County Audit Committee Discusses Two Findings

DRESDEN (June 24) — Members of the Weakley County Audit Committee met Wednesday to discuss two adverse findings from the past year’s financial report.

One finding involved the Solid Waste Management Center, which the audit pointed out, was not segregating duties properly. The sole full-time worker at the solid waste center is responsible for the accounting records and movement of funds. This, as the audit stated, could increase the likelihood of unauthorized transactions taking place. Committee members stated the center does not have enough funds available to hire another full-time employee. The committee agreed the Weakley County Commission will have to discuss this issue further.

Another finding came from the purchase of bullet-resistant barriers in the courthouse, costing $46,659.

The audit noted Henson Construction, the construction manager for the project, does not appear to have received documented competitive bids for the job.

This was due to a misunderstanding of the grant’s guidelines. Although the construction manager did obtain written documented quotes from various vendors, they were not obtained through a competitive sealed bid process.

To prevent this issue from occurring again, the construction manager will follow the bidding guidelines for every project, either from the county’s funds or from grants.

It was also reported, the cost for grants the county received in the past fiscal year totals $1,072,103. This comes from thirteen grants that were designated for litter, early childhood development and for safer schools.