Council accepts clean audit, confirms demo lien and establishes youth sports department

The City of Clay council unanimously accepted the annual audit report for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2025, after Foothill & Company presented their findings and issued a clean opinion.

"We issued a clean opinion, didn't uncover any calls for concern or issues during the course of our work," auditor Joe Chapman said, summarizing highlights including a net increase of about $2.3 million for 2025, higher sales tax and investment income, lower grant revenue compared with the prior year, and increased capital outlays.

Following the audit acceptance, councilors approved several routine resolutions:

- Resolution 26‑12: Accept audit report (motioned by Councilor Harris; seconded and approved by roll call). - Resolution 26‑13: Confirm report of cost and create a demolition lien for 5975 Shane Circle; council discussed bids and confirmed the lien record is based on prior open bids (motion and roll‑call approval). - Resolution 26‑14: Change the regular April council meeting date from April 28 to April 21 (approved by roll call). - Resolution 26‑15: Establish the City of Clay Athletic/Youth Sports department and approve its bylaws; council approved the formation and bylaws and noted the department will start with youth sports and may expand responsibilities later.

The audit presenter pointed council members to reconciliations on pages 14 and 16 for differences between fund‑basis and government‑wide financial statements and thanked city staff for assistance. The council recorded roll‑call yes votes for each resolution in the transcript and moved on to new business.