Mt. Vernon gets high marks in annual audit

City installs aldermen following April election
 
The city of Mt. Vernon received a top rating in a recently conducted audit by KPM CPAs and Advisors. Rebecca Baker, CPA, delivered the results of the audit during the city’s board of aldermen meeting on Tuesday, April 13. During her presentation, she stated the city had received a clean, unmodified opinion in the audit, the highest rating possible.

Audit recommendations:
In the physical audit report, KPM recommended that the city segregate duties of city employees “so that no one employee has access to both physical assets and the related accounting records, or to all phases of a transaction.” The city’s response was that “the limited number of available personnel prohibits segregation of incompatible duties.”
KPM had other recommendations, including that the city “evaluate its cybersecurity risks” and take precautions to reduce the threat they could pose to the city’s information system.

Election results:
The board also passed an ordinance declaring the results of the election of the city’s board of aldermen members. After the ordinance was passed, the elected board members took their oath of office. Scott Beckley, Sherie Thrasher, Marda Gramm and Craig Nelson were sworn in as aldermen for Wards One, Two, Three and Four, respectively. City Clerk Melissa Aduddle delivered the oath of office.

Other ordinances:
The board passed two other ordinances during the meeting, both re-platting lots within the city. The first ordinance passed re-platted Lot 15 in the Northwest Industrial Park, while the second re-platted Lots One, Two, Three, the north-half of Lot Four, and part of a vacated ally in Block Six of the city.

Expenditures:
The board also approved a number of expenditures during the meeting. One expenditure the board approved was a payment of $1,489,831.64 for power costs incurred during the February polar vortex, as well as the city’s regular power cost, for a total of about $1.8 million. The board also approved a payment of $48,149.80 to Sprouls Construction, Inc. for work on the Spirit of ’76 Park restroom project, a payment of $118,834.30 to A.T. Urban Development, Inc. for work on the Main Street sidewalk project and $9,595.15 in engineering fees to Anderson Engineering for their work on the same Main Street sidewalk project.
The board also authorized the city to contract with Blevins Asphalt to pave Hayward Drive from Hickory Street to Landrum Street for an estimated cost of $338,650. Additionally, the board approved a request to contract with DaZZee IT services to provide IT services to the city at a cost of $33,516 per year.
Finally, the board also approved the purchase of a new patrol car for the Mt. Vernon Police Department from Jimmy Michel Motors at a cost of $34,826.