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• <br />• <br />• <br />WS -7 <br />WORK SESSION STAFF REPORT <br />Work Session Item No. 7 <br />Date: Council Work Session, Wednesday, April 6, 2005 <br />To: City Council <br />From: Gordon Heitke, City Administrator <br />Re: Charter Commission Request <br />Background <br />On May 10, 2004 and June 28, 2004 the City Council approved expenditures for legal <br />services related to the City Charter. Since that time, the Charter Commission has <br />requested that these types of expenditures not be allocated to the charter area of the city <br />budget since they were not initiated or approved by the Charter Commission. It has been <br />suggested that it was "wrong" for the expenses to be accounted for in the manner they <br />were. The staff and City Council should take very seriously any suggestion of improper <br />accounting of public funds, therefore, staff has consulted with the City Auditor and <br />requested an opinion on the appropriateness of the accounting of these expenditures <br />(attached). <br />Following further correspondence with the Chairman of the Charter Commission, this <br />issue remains unresolved. The Charter Commission's request is to modify the 2004 <br />financial records to remove these expenditures and not have staff initiated expenses or <br />those not approved by the Charter Commission to be accounted for in a matter that would <br />occur under a heading of "Charter Commission ". Since the Council approved these <br />expenditures, and according to the City Auditor they were appropriately accounted for, <br />the Council must determine if there is to be any modification of the 2004 financial <br />records, as staff does not have this authority. Staff will clarify with Council the proposed <br />accounting of charter related expenditures for the 2005 City Budget. <br />1 <br />