Agreed Upon Procedure between City of South Amboy and Gary Higgins
Dear South Amboy City,
This is a request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form. Please acknowledge receipt of this message.
Records requested:
At the 3/15 Council meeting, Mr. Higgins clarified that he did not form an audit of the PILOTs but rather it was an "agreed upon procedure" that ended up identifying a lack of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) when handling PILOT revenue.
I am requesting the Agreed Upon Procedure (AUP) that the City signed with Mr. Higgins personally or his firm.
To be clear, I am NOT requesting the results of the AUP or the standard auditing agreement, I am looking for the specific agreement that was discussed last night.
Yours faithfully,
Brandon Russell
Brandon - there is no agreement it is an independent accountant's report on Applying agreed upon procedures. These procedures would be found in the PILOT agreements which I believe you have OPRA'd before.
-----Original Message-----
From: Brandon Russell <[OPRA #40927 email]>
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2023 11:15 AM
To: Clerk <[South Amboy City request email]>
Subject: OPRA request - Agreed Upon Procedure between City of South Amboy and Gary Higgins
Dear South Amboy City,
This is a request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form. Please acknowledge receipt of this message.
Records requested:
At the 3/15 Council meeting, Mr. Higgins clarified that he did not form an audit of the PILOTs but rather it was an "agreed upon procedure" that ended up identifying a lack of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) when handling PILOT revenue.
I am requesting the Agreed Upon Procedure (AUP) that the City signed with Mr. Higgins personally or his firm.
To be clear, I am NOT requesting the results of the AUP or the standard auditing agreement, I am looking for the specific agreement that was discussed last night.
Yours faithfully,
Brandon Russell
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Dear Deborah Brooks,
Deborah - I’m not asking for the operating procedures listed in the PILOTs.
I’m asking for the agreement that the City signed with Mr. Higgins when the City decided it was necessary to bring in an “independent” auditor to review the PILOTs.
In this case, I believe that agreement might come in the form of an “audit engagement letter” drafted by Mr. Higgins and signed by the Mayor. Please let me know if I should submit another OPRA request but I know Mr. Higgins is being compensated for this work so we should have some type of “agreement” in the City’s files. It was mentioned last year and confirmed this Wednesday that reviews of PILOTs do NOT fall under the scope of work in our annual auditing contract.
You are more than free to contact Mr. Higgins but I don’t remember hearing the words “independent accountant’s report” being mentioned once on 3/15/23 or throughout this process.
Yours sincerely,
Brandon Russell
Gotcha - I will start the OPRA.
Deb
-----Original Message-----
From: Brandon Russell <[OPRA #40927 email]>
Sent: Friday, March 17, 2023 10:10 AM
To: Deborah Brooks <[email address]>
Subject: RE: OPRA request - Agreed Upon Procedure between City of South Amboy and Gary Higgins
Dear Deborah Brooks,
Deborah - I’m not asking for the operating procedures listed in the PILOTs.
I’m asking for the agreement that the City signed with Mr. Higgins when the City decided it was necessary to bring in an “independent” auditor to review the PILOTs.
In this case, I believe that agreement might come in the form of an “audit engagement letter” drafted by Mr. Higgins and signed by the Mayor. Please let me know if I should submit another OPRA request but I know Mr. Higgins is being compensated for this work so we should have some type of “agreement” in the City’s files. It was mentioned last year and confirmed this Wednesday that reviews of PILOTs do NOT fall under the scope of work in our annual auditing contract.
You are more than free to contact Mr. Higgins but I don’t remember hearing the words “independent accountant’s report” being mentioned once on 3/15/23 or throughout this process.
Yours sincerely,
Brandon Russell
-----Original Message-----
Brandon - there is no agreement it is an independent accountant's report on Applying agreed upon procedures. These procedures would be found in the PILOT agreements which I believe you have OPRA'd before.
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Please use this UNIQUE email address for all replies to this request and no other:
[OPRA #40927 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=ht...
View this OPRA request & responses online:
https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=ht...
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.
If you find this service useful as an OPRA custodian, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's website.
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