Madison County officials can soon expect the results of a state audit that looked at the county's contracts for services.
"We will have a final draft in a week for the Board of Supervisors and a final report a week after that," said Laney Grantham, a spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Audit.
The final report in two weeks will be made public, she said.
The audit was prompted by months of questions raised by city officials, citizens and others over the county's engineering contracts and what county residents are getting for their tax dollars. Last year, the boards of Madison and Ridgeland approved resolutions for an for an audit of fees paid to Rudy Warnock, the county engineer. Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler has also questioned Warnock's business practices and contracted with an outside engineer to analyze Warnock's contracts and works with the county on road and bridge projects.
In a special meeting last Thursday to close out the 2009-2010 budget year, the supervisors did what [Supervisor Tim] Johnson called "housekeeping" to clear up some issues raised by the Audit Department. The board granted the authority to department heads to contact any vendors if they needed more information to finalize county business and not ask supervisors for the right on a case-by-case basis.
Supervisor Karl Banks agreed with the move, but added that board members also have the right to ask for additional information or verification on bills "because we are the ones ultimately responsible. Any claims that don't have proper documentation should be held until they can be verified."
The board also noted for its minutes, which serves as the county's official record, that board attorney Eric Hamer and Warnock have contract with the county until the end of the current term in 2011. Hamer said he was told by the former county administrator that their contracts did not have to be renewed each year.
Johnson said that contract issue also resolves questions raised by the Audit Department. "We hire a professional engineer and a professional attorney and authorize them to do contract work for Madison County," he said.
"As board members, if our attorney recommends a contract to protect the county's interests, we go along with him. The minute we lose that faith, we replace him," Johnson said.
The out-of-state engineer's analysis of Warnock's work, issued by Butler in February, offered the opinions that the county failed in having adequate controls over contracts and that Warnock's firms was paid excessive fees.
Warnock has denied all the allegations in the report. A majority of the Board of Supervisors has stood firm in support with Warnock and the county contracts with his firm.
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