Boca Raton council creates auditor selection committee to oversee next financial audit

The Boca Raton City Council on March 26 adopted Ordinance 56-90 to establish an auditor selection committee to oversee the city’s next annual financial audit, a step officials said is required by revisions to state law.

Assistant City Manager Linda Davidson told the council the ordinance implements section 218.391, Florida Statutes, and sets the committee’s membership and duties. "We are adopting this ordinance pursuant so that we are complying with section 218.391 of the Florida statutes," Davidson said. Under the ordinance, the panel will be chaired by one member of the city council, include three members of the Financial Advisory Board and one at-large local government finance professional who need not be a city resident; active city staff may not serve on the committee.

Davidson described the timeline and procurement process: staff will issue a request for proposals, the selection committee will evaluate proposers and make a recommendation to the council, and a delegated staff member will negotiate the audit agreement. She said the statute requires at least three proposers; "The last time that we did an RFP was in 2015," Davidson said. Davidson also noted that qualifications will drive the selection and that cost is typically negotiated after the qualifications-based ranking: "cost is not one that's used to rank them," she said.

Council members asked about contract length, scheduling and whether the proposed process matched prior selections. Council member Wiktor pressed on timing and process; Davidson replied the approach and schedule mirror the prior 2015 selection, and staff will provide benchmarking and cost data to the committee.

Council voted unanimously to adopt Ordinance 56-90, 5-0. The ordinance creates the committee, directs staff to issue the RFP, and authorizes staff to negotiate the final audit agreement following the committee’s recommendation.