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Elgin leadership offered an update last week on the city’s ongoing financial review, saying the team is making steady progress with a complex web of recordkeeping challenges and holding off on a forensic audit.
City Council approved a consulting agreement with Gradient Solutions earlier this year, and Interim City Manager Isaac Turner signed the contract days later after clarifying expectations.
“This is more than a consultant advisory relationship. Gradient will be producing actual work for the city,” Turner told the council, citing an email from consultant Lorie Lankford.
Gradient’s team is serving in an “augmented staff” capacity, Turner said, taking the lead on budget preparation and audit readiness while also addressing gaps left by years of turnover and disorganization.
The council is expecting a more complete summary at the July 1 regular meeting.
“We want you to be updated with where we are with finances and how we are going to approach the budget before we actually deliver the budget document to you July 15,” Turner added.
Councilwoman Joy Casnovsky asked for clarification that these tasks will eventually be handed off to a permanent city employee.
“We’ve talked about hiring a finance director and a senior accountant,” Turner said. “I do anticipate some overlap, but I do believe you’ll be able to end the Gradient contract in fairly short term once those hires are made.”
According to Turner, the month-to-month agreement with Gradient will likely last through the end of the year, though there is no set end date.
“I couldn’t see this going that much longer,” he said. “But I do have to say this, and this is my pause, my mixed metaphor is that when you think the closet door is closed, somehow more skeletons come out of the closet.”
Referencing lingering financial issues, Turner said the city has made progress toward a budget roadmap, but the overall cleanup could take years.
“There’s a lot to be unraveled,” he said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a four-year process before council is comfortable with where we’re at financially.”
FORENSIC AUDIT
Councilwoman Tiffany St. Pierre asked whether the city plans to investigate past practices once more immediate audit and budget deadlines are met.
“If there is wrongdoing, we as citizens deserve to see that,” she said. “We deserve to have that unraveled, and if there was somebody doing something wrong, that person deserves to pay the piper.”
Turner stated that the team is focused on correcting necessary items, and not all questionable records will be worth investigating. He reaffirmed there is no indication of criminal wrongdoing.
“We have no evidence—at all—of malfeasance or misappropriations per se,” he said. “We have evidence that some folks were doing things in ways you can’t understand. I don’t want to say incompetence, but I can’t think of a better word—and that’s not illegal.”
Turner assured that if any evidence of misconduct does arise, it will be pursued.
“You don’t, in my professional opinion, want to get a forensic audit because a forensic audit won’t help you fix it. We’re trying to decide what we need to fix to get ready for the audit and the budget, and then establish a foundation moving forward,” Turner added. “If we ever even get a hint that there’s malfeasance or that sort of thing, then yes that will be pursued.”
Some issues may never be resolved, according to the interim city manager, because responsible parties are no longer with the city.
“At some point, because there is no (wrongdoing), it’s not worth it to go down the rabbit holes. Some of the people are gone—and I mean gone gone,” he said. “Some of it you probably won’t ever get to the end of.”
Gradient consultant Cal Webb previously estimated the financial review process could take several years to fully stabilize. In April, Turner described the city’s finances as “real, real, real messy bookkeeping for an extended period of time.”
