PARK RAPIDS — Hubbard County Administrator Jeff Cadwell briefed county commissioners Tuesday, Jan. 7, on the vacancy to the auditor-treasurer's office after the sudden resignation of former Auditor-Treasurer Kay Rave last month.
The Minnesota Star Tribune recently reported Rave suddenly resigned after receiving a letter from Cadwell that she would be terminated over “a pattern of mistakes, errors and failures” over property tax statement delivery.
Cadwell, appointed as interim auditor-treasurer on Dec. 17, recommended a six-month review of the department with a budget of $34,000 for the assessment from Clifton Larson Allen. It also included a budget maximum of $100,000 for staff support during the review.
“When I go back and look at our audits going back to 2015, we have had ... significant findings related to our processing of the financial information for the county,” Cadwell said.
“I know that we have more accounts than we need to manage for the county, and I know that we're not using our current accounting system to its fullest potential.”
Cadwell noted some of the county’s more than 20 bank accounts are set up for reconciliation, but not all of them, making the financial statement preparation cumbersome.
He also mentioned staff not being fully trained on the accounting software and little oversight between the functions, another issue of the county’s past accounting practices.
Cadwell said the goal of the review is to help guide the county in deciding whether to keep the auditor-treasurer's position as is or separate the two functions with an auditor and a chief financial officer, or CFO.
"The opportunity here is to move forward with help and direction from other people ... so that when we bring somebody in, we bring them into an opportunity to be successful,” Cadwell said.
Advisers from Clifton Larson Allen are expected to begin their on-site review on Jan. 20, with job listings for new hires expected later in the review period.
