Hoover council agrees to pay forensic auditor; public questions accepted

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The Hoover City Council on Monday night voted 6-0 to pay a $236,000 bill from the company that did a forensic audit on the city’s finances that revealed numerous problems in the Finance Department.

The bill came to the council two weeks ago, but payment was delayed when some council members said they wanted a town hall meeting for the auditors to answer public concerns. Since that meeting, a representative from the Kroll forensic audit firm agreed to answer the public’s questions via email, and that was enough to sway council members to pay the bill.

In its audit report in August, Kroll found that hundreds of folders containing potentially thousands of files had been deleted from the city’s servers, the city’s fund balance had been overstated by $36 million in two consecutive years, and the Finance Department had unrenconciled accounts, delayed financial reports and problems with faulty reporting to the Internal Revenue Service.

Additionally, the Finance Department was greatly understaffed for a city the size of Hoover, the audit found.

New Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Cornett, who requested the outside forensic audit, on Oct. 21 gave a report to the City Council about corrective measures that have been taken and said additional measures were in the works to address issues in the days and months ahead.

But there was outcry from some members of the public who had additional questions and said city officials were trying to sweep problems under the rug.

At the request of Councilman Steve McClinton, a representative from Kroll (John Slavek) now has agreed to answer questions via email. People can submit those questions to cityclerk@hooveralabama.gov by 5 p.m. on Dec. 5, and the questions will be forwarded to Kroll.

McClinton said, depending on how many questions there are, the goal is to have questions answered by the end of the year.

Bluff Park resident Robin Schultz said members of the public have been asking for a town hall meeting with Kroll for three months, and the council and administration has been ignoring those requests.

At the beginning of Monday night’s council meeting, Mayor Frank Brocato reiterated that outside auditors found no evidence of fraud, malfeasance or misappropriation of funds and said the city shared all of the findings publicly, as well as the Finance Department’s corrective action plan. The entire forensic audit is available on the city’s website for anyone to see, and the Finance Department will be giving quarterly reports going forward, he said.

Operational challenges have been met with decisive action, including hiring of additional staff, enhancing training and improving financial oversight, Brocato said. The city is in strong financial shape and still has a AAA credit rating, the mayor said. The criticism is coming from a small group of people who are trying to divide city officials, mislead the public and distract people from all the positive things happening in the city, Brocato said.

Ken King, a resident off Ross Bridge Parkway and member of a group called Our Hoover, has criticized city officials for not disclosing the forensic audit was taking place until it was revealed in a hearing before an administrative law judge in June.

Brocato said investigations of this nature require confidentiality to protect sensitive financial, personnel and legal information. That’s why it was handled through the city attorney and could not be discussed publicly until the investigation was completed, he said.

“Publicly discussing these matters in a way that compromises confidentiality could jeopardize the integrity of the investigation and expose the city to unnecessary risk,” Brocato said.

The “relentless campaign” to paint a poor picture of the city is a political attack in advance of next year’s city elections, the mayor said.

“My job as the leader of this city, serving the residents of Hoover — that is my sole responsibility and my sole motivation, and I think it’s yours, too, but I cannot do it alone,” the mayor told the City Council. “I need the cooperation of all seven council members to move Hoover forward. Divisive rhetoric and politically motivated attacks only serve to distract us from our shared mission.”

The mayor asked council members to join him in focusing on the progress the city is making on numerous fronts. “Our residents deserve leaders who prioritize collaboration over conflict, actions over accusations and unity over division. Together, we can continue to make Hoover we’re all proud to call home.”

King said the questions about the city’s finances are not a political attack but a legitimate concern and call for accountability, transparency and common sense policies. He noted that the Kroll report found that “Although we did not identify specific evidence of financial malfeasance or asset misappropriation by Hoover employees, the deficiencies noted throughout this report could create an opportunity to commit financial fraud.”

COUNCIL APOLOGIES

Also on Monday night, Hoover Councilman Casey Middlebrooks apologized to City Council President John Lyda for comments made in the last council meeting when talking about how the council president runs the meetings. Middlebrooks said he did not intend to imply that there was wrongdoing by Lyda in how he runs the meetings, but he also said that did not excuse Lyda’s unprofessional behavior after the meeting.

In a private conversation immediately after the Nov. 4 meeting, Lyda gave Middlebrooks a big “L” sign as he called him a big loser, Middlebrooks said in an email to fellow council members and the mayor.

“This unfortunate incident is not isolated, as he has repeatedly engaged in personal attacks and threats against my character,” Middlebrooks wrote. “Despite my attempts to maintain a professional dialogue, his behavior has become increasingly disrespectful and combative.”

On Monday, Middlebrooks said he concurred with the mayor that all city leaders need to work together for the betterment of the city and encouraged open communication, “but without that trust, that’s very hard to do. I encourage us all to work harder and recommit ourselves, as the mayor said, to this city.”

Lyda also apologized to Middlebrooks and said “certainly things could have been different there.” The two shook hands, followed by applause from the crowd.