HomeMy Public PortalAbout07 29 2020 Auditor Selection Committee Meeting
MINUTES OF THE AUDITOR SELECTION COMMITTEE MEETING OF THE TOWN OF GULF
WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 2020 AT 2:00 P.M.
STREAM ON IN THE WILLIAM F. KOCH,
JR. COMMISSION CHAMBERS OF THE TOWN HALL, l00 SEA ROAD, GULF STREAM,
FLORIDA. THIS MEETING OF THE AUDITOR SELECTION COMMITTEE WAS CONDUCTED
USING COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA TECHNOLOGY.
I. CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Lyons called the meeting to order at 2:00 P.M.
II. ROLL CALL
Present and
Participating: Paul A. Lyons Chairman & Town
Commissioner
Tracey Stevens Ocean Ridge Town
Manager
Linda Stumpf Manalapan Town
Manager
Edward Nazzaro Asst. Town Attorney
Also Present
& Observing: Gregory Dunham Town Manager
Rita Taylor Town Clerk
III.EVALUATE, RANK AND RECOMMEND PROPOSALS
Chairman Lyons thanked everyone for attending and expressed
his appreciation to everyone for being able to move the meeting from the
originally scheduled date of July 23, 2020 due to an emergency he had to
tend to. He stated the purpose of the meeting was to evaluate and rank
the two firms that sent in proposals and to make a recommendation to the
Commission. Chairman Lyons stated the town staff, as part of the due
diligence process, called references and did some independent research and
those findings were shared with each committee member.
Committee Member Stumpf stated she used the evaluation form
and ranked the two proposals very similar but had two areas of concern
regarding Grau & Associates. She ranked Grau lower than Nowlen, Holt and
Miner on the availability of key personnel stating that her concern was
the hours proposed to perform the audit were much lower than Nowlen, Holt
and Miner. Ms. Stumpf added she knew Nowlen, Holt and Miner had been
doing the Town’s audits so they had a general idea of how long it takes to
do the audit and felt that Grau & Associates had underestimated the amount
of time it would take, especially as a new auditor for the Town. Ms.
Stumpf ranked them lower on office location and the number of CPA’s
available to the Town with Nowlen, Holt and Miner having much more
experience. She added that Grau’s hourly rates were much higher than
Nowlen, Holt and Miner and the number of hours to perform the audit was
significantly different. Ms. Stumpf asked CFO Tew if the digital was
included in the bid because she didn’t see it in the price structure to
which CFO Tew answered that it was optional, so it wasn’t included in the
bid. Ms. Stumpf stated she ranked Grau & Associates with a score of 90
out of 100 and Nowlen, Holt and Miner with a score of 96.
Committee Member Stevens stated that her comments were going
to be almost a carbon copy of Ms. Stumpf. The first thing that stood out
Minutes of the Audit Selection Committee Meeting
Held July 29, 2020 @ 2:00 P.M.
to her under qualifications/experience on the evaluation form was that
Nowlen, Holt and Miner was going to assign a partner full-time and Grau &
Associates was going to have a partner available for technical assistance.
She agreed with Ms. Stumpf’s findings that Nowlen, Holt and Miner had more
CPA’s on staff. Ms. Stevens stated that even though the overall bid came
in lower with Grau, she was looking at the hourly rates, and those were
lower at Nowlen, Holt and Miner. She added that Grau had a big client
list and was concerned they may not be able to provide the adequate
personnel and believed the hours were underestimated from Grau &
Associates. Ms. Stevens stated it wasn’t clear in Grau’s proposal whether
they had ever had any litigation but showed no litigation for the past
three years whereas Nowlen, Holt and Miner had never had any litigation.
She added that it looked like Grau’s proposal was only a 90-day proposal,
which meant it would be expired. Ms. Stumpf interjected that she thought
the same thing and wondered if the numbers were still accurate. Ms.
Stevens stated her ranking for Grau & Associates was 94 out of 100 and
Nowlen, Holt and Miner was a 99.
Chairman Lyons stated he didn’t have any more insight to the
comments Ms. Stump and Ms. Stevens had made but added that he believed the
overall depth of experience of Nowlen, Holt and Miner was stronger than
Grau. Mr. Lyons stated the allocation of key personnel was better at
Nowlen, Holt and Miner and agreed with the ladies on the hourly rates
being drastically different. Mr. Lyons ranked Grau and Associates at 88
out of 100 and Nowlen, Holt and Miner a 94. He added that with the
consensus of the committee and the evaluation rankings, Nowlen, Holt and
Miner was who the Auditor Selection Committee would recommend to the
Commission.
IV. ADJOURNMENT
Chairman Lyons adjourned the meeting at 2:12 P.M.
Reneé Basel
Assistant Town Clerk
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