Sedona City Council talks project audits – Sedona Red Rock News
Sedona City Council took no action regarding creating a performance auditing program, however, the Uptown Parking Garage emerged as a leading contender for an outside vendor to pilot a project review.
An auditing program is distinct from the city’s standard financial audit.
During public comment, four residents raised safety concerns regarding concrete testing reports at the garage, prompting interim Mayor Holli Ploog to direct interim City Manager Kevin Phelps to investigate the matter and report back to the council.
Later in the meeting, the council expressed an appetite for a potential performance audit of the garage’s construction process.
The audit initiative stems from a recommendation by outgoing Councilman Pete Furman during the council’s annual retreat in December. Furman noted he had been “a big fan of doing this for all four years of his term.” The council subsequently created an audit subcommittee made up of Furman, Vice Mayor and mayor-elect Brian Fultz and Councilwoman Melissa Dunn.
The committee has met five times since January and was officially renamed the Performance Audit Committee in August.
“I do not want to hire an audit function staff, I have a very hard time seeing a need for that,” Fultz said. “I could be interested in auditing a project on a one-off basis, but I feel like we are way too small of a city to be hiring an audit function, and I don’t think it starts or stops with just one person. And I’m yet convinced that that’s a direction that we should ultimately go.”
Ahead of the discussion, council heard a presentation from Kevin Saionzkowski, vice chairman of the Advocacy Committee for the Association of Local Government Auditors, aboutthe different options the audit can take, from outside contractors to being done internally by current staff.
Among the potential performance audit areas are capital projects such as the Uptown Parking Garage, Community Service Provider contracts, such as the funding agreement between the city and the Sedona Heritage Museum. Other potential audit projects cited include: Short-term rental permitting and tax collection, public transit operations, human resources, grants management and the city’s information technology.
Uptown Parking Garage
After months of delays, council approved a $3.95 million agreement with Arizona Water Co. for a two-part water main installation. Phase 1 will install a 16-inch water main to improve the water’s velocity to the garage, while Phase 2 replaces the main along Van Deren Road from Forest Road to Schnebly Road.
“We do not have a changed timeline for opening the garage at this point,” Deputy City Manager Andy Dickey wrote to the NEWS.
Council’s work session for setting priorities for 2027 is scheduled for Tuesday to Thursday, Dec. 15 to 17.
Magistrate Steve Henry
Council unanimously appointed Steve Henry as an associate magistrate for the Sedona Magistrate Court. It is an on-call position for a two-year term when the presiding judge is unavailable. Henry replaces Lynn Riordan, who is serving as the interim court administrator