Mayor Breaks Tie To Approve Annual Audit Questionnaire
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WATER VALLEY – The Water Valley Board of Aldermen narrowly approved adding the city’s 2022-2023 municipal compliance questionnaire to the minutes on Sept. 5, with Mayor Tommy Reynolds casting the tie-breaking vote.
The questionnaire, which is part of the city’s overdue annual audit, must be signed by the mayor and city clerk and entered into the minutes as part of the audit process.
City Attorney Daniel Martin explained that voting in favor of spreading the questionnaire on the minutes does not mean aldermen agree with every response on the questionnaire.
“They are presenting you a report,” Martin told the board. “Y’all are voting to have it adopted into the city’s minutes because the city cannot speak except through the minutes. This allows it to be included in the minutes. Now, it doesn’t say that you agree with it.”
Martin also emphasized that aldermen would not be held personally responsible if issues were later uncovered.
The municipal compliance questionnaire is a standardized form from the State Auditor’s Office, designed as a checklist to ensure cities are following state law. It includes dozens of yes-or-no questions in areas such as budgeting, cash handling, payroll, purchasing and record keeping. Examples include whether budgets were adopted in open meetings, if bank statements are reconciled monthly, if large purchases were properly bid, and whether payroll taxes and retirement contributions were submitted on time.
Questions include has the municipality conducted an annual inventory of its assets, and do all municipal-owned vehicles have public license plates and proper markings, topics that surfaced in earlier meetings after aldermen learned he tagging system for electric department inventory had not been done and vehicles were not marked.
Mayor Reynolds stressed the importance of completing the audit to keep the city eligible for state and federal grants.
“This is a requirement… we need these audit reports to qualify for grant funds,” Reynolds said.
Ward 3 Alderman Grant Thompson, one of three new aldermen elected in July, questioned whether board members who were not in office during 2022 should vote on the document.
“The issue is that we have three new aldermen who were not in office between 2022 and 2023,” Thompson said. “I also called the state auditor’s office and got their opinion on the matter. Their opinion was for the aldermen who were not in office to not vote on it and to vote on the most current audit. And Tom Chaney from the state auditor’s office said you can’t go back and stand for something that you were not there to stand for.”
According to discussion in earlier meetings, audits are also underway for later years that are also behind due to a backlog among auditors certified for municipal work.
Audits for later fiscal years are also underway following past difficulty in being able to engage
Thompson added that the auditor’s office told him not approving the questionnaire would not jeopardize the audit itself.
“He said you may get written up in the audit, but there would be no penalties through the state,” Thompson said.
Ward 1 Alderman Joe Magnuson also expressed hesitation.
“There are questions answered with a yes that are a no right now,” Magnuson said. “I don’t have any reason to believe there were a yes then.”
Reynolds said he and City Clerk Vivian Snider were prepared to sign the document, adding that any liability would fall on them and not the aldermen.
“We are at a point where we have deadlines approaching and we need to act on it,” the mayor said. “I respect everyone’s decision, but I would prefer the perfect not be the enemy of the good. Any mistake can and should be reported if it is in error. We have deadlines, and I don’t want to do anything that can delay any funding for this town.”
Alderman-at-Large Herbie Rogers made the motion to enter the questionnaire into the minutes, seconded by Ward 4 Alderwoman Nicole Folson. Ward 2 Alderman Demetrius Ingram abstained, while Thompson and Magnuson voted against it. With the board deadlocked 2-2, Reynolds cast the deciding vote in favor.
“Y’all continue to look at things close,” Reynolds said after the vote. “I appreciate y’all thinking of ways that we can do better.”
