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Citizen offers to fund audit; commission steers request to public-records route
Summary
A resident offered to donate money to pay an outside audit focused on construction projects; commissioners declined to accept a donation with strings and advised that the citizen pursue a public-records request or seek outside review instead.
A Lynn Haven resident, James Finch, told the commission he would fund an audit of construction work on the city building and the sports complex and named a private contractor he preferred. The commission did not accept a donation directed to a specific auditor. Instead, after legal counsel explained procurement rules, commissioners advised Finch to file a public-records request for the records he wants to review or to commission outside work on his own.
Finch addressed commissioners during public comment and reiterated an offer to pay $25,000 for an audit focused on building and sports-complex construction records, saying he would arrange for Jay Moody to perform the review. “If y’all are not done the audit, I told y’all I talked to Jim… Anyway, Jim Moody’s son is help y’all to the neighbors, auditing stuff,” Finch said. Commissioners asked whether the records Finch sought could be obtained through standard public-records requests and whether the city could legally accept a restricted donation that required use of a particular firm.
City Attorney Miles (on record during the meeting) advised that accepting a gift tied to one specific vendor could violate state procurement law: “You can accept the money. You cannot accept the money with the string that it only goes to one particular account because… state law requires you to procure audit services,” the attorney said. Commissioners discussed an alternative: provide Finch with the public records he requests so he could engage an outside reviewer at his own expense. Finch agreed to pursue the public-records route and to provide contact information for follow-up.
The motion originally made on the dais to accept the donation was seconded for discussion but ultimately rescinded after commissioners and the city attorney concluded the procurement and legal constraints meant the city could not accept a restricted gift. Commissioner Tender moved to rescind her second or to amend the motion; commissioners then agreed the records request path would satisfy the objective without creating procurement liability for the city.
No formal binding audit contract or city-funded audit was adopted at the meeting. Staff indicated they could provide pay requests, change orders and other project documents in response to a public-records request; Finch said he would take those materials to his chosen reviewer and present findings to the commission later.
