Princeton's City Council wants more digging into how the Steven and Judy Deffibaugh Community Center renovation followed the city's purchasing rules, even after an outside forensic audit found paperwork behind every payment it reviewed.
At a work session and special meeting Monday, Oct. 26, the council received and accepted the close-out report and presentation on the audit, then asked for further investigation into whether the project adhered to the city's Purchasing Policy, according to a summary of the meeting the city posted Tuesday.
The summary does not say what the follow-up will cover, who will conduct it or what it will cost.
What the audit found
The accounting firm Weaver reviewed spending on the center at 416 N. Fourth St. for the Princeton Community Development Corporation. A memo from Weaver for Monday's meeting says all expenditures had sufficient supporting documentation and that the firm found no evidence that city project managers owned or had financial ties to the contractors. The CDC spent about $50,000 on the audit.
The report's section on purchasing looked at the three contractors paid more than $50,000, the level at which city policy calls for formal bids and a council award. It found the Mike Rogers Construction contract, worth $609,768 in payments, was awarded after three formal bids.
DFW Framing & Construction was paid $201,708 on 12 invoices from October 2020 to March 2022; the report says that work was split into 12 separate scopes, each under $50,000, so no formal bidding was required under the policy. Kimley Horn & Associates was hired as a professional services firm, which the policy says cannot be chosen through competitive bidding.
Resignation accepted
In a separate item, the council accepted the resignation of Councilmember Steven Deffibaugh from Place 5. A memo from City Secretary Amber Anderson says how and when the vacancy is filled should be reviewed with the city attorney under the home rule charter and state law, and estimates a special election, if one is required, at about $30,000.
