Freeport council narrowly approves multi‑year audit engagement amid questions about past failures

Freeport City Council voted 3–2 Monday to authorize the mayor and city manager to sign a multi‑year engagement letter with Brooks Watson and Company to perform the city’s annual financial audits through fiscal year 2027.

Council debate focused on whether the city should proceed with the same audit firm after council members and residents raised concerns about recent accounting and reporting failures they said contributed to roughly $1.3 million in losses. Acting finance staff and the auditor’s scope were discussed in detail before the close vote.

Miss Ferguson, the city staff presenter, told the council the multi‑year letter documents the firm’s duties and schedules; she also outlined the firm’s proposed fees: $64,375 for fiscal 2024, $66,300 for 2025, $68,300 for 2026 and $70,350 for 2027. "They audit our financial records, making sure that we're reporting finances with the correct accounting procedures, policies, and everything else," she said.

Council members questioned how prior problems were missed and whether the city had reasonable remedies. Councilman Pina said the council had uncovered "some pretty serious failures" and asked for the auditors’ questionnaires and findings to be supplied to council and the public before further commitment. "There's too much money bleeding out of Freeport, and there's no accountability," a public commenter (Manning Rollerson) said in the public‑comment period, adding he wanted a federal investigation into the city's conduct.

City legal counsel cautioned that some legal remedies and contract disputes cannot be resolved in open session, saying "probably not" when asked whether the council could unilaterally stop the contract without a closed‑session review of options.

Despite the concerns and several requests to table the item or move to executive session to explore legal options, the council approved the authorization 3–2. The vote authorizes the mayor and city manager to execute the engagement letter that the city staff said had been approved by council previously but was not signed at the time.

Next steps: the engagement letter will be signed by authorized officials and the audit schedule provided in the packet (preliminary tests and confirmations cited by staff), and some council members said they would press to see the auditors’ prior questionnaires and findings and to review legal options in executive session.