Residents demand forensic audit of La Marque finances; RFQ for audit described as approved by council

During the public comment portion, a resident (Speaker 5) repeatedly alleged fraud and lack of transparency in city finances and urged the city to pursue a forensic audit. "We have 0 transparency from our government... I know there's fraud," the resident said, adding that past rollback budgeting had been based on inflated figures and that the public deserved answers.

Presenter W. Ferguson responded that suspected issues had been reported to the police and that staff cannot discuss open cases. Ferguson said the forensic-audit procurement was considered by the finance committee and described the RFQ as "a single RFQ, but it has 15 different blocks in it," each block requiring detailed transaction-level documentation so bidders can prepare realistic proposals. He said his intent is to have citizens on the RFQ review committee and that the committee's recommendation would go to council for action.

A meeting participant (Speaker 4) offered to volunteer — or be paid a nominal amount — to compile and publish detailed credit-card and spending records; Ferguson said the city is working toward publishing reconciled financial data (2020–2025) online where legally allowable and would consider the volunteer offer.

The transcript records that the RFQ was proposed by Councilman Lauery, seconded and voted upon (the meeting record does not include a detailed vote tally in the transcript). A separate participant in the meeting (Speaker 6) said a forensic audit would cost about $8 million; that figure was stated as the participant’s estimate and was not verified during the session.

Status and next steps: Ferguson said staff will prepare the RFQ sections with the appropriate transaction details before soliciting bids; there will be a review committee that includes citizens, and the committee will make a recommendation to council. The RFQ and its timeline remain subject to the procurement process and council action.