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Council advances home-rule amendment plan to allow contracting for internal audit
Summary
Council members discussed a home-rule amendment to Stonecrest's charter to permit hiring an internal auditor as either a city employee or an outside contractor and to change mandated reporting from quarterly to no less than biannually; staff outlined the legal process and timeline for readings and public notice.
Councilmember Terry Fye introduced a proposed home-rule amendment to change Section 3.12 of the city charter to allow the internal auditor to be either a direct city employee or a contracted firm. He said the change would give the city flexibility to recruit or contract for auditing services. "This gives the city the flexibility to hire an FTE or a contractor or a firm," Fye said while describing prior recruitment difficulty for a specialized auditor role.
City attorney Denmark explained the amendment would be pursued through a home-rule amendment process rather than the Georgia General Assembly. He described two methods for charter change and said this proposed change is appropriate for home-rule, which requires public notice and an ordinance process rather than state legislation.
The ordinance also proposes changing the required frequency for internal-audit reports to council from quarterly to "no less than biannually." Staff and several council members said that language preserves council authority to ask for more frequent reports; councilman Fye and others discussed budgetary and operational reasons for the change, including cost and contract hour considerations for an outside firm. Council members and staff discussed sequencing: the personnel ordinance tied to internal audit funding will require two readings and could be scheduled after the home-rule amendment, or staff can hold the second reading until after council action on the charter amendment.
City manager Scruggs described the legal notices already published and the timeline: staff will formally introduce the ordinance at the August 25 council meeting (first read) and return for a second read and vote on September 22. The manager said staff had posted required public notice in local legal organs and had provided extra copies to ensure transparency. "We did follow the letter of the law," Fye said, noting staff also reached out to concerned citizens ahead of formal readings.
Ending: The council set a schedule for first and second readings (Aug. 25 and Sept. 22) and staff committed to submit formal ordinance language and required public notice documents to the clerk and superior court in the timeline required for home-rule amendments.
