Gates County moves ahead with single audit bidder; contract to appear on May 20 agenda

Gates County commissioners gave preliminary, unanimous concurrence to proceed with a single responding audit firm after staff advertised for proposals when the incumbent auditor said it could not perform this year’s audit.

County Manager Scott Sauer told the board the county advertised for about 40–45 days and contacted more than a dozen firms; staff received one firm prepared to perform the audit and one response declining interest. “We have done that. We advertised for about 40, 45 days or so... we had made contact with a dozen or more firms. We received one response of no interest and one response that they are prepared to perform our audit. It's the firm of... Thompson, Price, Scott, and Mann. I think their fee proposal was around 88,000,” Sauer said.

Commissioners asked about scope and whether standard Local Government Commission (LGC) contract language was included; staff said the scope is defined by the LGC and uses the LGC standard contract. The board voted by show of hands to indicate concurrence; staff will place the contract on the May 20 agenda for formal action. No contract was executed at the special called meeting and no mover/second for a formal award was recorded in the transcript.