Board forms auditor selection committee after state threshold requires outside audit

The Citrus County School Board voted Feb. 5 to form an auditor selection committee to oversee hiring outside auditors after the state auditor general determined the county exceeded the population threshold that triggers outside audits.

Ms. Wilson explained the statutory trigger to the board: "We have to hire outside auditors now because the auditor general has determined our county is too big for, or bigger than their threshold of 150,000 residents. So per statute we have to have, we have to create a audit selection committee to select the auditors that we are going to hire to do that."

The board approved public members George Matthew Brannon, identified in the meeting as "president of the Brannon Banks," and Michael Mullen, identified as a former assistant superintendent of Citrus County Schools, and selected Ken Frank as the board member representative. The committee will hold a pre-bid meeting, review incoming bids in an open evaluation and forward a recommendation to the full board; the board retains final authority to approve the auditor contract.

Board members described the committee as a procurement-style panel and noted it will include two meetings: a pre-bid session to explain evaluation procedures and an evaluation meeting to score bids and make a public recommendation. Mr. Faherty urged inclusion of a member with procurement experience on the committee and moved to name Mr. Frank as the board's representative.

The motion passed, and staff were directed to provide dates to Mr. Frank and schedule the pre-bid meeting.