The Vineyard City Council voted 4-1 Wednesday to commence a hiring process to find a third-party outside firm to complete an independent financial audit of the city.

Councilman Brett Clawson was appointed to lead an effort to establish an audit committee and will work alongside Councilwoman Sara Cameron to “define the scope and structure of the audit and coordinate with a qualified, independent CPA firm,” according to a release.

“Over the last year and a half to two years, the city has been under an awful lot of scrutiny and accusation over its finances and in terms of fraud, waste and abuse,” Clawson said at Wednesday’s meeting. “The clear path forward through that is to obtain a fully independent evaluation of the city’s finances from a third-party auditor or accounting firm who will look specifically for fraud, waste and abuse.”

A report from the Utah State Auditor’s Office in June found Vineyard in noncompliance of certain procedures and released the following findings against the city:

• Vineyard did not properly report the use of its public funds to the state’s public financing website.
• The city’s redevelopment agency operated without taxing entity committee involvement.
• The city failed to disclose information related to property tax abatements.

Vineyard City Manager Eric Ellis told the Daily Herald last month that the city welcomed the audit and the findings and made adjustments in response to them. “Vineyard takes financial transparency as seriously as we possibly can,” he said.

Clawson said Wednesday the purpose of an independent audit is “not to audit the auditor” but to look for areas where there could be fraud, waste and abuse and get recommendations to improve as a city. He added that the city needs to hire a firm that is “above reproach.”

“The current feeling is that we will look at the last two years, and in those two years we’ll be looking at the policies in place and having the firm go through every transaction according to the target areas, and we’re open to additional recommendations of areas to look at,” Clawson said. “We’ve certainly covered all of the areas that Councilmember (Jacob) Holdaway has raised in the past. We want to make sure that we come out the other side of it with there being no question about the state of the city in terms of fraud, waste and abuse.”

Wednesday’s resolution sets aside $104,000 for a potential audit while the city’s audit committee starts searching for a firm to conduct it.

Holdaway, who has made several accusations regarding city spending, was the one council member opposed to conducting an independent audit.

“You guys are trying to go after trust. I’m trying to go after trust,” Holdaway said in the meeting. “How are you going to get trust? You’re going to get trust by the state auditor saying we’re in compliance with those things. You’re going to get trust by saying, ‘(Holdaway) was involved in the process.’ … That’s the only way you get trust. If you hire your own third-party, independent person … that’s like hiring your own referee.”

Mayor Julie Fullmer responded to Holdaway directly, saying, “It’s really difficult when people try to involve you and you don’t participate if it’s not the way that you want it to be.”