Current St. Ignace City Manager Eric Dodson (from left), former manager Gary "Pete" Heckman, and Mayor Paul Grondin pose with the City Manager plaque, presented by Mr. Grondin to the city Monday, May 18. The plaque, honoring the seven city managers since 1970, is on display in the City Manager's office in City Hall. Voters will be asked to decide if the St. Ignace City Charter should be amended, the city council decided Monday, May 18, after the city auditors said the city must publish the entire audit or none of it. The charter now stipulates that the city must publish the audit in a local newspaper, and council members say the city cannot afford to publish the whole thing. Some council members were hoping the city could publish only part of the audit.

Amending the audit section of the charter could eliminate or amend the publication provision.

Council also were presented with this year's audit report and discussed a mayor exchange program with Manistique.

The decision to let voters decide whether to change the charter, which required and received a three-fifth majority vote by the council, was to submit the following ballot language to Lansing for state approval before placing it on the soonest election that isn't a special election:

Shall Section 8.7 of the Charter of the City of St. Ignace be amended from stating "Such audit shall be available for public inspection in a newspaper of general circulation in the city" to "Copies of such audit, after approval by the Council, shall be made available for public inspection at the office of the clerk. Notice of availability of audit shall be made public by publication." ( ) YES ( ) NO.

State approval of the language must be within 75 days prior to an election, so the earliest the ballot could be presented to the public would be in November.

The city has been discussing amending the charter since it began reviewing the document in June 2008. Board members cited cost as the major deterrent from fulfilling this section of the charter as it is written.

Council consensus was that it would be fiscally irresponsible to spend $6,000 to $8,000 to publish the 60-some pages in The St. Ignace News, an estimate provided by the newspaper to city treasurer Eugene Elmer.

"I don't think there is anyone here that would say printing this entire audit would be a worthwhile expenditure," said Mayor Pro-Tem Don Gustafson.

As an alternative, Council member Tom Della-Moretta made the motion to put the issue to public vote. At Mr. Gustafson's suggestion, the proposal would be placed on a general-election ballot so as not to incur additional cost for a special election.

Mayor Paul Grondin and council member Paul Fullerton opposed the vote, while Mr. Gustafson, Mr. Della Moretta, William LaLonde, Susan Tamlyn-Massaway, and Merv Wyse voted in favor.

City attorney Prentiss Brown, Jr. advised against the action, saying the city could, instead, publish a portion of the audit and a message telling citizens where they can examine the full document.

"I can't see any judge or jury holding a gun to us on this," Mr. Brown said.

The auditors said this might be a satisfactory solution, providing the city compile a summary independently of the auditing company.

City Manager Eric Dodson said the city is responsible for being both financially responsible and for upholding the charter.

"The two seem almost at odds in this case," he said.

Mr. Grondin said he was glad the charter issue has been put to bed.

"Finally, we've made a decision one way or the other," he said of the long-debated audit publication issue.

In addition to determining a future course of action for the audit publication, Council also addressed how to handle it this year, since the ballot initiative won't be decided yet.

Council asked for an opinion on exactly what can be published from the auditors for the next meeting, scheduled for Monday, June 1.

Auditor's Present 2008

Audit to Council

Before discussion on the charter amendment began during Monday's meeting, auditors from Rehmann Group presented the council with an audit of the city's 2008 financials.

This report included an assessment of the government-wide net assets ($22,894,749), the general fund balance ($324,000), the fund balance as a percentage of expenditures (15 %), and many other gauges of the city's financial activities and health.

Recommendations from the auditors included minimizing operating losses in areas like the city marina and golf course, hiring a certified accountant to allow for quicker and more accurate collection of financial data, properly segregating duties in city government, and eliminating negative cash balances and deficit balances.

Copies of the 2008 city audit are available for public inspection in the City Clerk's office.

Mayor Exchange Discussed

Mr. Grondin said the city is currently looking at Manistique to participate in this year's mayor exchange program, in which the mayors for two towns trade cities and jobs for a day.

Mr. Gustafson as well as Mr. Dodson have previously stated how valuable and worthwhile the program is.

"I think the staff feels there is a great benefit in the program," Mr. Dodson said. He went on to say that the cost of the program is about $1,500 and, facing necessary budget cuts, it may be a necessary cut.

"It's an expensive thing," he said, "and something we probably can't do every year."

No action was taken on the mayor exchange program.