DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR WANNA CHIME IN? ALL RIGHT.
IS THERE ANY REASON TO GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION FOR PERSONNEL QUESTIONS OR ARE WE READY FOR A MOTION? I I'M TAKING THAT AS WE'RE READY FOR A MOTION.
UM, SO I'M GONNA TURN IT OVER TO MY VICE CHAIR, UM, TO TAKE IT AWAY FROM HERE.
I MOVE TO RECOMMEND TO CITY COUNCIL THAT MHA SPARKS BE APPOINTED AS INTERIM CITY AUDITOR WITH AN ANNUAL BASE SALARY OF 220,000, EFFECTIVE AT THE CLOSE OF BUSINESS ON MARCH 17TH, 2026, UNTIL THE CITY COUNCIL SELECTS AND APPOINTS THE CITY AUDITOR SECOND.
UM, ARE YOU, YOU ARE ON THE COMMITTEE, RIGHT?
UM, SO WE HAVE A MOTION AND SORRY IT'S BEEN A LONG WEEK.
UH, WE HAVE A MOTION AND A SECOND.
UH, ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SAY AYE.
MOTION CARRIES AND THANK YOU WITH THAT AT 8:54 PM THEN THIS SPECIAL CALLED MEETING IS ADJOURNED.