The Mount Vernon City Council held a special meeting on July 15 to ensure Auditor Terry Scott had transferred funds to a local Certified Public Accountant (CPA) firm to handle the city's payroll. Several union representatives had made complaints about the payroll process.

According to minutes from the Mount Vernon City Council's July 15 meeting, McDaniel CPA will manage the payroll system using the NeoGov suite of programs that the city also contracted to use. Renee McDaniel of McDaniel CPAs said the payroll process should take less than five days.

The city council had adopted a resolution on June 24 to enter into a contract for the NeoGov suite of programs, contract for payroll services with McDaniel CPA, and authorize and direct the auditor to transfer funds to support those actions, according to the city council's June 24 agenda. During the July 15 meeting, Scott confirmed funds had been transferred. Scott and McDaniel were to meet last week to move the process forward.

Councilmember James Mahan asked if it were feasible to contract out all payroll as that was the city council's intent, according to minutes from the Mount Vernon City Council's July 15 meeting. Councilmember Mike Miller expressed concern about the delay.

Scott said some payroll numbers have not been calculated properly at the departmental level, according to minutes from the Mount Vernon City Council's July 15 meeting. He said communication between his office and the administration had been inadequate. Safety-Service Director Tanner Salyers stated that the issue was compliance, not communication.

Scott mentioned that the Auditor's office had been short two staffers for at least 12 months and that he had been working 70 hours a week for the past year. One staff member has been hired with a start date yet to be determined, and an offer was being made to another person.