Century council members Monday night discussed the frequent absence of town CPA Robert Hudson at the meetings and how to address missing paperwork that would allow an audit to be completed by the June 30 deadline.
“Transferring money from the special revenue money will get us dinged again,” said Councilwoman Ann Brooks. “We need to address the loan repayment. All borrowed funds are considered loans, and we've made no plans to pay it back.”
Century Mayor Henry Hawkins said that most of the town's funds are in special revenue funds, which are limited to what they can be spent on.
“The cumulative misallocation of $4 million on paper where we have transferred monies is the problem,” said Century Mayor Henry Hawkins. “We need to code the transfers as 'due to due from.' Robert said we need to call it an operating transfer and be done with it.”
The missing or late paperwork needed to get the federally-mandated audit underway with auditor Warren Averett prompted the council to approve a motion made by Councilman Ben Boutwell and seconded by Councilman Luis Gomez to send Hudson a letter requesting the necessary paperwork by this Friday, June 7, 2018.
“Basically, we are asking him to get this done by this Friday,” said Hawkins. “If not, the town will do a request for proposals (RFP) and advertise it.”
In other business, the council Monday approved a request by Greg Strader, director of Be Ready Alliance Coordinating for Emergenices (B.R.A.C.E.) to apply for two $10,000 Community Emergency Response Team (C.E.R.T.) and Citizen Corps funding opportunities and designate Town Planner Debbie Nickels as the grant manager.
If approved for both, the town could receive $20,000 to fund the training. The deadline to apply is June 15, 2018.
The Citizens Corps Program and C.E.R.T. gives citizens the opportunity to get involved through education, training and volunteer service in a catastrophic or major event. Both programs focus on emergency procedure, providing effective practice to partner citizens with municipal and emergency personnel.
Strader pointed out that B.R.A.C.E. secured $86,000 for Century following the 2016 tornado and said that 4.7 million people requested help last year with 6.5 million in Florida evacuating to more than 700 shelters.
“With more than 26 million effected last year, these training opportunities are vital to the safety of towns like Century,” said Strader. “We appreciate the opportunity to apply for these funds to assist in every way our organization can. Thank you for the opportunity to be of service.”
“The money is managed through United Way,” said Hawkins. “Century and Escambia County share the benefit of the money as well. The city and the county both apply for the grants.”
In a motion made by Boutwell and seconded by Gomez, the motion carried.
The next Century council meeting will be at 7 p.m., Monday, June 18, at Century Town Hall.
