City of Crockett Receives Clean Bill of Financial Health

Committee, Board Appointments Approved

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

CROCKETT – The city of Crockett received some good news on its financial front on Monday, June 3 when findings from the Fiscal Year 2018 audit were presented to Mayor Dr. Ianthia Fisher and the Crockett City Council.

Once the meeting was opened and visitors were recognized, the mayor turned the floor over to Molly Abele, a CPA and partner in the accounting firm of Axley and Rode, LLP.

“On page three is our audit opinion. We are issuing a clean audit opinion or in technical terms, an unmodified opinion. It is the highest opinion you can get and states that everything is presented fairly, in all material respects,” the CPA said.

“We did have one reporting change that I need to report to you. It is nothing that changes what you do, day-to-day. The requirement is that we now have to put the other post-employment benefits on to your financial statements. A few years back we had to do this with your pension liability. Now, they require us to do that with the other post-employment benefits,” Abele said.

As her report continued, she said the city had budgeted “… for a lot of things this year and you did really well staying within that budget. You actually stayed under your expected expenditures by just over $300,000.”

Abele also indicated the final 2018 city budget had projected a $600,000 decrease in the general fund balance, but instead, it had actually increased by nearly $100,000.

After other business matters had been disposed of, several committee and board appointments were approved during Monday night’s meeting. Among these were:

The Board of Adjustments – Michael Brenner and David Tyer were both reappointed to their positions while Jo Denman, Bill Holcomb, Paulette McClelland, Dick Murchison and Samantha Wiley were appointed to serve on the board.

The Planning and Zoning Commission – Greg Simon was reappointed to a three-year term. Current Commission members include Chairman Jim Dowell, Ray Bruner, W.L. Tillis and David Tyer.

The Library Advisory Board – Pipp Gillette and Roberta Mason were both reappointed to three-year terms. Current board members include Karen Clark, Jacque Fleming, Mike Maiden and Cynthia Neel.

The Parks and Recreation Board – Jo Denman was appointed to a two-year term. Current Board members are Spencer Burke, Chris Jones, Kimberly Marrs, Lindsey Rice, Larry Robbins and David Tyer.

Before the meeting concluded, it was announced the city of Crockett would begin mapping the sanitary sewer and water utility systems, beginning the week of June 6. The mapping will be done by a company known as HR Green, Inc. and should be finished by the end of the month.

According to City Administrator John Angerstein, “This mapping project will allow the city of Crockett to better locate both sanitary and water utilities using high accuracy GPS (Global Positioning System) equipment and to build the city’s GIS (Geographic Information System) for future use to help the community. This will assist the city in locating and quantifying all of its assets for it to properly plan for the future.”

In other matters brought before the council:

Minutes from the May 13 special session were approved.
Police Chief Clayton Smith reported the police department received 466 calls for service during the month of May which resulted in 32 arrests. There were 306 traffic citations issued and 118 police reports filed.
Crockett Fire Chief Jason Frizzell reported the fire department responded to 30 calls within the city limits and 16 calls in the county. Frizzell also reported there were no structure fires during the month of May.
Public Works Director Jerrod Vickers provided the council with public works report for the month of May.
City Administrator John Angerstein was authorized to purchase a street sweeper, not to exceed $50,000. He was also authorized to purchase a wheel loader through the Buyboard Cooperative Purchasing Contract.
The council gave its approval to close West Curtis Street from 10 am to 6 pm on June 19 for the Juneteenth celebration.
The city awarded Crockett Farm and Fuel its petroleum product purchases for the next year.

Will Johnson may be reached via e-mail at [email protected].