Carson City audit panel delves into earlier proposals

City Manager Nick Marano said Tuesday city government didn’t follow one internal audit employment efficiency recommendation so he could retain final oversight on hiring.

He was testifying at an Audit Committee meeting at which committee members were deciding whether to send recommendations on to the Board of Supervisors, close them out or what other tracking action to take. The committee and Moss Adams, LLP, city internal auditing consultant, make various recommendations to streamline local government, save money and help oversee fiscal operations.

Supervisor Lori Bagwell serves on the audit panel. She asked Marano the reason for the city’s decision against removing a step in the hiring process, one that requires a City Hall internal committee to sign off on whether to hire rather than just let department heads proceed. Marano said the policy was instituted during the recession, when trimming and hiring freezes were in order, and he wanted to keep it.

Marano said it gives him a way to monitor hiring and to keep track, plus a method to cut fiscal costs if times should go lean again. Bagwell said her question was prompted solely out of concern whether delays in hiring could result in overtime. Marano said that isn’t occurring, noting the unit overseeing such decisions is only days away if someone quits city government abruptly. He said those retiring or giving notice provide plenty of time.

The panel cleared such internal audit recommendation reports, in whole or in part, that had covered such things as community facilities cost recovery, Eagle Valley Golf complex finances, and the employee efficient study. Along with Marano, Scott Fahrenbruch of the Parks and Recreation testified. He was asked, also by Bagwell, about recommendations to market city facilities like the Bob Boldrick Theater in the Carson City Community Center.

Fahrenbruch, department deputy director, said the department had followed one of the internal audit marketing recommendations and the other would be handled over time.