All right, go ahead. I think we're ready. Well, I'll call to order this executive committee meeting
of the waste reduction district of Monroe County. And we have with us, uh, it's. Board secretary, pencil,
13 books and myself for chair is about people on Smith from the city council. And of course, Tom Glass is here.
Just to confirm. A quick question from TSD. Should William Goins be a presenter? There's an account
that I've let in as an attendee named William Goins, and I wasn't sure if he was. He's on the advisory
committee. It wouldn't hurt. I don't know that there's anything that he's going to present on, but if
he has questions or something, it would be fine for him
participate. OK. I'll go ahead and allow Mike and camera. Theresa, you can hear us, right? Well,
you're muted, but as long as you can hear us. OK. OK. So I've basically done a roll call, right? Yes.
So we have the executive committee meeting minutes from December 2nd. And I did submit some
minor corrections. Move approval with corrections. Second. We discussed, we were discussing those before
you got here. So there are
Ms. Pinoza did say she did add some lines to just acknowledging that there was consensus of the committee
to forward things onto the board agenda that are not in there. So I do not have a copy with those for
signature, but we'll make those corrections and include an unsigned copy in the board packet and I'll
have a copy for signature at the board meeting. Sounds good. All in favor say aye. Aye.
Any post. All right, then any comments on the board of director meeting minutes, which will go to the
board for approval. I have not seen if you made any changes to the. But I think it was just typos. Okay.
No, move approval with your.
Just need consensus to forward them to the board. Oh, right. Forward. Be gone with you minutes. Forward.
Away with you. Okay. Elective officers, is this just a reminder that we will need to do this? It will
be after roll call, first order of business with the January meeting. Okay. Accounting.
accounting software adjusting entry. Tom or Teresa, you want to tell us about this one? I think Teresa
is probably better prepared to discuss this tonight. Okay, so when law associates completed the conversion
of the accounting system from Harris to or to lap from Harris, there was a discrepancy of approximately 48,000.
Kathy, the controller at the time, and myself, the current one, then vastly worked with representatives
of law and state board accounting and government accounting consultants Hartman and Williams to identify
these discrepancies. Law and state board of accounts both initially advised that the district should
not make any immediate entries and see if it clears off, if not,
We had to wait for like a year or more, which we did. The consensus among those who have looked closely
at the issues of this description state is result of clerical and or entry errors made in Harris and
no funds are missing. Monthly bank reconciliation have always balanced and there are no unaccounted
for exponential or missing receipts.
identified at least 30,000 and made that adjustment. And that was with payroll and claims. And the remaining
balance is approximately 17,000. So with that, the state board of directors had advised us that we should
make a correcting adjustment entry to remove that discrepancy.
then they had informed us that that would just need to be approved by the board of directors. Okay,
thank you. So looking at the actual adjustment sheets. Yeah, so that first one is a receipt adjustment.
We were told by Hartman and Williams that that amount is from the flex spending account, that the bank
account. We never actually had a flex spending fund in LAO. So we were informed that this amount was
always included in the general operating fund account. So that is why that's a negative entry. And then
if you go to the next page, the claims adjustments,
The 27,645 was the different, the unknown difference from the State Board of Count audit and from 12-31-23.
So that held out for like a year and a half. Nothing's changed. And then there was an additional variance
from that 4,300. The additional variance was from 12-31-23.
23 to 1,124. So there was an adjustment made in Harris right after the actual audit figures were configured.
Again, that was an unknown variance that we could not find. So if you take the negative 14 and the most
positive 27 and the positive 4,000, that brings it down to the 17,000 of offage that we need to clear off.
$17,199.50 is what those entries add up to that were the net adjustment being made. OK. $17,199.50.
Yep. So ask questions. Of course. Do we have to answer them?
That's up to you. So I get the math on the entries here. It sounds like there was an audit at the end
of 2023. And that was as part of what? Is that like a regular audit? Yeah, that was just the routine
periodic audit that SBOA does of all solid waste.
okay all taxing entities that occurs anywhere from every two to four years okay so but that was the
last time there wasn't yeah that was our last audit and then the discrepancy was found at that point
there there was a discrepancy in that audit uh and i apologize i did not look at um the report from
that audit it was referenced in the
audit report from SBOA. And that about half of that was the 14,000 that was related to the flex spending
account. When we began offering the flex spending account, we opened up a separate bank account
because the rules of flex spending, if I say I'm going to contribute $5,000 this year, January 1,
I had $5,000 available to me. At that time, we managed it internally, so we had to open an account and
fund that account at the beginning of each year so that those funds were available and then the payroll
deductions over the course of the year would wash that out. What do you mean?
Right. Flex spending is you contribute X dollars a year. The employee does. The employee. The employee.
So it's employee money. Oh, okay. We also contributed to it. Not for flex spending, but we have to make
that total amount available at the beginning of the year. That's the way the flex spending account works. Um,
And of course, if somebody leaves in the middle of the year, you eat that money if they've spent it
already. And then subsequently to that, we then hired a third party administrator to manage the flex
spending account and our COBRA, if we had anybody that went on COBRA. And so then,
That third party then took over the funding and we just contributed the required payroll deductions
every pay period. So we didn't have to do the outlet of cash once we had it. Right. But that bank account
never got closed and brought back into the operating fund account. And I don't know
the specifics off the top of my head, but the way that all was managed in Harris, that created half
of that discrepancy that the State Board of Accounts identified. Because we had $14,000 on the books
that wasn't in the bank account because it was in a separate bank account.
So that's where about half of that was. I would have to go back through and look at things to find out
where the rest of that was. And then we subsequently turned around in April following that and did the
conversion to LOW, and they came up with other offages. And that was not SBOA necessarily? That was
in the transition with the other company? Yeah.
And I do recall that a big chunk of that somehow, someway in Harris, because at that time we offered
two different health insurance policies, the standard PPO plan and then a health savings account plan.
And with the health savings account plan, the district offered to those employees a set amount of money
at the beginning of each policy year when they renewed into that 1,000 for a single coverage, 2,000
for a family plan. And in 2024, that somehow got set up in Harris that it occurred every payroll, but
the money never left. But on the books, Harris, every payroll contributed that 1,000 or $2,000. So it
came off the books,
but we never sent the money anywhere. Cause it was a one time. Cause it's a one. Yeah. So we. Yeah.
Well, that's crazy counts. So, yeah. And so, and so those are the, but, and those are, I mean, those
are the big ticket items, but those are the types of things that the bookkeeping or clerical entry errors
that everybody believes amassed that total of the 48,000, whatever that, that Lyle came up with when
they did the conversion.
and I think that SBOA during the audit and subsequently Hartman and Williams as well as Ms.
Gollins and Ms. Martin looked at all this and everybody's confident that we're not missing any money.
It didn't get accounted for correctly.
Typically, what I would ask in situations like this, which come up occasionally, as they do, is has
anything been put into place to ensure that these types of discrepancies are less likely to happen in
the future? Well, I mean, I guess
A straight quick answer to that is we have internal controls. Now, we maybe need to sit down and go
through the internal controls to see was something not followed or was something not covered in the
internal controls that would potentially prohibit something like this from happening. I think having
used LAL for almost two years now,
I'm a lot more comfortable with how LAL works, with how the employees work with LAL, that these things
are less likely to happen. But that doesn't necessarily mean that we should review the internal controls
and just do we need to change a policy, beef up a policy and a policy. Yeah. I mean, that seems wise.
So you and Teresa will look at our internal control. Yes. And then next go around when it's time for
an audit from SBOA. They know about this, but they will probably say, oh, OK, so here this happened
and you followed the remedy. Will there be, do you think, more
unpacking of this that we need to, I mean, I'm just trying to get ahead of anything that might be coming
that might open this back up. Yeah, I guess I'm not, I don't believe so, but that's gonna qualify that
by saying that is going to depend on the auditor because so the most recent audit was actually was completed
in late summer, early fall of 2024, covering through year end of 23. So the auditor that was here at
that time knew about all of this because we were going through it all while she was there. We were going
through it all with Lyle trying to figure this out while she was there auditing. She didn't really get
involved in it because it wasn't covering the timeframe that she was specifically looking at.
But she was there, so we kind of bounced some things off her because she was the SPOA, what do we do
here? And so if the same auditor comes in, I don't anticipate that there'll be a whole lot of digging
into it because she has some familiarity with what the issue is. Yeah. And we were informed to make
sure we have all the backup, the paperwork and everything so we're ready for the audit, if that is question for sure.
Oh, yeah, we have a nice size folder. Good times. Okay. Yeah, I think continuing to document, especially
internal controls review would be a good idea. But if the totals match, I mean, if you're not missing
money. We don't appear to be.
can seem to find anything that just says, well, this. That's terrifying, but OK. It is. But I mean,
I think it's, again, it had to do with the health savings account somehow got entered wrong to where
it occurred every pay period, not a one-time thing. Because that wasn't an employee deduction. That
was the district's contribution. And that was moments to that, Harris. Yes.
And another area that everybody kind of zeroed in on in Harris was the way that the payroll liabilities
were done and managed by Harris. And we were using Harris to things like the payroll deductions for
benefits as well as taxes.
I don't know, Theresa probably knows a little bit about that, but Kathy Martin was, that was where she
zeroed in on first because she was our control when we did the transition. And that's part of why I
say that with having worked with LOW for almost two years now, I'm a lot more comfortable with the way
that the areas that we focused on that we think led to this discrepancy are managed in LOW.
I'm a lot more comfortable with that than the way it was there. Okay. Well, it sounds like you've done
everything you could do to try to figure this out. We've tried. Since I started in October of 24, after
all this, I've been really digging in and wanting to get this cleaned up and resolved. Like I said,
we've been working with
The Hartman and Williams, we've been working with Lau and the state board accounts and they feel that
this is the best thing and nothing, and especially with Hartman and Williams, they said nothing changes.
They balanced everything with our bank accounts and then the month closing financials information and
they feel the same way.
And then, as you can see, we have the reports that allow here. So we have made the adjusting entries
into the accounting software, because Theresa and I really wanted to get it done this year so that when
we reconcile at the end of this year, everything is where it needs to be for 2026. But SBOA did say
that when you get to that point that you're ready to make the adjustment,
that the board needs to approve and be aware that this is happening. So we're bringing this to the board
in January, basically for a retroactive approval of actions that we've already taken, just so that we
had everything reconciled and balanced going into 2026. And we're allowed to do that retroactive approval?
Yeah. Well, if we could at the next executive committee meeting, and I may
We may not be on the executive committee, but could we have a report back from your review of the internal
controls? Oh, yeah. Well, yeah. We'll review them and certainly report back and potentially propose
revisions. Great. Awesome. So we are going to talk about this at the board meeting. Yes.
And I have a question and we'll hopefully can in a hold of legal or I may just do it. The question is
to whether or not this, the board action on this needs to be done under resolution or not. Okay.
And if I, I may just do put up a resolution if I can't get an answer from legal with the holiday schedules
and stuff. That's more official. Yes. Should cover us. Yeah.
And again, it's just documenting that the board has been apprised of the situation and approved the
adjustment that was made in the system. All right, thank you. Thank you, Theresa. Yeah, thank you. And
I'm sure that was a lot of headache. Yeah, I'm sure. I mean, I just want to say at the end and ask my question.
Well, like I said, just coming in, I was like freaking out. I'm like, oh my gosh, what is wrong with
all this? Oh, yeah. Welcome to controller. Here's the big issue. OK, so the next item on our agenda
is a resolution to amend the district approved vendor list. Yeah, I mean, there's some of this is some
cleanup stuff. The two changes that really
Precipitated this, we are, let's switch from IU Health to Anthem for the health insurance. And then
our cleaning service has had to move on from us due to other commitments. So the new cleaning service
is actually her sister who has helped her off and on for years and is familiar with us so that we don't
anticipate. That's another reason to be about the same.
Yeah, pricing will be the same, and we expect about the same level of service and stuff from her. And
then we just, new contractor for roll-off box repair, that's Anchor Contracting, that's because the
boxes are stored at Rumpke now, so we're using the same contractor they use, just it's simpler that way.
down there and do other things. And Aretha had noticed that our banking institution is not on the filter.
So we thought we better put them on there. And then we're taking off Deluxe. It was the previous company
that we purchased checks from. We already had the, we had to switch to Loud. The Deluxe vendor did not
have the template
that Lau needed. So do we get our checks printed through a vendor who's already on our vendor list?
Yeah, we added them, made the switch to Lau. Yeah, Rainbow Printing is who we get them from in Bedford.
Oh, yeah. They've been around a long time. I've worked with them. And then we'd held on to Harris and
renewed that license
After the initial switch to allow, but we're comfortable now that we can continue to get what we need
out of out of Paris and. It's been long enough since the switch that will. We can not renew that license.
We should be good to go. So have we never had to make a payment to join American before? We make credit
card payment to him on a monthly basis.
Yeah. So it's not on our vendor list. That's always been on the board where the board has approved the
credit card payment. Yeah, it just comes with the board meeting approvals. And there's some fees associated
with taking the debit and credit cards at HHW.
I should know this, but can you remind me, so vendors that are not on the approved vendor list? Come
to the board meeting for approval. Okay. And so when we get those payments for approval, it doesn't
include payments to vendors that are on the vendor list? No, they will. I mean, the claims to get emailed
the day before the board meeting,
I mean, depending on when invoices, when things come in to be paid, it doesn't really matter at that
point if they're on the vendor list or not. But if we get claims between board meetings for vendors
that aren't on the vendor list, we hold those and then they get sent that Wednesday before the board
meeting so they're approved at the board meeting. And that's why occasionally the controller will note
these vendors are in this batch and they're not on the vendor list.
Okay, I don't remember hearing that, but. Alright, so they can see that if they're not on the vendor
list, they still get paid, but it's delayed. Yeah, the vendor list just allows us to. To pay claims
between board meetings with board chair approval, or then a few years ago, we passed that resolution
that. Provided for utility payments, contractual obligations, things related to payroll that we can
pay those.
without anybody on the board reviewing them. They just had to be reviewed and approved at the board
meeting. Thank you. Hard to keep track of how these things work. Shouldn't be so hard. Theresa has all
sorts of lists of what has to happen when we try to write a check to somebody. Sure. Any questions on
that resolution?
I do not have any, no. All right. Then the last item on the agenda is can't you all anything else deemed
appropriate? I don't think so. Do you have anything, Tom? Do you have anything, Kate? I do not. Well,
that's not true. I saw the website for the grant and stuff.
I'm just wondering, have you gotten anything on that? We've certainly not received any applications
at this point. I have not gotten any inquiries about it. The links to the grant document and the application
actually go to our document or public section of our Dropbox.
I don't know how on our website to upload a PDF and somebody could download it. That was the quickest.
It can be done. I just don't know how to do that and we were trying to get it out there. I should be
able to go into Dropbox though and see if somebody has accessed any of that stuff. I haven't looked
to do that. But we also put a notice on our Facebook page about it and Blue Sky.
I think I have to check with Elisa. She got it on blue sky, but yeah, we're putting it out there. I
think I emailed when we got the web page set up, I emailed that to the board. That could be passed on
to anybody that any board members feel might be interested or appropriate for that. Elisa is out for
the holidays right now, but when she gets back,
We'll probably do some PSA's on radio and maybe in the paper. Um, put that out there and promote it
and see what we can get. Cool. I passed it along to our environmental commission liaison. So they should
see it at some point. I just don't know. Yeah, I assume he'll email the members so that they can sort
of spread the word.
And I mean, we'll do an update at the board meeting on that and see what information I can get as far
as inquiries that have come in or who's downloaded copies of the application. And, you know, as we talked
about last month, you know, I worry about, you know, the timing of getting everything done in 2026.
You know, the board could always extend the application deadline if there's a desire or people feel
there's a need to do so based on what we have or haven't gotten in the next week or two. The deadline's
the end of this month or end of January. Yeah, cool. I think 30th, but I think that was on Friday. Thank you.
Well, if there's nothing else, I think we can adjourn. Adjourn. OK. Thank you. Happy New Year. Yes,
happy New Year.