Commission must do its due diligence

The 15-member Lorain Charter Commission has been inundated with suggestions on changing the International City’s form of government, but they need to take a deep dive into whether they want to combine the city treasurer and auditor offices.

Keeping control of the city’s purse strings has prompted a great deal of debate for the Charter Commission.

As a statutory city, Lorain currently has an auditor responsible for keeping the books, including income and expenditures, and a treasurer, who records income and collects taxes owed to the city.

Charter Commission Chairwoman Terri Soto is Lorain’s elected treasurer; Commissioner Karen Shawver is the city’s elected auditor.

Some Charter Commission members discussed merging those jobs for a new city finance director.

Councilman at-Large Mitch Fallis, a certified public accountant who formerly worked as chief financial officer for Vacationland Federal Credit Union, points out in a letter he forwarded to the Charter Commission this week that combining the offices appears to shrink the size of local government and could cut the total cost of handing city finances.

However, Fallis believes combining the offices would weaken Lorain’s ability to keep track of finances.

In the letter, Fallis mentions that merging these two departments under a Lorain Charter is void of solid internal control to safeguard the taxpayers’ funds and should not be considered.

Residents will vote on a charter in November, but until then, they and the Charter Commissioners have pitched ideas about managing Lorain’s finances.

As a longtime numbers cruncher, Fallis understands that cities must track revenues and expenses using generally accepted accounting principles.

The city auditor and treasurer have separate duties of logging receipts and disbursements.

For the city the size of Lorain, Fallis says that’s a huge job where the treasurer must keep track of the city tax code and the auditor must tally city expenses.

If both functions come under one job, Fallis believes “the potential loss or misuse of funds increases exponentially.”

We agree with Fallis that the new city charter should make Lorain’s local government better than it is now.

However, Fallis says merging the jobs is “a step backwards. It’s a huge step backwards, to be honest with you.”

That is why the Charter Commission must do its due diligence in investigating and exploring what is best for the city of Lorain.

The position merger discussion came out of one of the three committees the Charter Commission created.

Committee 3, made up of Soto, Mallory Santiago and Lori Olson, began discussing administrative departments such as an elected or appointed legal officer and finance officer or officers such as the auditor and treasurer.

Santiago said the committee has begun outlining issues in their subcommittee, then subdivided those and started doing their “homework” about the jobs.

The three agreed to do a lot of fact-finding on what the positions are, what they entail, how they work differently in other cities and if those examples might work in Lorain.

Charter Commissioner Dennis Flores, a former Lorain city councilman, also brought up the issue.

Flores has used the website change.org to ask questions about that post and other issues, such as conflicts of interest.

His example: “Would the treasurer and auditor support replacement of those two positions with a finance director, with specific experience and educational background?”

Flores also is seeking signatures to ask for a legal opinion about potential conflicts of interest for Charter Commissioners, who also are elected officials for Lorain.

His petition cited: “Would the mayor support a city manager, with specific experience and educational background, and a ceremonial mayor?”

Charter Commissioner Jack Bradley is Lorain’s elected mayor.

Flores also is questioning potential conflicts of interest for Charter Commission members Joel Arredondo, president of City Council; Ted Kalo, Lorain’s elected clerk of courts; Rick Soto, chief of staff to Bradley; and Santiago, assistant city law director who works as municipal court prosecutor.

Flores also wants a legal opinion from Lorain County Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson or Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

That is his right.

But, whatever the Charter Commission puts before the voters in November, must benefit Lorain County residents, no one else.