BY LEXI SOLOMON | CityView Staff
Cumberland County Manager Clarence Grier sang his staff’s praises as the board of commissioners heard the results of the county’s most recent financial audit at its agenda session Thursday.
“The results speak for themselves,” Grier said.
The results in question were a clean bill of health from external auditors at Cherry Bekaert, the Raleigh-based firm which performed the county’s audit for fiscal year 2022-2023. April Adams, an audit engagement partner at Cherry Bekaert, presented the results of the audit to the board, noting that her team provided an “unmodified opinion” of the county’s financial report.
“That is the best result you can get,” Adams, who is of no relation to Chairman Glenn Adams, said. “That is the highest level of assurance that we can give you as your audit firm.”
The audit, which was finalized Dec. 1, included reviews of major federal and state programs reported by the county, such as American Rescue Plan Act funds, Medicaid and public school board capital funds from the state lottery. Grier said it was the first time in the county’s history that county staff have personally prepared a schedule of federal and state awards, which he believed justified the sole significant error Adams noted — an incorrect and incomplete listing of federal and state programs.
Adams said a preliminary version given to her team “was missing programs and had incorrectly reported other programs,” but a corrective action plan was created for the error.
The only other dark mark on the county’s audit was its late submission of the audit report, which was due to the Local Government Commission by Dec. 1 but was not submitted until Dec. 8, Adams said.
Vicki Evans, the county’s finance director, told the board the delay was tied to understaffing on the county’s part.
“The finance department had multiple staffing changes right as the audit started,” she said. “We had two people who relocated and one person who retired about a month into getting the audit complete, and so we went from having eight staff to five. And so the work involved in getting it completed doubled for some of us, so it took more time.”
Grier interjected that a “component unit” of the county also failed to get its audit in on time. According to a Dec. 7 memorandum from Evans to the board, that unit was the Fayetteville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Evans said there was not a financial penalty for the late submission, but that the board would have to submit an amended report to explain the reasons for the delay to the Local Government Commission.
Commissioner Michael Boose questioned why Evans’ department had not alerted commissioners to the understaffing issue.
“We didn’t hear that there was any problem at all until now. All of a sudden, we have to ask for forgiveness, a half a year later,” Boose said.
The board voted unanimously to place the amendment to the report on the consent agenda for Monday’s meeting.
In other business:
- What happened: The board voted unanimously to allow staff to enter contract negotiations with engineering firm HDR Engineering Inc. of the Carolinas, a national firm whose locations include offices in Wilmington and Raleigh. The firm will help with the development and construction of a public water system in southern Cumberland County, according to Amanda Bader, the county’s general manager for natural resources.
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- Why it matters: Cumberland County has long been plagued by contaminated water stemming from the production of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals” for their inability to break down over time, at the Chemours Fayetteville Works plant in Bladen County. According to a Dec. 6 memorandum from Bader to the board, this system will treat contaminated water in some of the impacted areas in the southern part of Cumberland County.
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- What’s next: County staff will negotiate a contract with HDR Engineering Inc. and present the proposed contract to the board for approval at a later date.
- What happened: The board voted unanimously to remain in a contract with the N.C. Cooperative Extension, a program in partnership with N.C. State and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University that provides “educational and technical information in the areas of agriculture, foods and nutrition, 4H and youth development” in every county, according to director Lisa Childers.
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- Why it matters: The board last signed a contract with the program in 2006, Childers said, and could have opted to sign a contract that would require the county to adhere to any statewide employee salary increases approved by the General Assembly. The “non-lock-in” version of the contract the board approved will not require them to do so.
- What happened: The board voted unanimously to approve changes to the bylaws for the county’s Farm Advisory Board.
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- Why it matters: The board oversees approval of applications to the voluntary agricultural district, which provides farms with signs to place on their land and notes the farm’s location in the county’s geographic information system so realtors can notify potential home buyers in the district that they may have to deal with issues like strong smells and loud noises related to farm activities. With Thursday’s change to the bylaws, the nine-person board will be reduced in size to seven members, which Childress said would help the board function more efficiently. Non-residents of Cumberland County will also be allowed to join the board if they are “actively farming” in Cumberland County.
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- What’s next: Keefe voiced concerns about the board’s lack of involvement in planning issues that could affect farmers, sparking a discussion about how the Farm Advisory Board could have more of a voice in such conversations. Commissioners indicated they will evaluate potential solutions for greater engagement in the near future.
Lexi Solomon can be reached at lsolomon@cityviewnc.com or 910-423-6500.
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