Council directs staff to seek RFQs for forensic audit scope after months of citizen requests

The La Marque City Council voted on Jan. 26 to ask staff to prepare a request for qualifications (RFQ) for a forensic audit that would allow responding firms to bid on any combination of 15 proposed topics.

Worth Ferguson (finance) told the council the finance committee had prioritized four high-value areas for an initial audit but recommended giving respondents flexibility to bid on specific areas or the full package. “Our recommendation is…to allow respondents to pick any combination they want,” Ferguson said.

Council debate centered on coverage and cost. One council member said an Attorney General review may cover many of the same areas and suggested requesting quotes for everything so the city would have numbers to compare. Another said starting with the top four would be the most cost‑effective use of taxpayer funds. After discussion, council approved a motion to prepare an RFQ for all 15 items with an any-or-all bidding structure; staff will bring the RFQ back for council review before it is released.

Council also discussed time frames and statute-of-limitations questions for older records; staff noted some date entries in the draft RFQ were typos (for example, an item that read 'since 2000' should have read 'since 2020'). Staff said forensic work would take months depending on scope and that an RFQ will help the city estimate cost and timelines before committing to a narrower set of tasks.

The motion carried on a voice vote; council asked that respondents be allowed to bid per-item or for entire scopes and that staff return with RFQ language for council approval before issuance.