The State Auditor’s office completed the Audit of the City of Polo, giving them a “Good” rating on the audit. This indicates this entity is well managed. The report contains few findings, and the entity has indicated most or all recommendations have already been, or will be, implemented.
The findings for the City of Polo are in the areas of Property Transfer, Accounting Controls and Procedures, Utility System Controls and Procedures, Sunshine Law, Compensation Ordinances and Payroll Procedures, Electronic Data Security, and Electronic Communication Policy.
Those findings include:
The Board of Aldermen approved the transfer of city property to an individual without properly evaluating the transaction, including not seeking a legal opinion regarding the transfer or obtaining an appraisal of the property.
The Board has not adequately segregated accounting duties or ensured a documented supervisory or independent review over various financial accounting functions is performed. The city’s procedures for receipting money need improvement, and the Board’s review and approval process for disbursements is not adequate. The City Clerk does not prepare a monthly list of liabilities for water meter deposits held on behalf of utility customers to compare to the balance of the water meter account.
Controls over non-monetary adjustments posted to customer utility accounts need improvement. City personnel do not perform monthly reconciliations of utility records.
The Board did not always comply with the Sunshine Law requirements for closed meetings and has not adopted a written policy regarding public access
to city records as required by state law. The city does not maintain a log of records requests.
The city does not have ordinances establishing the compensation of city officials, other than for the Mayor and Board of Aldermen, or the city’s part-
time employees. Employees are not required to sign timesheets and timesheets are not reviewed and approved by supervisors.
The city has not established adequate user identification and password controls for access to city computers and data and does not store data backup files at an off-site location.
The city has not developed a records management and retention policy in compliance with the Missouri Secretary of State Records Services Division
guidance, as approved by the Missouri Local Records Commission.
