Toledo City Council agreed Tuesday to a list of auditor duties and responsibilities, which makes filling the position the next step in obtaining additional oversight of municipal operations.
Council voted unanimously in favor of adding a new chapter to the Toledo Municipal Code, following a subcommittee's recommendation to define and expand those duties. Council President Matt Cherry worked with councilmen Katie Moline, George Sarantou, John Hobbs III, and Theresa Morris on a finalized proposal, following Ms. Moline’s initial draft. She had presented it to council last week.
Chapter 194 of the municipal code “improves upon” the auditor duties described in section 125 and 126 of the Toledo City Charter, Ms. Moline said.
Among the auditor’s duties are to prepare an annual audit plan to be reviewed and approved by the council president or a selected committee as well as monthly reports and recommendations to improve the administration, fiscal management, compliance, internal controls of assets, and city operations.
An evaluation process has also been created and any disagreements from the mayor’s administration will be presented in writing to council. All final action as it relates to the auditor will be subject to council approval in the form of a separate agenda item.
In addition, the ordinance stipulates that all reports prepared by the auditor will be posted on the city website, and saved to the city’s internal network drive.
“This municipal code will inform the job description that we will be posting shortly and I’m really proud of the work we did as a committee to get to this point,” Ms. Moline said. “There was great teamwork, there were great suggestions, and I think we have a better and stronger ordinance.”
The action comes nearly two months after the former city auditor was suspended and ultimately fired from his job, leaving the position vacant.
In addition to creating a new ordinance to fill the auditor position, councilmen also voted in favor of a proposal to reduce to a monthly schedule the temporary budget proposal designed to keep the city operating through the first quarter of the year.
Acting finance director Melanie Campbell had requested a three-month stopgap or temporary spending appropriation to cover expenses throughout January, February, and March while the new budget is finalized.
At a previous meeting, several councilmen expressed concern that after similar action during the 2022 budget process, the administration created new administrative positions without council oversight.
After Tuesday’s meeting Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said that he will abide by whatever decision that the council makes for that temporary funding.
“I think it makes a lot of sense,” he said. “However city council wants to proceed is fine with the administration.”
Councilmen also held a first reading on two proposals discussed in committee last week.
The first involves the allocation of $100,000 in federal relief funds to pay transportation fees for women seeking abortion services. The second involves allocating $50,000 from the general fund to support a plan that calls for an affirmative and inclusive LGBTQ+ health care initiative.
First Published December 21, 2022, 12:32 a.m.
