Council staff recommend Price Page for city financial audit after single bid

City staff presented a recommendation to contract with Price Page LLP for the city's fiscal auditing services after receiving a single proposal. The recommendation was introduced during the meeting by a staff presenter and summarized for council by Priya, a city staff member. "Price Page is actually local. They have an office in Clovis," Priya said, noting the firm already audits about 60 government entities in the Central Valley.
Why it matters: The city lacks a current, routine audit schedule and staff said reestablishing a multi-year engagement would put the city back on the state-prescribed audit timeline and restore confidence in reported fund balances.
Staff said Price Page quoted $102,940 for the initial audit year, including an additional $20,000 one-time fee "just because it's a first year, and they have to make sure that the balances that they say are in each of the funds really are in each of the funds," Priya said. The presentation said the contract would cover the initial year and include options for follow-on years through 2026 and into 2027-28 as part of a multi-year arrangement.
Staff described outreach to multiple firms and said only Price Page submitted a formal proposal. Priya said other firms either did not respond or did not submit questions under the request-for-proposal process. Staff also said Price Page had asked early questions and was ready to begin scheduling work if the engagement is approved.
What was not decided: The transcript does not record a formal motion, vote, or council approval of the Price Page engagement during the meeting. Staff said, hypothetically, "If you approve tonight, we can approve with the mechanics fees that the city attorney can add some language" but no formal action appears in the record.
Next steps and caveats: Staff said they would return contract language to the city attorney for standard protections and potential termination/assignment clauses. The finance-related timelines staff described included some items that would be ready within weeks and other materials that could take months to assemble.