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Dr. Jermason and business manager Mike Arnold say audits found documentation gaps; district will post reports
Summary
Dr. Jermason and Mike Arnold told District 7 residents that two recent audits (fiscal 2023 and 2024) mainly identified documentation and record-location issues stemming from a district consolidation and multiple office moves; the district says corrections are implemented and will post the audit reports online ahead of an auditors’ presentation at the July 13 board meeting.
Dr. Jermason, a presenter for District 7, and Mike Arnold, the district's business manager, said the district's two most recent audits — covering fiscal 2023 and 2024 — found documentation gaps largely caused by district consolidation and multiple office moves, and that the district has implemented corrective steps.
"People think that this huge encompassing thing that's, they're auditing us because we've done something wrong," Dr. Jermason said, arguing that audits are routine checks required by law. "No. They're actually working with us to make sure we're doing things better."
Mike Arnold said the audits are statutory checks and described auditors as collaborators who identify improvements. "The biggest thing was just documentation, with the combination or combining of the 2 districts and making sure that all the needed documents were filed away," Arnold said, explaining some supporting records were boxed or misplaced during moves but were not absent.
Arnold and Dr. Jermason said the district completed audits for fiscal 2023 and 2024 to catch up after earlier lapses. They said the fiscal 2022 audit — completed late — contained corrections that could not be retroactively reflected in later audit reports, producing some repeat findings that the district has since corrected.
Officials said audit delays stemmed from staff turnover, limited state auditor availability and reliance at times on North Dakota state auditors, which created scheduling backlogs. Arnold said the district expects the coming fiscal-2025 audit to be "pretty clean" as prior corrections have been implemented.
The district plans to post the fiscal 2023 and 2024 audit reports on its website and invited the public to a board meeting on July 13 at 5:30 p.m. at the district office, 820 East Broadway, where auditors will present in person or by Zoom.
Dr. Jermason closed by thanking Arnold and the board, saying the district is "getting things situated back on track" and focusing on financial controls and documentation.
The district did not announce any formal motions or votes during this update; officials described corrective actions and upcoming reporting and presentation steps.
