(This is the third and final in a series of articles concerning problems and liabilities found in accounting within the City of Sheboygan)
When consultant firm CliftonLarsonAllen LLP was first commissioned to study the City of Sheboygan’s Human Resources and Finance Departments in 2019, current City Administrator Todd Wolf started to do what he calls a “deep-dive”. He saw that there were improvements to be made in those departments, and then kept going. And when problems arose in accounting for pre-1985 hours pooled for sick leave and performance credits in the Fire and Police Departments, he again called on CLA as an independent set of eyes to look further, leading to a conclusion that unless problems were addressed and changes made, the City would be vulnerable to fraud, and to financial and reputational risks. And as a black-belt certified in Lean Six Sigma with the personal mantra of “Change is Coming’, Wolf was ready for the task. Some of those changes are already in place. But not all will be immediate.
Placing a value on pre-1985 hours pooled for sick leave compensation and performance credits in the Fire and Police Departments will be an issue going forward. The City and IAFF Local 483 of the Sheboygan Professional Fire Fighters reached a 3-year contract agreement this past December. As such, the “pool” will be drawn, status-quo, for the time being. But a dollar value on those hours will have be negotiated when bargaining with the Sheboygan Police Department employees takes place later this year. That will then serve as a basis for the next time the Fire Department contract comes due.
Although other City departments such as the DPW don’t have such a “pool”, changes are coming through much of the structure and organization behind operations. Wolf said that separation of duties is critical for clear accounting. Payroll department and its staff now reports to Wolf who serves as comptroller and is not involved with benefits, which Wolf says belongs with the Human Resources Department. Wolf has been working with the Director of Human Resources and Labor Relations Vicki Schneider and her staff to resolve issues, and says that “They have been through a lot.”
Wolf says that going forward, there will be quarterly reports posted on the issues found so that the Council and constituents are given a clear picture of the situation. And many of the changes made so far will likely propagate throughout the City structure because, as Wolf puts it, “this is a spider-web”.
Wolf wants people to understand that, “In spirit, we have great people. And we just haven’t had consistent, long-term management that is, you know, for guidance on continuous improvement. So a lot of the problems are because of policies and procedures that are just very old, and nobody’s really had time to review and audit and question.” And when pressed upon more changes, Wolf cited his mantra: “Change is coming. You know, change is good, but change is coming.”
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