For immediate release

Minneapolis, MN, October 29, 2009 –  A group of "insurgent" Minneapolis Mayoral candidates will hold a news conference today at 4 PM, at Minneapolis city hall, in front of the Father of Waters.  The topic is a hot one: inadequacies of the city's audit function, with particular attention to internal audits.  A "counterpoint" op-ed article critiquing the city's internal audit function appeared today in the print-based Star Tribune.  It was signed by six Mayoral candidates: Bob Carney Jr., James Everett, Al Flowers, Dick Franson, "Papa" John Kolstad, and Bill McGaughey, and by seventh ward City Council candidate Michael Katch,  A news article: "Lack of auditors puts Minneapolis at risk, report says" also appeared in that paper.

Carney attended and videotaped yesterday's BET meeting.  He is preparing a ten minute "RT and me" Episode Four on this meeting. 

The search for a person to fill the Internal Auditor position was a topic of discussion.  Only two candidates, both from outside Minnesota, met the minimum qualifications and certifications.  After a discussion, the Board decided not to interview a third candidate who applied for the position, although that candidate did not meet the minimum qualifications of either a CPA or a Certified Internal Auditor certification.  The plan was to give that candidate a year to obtain the needed minimum certifications.  As an earlier precedent for this, Police Chief William McManus, nominated by Mayor R.T. Rybak, and the predecessor to Chief Tim Dolan, could not wear a Minneapolis Police Officer uniform until he met qualification requirements.  "I would say that we had a very difficult time coming up with three people to interview," said BET Vice-President Carol Becker.  Asked why, Becker said: "The bigger concern in talking in the community was that it's a staff of one for $1.3 billion.  And as an auditor, and having to oversee risk, there were substantial concerns about whether an adequate job could be done."  Today Becker told Carney about twenty applications were received for the position.  She was unsure of how many applicants met the minimum qualification requirement, but said it was more than two.  Becker is DFL-endorsed for re-election.

Katie Shea, Director of Internal Audit for the Metropolitan Council, presented a verbal summary to the Board of a draft report titled: City of Minneapolis Internal Audit Function: Quality Assessment and Recommendations.  The report focused on the future, but also included an assessment of the current Internal Audit function. 

Shea told the Board "... we found in our discussions with people that it is widely acknowledged that Internal Audit is severely under-resourced, so that being able to monitor and adequately report risks back to the Council, to the Mayor, to the Administration, would be nearly impossible under the current system."  At that point, Mayor Rybak left the meeting.  The Mayor did not return for the remainder of Shea's time before the Board. Shea continued: "Nearly all the people we interviewed expressed concern about the inadequate staffing level of internal audit, and risk areas that were uncovered as a result of that staffing issue.  They expressed concerns about potential non-compliance with regulations, risk [garbled] of fraud in city programs, and information technology reviews.  All of those risks have significant consequences for the City if they're not somehow managed, and made known to the people within the government structure."

"The Citizens of Minneapolis are 'people within the government structure'", Carney noted.

The report Shea summarized to the Board is on-line at www.republicancontract.com, along with an October 28, 2009 news release summarizing some key points excerpted from the written report.