Work on McComb’s overdue 2017-18 audit will continue to be hampered after city board members failed to hire someone to reconcile accounts Thursday.
Auditor Tommy Lindley of Haddox Reed Eugene and Betts accounting firm told city officials last month that he could not proceed with the audit until someone cleared up city accounting records.
He said the cost for his firm to do that work would range from $210 per hour if he did that job himself, down to $100 per hour for a junior partner. He recommended that the city seek help from elsewhere.
To that end, City Administrator Dirkland Smith sought quotes from local certified public accounting firms, but all of them responded that they were too busy at this time of year.
He announced he had found a candidate at last week’s work session and recommended Daphne Green, a South Pike graduate and CPA who now lives in Houston, Texas. Smith said Lindley had spoken with Green by phone and given his approval.
Smith also presented a prospective contract between Green and the city, which he said board attorney Angela Cockerham had vetted and approved.
However, no hire was made after Selectman Ted Tullos made a motion to hire Green for the job and no other board member who was present would second it.
Mayor Quordiniah Lockley declared the matter dead and moved on during the meeting, but board members returned to discussing the matter after they adjourned the official meeting.
Selectmen Ronnie Brock and Devante Johnson expressed concerns that Green, while a Pike County native, no longer lives in the area, and questioned whether anybody local might be willing to take on the job.
They also asked whether the city is still seeking a comptroller. Sevetrius James vacated the position at the end of October to become human resource director for Natchez.
Smith reiterated that local CPA firms had refused to offer a quote for the job because they already had full workloads.
Johnson also voiced concerns that Green has no experience working with municipal governments.
“Reconciling accounts has nothing to do with working with municipal governments,” Selectman Michael Cameron said. Smith, too, noted that the kind of work to be performed is not something that would be confined to municipal, or any, government.
Brock also said the price of the contract gave him pause.
“It just seems too good to be true,” he said, noting that the $30-per-hour cost would work out to an annualized salary of $60,000.
Smith reminded the board that Green was slated to work for the city two months or less.
He also said that, if the contract salary is considered a reflection of quality, the salary set for city comptroller is just $45,000 — a quarter less than the annualized contract price.
The gathering then broke up, with no further action able to be taken, since the board had already adjourned.
